Rare James Bond manuscript to fetch 80,000 pounds

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.

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.