When You Were Young and Your Heart Was an Open Book….
Moneypenny & Bond | Illustration ©2019 Fay Dalton from The Folio Society edition of Ian Fleming’s Live and Let Die
Ian Fleming’s spy takes on flesh-eating sharks and a diabolical criminal mastermind in Live and Let Die, the eighth volume in Folio’s James Bond collection. This adventure plunges MI6’s best into a desperate fight for survival against the unearthly Mr Big, and not everyone will leave with their limbs intact.
Originally published in 1954, Bond’s second adventure is largely set in New York, Florida and Jamaica. Fleming writes about each location with a vividness, intimacy and enthusiasm rare at the time of writing when international travel was still relatively unusual.
The underwater sequences were inspired by his experiences scuba diving with Jacques Cousteau and he had also ridden the Silver Meteor, the train Bond takes to Florida. Fleming was especially fond of Jamaica, where he had made his home and where he wrote all of the James Bond novels.
Fay Dalton continues her excellent work as the series artist, bringing exquisite glamour and tension to the page with each volume. This time around Bond’s mission takes him into the eerie world of the occult, and Dalton makes particular use of light and dark to heighten the drama: the night sky turns the sea a baleful orange in one image, while Mr Big’s underground lair almost seems to echo with dripping water.
Illustration ©2019 Fay Dalton from The Folio Society edition of Ian Fleming’s Live and Let Die
Illustration ©2019 Fay Dalton from The Folio Society edition of Ian Fleming’s Live and Let Die
As ever, Dalton takes particular care with the glamourous figure of Bond’s love interest, and the Solitaire she has created is beautiful and filled with quiet defiance.
This is the first time Moneypenny has appeared in any of The Folio Society James Bond novel illustrations!
Incidental Intelligence
Live and Let Die, By Ian Fleming; Illustrated by Fay Dalton
Available exclusively from The Folio Society.
Price: UK £36.95 | US $62.95 | Can $72.95 | Aus $82.95
Production Description: Bound in blocked cloth. Set in Miller Text with Folio Bold Condensed as a display. 240 pages. 7 colour illustrations. Pictorial slipcase. 9˝x 6.˝
Exclusive Interview with Illustrator Fay Dalton
Photo: Fay Dalton
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A great post.
Dalton’s fabulous visuals are what make this collection so worth while.
That said, I do think that at the price they are charging, Folio should surely have incorporated a ribbon marker. Why spoil the ship for a hapoth of tar ?
Damn! I was hoping that they weren’t going to do LALD because they already did a version of this book about fifteen years ago. I have that copy. The artwork was lacklustre, IMHO.
Oh well, better put aside my pennies…
It needed an update for sure.
Dalton looks set to complete the whole series, but not sure about the short stories – we shall see…
Looks nice as always with the other illustrations in the series. However, shouldn’t Bond have a buzz-cut, at least from the point after arriving in New York?