The only known typescripts for the final Bond book
The copies were typed by Jean Frampton, Fleming’s preferred typist and sub- editor from 1959 until his death in 1964, who was retained by Cape, typing The Man with the Golden Gun (1965), The James Bond Dossier (by Kingsley Amis, 1965), Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966), and Colonel Sun (by Kingsley Amis).
56 FLEMING, Ian.
Octopussy and The Living Daylights [Typescripts]. [c.1965] £60,000
[ 155959 ]
79 numbered leaves (253 × 202 mm), carbon typescripts with additional title pages, each annotated by Richard Chopping, stapled. Housed in a custom grey cloth box. Octopussy comprises 46 leaves and The Living Daylight s 33 leaves. Both have an additional typed title page and reveal minor changes to the published text. In Octopussy , for example, “Scorpaena Plumieri” is underlined and not italicized, “Jantzen” mis-spelled “Jansen” (both p. 2) and there are several minor corrections concerning punctuation, lack of brackets, etc. Minor creases and rust marks; near-fine. From the Ian Fleming collection of Martin Schøyen (b.1940), with his bookplate. ¶ Gilbert A14a; The Schøyen Collection No. 120.
A set of original carbon typescripts for the two James Bond short stories Octopussy and The Living Daylights sent to Richard Chopping, the dust jacket artist, and signed by him. Only a few copies of these typescripts were produced, of which this is thought to be the only extant example. Fleming’s original manuscript for Octopussy is lost and the British Library owns The Living Daylights . The Lilly Library holds no manuscripts for either title. These two carbon typescripts, therefore, represent the only known complete manuscript for the final Bond book. The scripts are early typed copies produced from Fleming’s manuscript draft. Each is inscribed by Richard Chopping in black ink “sent to me by Jonathan Cape before designing the jacket for ‘Octopussy’ Richard Chopping”.
Fleming’s manuscripts were typed up initially in duplicate for the use of Cape’s readers, William Plomer and Daniel George. Then, by the late 1950s, four copies of each were produced to include a set for the Cape directors G. Wren Howard and Michael Howard. By the 1960s, “it is estimated that six copies were typed initially, with one for in-house use and one given to the jacket illustrator required to inform his designs” (Gilbert). Richard Chopping (1917–2008) worked on From Russia, With Love in 1957 and eight other Ian Fleming James Bond books, thus creating a distinctive style for most of the series. He also produced the design for John Gardner’s continuation novel, Licence Renewed, in 1981.
SIXTY FINE ITEMS
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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