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Friday 28 November 2014

'Groundbreaking' collection of first edition book spills secrets, regrets and mistakes of world's best authors

A “groundbreaking” collection of 50 first edition books is to be auctioned for charity, each with unique handwritten annotations by the world’s most renowned authors.

'Groundbreaking' collection of first edition book spills secrets, regrets and mistakes of world's best authors
Harry Potter and the Philosopherís Stone, by J.K. Rowling Photo: Sothebys

The books each give an “extraordinary” insight into the mind of the authors, which include numerous Man Booker prize winners and two Nobel Laureates.

As well as giving readers inside knowledge about the creation of the books, the notes also reveal the mistakes, regrets and secrets of the acclaimed authors.

Yann Martel discloses he “never liked” the opening line of his award-winning Life of Pi, while Sir Tom Stoppard claims he now has to “avert my eyes” from particularly “horrible” lines in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, amends a hyphen on her own title page, which originally read: “The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation”, while Philip Pullman crosses out swathes of Northern Lights to represent the passages he uses in public readings.

Seamus Heaney discloses he would like to “revise” his well-known poem The Early Purger, despite it being “one of the most popular in schools since it can start a good argument”.

Referring to a “silly” joke about a family member, Fever Pitch author Nick Hornby advises his reader to “ask yourself whether you’d make the same joke if you knew a million people were going to read it”.

Ian McEwan disclosed he had received objections from Dutch readers after a line in his novel Amsterdam read: “When it comes to being reasonable, they go rather over the top”.

The sale, organised by literary charity English PEN and Sotheby’s auction house, is advertised as showcasing 50 of the most famous books in the world with once-in-a-lifetime comments by their authors.

The full list of contributors includes Julian Barnes, Frederick Forsyth, Ian McEwan, Hilary Mantel and J K Rowling. Sir Tom Stoppard, Jeanette Winterson, Lionel Shriver, Margaret Atwood and Michael Morpurgo have also added their annotatations to first editions, writing, drawing and correcting their own works to raise money for charity.

Some have chosen to illustrate their pages, including Ralph Steadman for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Yann Martel and J K Rowling.

Others use the opportunity to correct work they see as a mistake, with Sir Tom Stoppard cutting his “old-fashioned” three act play down to two, while proclaiming other parts “too complicated”, “awkward” and “horrible”.

Julian Barnes has provided the original copy of Metroland he sent to his parents, along with an envelope of yellowing cuttings of newspaper reviews and his handwritten note asking for their opinion.

Most authors contributing to the sale also provided a running commentary of their thoughts, with Hilary Mantel adding reams of notes about her research for Wolf Hall.

Organisers have disclosed the only criteria set for writers was: “Feel free to scribble second thoughts, marginalia or drawings throughout the work in whatever fashion moves you, thus singling out this particular first edition and making it even more desirable for a reader or collector to want to own”.

Rick Gekoski, curator of the collection and trustee of English PEN, said the annotations "give a peek into the soul of their maker" and would "affect how the book is to be read and understood in the future".

“In 40 years in the rare book trade I have never seen a collection of books to compare with those in this sale,” he said. “The self-scrutiny of the authors is highly considered - crafted, thoughtful and thought provoking.

“And like works of literature themselves, their annotations give a peek into the soul of their maker. In many cases, the commentaries will affect how the book is to be read and understood in the future.”

Philip Errington, director of printed books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s, added: “The authors’ annotations are as unique as the authors themselves and each book reflects an author’s highly individual response to the task of annotation.

“As a result, many of these books are, quite simply, the finest copies of these highly collectable first editions."

The remarkable sale, entitled First Editions, Second Thoughts, will take place at Sotheby’s, London on May 21.

The list of annotated first editions in full:

Julian Barnes: Metroland

Nadine Gordimer: The Conservationist

Seamus Heaney: Death of a Naturalist

Kazuo Ishiguro: The Remains of the Day

Ian McEwan: Amsterdam

Yann Martel: Life of Pi

Michael Morpurgo: War Horse

Philip Pullman: Northern Lights

JK Rowling: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Lionel Shriver: We Need to Talk About Kevin

Ralph Steadman: Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas

Tom Stoppard: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead

Edmund de Waal: The Hare with Amber Eyes

Margaret Atwood: The Blind Assassin

John Banville: The Sea

Sebastian Barry: A Long Long Way

John Berger: G.

Alan Bennett: An Uncommon Reader

William Boyd: An Ice Cream War

Peter Carey: Oscar and Lucinda

Justin Cartwright: In Every Face I Meet

Wendy Cope: Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis

Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw: The Quantum Universe

Margaret Drabble: A Summer Bird-cage

Anne Enright: The Gathering

Helen Fielding: Bridget Jones's Diary

Frederick Forsyth: The Day of the Jackal

Nick Hornby: Fever Pitch

David Hare: Racing Demon

Howard Jacobsen: The Finkler Question

P.D James: Death of an Expert Witness

Thomas Kineally: Schindler's Ark

Andrea Levy: Small Island

Penelope Lively: Moon Tiger

David Lodge: Small World

Alexander McCall Smith: The No1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Roald Dahl: Matilda

Hilary Mantel: Wolf Hall

Andrew Motion: Goodnestone

Ben Okri: The Famished Road

DBC Pierre: Vernon God Little

Ian Rankin: Knots and Crosses

Martin Rowson: The Waste Land

Ian Sinclair: White Chappell

Ali Smith: The Accidental

Jeanette Winterson: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Lynne Truss: Eats, Shoots and Leaves

Joanna Trollope: The Men and the Girls

Colm Toibin: The Heather Blazing

Graham Swift: Last Orders

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