Rearming James Bond. Ian Fleming’s Correspondence with Geoffrey Boothroyd

Michał Urbanowicz

doi:10.31648/pl.10983

Opublikowane: 2025-10-30

Nr 13 (2025)

Rearming James Bond. Ian Fleming’s Correspondence with Geoffrey Boothroyd

Michał Urbanowicz

Prace Literaturoznawcze

Dział: Między autobiografią, pamiętnikiem, listem a biografią

https://doi.org/10.31648/pl.10983

Abstrakt

The aim of this article is to explore the extent to which the portrayal of firearms in Ian Flemingʼs original James Bond book series was influenced by the letters exchanged between the writer and Scottish weapons expert Geoffrey Boothroyd from 1956 to 1964. Boothroydʼs profound knowledge of the subject sparked Fleming’s genuine interest, to such a degree that they embarked on a collaborative effort to diversify and accurately depict the firearms used by 007, as well as other fictional characters. It will be argued that this mutual endeavour was largely successful, although the writer did not always follow his advisorʼs suggestions and made some mistakes on that account.

Słowa kluczowe:

Ian Fleming, James Bond, Geoffrey Boothroyd, listy, broń palna

Pobierz pliki

PDF (English)

Zasady cytowania

Urbanowicz, M. (2025). Rearming James Bond. Ian Fleming’s Correspondence with Geoffrey Boothroyd. Prace Literaturoznawcze, (13), 127–137. https://doi.org/10.31648/pl.10983

Cited by / Share

Bibliografia

Birstein Vadim J. (2011), SMERSH: Stalin’s Secret Weapon. Soviet Military Counter-intelligence in WWII. Biteback Publishing, London.
Google Scholar

Conley Robert J. (2007), A Cherokee Encyclopedia, University of Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Google Scholar

Fleming Ian (1962a), How to Write a Thriller, “Show: The Magazine of the Arts”, August.
Google Scholar

Fleming Ian (1962b), James Bond’s Hardware, “The Sunday Times”, 18 November.
Google Scholar

Fleming Ian (1962c), The Guns of James Bond, “Sports Illustrated”, 19 March.
Google Scholar

Gammel Irene, Karen Mulhallen (2018 [2017]), Literary Representations, in: A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in the Modern Age, ed. by Alexandra Palmer, Bloomsbury Academic, London: 191–210.
Crossref
Google Scholar

Holderness Graham (2018), You Only Live Twice: A Tale of Two Bonds, in: James Bond Uncovered, ed. by Jeremy Strong, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland: 23–40.
Crossref
Google Scholar

Judd Alan (2012), Introduction, in: Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming, Vintage, London: ix–xix.
Google Scholar

Lycett Andrew (1995), Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond, Turner Publishing, Atlanta, GA.
Google Scholar

Macintyre Ben (2008), For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming + James Bond, Bloomsbury, London, New York, and Berlin.
Google Scholar

MacLeod Hector, Malcolm McLeod (2009), Peter Manuel, Serial Killer, Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh.
Google Scholar

Millard André (2018), Equipping James Bond: Guns, Gadgets, and Technological Enthusiasm, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
Crossref
Google Scholar

Nicol Allan MacKenzie (2008), Manuel: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Black & White Publishing, Edinburgh.
Google Scholar

Smith Edward Abel (2020), Ian Fleming’s Inspiration: The Truth Behind the Books, Pen and Sword History, Yorkshire/Philadelphia, PA.
Google Scholar

The Man with the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming’s James Bond Letters (2016 [2015]), ed. by Fergus Fleming, Bloomsbury, London.
Google Scholar

Urbanowicz Michał (2023), British Spy Fiction in the Changing World: The Genre and Its Hybridity in a Diachronic Perspective, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie.
Google Scholar

West Nigel (2011), Foreword, in: SMERSH: Stalin’s Secret Weapon. Soviet Military Counterintelligence in WWII, by Vadim J. Birstein, Biteback Publishing, London: vii–ix.
Google Scholar

Internet sources:
Google Scholar

Correa Tom (2014), Tom Threepersons – The Last Gunfighter, “The American Cowboy Chronicles”, http://www.americancowboychronicles.com/2014/07/tom-threepersons-last-gunfighter.html [accessed: 15.11.2024].
Google Scholar

Glasgow Gun Fanatic Who Inspired a Bond Character… but Was Caught Up in Serial Murder Probe (2015), “The Herald”, https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13894388.glasgow-gun-fanatic-inspired-bond-character-caught-serial-murder-probe [accessed: 17.11.2024].
Google Scholar

The Guns of James Bond – BBC Documentary, 1964, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9-IQyrsjW0 [accessed: 03.11.2024].
Google Scholar

Thomas Graham M. (2021), Fleming’s Description of How Bond Should Be Played on Screen, https://midcenturybond.wordpress.com/2021/04/05/flemings-description-of-how-bond-should-be-played-on-screen [accessed: 10.11.2024].
Google Scholar