FROM WRITER ... WITH LOVE!
£500k signed Bond set – with code for Fleming’s ‘mistress’
ONE message was meant for an alleged mistress and another for his old boss – the spy chief known only as M.
The personal notes to friends and colleagues from novelist and one-time secret agent Ian Fleming adorn a rare and complete set of his James Bond books.
The witty messages mean the set of presentation copies inscribed by Fleming have now been valued at £500,000.
one of them was for Sarah Dugdale, a supposed mistress. The married novelist wrote in a copy of Dr No: ‘Sarah, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this, Mabel.’ Calling himself Mabel may well have been a lighthearted attempt to conceal an affair.
Fleming sent Goldfinger to his friends Albert and Cecil Whiting who were fellow members of Royal St George’s Golf Club in Kent. The 1958 novel contains a scene in which 007 takes on Auric Goldfinger in a game of golf.
A copy of Casino Royale was inscribed with a message to the head of the secret service, M. In it he wrote: ‘To M, these pages from my memoirs! Ian.’
He dedicated a first edition of Live and Let Die to former girlfriend Clare Blanchard. The inscription reads: ‘To Clare who sheds much light. With love Ian 1954.’
Leonard Russell, an editor who assisted him with You only Live Twice, received a copy of Thunderball with the note: ‘To
Leonard. These thunderballs! from Ian.’ Two books in the collection have no messages because they were published after Fleming died in 1964.
The set of 14, which has been compiled by a book collector over the past decade, is for sale at the Masterpiece London Art Fair which is being held by dealer Peter Harrington.
owner Pom Harrington said: ‘This remarkable collection was the result of a ten-year collaboration with a client who wanted to put together a set of James Bond books with witty and personal inscriptions and associations – the crown jewel being the one inscribed to M.
‘Now that the collection is complete, he felt it is time to move on.’ The online fair runs from June 22-28.