The Moonstone: A Dramatic Story, in Three Acts.: Altered from the Novel for Performance on the Stage. [This Play is not published. It is privately printed for the convenience of the Author.]

[London:] Charles Dickens & Evans, Crystal Palace Press,, 1877. Collins's own highly annotated dramatisation of his most successful work The author's own copy, extensively annotated by him throughout and with his ownership inscription on the preserved front wrapper. It offers an extraordinary glimpse into Collins's perceptions of his most celebrated and enduring work, as well as an insight into his working process. Such material by one of the major Victorian novelists rarely appears on the market. The Moonstone was originally serialized in Charles Dickens's All the Year Round magazine between 4 January and 8 August 1868 and published in book form in July 1868, just before the final four serial numbers appeared. The first edition was an immediate hit and sold out within two months. The stage version was performed at the Royal Olympic Theatre from 17 September to 17 November 1877. The production failed to match the novel's success, and both Henry Neville (playing Franklin Blake) and Laura Seymour (playing Miss Clack) left the cast before the end of the run. Had the stage production won over the critics, it is possible the changes in these closely written annotations would have been incorporated into a final version for trade printing. Collins simplified the novel for the stage, omitting the characters of Rosanna Spearman, Ezra Jennings, and the Indian jugglers (three Hindu Brahmins in disguise, determined to recover the diamond at the centre of the plot). He also restricted the action to a 24-hour period at Rachel Verinder's country house in Kent. This copy shows the author's creative energy and working process, with his methods for restructuring consistent and clear throughout. Collins routinely took part in dramatic performances and had a keen understanding of the process from drafting to acting. "Collins's fascination with the stage, encouraged by his association with Dickens's amateur acting company, led him to write his first play, The Lighthouse (1855), given several performances at Tavistock House, Dickens's home, and professionally produced, with great success, at the Olympic Theatre in 1857" (ODNB). The annotations are extensive, on some pages filling the margins. They range from relatively minor edits (striking through sentences, altering single words, sometimes multiple times, and eliding a couple of lines with his distinctive box blocking) to substantive revisions of entire scenes. Collins altered the structure from three to four acts, requiring a major revision at the head of page 52, where he begins the new Act III, functionally rewriting the end of Act II and titling it "The Third Act" at the upper margin, adding: "The time has advanced by a few minutes only. Franklin is discovered seated, on the night. Betteredge and Cuff stand near him". The dialogue is then further altered to reflect these changes in timing, with some passages and stage direction fully excised. Collins completely reworked pages 57-59 and 83-85, with new dialogue and direction in his hand on the blank versos of the text leaves. The nearest comparable items to this are a partial manuscript for the printed work, offered at auction but not sold in 1972, and a single manuscript leaf of the same in 2017. The privately printed edition is anyway uncommon: six copies have been traced at auction since 1915 and two confirmed copies are known institutionally in the UK. Parrish and Miller give no estimate of the print run, though it is unlikely to have been large. The copy is finely bound by London bookbinder Samuel Tout and preserves the original paper wrappers. From 1868 through to 1879, Tout (1841-1902) operated in Nassau Street in Soho, London. He then worked in a bindery in Whitechapel with William Coward, continuing on his own after 1880 and swiftly becoming a highly regarded binder. Tout was also a member of the early staff of Karslake's Hampstead Bindery, which opened in Charing Cross in 1898. Octavo (182 x 120 mm). Near-contemporary pebble-grain half morocco by Tout, marbled paper-covered boards, spine with semi-raised bands in six compartments, second and third gilt lettered, others with gilt rules, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. Original plain blue wrappers bound in, the front wrapper signed with Collins's name and Portman Square address. Housed in a custom red morocco solander box. Pp. 88, printed recto only, extensively annotated by the author in sepia ink and pencil, a couple of annotations in a second unidentified hand, leaf of annotated note paper tipped in between p. 33 and p. 34, p. 84 excised with a replacement leaf of note paper pasted to verso of p. 83. Marginal chip affecting a few letters of manuscript annotation to p. 83, several, primarily marginal, closed tears sometime repaired with tape slightly affecting annotations, final leaf backed with paper stabilizing tears, rear wrapper backed with paper stabilizing some loss. Extremities gently rubbed, slight wear to corners, handsomely bound, soiling and chipping to front wrapper, some minor fingersoiling and offsetting to contents, a very good copy. Parrish and Miller, p. 75.