Text graphic with the title 'The Art of Renato Fratini' and the author's name 'Timothy R. Smith' on a black background.

The Definitive Monograph

The first comprehensive book celebrating the life and work of legendary illustrator Renato Fratini.

Remaining first-edition copies now available.

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448 pages

Over 900 images

authorised by the fratini estate

printed in italy

A World First

fifty years in waiting
Thirteen Years in the Making

Who was the man behind the most famous Bond poster ever made? Renato Fratini's art defined British cinema and the pop glamour of the Swinging Sixties—yet after his sudden death in 1973, aged just forty, his name all but vanished.

Authorised by the Fratini Estate, The Art of Renato Fratini restores his lost legacy. Based on a decade of research, rare interviews, and passionate collecting, this visual biography unveils hundreds of rarely seen works—a celebration of an artist almost lost to time.

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OWN A COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION

Following our successful Kickstarter campaign, remaining copies of The Art of Renato Fratini are now available directly from Ink Forge Press.

Limited to 1,500 copies, this 448-page hardcover brings together more than 900 images, beautifully printed in Italy. Explore the available editions and order through our webstore while stocks last.

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Painting of a woman with red hair sitting on a white surface, wearing a long black dress, with one leg stretched out and her chin resting on her hand, looking at the viewer.

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About the book

In Swinging Sixties London, Renato Fratini became one of the most sought-after illustrators in British cinema and publishing. Movie studios, publishers and advertising agencies competed for his brush.

He painted the celebrated From Russia with Love artwork that helped define Bond’s visual identity. He illustrated the Carry On franchise across nine films and produced more than 600 book covers for Fontana, Penguin, Corgi and Heinemann—transforming how romance, crime and adventure looked on British paperback racks.

His illustrations appeared on books that sold in their tens of millions and on some of the most memorable cinema advertising of the era. Yet until now, his name remained largely unknown.

The Art of Renato Fratini is the first book to tell his extraordinary story and bring together his astonishing body of work—more than 900 images spanning film posters, paperback covers, advertising and magazine illustration.

Edited by Professor Steve Chibnall, one of the UK’s leading historians of British cinema.

Open magazine with pages featuring a colorful illustration and article about the 1968 sci-fi film 'Barbarella.' The right page shows a painted portrait of a blonde woman holding a large gun, with a yellow background and graphic elements.
Open magazine featuring a movie poster for 'From Russia With Love' with images of Sean Connery as James Bond, a woman in a swimsuit, and a woman in a yellow costume, with text and production details.

Author Timothy R. Smith devoted thirteen years to researching, collecting and tracing hundreds of paintings, posters and illustrations—many never credited, catalogued or reproduced before.

The Art of Renato Fratini is a beautifully written and designed 448-page volume, reproducing Fratini’s work at exceptional scale and detail. Printed in Italy to exacting standards, it restores one of the great figures of twentieth-century commercial illustration to the place he deserves.

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Selected works

Vintage comic book cover titled 'The Big Smear' featuring a woman with red hair in a black dress sitting on a surface, with a large illustration of a man holding a gun in the background. The man has an intense expression, and the woman has a confiden
Vintage movie poster for 'The Green Helmet' featuring illustrated faces of a man and woman, a yellow racing car with the number 25, and a motorcycle, all set against a red background with bold text.
A vintage movie poster for "The Fall of the Roman Empire" featuring illustrated portraits of actors Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness, James Mason, and Christopher Plummer, with a background of Roman warriors and architecture, and a message i
A painting of a woman in a dark dress sitting in front of a large, ornate building with a staircase, with greenery and a cloudy sky in the background.
Colorful vintage illustrated poster for the movie 'The Sea Wall' starring Silvana Mangano, Anthony Perkins, Richard Conte, Jo Van Fleet. The poster features a woman in a yellow dress, a man in a blue shirt, and scenes of people near water with a sea
Colorful illustrated poster for the play 'Sapphire' featuring a woman lying on the ground with red hair, surrounded by scenes of people and vibrant colors, with bold text highlighting the cast and tagline.
A colorful illustrated poster of the musical 'Carry On' with caricatures of characters hanging onto a wooden fence, parodying a traditional British postcard. The title reads 'Don't Lose Your Head' in bold yellow letters, with the tagline 'Laughing un
A colorful, artistic poster for the film "Senso" featuring a romantic scene with a man and woman embracing. The background depicts a canal with boats and a city scene with people. The title "Senso" is prominently displayed in bold red and black lette
Book cover for 'The Real Gone Goose' by George Bagby, featuring an illustration of a woman in black lingerie with a record player and bottles of alcohol.
Movie poster for 'La Donna Più Bella del Mondo' showing a woman in a dark blue gown with feathered headpiece and matching fan, with a purple background, featuring text in Italian and names of cast and crew.
Vintage movie poster titled "La Bella di Roma" featuring a close-up portrait of a woman with red hair and blue eyes, wearing a yellow top. In the background, there is a white statue of a horse and three men dressed in suits and hats, standing in fron
Book cover with illustrations of a woman in a green shirt and text about Perry Mason, Bert Stanley Gardner, and the Sulky Girl.
Vintage book cover titled "The Powder Barrel" by Haggard, featuring an illustration of a woman with dark hair, wearing a pink dress, sitting with a confident expression, against a blue background.
Illustration of the movie poster for "Carry On Again Doctor" featuring cartoon characters, a woman in a nurse costume, a doctor with a stethoscope, and a woman on a surgical table, with humorous expressions and a tagline about their latest laughter o
Movie poster for 'Blindfold' featuring Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale. The poster has images of the two stars, with Hudson in suit holding a gun, and Cardinale in revealing outfit with yellow gloves. Additional images include scenes of action, mil
Colorful movie poster for 'Barbarella' featuring a woman with blonde hair holding a gun, with space-themed artwork and characters in vibrant, psychedelic colors.
Book cover titled 'Other Voices, Other Rooms' by Truman Capote, featuring an illustration of a girl with blonde hair in a red shirt and a boy lying shirtless in the grass, with a house in the background and the text describing themes of youth, doubt,
Vintage album cover for Billie Holiday's 'Lady Sings the Blues' with William Dufty. The cover features a painted portrait of Billie Holiday singing passionately, with a colorful background depicting police officers and a woman, indicating a jazz or b
Book cover of "The Last Enemy" by Berton Rouché, featuring an illustrated woman with red hair in a green dress standing in a room with a purple door, blue chest of drawers, and a man sitting on a bed.