TLS signed “Yours sincerely, Ian Fleming,” one page both sides, 8 x 10, Kemsley House letterhead, October 25, 1949. Letter to journalist and spy Antony Terry of the British Press Centre. In part: “I am perfectly happy to agree with the views about Berlin you express…I certainly appreciate your point that Berlin has the ‘big city feeling,’ and towns like Dusseldorf have about as much significance in Germany as Reading has here. Anyway, I have given you carte blanche and I am only anxious that you should establish a secure base as soon as possible. I explained the Hamsher position to you over the telephone this morning and you will hear more from him. I am paying him a retainer of £20 a month, so you need have no hesitation to work him hard. He is officially your Number 2 and normally we shall contact him through you. At the moment we cannot byline him, but I would like you to discuss this point with him and ask him to suggest a name without delay. Please let me know what you think you can get for the Mercedes, and what other car you could purchase with the proceeds? I fear we are not in a spending mood here at present and good housekeeping is the watchword. With Hamsher next door to you, I do not feel that the D.P.A. will be necessary…Please keep an eye open for really newsworthy photographs, and let it be known amongst free-lances that you are in the market for anything which might suit the ‘Daily Graphic’ or the ‘Sunday Graphic.’ Please particularly keep your eye open for photographs from inside Russia. A series on ‘Stalingrad Today,’ or on any of the other big Russian cities, would be very acceptable, but watch out for fakes. Normally, you should tell photographers that you are sending their pictures to London and that they will be paid for if used. Naturally, if there is anything in the nature of a scoop, you will have to snap it up and we would be prepared to pay big money if necessary. Individual prints are worth £1 to £2, but a double-page spread in the ‘Graphic’ would be worth up to £15 or £20. This is only a side line and should not engage too much of your time, although it would be as well to get into the habit of illustrating your feature articles with a suitable picture.” In fine condition.
As foreign manager of the Kemsley newspaper group’s Sunday Times, Fleming hired Terry to be posted abroad. Meanwhile, Fleming ran an intelligence outfit known as Mercury which used foreign correspondents to gather information in sensitive foreign zones. With several classic tropes of espionage fiction—including the middleman contact “Number 2” and Cold War intrigue in Russia—this is the quintessential Fleming letter.
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