The auction literature from Christie's had this to say about Fleming's famous model, sold as Lot 122 in 1995: Price Realized £55,750 ($89,144) Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits. Estimate £5,000 - £8,000 ($7,995 - $12,792)
Lot Description
IAN LANCASTER FLEMING (1908-64)
A Royal Quiet De
Luxe portable typewriter, circa 1952, with gold-plated body and fittings,
four-row keyboard, 11 x 11 x 6in., in composition carrying case, the attached
paper tag with printed address: "The Pantechnicon, Heathfield
Terrace" and manuscript inscription: "Mrs I. Fleming 4,
23-2-73."
Provenance
By direct descent to the Hon. Mrs Fionn Morgan,
the writer's stepdaughter (sold with a letter of provenance).
Lot Notes
Ian Fleming commissioned this typewriter from the
Royal Typewriter Company in New York in the spring of 1952, as a replacement
for his old Imperial. The first draft of the novel Casino Royale, introducing
007 agent James Bond, had been read enthusiastically by Fleming's publishers
Jonathan Cape. However they commented that "although the details were
original and interesting ... the book, though publishable, needed extensive
revision." For this revision, Fleming had chosen a symbol to remind
himself where, with luck, his future lay. This was a new typewriter to replace
his old Imperial, a golden typewriter. He had ordered it in New York and on May
17th, some weeks before submitting the manuscript to his publisher, he wrote to
a his friend Ivar Bryce in New York asking him to bring the typewriter over on
his next trip to England: "Here is one vital request. I am having
constructed for me by the Royal Typewriter Company a golden typewriter which is
to cost $174. I will not tell you why I am acquiring this machine." The
gold-plated typewriter duly arrived and Fleming completed the revised
manuscript which was accepted by Jonathan Cape for publication the following
April. Fleming typed all his subsequent novels on this gleaming but compact
machine that seems to encapsulate the half-fantasy world of ostentatious 1950's
gadgetry so familiar from the Bond novels themselves." Fleming's model below.
Check Spy Vibe for the Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward,Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, and recent posts about 1960s espionage writers, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, my review of SKYFALL, 007 at the Intnl Spy Museum, Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot, new Beatles bio from Mark Lewisohn, tributes to Donald Richie and Tony Sheridan, the Les Vampires serial on Blu-ray, Lucy Fleming, The Beatles first record session, Ian Fleming's desert island interview, new Ian Fleming book designs, Fantomas, Spy Smasher, Barbarella tv show, British spy comics, Piper Gates retro designs, Cinema Retro, and more.
Want to support Spy Vibe? Please make a small donation with our secure Paypal tip-jar link at the top left of the main page. Nothing is too small to help cover the increasing bills for the domain, web-forwarding and other costs to maintain the site. Thank you!
