After Ian Fleming‘s death in 1964, Richard Chopping published – on Angus Wilson’s recommendation – The Fly. This flits between an office’s variously embroiled staff, including widowed caretaker Mrs Macklin, “a woman of warthog sensibility” whose feckless elder children consider, at the outset, inflating an abandoned condom near a pixie-hatted sibling. “Tears squeeze out of…
1. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? Without a doubt, From Russia, With Love (1957). It is the first and best of the Chopping illustrations which introduces many of the familiar elements of his trompe l’oeil designs; the wood-grained background, a floral motif (in this case a blood-red rose with a single dew…
Cars and James Bond have always had a strong association and, contrary to popular belief, Bond’s preference has historically been firmly with Bentley Motors as established by Ian Fleming. In fact, John Pearson could not have put it better in his fictional biography of Bond when he said: “For Bond, the Bentley was an echo of…
The Bibliography covers every aspect of Fleming’s writing, from the manuscript stage, through typescripts, uncorrected proofs, advance and review copies, first and subsequent impressions, paperback printings, omnibus and collected editions, as well as periodical appearances, comic strip adaptations, young reader and large print editions published in Britain and America. Jon Gilbert: A clear picture has emerged…
1. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? Easily “From Russia With Love“. For me, no other image captures the essence of a Bond story faster than Chopping’s painting of the modified Smith & Wesson revolver, with its cut-away trigger guard and shortened barrel, and the stem of a beautifully painted rose through it.…
1.Can you tell how how John acquired Richard Chopping for ‘License Renewed’ and how closely did John get to work with Richard? JG did not have anything to do with getting Chopping to do the cover for LR. From what I remember it was (what was then) Glidrose (now IFP) and Jonathan Cape. The budget…
Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design looks at all Ian Fleming’s books including the children’s story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Thrilling Cities – his collected travel journalism. However much of the exhibition charts the the role of artists and designers in creating and defining the Bond look. The covers of Bond…
1. What is your favorite chopping cover and why? My favorite cover by chopping has to be his first for Ian Fleming, “From Russia, With Love”. I genuinely love this cover. The combination of the revolver and the rose are symbolic of beauty and death, man and nature, and they give a tantalizing glimpse into the world…
First dispatched on September 26, this beautiful collector’s item deserves mention. Vintage Classics and Bentley Motors have united to create a luxury special edition of Casino Royale to mark 60 years of Bond. It also features an introduction from racing legend Sir Stirling Moss: “When it came to cars Fleming really knew his stuff… he must have known that the fabulous pre-war Bentleys…
Artistic License Renewed was delighted to sit down with Raymond Benson to discuss his memories of Fleming’s favorite comrades Ernest Cuneo and Ivar Bryce, during the researching of his essential James Bond Bedside Companion. 1. Did Cuneo and Bryce have a favorite Fleming novel? Ernest Cuneo, it seemed to me, couldn’t have cared less about…
Talk of the Devil is a collection of rarely-seen journalism and other writing by Ian Fleming. It belongs to a special edition of his complete works published in 2008 by Queen Anne Press to commemorate the centenary of his birth. The edition is intended to celebrate Fleming not only as the creator of Bond but as…
1. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? Hi, and thanks for having me. I think it has to be Goldfinger, with the skull holding the rose between its teeth and gold coins in its eye sockets. I’m not sure it entirely fits the mood of that novel, which apart from Bond’s feelings in…
Ian Fleming at times, had as many slings and arrows as his creation had to deal with and the debate about the severity of these flaws still rages on today. Here was Fleming’s take on Bond from the Thunderball blurb: “Bond is not a hero, nor is he depicted as being very likable or admirable. He is…
This just in. Stride and Son Auction House in Chichester, West Sussex has several first edition Bond novels up for grabs and ‘The James Bond Dossier‘ They include: You Only Live Twice The Spy Who Loved Me The Man With The Golden Gun Octopussy & The Living Daylights Thunderball Kingsley Amis’, The James Bond Dossier
7:30am – Get up with the birds, bathe in the ocean before breakfast. Come back for a proper breakfast with scrambled eggs and sit in the garden until 10am. 10am – Sit in the bedroom and type 1500 words without looking back. 12:15pm – Snorkle in the baylooking for lobsters, come back and have a couple of…
1. What is your favorite Richard Chopping cover and why? That’s a tough one. They are all so great. From Russia With Love is the classic. But I find myself drawn to Thunderball. It has a story to it — the remains of some sort of bizarre gambling game which resulted in death. I also like that it has a…
Of these once best-selling volumes of action pulp, “Dr. No,” “Live and Let Die,” “The Man With the Golden Gun” and the short story “Octopussy” are largely or partly set in Jamaica. Strawberry Hill is an 18th-century coffee plantation turned resort owned by Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records. A Jamaican native, Mr. Blackwell…
First edition copies of Ian Fleming’s 007 books are among the top lots in an auction being held in Benton. The titles, including For Your Eyes Only, From Russia With Love and Dr No, went under the hammer with Village Auctions on Saturday August 17 and were expected to fetch up to £1,000 in total. Auctioneer Malcolm Barry said: “I was…
Fleming had been planning to write a 15th 007 novel, to follow “The Man With The Golden Gun” and he sought assistance from his old friend Geoffrey Jenkins who would be able to advise Fleming about the setting for his latest novel: South Africa. Of the author, Fleming once said: “Geoffrey Jenkins has the supreme…
In 1960 Fleming was commissioned by the Kuwait Oil Company to write a book on the country and its oil industry. The Kuwaiti Government disapproved of the typescript, State of Excitement: Impressions of Kuwait, and it was never published. According to Fleming: “The Oil Company expressed approval of the book but felt it their duty to submit the…
Artistic Licence Renewed 