www.jamesbondresearch.co.uk
One
of the most frequent questions I receive is about how you can get hold of
research materials and what books I recommend you read on Bond. Firstly,
take a look at my page on academic reading as this
will give you more than a few hints.
Many of the books and periodicals especially that you might want to read will no longer be in print or might not be easily accessible. This section is about conducting further research and the sorts of materials you can find, and where you can find them.
This might seem like an obvious one and if you try your local library, you probably wont get very far. There are several 'copyright libraries' around the UK, where a copy of every publication is sent. At these libraries you can literally get hold of anything that has been published in the UK. The British Library (left) at St. Pancras is the best to visit. I have used the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth on several occasions. However, although copyright libraries have the right to a copy of everything published, they do not necessarily take up that right, though this is probably quite rare.
One of the best ways to obtain large amounts of information on Bond is through newspaper articles. It is not easy to locate reviews in many British newspapers as The Times the only mainstream newspaper properly indexed. There are, however, a wide range of American newspapers, which are indexed and provide a wide variety of reviews on Bond films and useful Bond-related information. The difficulty is in locating the newspaper copies themselves. University and local libraries provide a certain amount of newspaper copies on microfilm or microfiche, but the best source is the British Library Newspaper Library, based at Colindale in North West London. This is one of the largest holdings of newspapers anywhere in the world, and is free and easy to use.
Left: Colindale Newspaper Library.
Obtaining books on Bond can range from easy to very hard. The small number of books in an underdeveloped subject means that few university or local libraries are likely to hold them. Pfeiffer and Worrall, Rye and Broccoli's books are easily obtained in libraries or bookshops, whereas the more academic books, aside from the very latest ones, are much harder to track down.
The British Library is an excellent place to plunder the archives for information. However, the British Library is very strict on who it will admit, so if you plan to go there, it is worth checking in advance if you are eligible for a reader's card or not: www.bl.uk/
The British Film Institute (BFI) holds a great deal of material. I've been to the BFI in London a few times and have always found it useful. They have copies of original film scripts and an amazing television archive. It was at the BFI that I got to watch the Game, Set and Match TV adaptation. They had actually recorded the TV on VHS back in the late 80s, so when I watched the tapes I even had the adverts! If you need something specific, it would be worth contacting the institute directly to see if they can help.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/collections/
Below are a list of useful links for checking
the contents of various archives for books that you may be interested in
viewing.
History Today magazine has been around for 25 years or so and has published thousands of concise articles in a variety of areas. The online facility is good, though understandably limited.
The title is self explanatory. The articles are very good, though the issues of the journal tend to run according to themes, meaning that there is an abundance of some articles and a shortage of others.
http://www.catchword.com/titles/01439685.htm
The link below will take you to the British Library's holdings, where you can search for titles you want.
The newspaper archive is available through the link below.
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/newspapers.html
The link below will take you to the catalogue of the National Library of Wales.
http://geacweb.llgc.org.uk:8000/
COPAC is linked to various major libraries in the UK and can be useful in tracking down copies of particular titles.
For buying books that are hard to come by. Abe is one of the best sources I have ever found.
