JONKERS RARE BOOKS
23. FLEMING, Ian AUTOGRAPH NOTES FOR FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE [1955]. Notepad (275 x 198 mm) in stiff wrappers with the emblems of the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) and the Turkish Criminal Police Commission printed in dark blue to front paper wrapper and at head of each leaf. The initial three pages (rectos only) containing autograph notes in blue ink by Fleming. Together with a foolscap bifolium (336 x 210 mm) of lined paper, with a further three pages of autograph notes by Fleming in blue ink. The notepad in very good condition with a few light marks and two short closed tears to the wrappers. The bifoliate sheet shows a little spotting to the outside edge and a short closed tear at the edge of a central horizontal crease. Some pencilled notes to the documents from John Pearson’s prior re- search. [42582] £97,500 Fleming’s outline notes from attending the conference of the Interna- tional Criminal Police Commission, the precursor to Interpol, in Tur- key in 1955, which he was to use as source material for From Russia With Love. Fleming travelled to Istanbul in the company of Sir Ronald Howe (As- sistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard) to cover the conference for the Sunday Times. Though Fleming commented later that the conference
was rather boring- “The trouble with these policemen is that they have no idea what is really interesting in their jobs and regard criminal mat- ters as really a great bore,” (Letter to Admiral Godfrey, 1955). Nevertheless, the notes show Fleming paying close attention to the in- telligence community and especially the Russians. It would appear that the plot and characters of From Russia With Love had already taken meaningful form in Flemings mind and that he went to the conference seeking the answers and details which would lend verisimilitude to his prose. The notebook contains a series of details on which he appears to be seeking clarification, including “Noise of telephone bell. Types of cigarettes, cigars. Black Sea villa - where, description, swear-words. In conversation-polite? Harsh?... Smells in Moscow... How to address Bela Kleb?... is tea brought into meetings?... Kleb uniform, Central records?... Russian girls love Englishman - what for - what dislikes. Sexually prudish”. Later, Fleming starts to build up character profiles for the novel. “Tati- ana Romanova. darling? Speak French? Learning to be a spy...” There is also a couple of paragraphs, struck through by Fleming, which found their way, almost verbatim, into chapters 14 and 19 of the final text of From Russia with Love. “Kerim had a wonderfully warm dry handclasp. It was a strong West-
ern handful of operative fingers. Not the banana skin handshake of the bazaars that makes you want to wipe your fingers on your coat- tails... Some ship going up the Bos- phorus into the Black Sea prowled like in the night like something in a zoo, a sleepless animal” The separate sheets give infor- mation on the history of the Rus- sian Secret Service, “Smersh part of MGB... BYVSHY - for- mer people... two rooms flat with mother in an M.G.B. house SADOYAYA-SPASSKAYA... 8 storey 2000 rooms 190 roubles per month...”, and Russian cul- ture, “no women smoke not well regarded. Hair very important. Puritanical sexually. No lipstick. Good clean nails... girls must have scent”.
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