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Some of the highlights of
the ‘Bond Bound’ exhibition include: the late Richard Chopping’s
pencil sketches for the dust jackets of the Jonathan Cape hardback first
editions of FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE and FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. Chopping was
precisely briefed by Fleming for the covers, and his illustrations for the
Cape editions of the Bond novels and his clever trompe-l’oeil style
jackets were an important factor in the books’ success; one of the most
remarkable works on display in the exhibition is an unpublished design for
THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS by the leading British painter Graham Sutherland.
This was originally to be used in The Sunday Times colour magazine
in early 1962. Ian Fleming commissioned the work himself for a nominal fee
of 100 guineas (£105), but Mark Boxer, the magazine’s editor, rejected the
piece because – as he told Fleming – the paper could not guarantee the
reproduction the work deserved; Ian Fleming’s meticulous eye for detail is
also revealed by his last-minute handwritten alterations to the original
typewritten manuscript for ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE; a letter that
Ian Fleming sent out to one of the many readers concerned that James Bond
might have died at the end of FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE as reassurance that
Bond is on the mend. |
