Book covers are forever: Start your week with this rare Turkish edition of From Russia With Love. Our sister site Illustrated 007 has just added this gem to their on-line gallery of James Bond art. Painted by A. Tudan in 1963, the wraparound cover featured unique imagery of Tatiana as portrayed by Daniela Bianchi on-screen. From Russia With Love book covers tended to be either abstract (Chopping, Hawkey), or to feature photo stills from the movie (Pan, Signet). Tatiana is depicted on the jacket with her hair down and in a sheet that barely covers her breasts. This is interesting because she did not appear this way in the film. So how did Tudan choose this particular image? Story continues below.
Although the bedroom rendezvous between 007 and Tatiana was quite memorable, even international movie posters tended to focus on action scenes and the famous image of Sean Connery posing with an air pistol. The Spanish poster below included Tatiana with her hair up- as she appeared on-screen- but now in a strapless dress. I seem to recall my Japanese copy of the novel also featured Connery with the pistol and a similar hair-up version of Tatiana. The Turkish image is spicier and its origin might be a bit of a mystery to most viewers.
Tudan chose not to use abstraction, photographs, nor the popular action imagery from the movie. So what inspired this Turkish copy of From Russia With Love? A batch of on-set photographs circulated at the time, many showing Connery and Bianchi horsing around in bed. Below you can see a few of the shots in the proof, as well as the actual source image for the book cover. As you can see, Tatiana's sheet got pulled down a bit further- and her sightline was moved down from her eyes to the now-suggestive barrel of his Walther PPK.
It's interesting to me how Ian Fleming's stories have been packaged over the years, and how different countries focus on elements that appeal to their culture. Perhaps for the Turkish market in 1963, publishers thought Bond's illicit love affair with an enemy agent would sell more copies? Perhaps their readers were more attracted to thrilling romance and character development than a chain of action set-pieces? In our age of the blockbuster, this may still be the eternal question. More at Illustrated 007. Color movie still from Bond Girls Are Forever. Related posts: Edward Gorey's 1960s, Double 007 Book Designs, Double 007 designs II, rare Ian Fleming edition, Book Design Dopplegangers. Click A/B comparison below for larger image. Enjoy!
