The Song of Arthur

n.p.: n.p., n.d.. Typescript. Very good. Four volume typescript, approximately 8 inches by 10 inches. Individual original typewritten or carbon copy pages are bound with string into cloth and printed paper boards, with typewritten labels. Unpaginated; the four volumes are a little over 6 inches thick. Nearly every page has additions, corrections and strike-outs in either the author's hand, that of his daughter, or an unknown hand. Two copies of Fowler's 1919 forerunner work, 'Scenes from the Morte d'Arthur', written under his pseudonym Alan Seymour, have been cut up and incorporated into the typescript and also bear manuscript corrections. We understand that this set is one of a very small number--probably no more than five--of copies made up for submission to publishers, and may very well be one of only a couple of copies surviving. According to his biographer, Brian Stableford, 'The Song of Arthur' was his life's work. It was just finished when a bomb destroyed the manuscript in 1941. Wright spent much of the rest of his life recreating it. It was unpublished at his death in 1965. In 'The Song of Arthur', Wright intended to incorporate the whole body of Arthuriana into a single work of blank verse. Volume one commences with Book One, 'Merlin', and volume four concludes with Book XXIV, 'The Death of Arthur'. Some of the books are bound out of order, e.g., 'The Riding of Lancelot' (Book VIII) follows Book IX ('Tristam'). Light wear else in very good condition.