JAMES BOND
FACT FILES

Part One: The Original Face of James Bond

Ian Fleming's James Bond novels were published in hardback in the UK by Jonathan Cape, with the first three books in the series issued with dust jackets designed by the author himself, but executed by Kemsley Newspaper Group’s in-house artist Kenneth Lewis (1926-2013). DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1956) and DR. NO (1958) featured dust jacket illustrations by Patricia Marriott (1920-2002), who also designed the playing card motif on the cover of the 4th edition of CASINO ROYALE which was reprinted in hardback from 1957. Pat Marriott was best known as an illustrator of children's books, and in 1953 had married Michael Howard (1923-1974) who was Ian Fleming's literary advisor and a director (and later Chairman) of publisher Jonathan Cape. FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE (1957) and all remaining Jonathan Cape first editions featured dust jackets with the trompe l'oeil paintings of Richard Chopping (1917-2008).

None of the Jonathan Cape hardback editions of Ian Fleming's novels depicted the character of James Bond himself, and it was not until 1955, when the first paperback edition of CASINO ROYALE was published in the UK, that 007 was given a face. Although James Bond had been played by Barry Nelson (1917-2007) in the 1954 US CBS-TV adaptation of CASINO ROYALE, this version would be unknown to UK readers at the time, and the production was largely forgotten until its rediscovery in the early 1980s. Artist Roger Hall (1914-2006) depicted a blond-haired James Bond whose face appears to be based on American actor Richard Conte (1910-1975). Prior to joining PAN Books, Roger Hall had worked for Eric Pulford Publicity where he was a prolific film poster artist. Eric Pulford (1915-2005) later designed the iconic UK quad-crown poster for From Russia With Love (1963) which was painted by Italian artist Renato Fratini (1932-1973); and also designed the stylish minimalist UK quad-crown poster for The Ipcress File (1965) - the first of the popular Harry Palmer films produced by Harry Saltzman (1915-1994) based on the novels of Len Deighton. The first paperback printing of 35,000 copies of CASINO ROYALE from PAN Books sold out, with a second edition of 35,000 units issued in August 1955. Ian Fleming received his first 12.5% royalty payment from PAN in September 1955.

Unusually MOONRAKER and not LIVE AND LET DIE was the second James Bond novel published in paperback by PAN Books in 1956. This decision was taken in order to avoid a paperback edition of LIVE AND LET DIE competing with the same title which had recently been released in hardback by The Reprint Society. The cover artist for MOONRAKER was Ronald William “Josh” Kirby (1928-2001) who would later go on to illustrate many of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of books from 1983 until his death. The prolific artist also painted the UK quad-crown poster for Return of The Jedi (1983). The initial print-run of the MOONRAKER paperback was 50,000 copies which had all sold by the end of 1957. The novel was then out-of-print for a year until the 2nd printing with a new cover by Sam Peffer was published in 1959. The first paperback edition of MOONRAKER is therefore one of the hardest to find nowadays due to its very small print-run. Several titles in the 1969 ‘white-model’ series also had very small print-runs making them equally scarce, with THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN limited to just 30,000 copies.

Rex Archer's DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER painting appears to be based on a similar cover published in the USA for the 1957 Perma Books (M-3096) paperback of Widow's Pique by Blair Treynor, which was the masculine pseudonym of Selina Abraham Treynor (1888-1967). The original painting was by James Meese (1917-1971) and sold at auction in the USA for $5,676 in October 2011. Meese had earlier provided the cover art for the first American paperback of LIVE AND LET DIE, also published by Perma Books in June 1956. It was not unusual at this time for different artists’ covers to be repainted and re-used on other editions, but as Widow's Pique was not published in the UK, it is likely that the cover was reproduced in one of the imported American periodicals then available, inspiring Archer to repaint it for DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. Later in his career Rex Archer was a prolific illustrator of children's comics during the 1970s & 1980s. Although PAN's DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER paperback did not feature Ian Fleming's hero on the cover, the character would soon be given a face that would stay with him more-or-less unchanged for the next eight years, in newsprint at least.

After going freelance in the mid-1950s Sam Peffer then began a long and prolific career creating paperback artwork for many different publishers including PAN Books. When the painted paperback cover fell out of fashion, he returned to illustrating video covers and posters for low-budget exploitation films in the 1970s. One of Sam Peffer's most memorable later commissions was the artwork used on the UK quad-crown poster for the erotic Sci-Fi movie spoof Flesh Gordon (1974).

Like many artists, Sam Peffer generally painted his finished artwork based on photographs of stand-ins and models who posed in identical positions to those conceived for his rough paintings shown to the publishers' art buyer for approval (which in the case of PAN Books was Tony Bowen-Davies). Peffer's background in cinema advertising meant that he frequently used Hollywood stars as the basis for his rough paintings. Sam Peffer would later paint the likeness of Bernard Lee (M in 10 James Bond films 1962-1979) on the cover of the film tie-edition of Cone of Silence (GREAT PAN G389); and future Sir James Bond, David Niven, on the cover of Please Don't Eat The Daisies (GREAT PAN G372) both published in 1960.

The new CASINO ROYALE paperback with the Sam Peffer cover was printed four times between December 1958 and September 1960, with a total of 115,000 copies produced. Copies of the two printings with the Roger Hall cover which had been issued twice in 1955 had sold out in early 1957. 40,000 copies of the new Sam Peffer cover were printed in December 1959, with 18,000 of those being exported. The 22,000 copies sold in the UK now had the price point of 2/6, which would also explain the need for a new cover as the two original printings were priced at two-shillings. The new cover sold out within six months and a reprint of 30,000 units were released in April 1960, and a small proportion of those exported to Commonwealth countries.

With the PAN paperback of MOONRAKER out of print throughout 1958 a second edition was issued in February 1959, with a new cover by Sam Peffer. Following the approval of his rough painting, Peffer worked from reference photographs of Dick Orme, with his own wife Kitty (1922-2020) standing in for Gala Brand. The year-long unavailability of Ian Fleming's third James Bond novel clearly generated demand in the title, and the initial print run of 35,000 copies sold out very quickly, initiating a second printing of a further 25,000 paperbacks in June 1959, which had also sold out by the end of the year.

FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE also proved popular with the initial 50,000 copies selling out very quickly, and most of the second printing of 40,000 in September 1959 also sold by the end of the year. A third printing of 25,000 copies were issued to coincide with the February 1960 paperback debut of DR. NO which sported Sam Peffer's fourth cover painting. Once again working from his initial rough painting and reference photo of Bond and Honey (whose face is not seen on the cover), this cover is dominated by a green-hued Doctor No whose face on the final version is based on Mexican actor Rodolfo Acosta (1920-1974).

The face of James Bond on both his rough painting and final cover of DR. NO appears to be based on Sam Peffer himself. For the cover for the 1958 PAN paperback The Case of the One-Eyed Witness (GREAT PAN G198), Peffer used a photograph of himself as reference. His DR. NO rough painting also shows Bond in the same attire but wearing a watch and holding a gun in his left hand, both of which missing are from the final version. Sam Peffer would often pose wearing jeans and a shirt, and it is possible that the DR. NO cover was based on one of many reference photographs of the artist, and repurposed for the DR. NO cover. In this instance Peffer's rough painting was also directly based on one of the reference photographs of him in this attire, and explains why Bond's face is based on Peffer's own, and not Dick Orme who had featured on the three previous covers.

Sam Peffer would also use his wife Kitty and her brother stuntman Jack Cooper (1923-2010) as the photo reference for his paperback covers. Cooper also doubled for Robert Shaw (1927-1978) in the train fight in From Russia With Love (1963); and would later be seen as one of the gunmen in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), along with Richard Kiel (1939-2014) and stuntman/arranger George Leech (1921-2012). The trio pursue Roger Moore and Barbara Bach in the Lotus Esprit (which was filmed in Sardinia) before being forced off the road by Bond's gadget-laden car. Another model and actor used by Sam Peffer as a stand-in for photo reference was former Ballet dancer David Davenport (1921-1995), who would later have his own James Bond connection when he played [uncredited] the Captain of HMS Tenby in You Only Live Twice (1967). After his ‘death’ in Hong Kong, James Bond's funeral at sea was filmed onboard this ship, which was actually moored near Gibraltar at the time the sequence was shot.

The Original Face of James Bond CONTINUED

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FACT FILES - James Bond UK Paperbacks