Though the next James Bond film, “Quantum of Solace,” was originally set to be released in time for Father’s Day 2008, it has been delayed until the fall. But you can help Dad through the Bond drought this year with a rare book: From a first edition of an Ian Fleming novel to a book associated with the dashing character, there are plenty of volumes to please even the most serious fan.

First editions of the Bond novels are not just retro-cool books; they are also excellent investments. The early titles in particular are becoming scarce on the market, and prices are only likely to rise. Bauman Rare Books has first editions of “Moonraker” ($11,000), “Dr. No” ($3,500), “Thunderball” ($1,000), “On Her Majesty’s Service” ($800), and “Goldfinger” ($18,000), the latter in the funky original dust jacket, and signed by Fleming.

To masters of Bond trivia, Charles Engelhard will be familiar as Fleming’s friend, who served as the model for the Goldfinger character. James Cummins has several books inscribed to the South African gold entrepreneur, one of them a first edition of A.P. Cartwright’s “Valley of Gold,” a history of the Transvaal mining adventure. And while bird-watching may seem far removed from the high-octane sports pursued by 007, “Birds of the West Indies” is an increasingly rare title sought after by Bond collectors: It was the book’s author, James Bond, a friend of Fleming’s, who lent his name to the fictional agent (Raymond Sutton, $500).

If Dad’s chief affinity to Bond lies in the character’s license to swill, then a classic cocktail-mixing manual will be a more original gift than leather-covered shot glasses or novelty-shaped corkscrews. The “Savoy Cocktail Book” of 1930, offered by Bauman ($850), is the work of Harry Craddock, an American who fled Prohibition in order to become bartender at the Savoy in London, where he created the White Lady and popularized the dry martini. A New York equivalent, offered by Ursus Books for $475, is Lucius Beebe’s “Stork Club Bar Book” of 1946, which mixes celebrity gossip from the legendary Fifth Avenue club with recipes and notes on café etiquette.

If he’s privately wishing for a double life as a secret agent, Dad will be fascinated by espionage documents through the ages. Argosy Books has a first edition from 1887 of “The Southern Union Spy” ($650), an account of Philip Henson who, although a native of Alabama, spied on the Confederacy in Mississippi and was eventually captured and imprisoned. Cummins has a collection of typed documents, with handwritten notes, by Carl Sandburg, which relate to his suspected spy activities during his time in Stockholm in the years following the Russian Revolution. The first-person account of the poet’s detention and harassment by American agents upon his return to America is written in a breathless stream-of-consciousness style.

Further into the past there is Eon de Beaumont, a French spy who managed to also be his own Bond Girl: While acting as secret agent for Louis XV at the court of Elizabeth of Russia, Beaumont dressed only in women’s clothes. Upon his return to Versailles, he donned a military uniform, but was told to switch back to ladies’ garments; during his final years in London, he once again dressed as a man — generating intense gossip and confusion among his contemporaries. Ursus Books has his collected writings in an attractive contemporary binding for $5,500.

For those who like their espionage with cloaks and daggers and secret codes, Martayan Lan has some of the earliest books on cryptography. The “Cryptomenytices et cryptographiae” of 1623 ($14,500) is the first encyclopedia of cryptography, compiled by August, Duke of Braunschweig, at a time when his principality was at the heart of the Thirty Years War. The beautifully engraved title page shows messengers relaying secret missives, and a cryptographer bent over his desk in the act of deciphering a letter. Giovanni Battista della Porta’s “De occultis literarum notis” ($4,000) is another rare early work on cryptography that discusses ancient and early modern ciphers and includes three cutout dials — volvelles in the language of the trade — which, when pinned onto the cryptographic disks printed in the text, can be spun to help unscramble a cipher. If you’re going to get Dad a gadget, might as well make it a 400-year-old code breaker.

Argosy Books — 212-753-4455, www.argosybooks.com

Bauman Rare Books — 212-751-0011, www.baumanrarebooks.com

James Cummins — 212-688-6441, www.jamescumminsbookseller.com

Ursus Books — 212-772-8787, www.ursusbooks.com

Martayan Lan — 212-308-0018, www.martayanlan.com

Raymond Sutton — 606-549-3464, www.suttonbooks.com