Rare DAF manuscript to "fetch £80,000"

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Rare James Bond manuscript with Ian Fleming notes to fetch £80,000
A rare manuscript of a James Bond novel featuring Ian Fleming's handwritten corrections could fetch as much as £80,000 at auction, experts said today.




The Diamonds Are Forever script features Fleming's alterations on almost every page and was prepared by his secretary Ulrica Knowles, a real-life Miss Moneypenny.

A first edition of Fleming's completed novel, with a note from the author to Knowles, is also going under the hammer alongside the manuscript.



The original text includes name changes for some of the key characters in the plot, which tells the story of a diamond smuggling scheme involving American gangsters.

The villain Dolly Kidd was originally called Boofy Gore, after Arthur 'Boofy' Gore, who in reality was a close friend of the famed author

Fleming made the change at the last minute after Gore, rejected the cheeky attempt to use his name for the homosexual henchman of ruthless gang The Spangled Mob.

Another notable alteration made by Fleming was changing the chapter 17 title from "Bond forces the race" to "Thanks for the ride".

Fleming also felt that more drama was needed for the novel's horse auction scene.

In his own hand and on the side of the page, he wrote: "A pause, a bang of a hammer, a look of sincere reproach towards the ringside seats where the big money sat," to heighten the tension.

The 57-year-old manuscript - the forth Bond novel - includes sweeping changes and deletions of whole passages of the text as well as alterations of single words.

It was typed up by Fleming at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica in early 1955 before the editing process began.

Ulrica Knowles would then help out with typing and re-typing as Fleming crafted his work into the famous series of best-selling spy novels.

Knowles' value to the author can be seen in Fleming's note in the first edition Diamonds are Forever book he presented to her. The note reads: "To Rica, Who wrote it. From Ian Fleming."

The first edition, complete with Fleming's note to Knowles, is expected to fetch £9,000 at auction. The 265 page manuscript is expected to fetch £80,000.

The items were owned by the Knowles family for many years before being acquired by a private UK-based collector.

"There is a huge amount of interest in Ian Fleming and James Bond at present," said Dr Gabriel Heaton, a literature specialist at Sotheby's, who is conducting the auction.

"There are relatively few manuscripts and typescripts of the James Bond novels which come to the market.

"It is a very unusual thing to have and would make a magnificent addition to a collection, whether it be an institution or a private James Bond collection."

He said the typescript was rare because it was £mid-way through the composition process"/

"The novel has its shape but what he is doing here is honing the narrative of the prose. You get that terse nature of Fleming's prose," he said.

"His re-written sentences tend to be shorter than the originals and there is also a great passage in there where he heightens the drama of an auction."

"Fleming used to enjoy naming his characters after people he knew in real life. Fleming changed the name of 'Boofy Gore' to 'Dolly Kidd' after the real Boofy, his old schoolfriend, objected."

He added: "He did not appreciate it and fortunately for 'Boofy' he was asked beforehand and the name was changed in the final version."

The two items go under the hammer at Sotheby's in London next month.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/jamesbond/9714122/Rare-James-Bond-manuscript-with-Ian-Fleming-notes-to-fetch-80000.html

Fascinating. I didn't know Mr. Kidd had a first name. Dolly Kidd?! Doesn't sound like a man's first name.

Interesting, in the book Wint is the slobbier assassin and Kidd is the more dapper hitman. The movie reverses these general descriptors.

tiffanywint wrote:

Fascinating. I didn't know Mr. Kidd had a first name. Dolly Kidd?! Doesn't sound like a man's first name.

Interesting, in the book Wint is the slobbier assassin and Kidd is the more dapper hitman. The movie reverses these general descriptors.

Somehow Dolly matches the film Kidd.

Hilly wrote:

tiffanywint wrote:

Fascinating. I didn't know Mr. Kidd had a first name. Dolly Kidd?! Doesn't sound like a man's first name.

Interesting, in the book Wint is the slobbier assassin and Kidd is the more dapper hitman. The movie reverses these general descriptors.

Somehow Dolly matches the film Kidd.

It does at that. I don't believe "Dolly" is mentioned in the Fleming text, but I could be wrong. I might have missed it. Repeated viewings of the films can brainwash one away from the Fleming names sometimes. ie the movie drums into one's head that they are Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd - no first names.:)

Interesting find - thanks for posting!