London (AFP)
Hot letters from British novelist Ian Fleming, creator of the character James Bond, to the love of his life, Ann, will go on auction in London next month, Sotheby's announced Tuesday.
This set of 160 letters covers two decades of their lives, their first secret idyll, while Ann, née Charteris, was married to another man until the last years of their marriage.
The author of the series of novels featuring the famous 007 writes to his "monkey" or "darling pig" in missives that evoke their sadomasochistic practices, gossip about their rich and famous friends and of course the incredible success of the Fleming's novels.
"It's no coincidence that Ian wrote his first novel with Bond the year of his marriage, both as a liberator for his libido and imagination and to try to make money for a woman accustomed to live in opulence without even realizing it, "said Gabriel Heaton, a specialist in books and manuscripts at Sotheby's, in a statement.
"In addition to retracing a relationship with an extraordinary erotic charge, this correspondence traces the meteoric rise of Bond and paints a living picture of the high society living in the post-war period," he says.
Ian and Ann met in 1934, when Ann was the wife of Baron Shane O'Neill while Ian was a banker in London. They become lovers, while maintaining each other relationships in parallel.
In 1948, Ann gave birth to a girl born of her union with Ian, while she was married to her second husband, the press mogul Esmond Harmsworth, Viscount Rothermere. The child, born prematurely, lives only a few hours and the drama brings the couple closer, who begins to consider living together in their letters.
"I wish a fairy would come with a magic wand and make everything go well, give Esmond a perfect wife and put me in your bed with a leather whip in her hand so that I can keep you good for forty years ", writes Ann.
The couple finally married in 1952, the year of the birth of their son Caspar and the publication of "Casino Royale", the first installment of the saga 007.
Their correspondence will be sold online between 3 and 10 December, and estimated between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds sterling (between 233,000 and 349,000 euros).
© 2019 AFP