Hope Mirrlees (1887–1978), English translator, poet and novelist
In the story, James Bond's cover as genealogist Sir Hilary Bray was based on the Count's current position as heraldic researcher at the College of Arms in London.
Since 2000, Mirrlees' work has undergone another resurgence in popularity, marked by new editions of her poetry, an entry in the Dictionary of National Biography and several scholarly essays by critic Julia Briggs, new introductions to Lud-in-the-Mist by writer Neil Gaiman and scholar Douglas A. Anderson, essays and a brief biography by writer Michael Swanwick, and translations of Lud-in-the-Mist into German and Spanish.
Lud-in-the-Mist begins with a quotation by Jane Harrison, with whom Mirrlees lived in London and Paris, and whose influence is also found in Madeleine and The Counterplot.