O. F. Snelling (30 December 1916 – 6 November 2001) was an author and auctioneer clerk in the antiquarian book trade.

Career

Oswald Frederick Snelling is best known for his 1964 bestseller, ''

Double O Seven, James Bond, A Report ''Double O Seven, James Bond, A Report'' (1964), by O. F. (Oswald Frederick) Snelling, is the first book-length, critical analysis of the James Bond novels, and the only such study Ian Fleming approved. It was published in August 1964, the month ...

'', and is also noted for his books and articles on boxing and British thriller writers. Snelling began his working life as an illustrator of books. After serving in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he wrote book reviews, film criticism and articles on sports for magazines such as The Leader and Band Wagon. He wrote three books under the pen-name "Oswald Frederick” including a quiz book, Fight Quiz (1946), and two boxer biographies, ''Battling Bruce: The Fighting Career and Rise to Fame of Bruce Woodcock'' (1946) and ''White Hope: The Story of the Jack Johnson Era'' (1947). Needing more secure employment, Snelling took a job in the antiquarian book trade, working first as a clerk at Hodgson's in 1949, later Sotheby's Rare Book Department, and became Chief Clerk until the firm was closed in 1981. It was there he met author

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...

, assisting him in research for the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

novels.

Books

James Bond books

Snelling is best known for his 1964 analysis of the James Bond books, ''

'', the only such title personally authorized by

. Part of the book’s initial success was that its publication roughly coincided with the death of Fleming in August 1964 and included footnotes discussing the recently issued Bond novel, '' You Only Live Twice''. Focused on the literary 007 with passing mentions of the first

Sean Connery Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...

films, Snelling examined the predecessors to Bond, his adversaries, and especially the women in the novels. Knowing novelist

Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social an ...

was also working on a similar study (published as ''

The James Bond Dossier ''The James Bond Dossier'' (1965), by Kingsley Amis, is a critical analysis of the James Bond novels. Amis dedicated the book to friend and background collaborator, the poet and historian Robert Conquest. Later, after Ian Fleming's death, Amis ...

'' in 1965), Snelling rushed out his book to compete with Amis, and the two titles have been frequently compared ever since as the earliest serious studies of the James Bond phenomena. Snelling’s title sold over a million copies, appeared in French, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, and Israeli editions and translations, and it came out in the United States in 1965 under the imprint of the New American Library, Ian Fleming's own publishers.

The Spy connection

Before his Bond success, Snelling became acquainted with

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and

Helen Kroger Helen Evelyn Kroger (née Madden; born 11 March 1959) is a former Australian politician. She was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing the state of Victoria from 2008 to 2014. She was the president of the Victorian division of ...

, who, using the cover of booksellers, assisted Soviet spy Konon Molody who had appropriated the identity of a Canadian, Gordon Lonsdale. Snelling acquired books to help Lonsdale write while in prison before the agent was exchanged in a spy trade in 1964. In 1965, Snelling went to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

to meet Lonsdale again and negotiated the writing and publication of his memoirs, Spy (1965). It is not known if Snelling knew the memoir was completely fraudulent, as this “Lonsdale” continued to pass himself for the identity he had been assigned by his Russian masters.

Other books

Adding to his books on boxing, Snelling wrote A Bedside Book of Boxing (1972). In 1980 he wrote articles for The Antiquarian Book Monthly Review which became the basis for his next book, Rare Books and Rarer People: Some Personal Reminiscences of “The Trade.” (1982)

Online Edition

In 2007, an online edition of his Bond book was published using the title he’d have preferred, ''Double-O-Seven: James Bond Under the Microscope''. It included a 1980 introduction Snelling had written for a hoped for new release of his 1964 best-seller. Accompanying the new publication was a collection of selected correspondence between Snelling and his literary executor, Ronald Payne, written between 1979 and 1994.

Death

After the death of his third wife, Molly, Snelling never recovered from the blow and largely remained a recluse to the end of his life. He died on 6 November 2001 aged 84.

References

*O. F. Snelling - Independent Online Edition > Obituaries. Online Edition. 31 January 2002 {{DEFAULTSORT:Snelling, O.F. 1916 births 2001 deaths English writers