AUTHOR'S TYPESCRIPT
WHITE, T.H. "The Master," the AUTHOR'S FINAL TYPED DRAFT, with his textual and typographical corrections in manuscript. The 233 typed and numbered foolscap pages, double-spaced, constitute 35 chapters. They are preceded by three pages in manuscript: the title page, with an earlier title "Don't Say Die" crossed through and "The Master" substituted; the dedication to Robert Louis Stevenson with his name in monogram; and on the third page a quotation from The Tempest. White has used the front blank for his presentation inscription to John Arlott, dated "Xmas 1957," adding below the inscription an original pen-and-ink drawing of a scene from the story. Bound in contemporary sky blue cloth, backed in deep blue buckram, the spine lettered in gilt: "The Master. T.H. White."
Details
WHITE, T.H. "The Master," the AUTHOR'S FINAL TYPED DRAFT, with his textual and typographical corrections in manuscript. The 233 typed and numbered foolscap pages, double-spaced, constitute 35 chapters. They are preceded by three pages in manuscript: the title page, with an earlier title "Don't Say Die" crossed through and "The Master" substituted; the dedication to Robert Louis Stevenson with his name in monogram; and on the third page a quotation from The Tempest. White has used the front blank for his presentation inscription to John Arlott, dated "Xmas 1957," adding below the inscription an original pen-and-ink drawing of a scene from the story. Bound in contemporary sky blue cloth, backed in deep blue buckram, the spine lettered in gilt: "The Master. T.H. White."
The Master was published by Jonathan Cape in 1957, and has been described by White's biographer as "the author's idea of a story he would have enjoyed when he was young." A sinister yet not unpitiable crank who is preparing to take over the government of the world with the aid of an underground scientific installation, situated on the remote island of Rockall, "the Master" is a meglomaniac of a type familiar enough in modern fiction: however, the two protagonists are not sophisticated spies, but the 12-year-old twins, Nicky and Judy, and likenesses to White himself have been observed in the 157 year old Master whose sobriquet also points to his role as Nicky's teacher. Judy, being a girl, is not thought to be suitable material for teaching but together the twins and their dog make a good team who face the problem of circumventing the Master's ability to mesmerise and thought read. The illustration, accompanying the presentation inscription to John Arlott, shows the Master taking a glass of whisky from his assistant, the Chinaman, with the dog, Jokey, nearby.
The corrections to the typescript are relatively minor ones, but they have the interest of showing the extraordinary care taken by White over the use of naturalistic idioms, and the pains he is at to adopt the persona of an imaginative, 12-year-old; any overly sophisticated vocabulary is eschewed in order to preserve an adolescent's freshnesss of vision, with its constant shifts of perspective.
The Master was published by Jonathan Cape in 1957, and has been described by White's biographer as "the author's idea of a story he would have enjoyed when he was young." A sinister yet not unpitiable crank who is preparing to take over the government of the world with the aid of an underground scientific installation, situated on the remote island of Rockall, "the Master" is a meglomaniac of a type familiar enough in modern fiction: however, the two protagonists are not sophisticated spies, but the 12-year-old twins, Nicky and Judy, and likenesses to White himself have been observed in the 157 year old Master whose sobriquet also points to his role as Nicky's teacher. Judy, being a girl, is not thought to be suitable material for teaching but together the twins and their dog make a good team who face the problem of circumventing the Master's ability to mesmerise and thought read. The illustration, accompanying the presentation inscription to John Arlott, shows the Master taking a glass of whisky from his assistant, the Chinaman, with the dog, Jokey, nearby.
The corrections to the typescript are relatively minor ones, but they have the interest of showing the extraordinary care taken by White over the use of naturalistic idioms, and the pains he is at to adopt the persona of an imaginative, 12-year-old; any overly sophisticated vocabulary is eschewed in order to preserve an adolescent's freshnesss of vision, with its constant shifts of perspective.