FLEMING IAN: (1908-1964) British Author, creator of James Bond. T.L.S., Ian, one page, 8vo, 'as from The Clinic', although on the printed stationery of Old Mitre Court, Fleet Street, 1st May 1961, to Antony Terry in Bonn. Fleming sends his correspondent a thousand thanks and remarks 'I am really rather impressed by the sound of the MS Europa, though I expect it would really be hell once one got on board', further thanking Terry for the 'Mercedes stuff' although remarking 'But I had heard that they had a new 220 SE on the way with a much more powerful engine, and I believe they showed this at Geneva the other day'. The author concludes by informing his correspondent that he is making 'lightning progress' and expects 'to be on all fours again very shortly'. Two file holes to the left edge, just affecting two words of text but not the signature. VG

Antony Terry (1913-1992) British Journalist, a former European Editor of The Sunday Times who was first hired in 1949 by Fleming (at the time the Foreign manager for the newspaper). Terry's obituary in The Independent stated that he was 'one of the paper's most valuable assets, a one-man listening post, a fastidious checker of facts, a burrower into dark corners and a traveller who never complained of fatigue'

In April 1961, the month before the present letter was written, Fleming suffered a heart attack during a regular weekly meeting at The Sunday Times. During his period of convalescence Fleming wrote up the bedtime story he had previously told to his son each evening; the result was Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, Fleming's only children's novel, which was eventually published in October 1964.