Richard Wasey Chopping (14 April 1917 – 17 April 2008) was a British illustrator and author best known for painting the

dust jacket The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back book ...

s of

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 ...

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 starting with '' From Russia, with Love'' (1957).

Early life

Chopping was born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

, Essex and educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

Holt Holt or holte may refer to: Natural world *Holt (den), an otter den * Holt, an area of woodland Places Australia * Holt, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...

Illustrator

He painted in the ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

'' style, creating a realistic and almost three-dimensional appearance. Among his illustrations are nine covers from 1957 to 1966 for James Bond books by

and the cover of John Gardner's first Bond continuation novel, '' Licence Renewed'' (1981).

Book covers

*''Alde Estuary: The Story of a Suffolk River'' (1952; Norman Adlard & Co) *''

The Saturday Book ''The Saturday Book'' was an annual miscellany, published from 1941 to 1975, reaching 34 volumes. It was edited initially by Leonard Russell and from 1952 by John Hadfield. A final compilation, ''The Best of the Saturday Book'', was published in 1 ...

'' (1955; Hutchinson) *'' From Russia, with Love'' (1957; Jonathan Cape) *''The Tenth

Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festival Th ...

Programme Book'' (1957) *'' Goldfinger'' (1959; Jonathan Cape) *'' For Your Eyes Only'' (1960; Jonathan Cape) *'' Thunderball'' (1961; Jonathan Cape) *'' The Spy Who Loved Me'' (1962; Jonathan Cape) *'' The Fourth of June'' (1962; Anthony Blond) but only the hardback edition *'' On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (1963; Jonathan Cape) *'' You Only Live Twice'' (1964; Jonathan Cape) *'' The Man with the Golden Gun'' (1965; Jonathan Cape) *''The Fly'' (1965; Secker and Warburg) *''

Octopussy and The Living Daylights ''Octopussy and The Living Daylights'' (sometimes published as ''Octopussy'') is the 14th and final James Bond book written by Ian Fleming in the Bond series. The book is a collection of short stories published posthumously in the United Ki ...

'' (1966; Jonathan Cape) *''The Ring'' (1967; Secker and Warburg) *''The Last Dodo'' (1967; Farrar, Straus and Giroux) *''The Thirty-Second

of Music & the Arts Programme Book'' (1979) *'' Licence Renewed'' (1981; Jonathan Cape)

Author

During the 1940s, Chopping also established himself as an author and illustrator of natural history and

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

. His early work includes ''Butterflies in Britain'' (1943), which was drawn directly on the lithographic plates, ''A Book of Birds'' (1944), ''The Old Woman and the Pedlar'' (1944), ''The Tailor and the Mouse'' (1944), ''Wild Flowers'' (1944), ''

Heads, Bodies & Legs ''Heads, Bodies & Legs'' is a 1946 children's book by Richard Chopping and Denis Wirth-Miller. The book was published by Puffin Books, Puffin, and reprinted in 1951 and 1954. Each illustrated page of the book is divided into three separate flaps s ...

'' with Denis Wirth-Miller (1946), and the collection of short stories ''Mr Postlethwaite's Reindeer'' (1945). Chopping's first novel, ''The Fly'' (Secker & Warburg, 1965) was recommended to its publisher by

Angus Wilson Sir Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson, CBE (11 August 191331 May 1991) was an English novelist and short story writer. He was one of England's first openly gay authors. He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for ''The Middle Age of ...

, where David Farrar found it "a perfectly disgusting concoction". It was edited by Giles Gordon, who later wrote that he was determined to like the novel, hoping that "more, and no doubt better, books would follow. ''The Fly'' was indeed disgusting." Gordon found Chopping "most fastidious" and his book "sufficiently sordid to appeal to voyeurs, and if Chopping were to adorn it with one of his famous dust-jackets it could be a ''succès de scandale''; and so it proved."Gordon, Giles, ''Aren't We Due a Royalty Statement?'' (1993) Chopping's second novel, ''The Ring'' (1967), was more mundane and much less successful. His short story ''The Eagle'' appears in the anthology ''Lie Ten Nights Awake'' (1967, ed. Herbert Van Thal).

Private life

Chopping's life partner was the landscape painter Denis Wirth-Miller (born 27 November 1915, died 27 October 2010

The two were the first couple to register a

Civil Partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

in Colchester. They lived in

Wivenhoe Wivenhoe ( ) is a town and civil parish in north-eastern Essex, England, approximately south-east of Colchester. Historically Wivenhoe village, on the banks of the River Colne, and Wivenhoe Cross, on the higher ground to the north, were two ...

for over sixty years, and were the founders of an artist community which counted

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

as a member.

Correspondence with Ian Fleming

On 8 April 2010 Swann Galleries auctioned an archive of letters between Chopping,

, and others involved in the production of nine of the 007 covers between 1957 and 1966. The letters touch on details about the jacket art, praise for Chopping's work, payment information, copyright issues and other related topics. The lot sold for $57,600.

References

External links

Obituary: ''Independent''

Obituary: ''Times''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chopping, Richard 1917 births 2008 deaths People from Colchester People from Wivenhoe English illustrators People educated at Gresham's School English LGBT writers British LGBT artists 20th-century novelists Writers who illustrated their own writing Trompe-l'œil artists 20th-century LGBT people