Ian Fleming as a big influence on Len Deighton and here is a piece written by Deighton about Fleming. It’s fascinating in it’s timing, just as Fleming was finishing You Only Live Twice and Deighton was publishing The Ipcress File, as the torch was being passed on. Deighton provides insight into Fleming’s approach, goals in…
There seems to be a never-ending cycle of Bond and Ian Fleming documentaries and docu-dramas but finding a good one can be tough. Many have missed the mark in terms of accuracy and acting. Making this task even more difficult is the availability of some of them. Well, after exhaustive research and picking up the…
1. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? From Russia, With Love. I think primarily because as a bookseller I associate it with scarcity, which makes it a bit more appealing, but also the actual arrangement of the image, it seems to fit the cover better than the others. I did have a nice…
John Pearson graduated from Peterhouse Cambridge with a double first in History, then worked on the Economist Intelligence Unit and as a BBC trainee producer before being offered a job by Ian Fleming as his assistant on the ‘Atticus’ column for the Sunday Times. James Bond: The Authorised Biography is a fictional biography of James Bond and…
Ian Fleming named his James Bond character’s CIA agent friend after Ivar Bryce’s middle name, Felix. His surname was named after another of Fleming’s friends, Tommy Leiter. Ivar Bryce was born in 1906. His father had made a fortune trading guano, the phosphate-rich deposit of fish-eating seabirds which had been widely used as a natural fertilizer.…
President John F. Kennedy was a fan of Fleming’s books. In March 1961, Hugh Sidey, published an article in Life Magazine, on President Kennedy’s top ten favourite books. It was a list designed to show that Kennedy was both well-read and in tune with popular taste. It included Fleming’s From Russia With Love. Up until this time, Fleming’s books had…
1. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? Probably From Russia, With Love. I like the rose and the gun as the hint at what is to come within the pages of the novel. 2. Do you own any 1st editions? I have a copy of You Only Live Twice, but it is without…
1. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? I suppose I’ll be boring and say that “From Russia, With Love” is my favorite Chopping cover. It’s the iconic one, the first one. After that, I sure like “Thunderball.” 2. Do you own any 1st editions? I once owned a complete set of UK first…
So much for Ian Fleming’s top ten books. What about James Bond’s? Kingsley Amis (writing as Bill Tanner) might have thought it a struggle to find ten books at all, let alone ten of Bond’s favourites, as he considered Bond’s library to be modest. But careful reading of the Bond novels brings up a respectable…
1. What is your favorite Richard Chopping cover and why? They’re all wonderful, of course, but I have a particular soft spot for The Spy Who Loved Me. The cover is a lesson in composition. The commando dagger is a nice nod to Fleming’s past, and Richard Chopping presents the dagger with such skill that…
Article by Edward Biddulph Fleming is famous the world over for his writing, and there is increasing appreciation of his experiences during the Second World War. Fleming’s interest in books, however, is not so widely known, despite his listing of ‘first edition collecting’ under ‘Recreations’ in Who’s Who, and his founding of The Book Collector…
The Diamond Smugglers is the true story of an operation responsible for smuggling millions of pounds worth of precious gems out of Africa. Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, drew on interviews with the reluctant hero of the diamond companies’ counter-attack to explore the world of the real master criminals of his time. The result…
1. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? The artwork created for “From Russia With Love” is my favourite. It does set the tone for all other Bond Chopping covers to come and is highly recognizable. It conveys the content and feel of the book so well while staying away from the usual book cover clichés. And…
Oswald Frederick Snelling, “Freddie” or O.F to his friends, worked in Sotheby’s Rare Book Department and was highly regarded in the rare book trade. He was also a cartoonist, critic, journalist, soldier, and biographer with a particular interest in boxers’ lives. He became Chief Clerk until the firm was closed in 1981. It was there he met author Ian Fleming,…
Ian Fleming had a lifelong fascination with flowers and this motif would permeate many of his books and corresponding artwork for years to come. His first and only poetry collection, privately printed in 1928, was titled The Black Daffodil (unfortunately no copies exist today). His good friend Ivar Bryce remarked on reading The Black Daffodil: “He read me…
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.…
Artistic Licence Renewed 