(photo credit: TASCHEN: © 2013 TASCHEN GmbH, Hohenzollernring 53, D-50672 Köln, www.taschen.com)
(Image above shows the cover of the book which is the title ‘The James Bond archives’ and 007 closely followed by an image of a gun)
“Bond, James Bond”
With those three words, spoken by Sean Connery in 1962, the world was introduced to one of the longest-running and perhaps best-loved cinematic characters of all time.
50 years on, the 23rd James Bond film, Skyfall, was released and those three words were uttered once more, this time by Daniel Craig.
When the cameras first started rolling in Jamica on Dr No all those years ago, no one could have predicted what Ian Fleming, Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli had started.
Ian Fleming began writing the first Bond novel, Casino Royale, at his Jamican holiday home, Goldeneye, in 1952. It was something he had thought about for some time. During World War 2, Fleming had been personal assistant to Admiral John Godfrey, director at the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty. He was an organiser and ideas man on a multitude of fronts; in short he had been a spy.
Prevented by the Official Secrets Act from talking about it openly, Fleming, like spies before him and since, for example W. Somerset Maughan and John le Carré, turned to fiction. Through writing, Fleming could immerse himself in that world once more.
The Bond novels were successful, touching a chord in a generation of Britons who had lived through the war and wanted a more exotic lifestyle than the austerity measures at home.
Fleming let producer Harry Saltzman option the Bond film and television rights. Through a mutual friend Saltzman met Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli, an experienced film producer, and they agreed to go into business together making Bond movies as EON Productions.
EON Productions made the first Bond movie, Dr No, in 1962.
To mark the 50th anniversary, publishing house Taschen and dedicated editor, Paul Duncan, created this book as an appropriate tribute to this incredible milestone.
The James Bond archives is exactly that. Paul Duncan spent two years researching over one million images and 100 filing cabinets of documentation.
The result is the most complete account of the making of the series, covering every James Bond film ever made, beginning with Dr. No (1962) and ending with Skyfall (2012), including the spoof Casino Royale (1967) and Never Say Never Again (1983).
This fascinating and, at 600 pages, huge book looks not just at each Bond film but at the world behind the films and everything it took to make them happen -the writers, producers, directors, actors, production staff, designers, costumers, special effects technicians and composers.
Containing rare and previously unseen photographs and documents found in the EON and MGM archives, this book is a fitting tribute to the legend of James Bond.
You can find further details of The James Bond archives on the main catalogue, available in ‘Catalogues’ on the Library’s website.