Bentley, the car makers, have released 500 special edition copies of Carte Blanche – the new James Bond book from Hodder & Staughton. The latest tale in the James Bond series was written by Jeffery Deaver and takes the gentleman spy to the deserts of Dubai.
Bentley Senior Designer Brett Boydell designed the Bentley Continental GT casing for the book – the very car that features in the story. Limited to 500 copies, the special edition books will cost £1000 each.
The special edition Carte Blanche case is made from polished aluminium. An automotive supplier was employed to create the case to automotive standards using a specially commissioned machine. The book itself is bound in white nappa leather – the same grade of leather used in a Bentley’s interior. The binding mimics the interior of the GT with its contrast of white leather trim and pillar box red edging.
The title, author’s name and the familiar wings of the Bentley logo are carefully embossed into the front and foil-blocked onto the spine. The text is printed in two colours, black and red, on ivory paper, with endpapers of a matching red leather. As with the other details of the special edition, the colours are carefully selected from the Bentley range. The book sits on a base of black anodised aluminium, chosen not to mark the white leather.
A die-cut bullet hole pierces the pages of the book and encases a single polished 9mm bullet, individually marked with a number distinct to each copy. The special edition copies are available to pre-order from 26th April 2011 and will be delivered on 26th May 2011.