MS 433 07 01

MS 433 07 01

Papers relating to ‘Arabian Sands’ by Wilfred P. Thesiger

Sub-series

Thesiger began work on Arabian Sands during the winter of 1956. He found London too distracting and so decided to go to Copenhagen, Denmark to write.

1956-1958

3 boxes

This sub-series consists of the working drafts of Thesiger’s first published book.

Thesiger sent his manuscripts back to Curtis Brown so they could produce typescripts which would then be sent back to Thesiger to correct further. Thesiger worked through the drafts around eight times, however not all of these have survived.

The first typescript was given to his friend Valentine ffrench Blake for comment, and he helped him rewrite several chapters. The book took a total of 22 months to write, and rewrite, and another year to correct the proofs. While the typescripts show the input of ffrench Blake, they also demonstrate how Thesiger increased in confidence the more he wrote. The various drafts of the manuscripts have become jumbled and as a result it is difficult to ascertain the correct order. When first or final drafts can be established, this has been noted on the file.

It was published in October 1959 and was immediately successful.

The original folders have been kept with the typescripts.

Physical arrangement of the 3 boxes is as follows:
Box 1: MS 433 07 01 01
Box 2: MS 433 07 01 02-04
Box 3: MS 433 07 01 05-11