WODEHOUSE, P.G. Annotated typescript draft of Quick Service.

‘A Foundation for the Fair Copy’

WODEHOUSE, P.G. Annotated typescript draft of Quick Service. [S.l.] 9 August 1939.

4to. Typescript, held together with a single brass fastener at upper left corner, housed in a custom red cloth clamshell box, gilt black lettering-piece to spine, foot of spine lettered directly in gilt; ff. ‘214’ (i.e. 235); text to rectos only (though several ff. with earlier material to versos, out of sequence), pagination inconsistent, with many manuscript amendments and errors throughout; measuring 270 x 210 mm (save for ff. ‘59–82’, measuring 253 x 200 mm); first title-page a touch soiled and creased, slight edge wear, else clean and well preserved; extensive authorial revisions, corrections, additions, and deletions throughout.

Original typescript, with substantial manuscript revisions throughout, of the complete rough draft of the novel Wodehouse believed to be his best, from the library of James H. Heineman.

Quick Service was published on 4 October 1940 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and on 27 December 1940 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, having previously been serialised in the US in The Saturday Evening Post between 4 May and 22 June 1940. The novel follows the ‘Ham King’, American meat-packing tycoon James Duff, in his quest to reacquire a portrait of his ex-fiancée, Beatrice Chavender, who complains to him after she consumes an unpleasant mouthful of ham produced by the company of which he is managing director.

Wodehouse, according to Frances Donaldson, thought Quick Service to be his best book, a statement supported by a 1966 letter to Charles A. Goodrum in which he describes the novel as ‘one of the ones of mine I think I like best’. The title-page of this original typescript, signed by Wodehouse in ink, contains his pencilled note at the top: ‘this is the rough draft of the story. It lacks certain bits written into the fair copy, but it will serve as a foundation to work on if the fair copy gets lost. PGW’.

In the lower portion of the page, ‘Chapters 1 to 3’ (typed) is crossed through, with ‘PART ONE’, dated ‘Aug 9–1939’, pencilled in its place, along with the additional authorial note: ‘This – up to [?] moat scene – should be at least 100 pages.’ Densely annotated in pencil throughout, with notes, emendations, and deletions on most pages, a significant number of the versos contain additional typescript material, many with corrections, not used in the published novel.

Provenance:

1. Maggs Bros, Autograph Letters and Historical Documents (catalogue 698 (1940), no. 1035) and Autograph Letters and Historical Documents (catalogue 759 (1946), no. 676).

2. From the estate of James H. Heineman. His sale, Sotheby’s (26 June 1998), lot 91 (not sold).

SKU: 2126351