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, 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., and his ...

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

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

Early life

Chopping was born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

, Essex, and educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a private school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) in Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Baccalaureate schools in England. The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a f ...

, Holt."Richard Chopping: Versatile illustrator best known for his distinctive Bond book jackets"
(obituary), ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 23 April 2008

Illustrator

Chopping painted in the ''

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

'' 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'' (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 town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk and is centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festi ...

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 On Her Majesty's Secret Service may refer to: * ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (novel), a 1963 James Bond novel by Ian Fleming * ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (film), a 1969 film adaptation of the novel by Peter R. Hunt ** ''On Her Maj ...

'' (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 fourteenth and final James Bond book written by Ian Fleming. The book is a collection of short stories published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 23 ...

'' (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 Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

. 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'' 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 (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 Mrs ...

, 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." 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 Bertie Maurice van Thal (1904–1983), known as Herbert van Thal, was a British bookseller, publisher, agent, biographer, and anthologist. Biography Van Thal's grandfather was a distiller (King's Liqueur Whisky), and was a director of the theatre ...

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, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...

in Colchester. They lived in

Wivenhoe Wivenhoe ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Colchester, Colchester district, in north-eastern Essex, England, approximately south-east of Colchester. Historically Wivenhoe village, on the banks of the Riv ...

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

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

.David Buckman,
"Denis Wirth-Miller: Bohemian artist who enjoyed a close association with Francis Bacon"
''

'', 19 January 2011

Correspondence with Ian Fleming

On 8 April 2010

Swann Galleries Swann Galleries is a New York City auction house founded in 1941. It is a specialist auctioneer of antique and rare works on paper, and it is considered the oldest continually operating New York specialist auction house. The company has separate ...

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 Artists from Colchester People from Wivenhoe English illustrators People educated at Gresham's School English LGBTQ novelists English LGBTQ artists 20th-century English novelists Writers who illustrated their own writing Trompe-l'œil artists 20th-century British LGBTQ people