"The Devil In Texas" by Wolf Mankowitz, illustrated by Ralph Steadman - Part 2 (Published by Robert Royce Ltd, London 1984)

 

 

The inimitable and striking Steadman illustrations enhancing the story. Wolf Mankowitz (1924-1998) is better known for his screenplays for the British film industry. Titles include "A Kid For Two Farthings(1955), The Millionairess(1960), Expresso Bongo(1958), Casino Royale(1967) and many others. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0542554/bio  By the way, he was also responsible for bringing together the two original producers of the James Bond films, Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman in 1962. He was then asked to work on the writing team for the first Bond film, Doctor No. Somewhere along the way he became convinced that the film would be a disaster and withdrew from the project, asking for his name to be removed from the credits. Hindsight is a great thing as they say... Here's the Independent obituary: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-wolf-mankowitz-1158253.html

 

 

 

 

"Tmothy Dalton", portrait by Ian Pollock

I've been saving this page from one of the Sunday supplements (I can't remember which) for over 20 years. I was - and still am - a huge fan of Ian Pollock who produced this and so many other great portraits. The face is, of course, Timothy Dalton as he looked in the eighties - being the star in two James Bond movies, The Living Daylights(1987) and Licence To Kill(1989). I featured some of Ian Pollock's superb illustrations on previous posts and I'm hoping to find and buy some more books with his illustrations.
http://picturesfromanoldbook.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/king-lear-w-shakespeare-illustrated-by.html

"Colonel Sun", Robert Markham, published by the Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd, 1968. Designed by Barry Wilkinson

No, I haven't run out of books, I just had too many hustles and not enough time for blogging.

This isn't the original cover for this book (not the first edition) but I like it anyway - it evokes some the menace and suspense which are always part in every Bond story.

The writer is Kingsley Amis (R. Markham was just a pseudonym) in an attempt to continue the James Bond fame after Ian Flemming's death. I don't think it had much success even though it was adapted and published as a comic strip in the late sixties. You never know, it might just resurface as another Bond movie! There's also a picture of the endpapers - the location where the action takes place...