Donald McCormick | Archive of material relating to Ian Fleming, 1946-1963

Donald McCormick

Archive of material relating to Ian Fleming

Comprising:

i) Five typed letters signed, from Ian Fleming to Donald McCormick, four on Kemsley House headed paper, one on 4 Mitre Court Chambers headed paper, 14 August 1946-4 August 1960

ii) Four memos, two manuscript, two typed, from Ian Fleming to Donald McCormick, on Kemsley Newspaper headed paper

iii) Two telegrams, from Ian Fleming to Donald McCormick, June-July 1948

iv) Donald McCormick's typed notes on Geoffrey Bocca's article on Fleming in the Saturday Evening Post, 22 June 1963

[with:]

v) Donald McCormick's calling card and his membership card for the James Bond British Fan Club

[and:]

vi) Donald McCormick's Kemsley Newspapers accredited Foreign Correspondent card

AN IMPORTANT ARCHIVE OF FLEMING'S CLOSE CONFIDANT AND 'STRINGER'

Donald McCormick (1911-98) worked with Fleming both in Naval Intelligence and later as a trusted agent of the Mercury Service, Fleming's global network of information-gathering correspondents which provided cover for members of the British Secret Service; Anthony Terry being a prime example (see lot 37). Known as 'stringers', as Fleming plotted their movements via pins and string-lengths on a vast wall map at Kemsley House.

McCormick was responsible for a number of news scoops, as mentioned in the present correspondence, was Fleming's local guide in North Africa, especially Tangier, where he was posted, wrote widely on international espionage and the Cambridge spy ring, and authored the popular biography Life of Ian Fleming (1994). Fleming first visited Tangier during the war and would return often, notably in 1957 when researching The Diamond Smugglers.