Per Fine Ounce is the title of an unpublished novel by Geoffrey Jenkins featuring Ian Fleming's superspy James Bond. It was completed circa 1966 and is considered a "lost" novel by fans of James Bond because it was actually comissioned by Glidrose Publications, the official publishers of James Bond, and might have been the first Bond novel published following the death of Fleming. Some sources suggest Per Fine Ounce was going to be published under the Robert Markham pseudonym that was used when publishing the Kingsley Amis Bond novel, Colonel Sun in 1968.
Not much is known of the plot for Per Fine Ounce. The reference work The Bond Files by Andy Lane and Paul Simpson indicates that it was based upon a story Jenkins claimed he and Fleming had worked on in the 1950s. The storyline dealt with diamond smugglers and a spy ring and bore some resemblance to Fleming's Bond novel Diamonds Are Forever as well as his non-Bond work, The Diamond Smugglers.
For reasons unknown - though possibly due to the similarity with Diamonds Are Forever - Glidrose chose not to publish the book. A copy of the manuscript reportedly exists in the archives of Ian Fleming Publications (Renamed from Glidrose in 1998), which has been backed up by Bond novelist and historian Raymond Benson.
Some fans have lobbied to have this lost Bond novel published.
See also
Last updated: 08-08-2005 06:28:21
Last updated: 09-12-2005 02:39:13
