'Diamonds are Forever' Bond manuscript to go on auction

A rare James Bond manuscript featuring writer Ian Fleming’s handwritten notes is expected to fetch as much as 80,000 pounds at auction. The Diamonds Are Forever script features Fleming’s alterations on almost every page and was prepared by his secretary Ulrica Knowles, a real-life Miss Moneypenny. [caption id=“attachment_542225” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Reuters[/caption] A first edition of Fleming’s completed novel, with a note from the author to Knowles, is also going under the hammer alongside the manuscript, reported The Telegraph. The original text includes name changes for some of the key characters in the plot, which tells the story of a diamond smuggling scheme involving American gangsters. The 57-year-old manuscript - the fourth Bond novel - includes sweeping changes and deletions of whole passages of the text as well as alterations of single words. It was typed up by Fleming at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica in early 1955 before the editing process began. The two items go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London next month. PTI