J O N K E R S R A R E B O O K S
P R E S E N T A T I O N C O P I E S & M A N U S C R I P T S
EXTENSIVELY CORRECTED TYPESCRIPT 21. FLEMING, Ian THE FINAL REVISED TYPESCRIPT OF DIAMONDS ARE FOREV- ER with Fleming’s autograph revisions throughout. 1955-6. Quarto typing paper, 277 leaves, numbered to 265, with 11 supernumerary leaves, plus two preliminaries, the penultimate leaf (264) lacking. Bound in an early, possibly pub- lisher’s or author’s, ‘Interscrew’ binder with brown paper covered boards with rex- ine covering at the spine-side edges and brass screws. Marked on the first leaf “To be returned to author for final revision”. Extensive autograph revisions throughout, affecting almost every page, by Fleming mostly in blue biro. Further marked up by a copy-editor to the preliminary pages with type-sizes and similar technical annotations. Occasionaly marginal proof readers marks in light pencil mainly corrected and one passage noted “?Libel”, later struck through to confirm that it has been read for libel. Light signs of use with the first five leaves pulling loose of the binder and slightly creased and the final leaf loose and frayed, the remainder in excellent condition with a little gentle wear to extremities of binder. Housed in a custom made black quarter morocco clamshell case. [40887] £350,000 Ian Fleming’s revised typescript of Diamonds are Forever, heavily revised by the author with nu- merous autograph additions, revealing Fleming’s working practices as he honed the fourth Bond novel into its final shape. Almost every page of the manuscript shows authorial tweaks in Fleming’s characteristic blue ballpoint. Many tauten the plot, while some are apparently minor: a telephone number, for ex- ample, gets altered from Wisconsin 9.00456 to Wisconsin 7.3697. Others add vigour to the prose: when Bond checks himself into the Hotel Astor it was originally “in front of an elderly woman”; now it is “before a hatchet-faced woman with a bosom like a sandbag”. Or, at page 88, “too many expense-account customers” becomes “too much expense-account aristocracy”. While most pages
20
21
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs