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18. [WALLACE, Edgar]Papers and Correspondence Concerning the Publicationby J.W. Arrowsmith of Angel Esquire (1908) and TheMelody of Death (1915)V.p.: J.W. Arrowsmith and others, 1925-1959A small quantity of contracts, correspondence and related materials, housedin a manila folder. Some inevitable edgewear and age-toning, but a wellpreserved collection.A DETAILED PUBLISHER’S ARCHIVE CONCERNING THEPUBLICATION OF TWO NOVELS BY EDGAR WALLACE:ANGEL ESQUIRE (1908) AND THE MELODY OF DEATH(1915), INCLUDING ORIGINAL CONTRACTS SIGNED BY THEAUTHOR.Edgar Wallace [1874-1932] was a soldier, journalist and early sportscommentator before embarking on his prolific career as a writer ofdetective stories. Leaving editing to others and dictating the text on towax cylinders, Wallace ‘wrote’ at high speed, often producing a new bookin just a few days. His first work was The Four Just Men, self-published in1905; one of his last was King Kong, one of several scripts he wrote forRKO, this one completed just weeks before his death in 1932.over serialisation rights to The Melody of Death. Drawn up by solicitorsStanley Attenborough & Co. of London, acting for J.W.Arrowsmith, andwith the relevant correspondence between the two parties;v) Memoranda of Agreement and associated correspondence betweenJ.W.Arrowsmith and others, ascribing foreign-language rights to thetwo books to publishers in Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland (late1920s), and Spanish and Argentinian rights for The Melody of Death(early 1940s);vi) Memoranda of Agreement between J.W.Arrowsmith and TheReaders’ Library,13 September and 2 October 1928, for cheap editionandFrench-language publishing rights to the two books, with associatedcorrespondence;vii) Short correspondence between the royalties departments atJ.M.Dent and A.P.Watt, March 1959, confirming reversion of rightsto the two books to the Edgar Wallace estate on the twenty-fifthanniversary of the author’s death (10 February 1957).£1,250 (plus 20% VAT to EU purchasers)J.W. Arrowsmith began life in the nineteenth century as a printer andpublisher based in Bristol. (It was Arrowsmith who published the firstedition of Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men In A Boat in 1889.) When theimprint restructured in the early twentieth century and the publishingarm of the business set up in London, existing contracts with authors hadto be redrafted and reaffirmed. The earliest documents in this collectionre-render copyright of the two books to Arrowsmith, and supersededocuments first drawn up in 1908 and 1914 respectively, when the bookswere first published.This collection of papers includes:i) Two Memoranda of Agreement between Wallace and publisherJ.W.Arrowsmith, 3 April 1925, under which Wallace re-renderscopyright of the two books to J.W.Arrowsmith. BOTH DOCUMENTSSIGNED BY WALLACE;ii) Two Memoranda of Agreement between J.W.Arrowsmith and SmallMaynard & Co. of Boston, 3 September and 5 October 1926, assigningUS publishing rights to the two books. With a carbon of a TL fromJ.W.Arrowsmith to the Recorder in Bankruptcy, 9 March 1927, givingnotification of Small Maynard’s recent bankruptcy;iii) Two Memoranda of Agreement between J.W.Arrowsmith and theDial Press, New York, undated but 1927, assigning US publishing rightsto the two books. Initialled and with occasional holograph amendments;iv) Memorandum of Agreement between J.W.Arrowsmith andWallace, undated but 1928, giving clarification of the documents in (i),necessitated by a dispute having arisen between publisher and author23
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