Richard Chopping’s Butterfly Illustrations

Richard Chopping would never have seen himself as a printmaker – later in life he came to see himself more as an author than an artist. But his career began at the age of 25 with these illustrations for British Butterflies, in the series of Puffin Picture Books. Chopping’s love of nature was evident in…

Correspondence between Fleming and Chopping

In total, there were 62 Letters including: 12 Typed Letters Signed by Fleming to Chopping; 9 Letters from Chopping, mostly copies, including one carbon and one fair copy to Fleming; and 41 letters to Chopping by others, including one of the directors of Fleming’s publisher Jonathan Cape Limited, Fleming’s secretary, and others involved in the production…

The Thunderball Dust Jacket

The jacket to Thunderball, in which Fleming specified a skeletal hand, was trouble-free in comparison with the legal hassles the contents of the book brought about. Writing to Chopping about ideas for the cover of Thunderball, Fleming said that the covers were “marvelous” and offered to increase Chopping’s fee, perhaps to 100 guineas. Chopping asked…