Lennon, John

blue ink, minor scattered corrections and two deletions, one deletion in green ink, 2 pages, 8vo (8 x 5 in.; 203 x 126 mm), headed stationery of the Albany Hotel, Birmingham, slight creasing and minor staining
[with:] 'Partly Dave', authorial typescript with corrections in blue ink including one word in autograph, the final sentence crossed-through in black ink, editorial comment in pencil initialed (" A propos Q[uery] think this was better in! (RCH)"), one page, foolscap (13 x 8 in.; 330 x 203 mm, "64 Mill Bond Extra Strong" watermark)

see cataloguing
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

"...Partly Dave was a raving salesman with the gift of the gob..."

The working manuscript and corrected typescript of the first piece in In His Own Write, published on p.15, a typically bizarre vignette tinged with pathos and menace, about a man who unnerves his wife with his habit of muttering "I'm partly Dave".   

The manuscript is one of the few items in the collection on hotel headed notepaper, allowing for unusual precision in dating. The Beatles were staying in Birmingham on 15 December 1963 filming for the television series Thank Your Lucky Stars. This was just one day after Lennon's meeting with Tom Maschler at which he agreed to write the book that became In His Own Write. 'Partly Dave' was evidently written in an initial fit of enthusiasm, and was probably the first piece written after Lennon accepted the commission (see also lot 37).

'Partly Dave' was one of a relatively small number of pieces for In His Own Write that Lennon composed by hand: a larger number were initially composed in very rough and ready typescript (lot 49), and Lennon probably wrote this piece out simply because he did not have a typewriter available. Lennon's manuscript was then typed up for submission to Cape, and that typescript is also included in this lot. Like many other typescripts in this sale, this is not a professional typescript produced by Jonathan Cape but an authorial typescript that was probably produced by Lennon himself, but could have been the work of someone within his inner circle on the author's behalf.

Lennon had been an enthusiastic typist from his teens - impressing the young Paul McCartney by showing off his typing on Paul's first visit to Mendips (see Lewisohn, p.694) - but he was untrained and somewhat inaccurate. At least some of the corrections to this and other typescripts in the collection are identifiably in Lennon's hand but others are likely to be the work of a copy editor, although surviving letters typed by Lennon show him making surprisingly detailed textual corrections by hand. When the corrected typescript reached Cape it was evidently sent to a reader and - like several other typescripts in the collection - it retains the editorial comments of an unidentified reader for the publishing house.