lets hope this and other Fleming rarities get published one day so we all can read them
but I thought Moonraker started as a film proposal then Fleming rewrote it to be his third novel? this is a change to what I know of Fleming history
In 1956, a year after the Moonraker novel was published, Fleming wrote his own 150-page film treatment...
ah, I see Andrew Lycett says this in the final paragraph
“Fleming wrote to [Alexander Korda] about his third novel – still to be written – which would be Moonraker. He said it was ‘an expansion of a film story I’ve had in my mind since the war’. This was ‘a straight thriller with particularly English but also general appeal, allowing for some wonderful film settings’. He then went to Jamaica to write the book, which came out the following spring.”
so always envisioned for a film but the novel came first. and like Casino Royale, a plot he'd had in mind since the war.
and here's a previously unseen Fleming character:
A Cockney card sharp called Tosh – a special branch officer working undercover – is one of a new cast of characters who take on the villain Hugo Drax.
The Moonraker script has long been my holy grail of Fleming items, ever since I read about it in Lycett's biography 27 years ago. For decades its whereabouts were completely unknown, and it was feared forever lost, until it turned up as a listing in Ian Fleming and James Bond: Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection. Earlier this month 120 of the collection's Bond-related film scripts, screenplays, manuscripts, storyboards and film treatments were jointly offered for sale by the London-based rare book dealers Peter Harrington and Adrian Harrington Rare Books for £500,000. Apparently those dealers have acquired all the Bond items in the Schøyen Collection, which numbers close to 600 items. [Source: https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/news/james-bond-screenplays-scripts-more-offer-ny-antiquarian-book-fair]
I'm guessing Fleming's Moonraker script is part of the larger collection that has been held back from sale. Jon Gilbert, who catalogued the collection and works for Adrian Harrington Books, will probably the man who decides what to do with the script. He has worked with the Fleming family at Queen Anne Press, which published Ian Fleming: The Notes and Ian Fleming: The Bibliography (by Gilbert), so it's possible the script might be published as a collector's edition there. Hopefully at an affordable price...
Barbel
ScotlandPosts: 37,865Chief of Staff
Comments
It certainly is an interesting read - thanks 🍸
excellent new find @Barbel
lets hope this and other Fleming rarities get published one day so we all can read them
but I thought Moonraker started as a film proposal then Fleming rewrote it to be his third novel? this is a change to what I know of Fleming history
In 1956, a year after the Moonraker novel was published, Fleming wrote his own 150-page film treatment...
ah, I see Andrew Lycett says this in the final paragraph
“Fleming wrote to [Alexander Korda] about his third novel – still to be written – which would be Moonraker. He said it was ‘an expansion of a film story I’ve had in my mind since the war’. This was ‘a straight thriller with particularly English but also general appeal, allowing for some wonderful film settings’. He then went to Jamaica to write the book, which came out the following spring.”
so always envisioned for a film but the novel came first. and like Casino Royale, a plot he'd had in mind since the war.
and here's a previously unseen Fleming character:
A Cockney card sharp called Tosh – a special branch officer working undercover – is one of a new cast of characters who take on the villain Hugo Drax.
The Moonraker script has long been my holy grail of Fleming items, ever since I read about it in Lycett's biography 27 years ago. For decades its whereabouts were completely unknown, and it was feared forever lost, until it turned up as a listing in Ian Fleming and James Bond: Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection. Earlier this month 120 of the collection's Bond-related film scripts, screenplays, manuscripts, storyboards and film treatments were jointly offered for sale by the London-based rare book dealers Peter Harrington and Adrian Harrington Rare Books for £500,000. Apparently those dealers have acquired all the Bond items in the Schøyen Collection, which numbers close to 600 items. [Source: https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/news/james-bond-screenplays-scripts-more-offer-ny-antiquarian-book-fair]
I'm guessing Fleming's Moonraker script is part of the larger collection that has been held back from sale. Jon Gilbert, who catalogued the collection and works for Adrian Harrington Books, will probably the man who decides what to do with the script. He has worked with the Fleming family at Queen Anne Press, which published Ian Fleming: The Notes and Ian Fleming: The Bibliography (by Gilbert), so it's possible the script might be published as a collector's edition there. Hopefully at an affordable price...
Very interesting. Thanks for this.
It would be a shame if it wasn't published. I'm sure it'll be fascinating reading.