Two letters from Ian Fleming to the author and illustrator Nicholas Bentley – SIGNED by Fleming [Framed]
£4,000.00
Letter 1: A one page letter to author and illustrator Nicholas Bentley, typed on Kemsley House headed notepaper, with Fleming’s own hand for the greeting and farewell. Fleming, who was Foreign Manager at the Kemsley Group of Newspapers, drafted this letter in regard to Bentley’s position as an illustrator and contributor to The Sunday Times. Measures 10 x 8 inches, two folds – near fine condition. The two writers maintained a professional relationship for about a year, and around the time this letter was written, Fleming was finishing the first draft of ‘Casino Royale’. Whilst pressing his publisher for a print run of 10,000 copies, Fleming would cite as an example in support of his claims Nicholas Bentley’s mystery ‘The Tongue-Tied Canary’, which sold 13,000 copies, despite being (according to Fleming) a “very moderate and conventional work” (cf. Gilbert 2012, p.22).
Letter 2: Typed Letter signed “Ian” to Nicolas Bentley, 1p., 8vo, Kemsley House, London, 18th July 1952, on commissions for drawings, “I have just heard from Mr. Neville that the weekly Gallico articles will definitely end on 2nd August, so from that date until 10th August payments will revert to the old 15 guineas a week basis and thereafter each drawing will be purchased from you separately. I think this finally clews up the whole position”, folds.
Nicolas Clerihew Bentley (1907-78), cartoonist and author. In May 1945, Fleming joined the “Kemsley newspaper group, which owned the Sunday Times, as foreign manager, responsible for its worldwide network of correspondents.” – Oxford DNB.
Now framed individually
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- Description
Description
Letter 1: A one page letter to author and illustrator Nicholas Bentley, typed on Kemsley House headed notepaper, with Fleming’s own hand for the greeting and farewell. Fleming, who was Foreign Manager at the Kemsley Group of Newspapers, drafted this letter in regard to Bentley’s position as an illustrator and contributor to The Sunday Times. Measures 10 x 8 inches, two folds – near fine condition. The two writers maintained a professional relationship for about a year, and around the time this letter was written, Fleming was finishing the first draft of ‘Casino Royale’. Whilst pressing his publisher for a print run of 10,000 copies, Fleming would cite as an example in support of his claims Nicholas Bentley’s mystery ‘The Tongue-Tied Canary’, which sold 13,000 copies, despite being (according to Fleming) a “very moderate and conventional work” (cf. Gilbert 2012, p.22).
Letter 2: Typed Letter signed “Ian” to Nicolas Bentley, 1p., 8vo, Kemsley House, London, 18th July 1952, on commissions for drawings, “I have just heard from Mr. Neville that the weekly Gallico articles will definitely end on 2nd August, so from that date until 10th August payments will revert to the old 15 guineas a week basis and thereafter each drawing will be purchased from you separately. I think this finally clews up the whole position”, folds.
Nicolas Clerihew Bentley (1907-78), cartoonist and author. In May 1945, Fleming joined the “Kemsley newspaper group, which owned the Sunday Times, as foreign manager, responsible for its worldwide network of correspondents.” – Oxford DNB.
Now framed individually
