Article by Fleming’sBond.com Even a cursory reading of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels reveals that the author enjoyed using brand placement within his work. Many of these reflected the writers own taste in various areas of life, but it also served to ground the series in reality. Readers could go out and in many cases…
Something a little different this week. I chatted with Matt Spaiser who runs the fascinating website dedicated to the sartorial Bond from the films and books. 1. In which book or books do you think Bond is the best dressed? James Bond’s wardrobe is quite consistent throughout all of the books, so there’s no single…
There are literally hundreds of books about Ian Fleming and James Bond, so here at Artistic Licence Renewed, we have made life easier for you and winnowed it down to the pick of the litter. There are of course some great books out there, so please leave a comment at the end of the post…
There is a certain paradox about James Bond’s relationship with all things America. Devoted to the Anglo-American war against Communism, there is a level of contempt that runs through the novels during a time when the British Empire was winding up and the new American one was burgeoning. The contempt tended to be about material…
1. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? My favourite Chopping cover is probably Octopussy & The Living Daylights. I just like the images and layout. From Russia, With Love is another favourite. I wish Mr Chopping had been commissioned to re-design the rest of the series, and that these designs had been used…
Graham Greene and Ian Fleming are often mentioned in the same breath by espionage fans as two of the most influential of all time. They had many differences in their literature and also shared a personal and slightly fractious relationship. Fleming’s admiration for Greene was there from the beginning, having feasted on novels such as…
If you are interested in investing in James Bond first editions and Fleming paraphnalia, you’ll need to have deeper pockets than Auric Goldfinger. Here are some of the most expensive items to have ever sold at auction. Special thanks to Simon Patterson at Hyraxia Books for his invaluable help. $102,000 Moonraker, signed from Fleming to…
1. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? I find book design so fascinating because there are so many doors into a story. Goldfinger and Thunderball tie as my favorite Chopping cover for Ian Fleming. I love how the skeleton motif implies a thrilling experience without actually defining any specific characters or scenes. It’s…
Article by Benjamin Welton. Straddling the ancient Bosphorus, Istanbul (alias Constantinople and alias Byzantium) has always been more of an idea and an ideal than a city. Istanbul is where the Orient and the Occident meet. It has been home to Greek traders, Roman emperors, Byzantine bureaucrats, and Turkish sultans. Istanbul, in the words of…
Casino Royale stands out as among the best of all the Bond novels and often assumed that it created the narrative template for the series. It certainly laid the ground and introduced Bond to the world but it can be argued that it does not conform to the familar conventions that Ian Fleming developed over…
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