Add MS 45930

THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER, translated into English prose by Thomas Edward Lawrence, afterwards (1927) Shaw, known as 'Lawrence of Arabia', between 1927 and 1931. Autograph. First published in 1932 by Sir Emery Walker, Wilfred Merton and Bruce Rogers in a limited editon and without the author's name. Although in the author's statement on f. 1 (see below) the present MS. is declared to be 'the fair and final copy, sent to Emery Walker the publisher', comparison with the printed text reveals that innumerable alterations must have been introduced at proof stage. The 'Translator's Note' which appears in the printed editions is not here included. Letters from Lawrence to the donor's wife about this translation of the Odyssey and the MS. are in Add. MS. 45904, ff. 152, 153, 161 (the last, dated 9 Dec. 1931, gives directions for binding by Wilson [i.e. John Wilson of John and Edward Bumpus Ltd., booksellers, of Oxford Street]). Paper; ff. ii + 108. Folio. A.D. 1931. Bound in orange niger by Bumpus of Oxford Street. The author's autograph design for the lettering on the spine is on a piece of paper now inserted at f. i. At f. 1 is the following memorandum by the author: 'This is the fair and final copy, sent to Emery Walker the publisher, and afterwards given by T. E. S. to C[harlotte] F[rances] S[haw] [wife of the donor], not to read but because she knew Samuel Butler, who translated the Odyssey greatly. 15. viii. 31.' At f. ii is inserted the letter from the donor to the then Keeper of Manuscripts that accompanied the gift, dated 14 July 1944. Presented by George Bernard Shaw, Esq.