Ian Fleming artist Richard Chopping cuts last ties with the `charming, but horrid` author

Yahoo News have reported that the man who created one of the most famous book covers of all time, the rose and revolver motif on the front of the James Bond novel From Russia With Love, is selling the proofs of his Bond designs, saying he has "had enough of the whole thing".

Richard Chopping, 86, was introduced to Ian Fleming by the artist Francis Bacon, and created much of the artwork for the early Bond novels. But the disgruntled artist says he was never properly paid for the eye-catching cover designs, and has described the author as "charming, but horrid".

Mr Chopping, who with his lifelong partner Denis Wirth-Miller was a well-known figure in the British art world of the Fifties and Sixties, has decided to sever his last link with Fleming by selling the printers proofs, together with an autographed first edition copy of Thunderball.

The painter said he was happy to let go of his last connection with Fleming, and to close the door on his part in creating the image of Britain`s most famous fictional spy.

Mr Chopping said: "Mr Fleming was not a nice man to work for. He was mean. I have been swindled all along the line.

"He said to me `I want to commission you to paint me a picture which afterwards can be used as a cover for one of my books`. It was very subtle."

Fleming, who said Mr Chopping was the only British artist who had truly mastered the trompe d`oeil technique, told the artist what elements he wanted in the composition. Mr Chopping said: "He always wanted far more objects than you could fit in. I would produce a still life, leaving a space where the titles would go."

In the cover for From Russia, With Love, Chopping pictured a sawn-off .38 Smith & Wesson revolver that belonged to Geoffrey Boothroyd, a gun expert who inspired the character of Q in the novels.

Now, Mr Chopping remains bitter that he was not paid a commission on the novels sold, and that the watercolour paintings he produced for ten successive Bond novels became the property of Fleming and have passed into private ownership.

He said: "They would be worth a great deal of money now. They were passed into Fleming`s family when he died and then sold. I borrowed some of them for a retrospective exhibition in Aldeburgh, but I don`t even know who has got them now."

Mr Chopping said the popularity of the distinctive book covers made it difficult for him to sell his work elsewhere as his style became associated with the million-selling books.

"I was quite fond of doing the early work, but it became a bore and I hate the books. I don`t like the violence. There is enough violence in the world without needing to make it glamorous."

Although he was not involved in the poster designs for the Bond films, Mr Chopping was invited on to the set when Sean Connery was filming From Russia With Love. But the experience only confirmed his growing dislike of Fleming.

"I went with the publishers in a bus down to the film set. We were all drinking champagne on the bus. When we arrived there was Sean Connery and Kurt Weill`s wife Lottie Lenya, who played Rosa Kleb. Ian Fleming was there and he had been drinking and was quite tipsy.

"Sean Connery was trying to throw a hat on to a hat stand and he kept missing it. Fleming said: `They must have scraped the bottom of the barrel when they got you`, which I thought was very rude."

Mr Chopping felt so little warmth for Fleming that he sold his autographed copies of his books for a mere £1,000. But when the rare copies were later offered at auction in New York they raised a record £40,000.

After years of disappointment about his most famous commissions, Mr Chopping had no hesitation about putting the publisher`s proofs on the market when they surfaced unexpectedly at his home in Wivenhoe in Essex.

"I found them at the bottom of a drawer. What they are is progressive proofs, so there are sheets with different colours added, yellow, brown, red. This was before they used computers for printing."

Peter Selley, one of Sotherby`s experts, said: "The proof copy is unusual in that it shows the progression and development of such a famous cover. It`s an important part of British literary history and dust jacket design itself."

The Art of Bond website also pays tribute to the unique contribution of the artist in creating the style.

"His delicate renditions of flowers and guns seemed to perfectly capture the style of the novels and remain the definitive editions."

The 12-page production proofs are expected to raise at least £1,000 when they are auctioned by Sotheby`s in London on Thursday. Mr Chopping`s first-edition copy of Thunderball, for which he also designed the jacket, is expected to fetch between £400 and £600.

Thanks to Rumpole and TheScurra for the alerts.

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