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Vets Might Fly
HERRIOT, James
Vets Might Fly.
London: Michael Joseph, 1976
Large yellow cardboard file case (23 x 30cm approx) with handwritten title ‘Vets Might Fly / by / James Herriot’ in black ink to the upper cover; with internal metal clasps containing pages 76 to 262, the remaining blurb, i-v and 1-75 loose, complete with all pages collated and accounted for; typed on thin copy paper on rectos only; the blurb a slip measuring 19 x 15cm, stapled on the left hand edge but here loose; the covers heavily worn, creased and torn, with some red wax drips to both covers; clearly well used with the longest 11cm tear extending from the foot of spine into the upper panel; the first few pages quite creased, nicked and chipped along the edges, with a couple of small holes and tears, perhaps inevitable due to the thinness of the paper stock.
A wonderful, complete copy of the editor’s original working manuscript of James Herriot’s seventh novel in the ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ series. A number of hand corrections have been made throughout the typescript, including crossed out sections of the blurb, directions to the printer about the setting of the pages (‘Centre’ to the publication page; ‘Printer: single quotes throughout for dialogue’ to p. 1, etc.), and numerous punctuation suggestions, including the adding of commas and grammatical corrections (‘were’ for ‘had been’, ‘lives’ for ‘life’, and ‘small caps’ written in margin to p. 11). The pages have been misnumbered, and have been corrected by the editor in black ink from p. 71 until 156. Spelling mistakes have also been picked up, circled with ‘?’ in the margin on several occasions, though for the most part the text appears clean, and seems to be in its final iterations before heading for printing.
Herriot may just be one of the most famous veterinary surgeons of all time. Born in Sunderland and educated at Glasgow University, it was in 1940 that he accepted a position in a rural practice in Thirsk, Yorkshire, under the owner Donald Sinclair and his brother Brian. These experiences - living, working, and practicing in this countryside practice - later went into the creation of his first novel on the subject. Entitled If Only They Could Talk, it detailed with great humour and compassion the daily trials, errors, and downright ludicrous situations which happened on a day to day basis treating animals on the wilds of the moors and sometimes in the wilder practice room of the small surgery he shared with his colleagues. The book was a tremendous success, and a further seven books followed in a similar vein. This particular novel covers the period in which he enlisted in the RAF, and the arrival of his son, Jimmy.
The books have been adapted for television and film on several occasions, most recently in 2020 starring Samuel West, Nicholas Ralph and Rachel Shenton in the roles of Siegfried, James and Helen.
A unique typescript of the original novel, and an insight into the editorial process, showing a number of amendments not included in the final published work.
HERRIOT, James
Vets Might Fly.
London: Michael Joseph, 1976
Large yellow cardboard file case (23 x 30cm approx) with handwritten title ‘Vets Might Fly / by / James Herriot’ in black ink to the upper cover; with internal metal clasps containing pages 76 to 262, the remaining blurb, i-v and 1-75 loose, complete with all pages collated and accounted for; typed on thin copy paper on rectos only; the blurb a slip measuring 19 x 15cm, stapled on the left hand edge but here loose; the covers heavily worn, creased and torn, with some red wax drips to both covers; clearly well used with the longest 11cm tear extending from the foot of spine into the upper panel; the first few pages quite creased, nicked and chipped along the edges, with a couple of small holes and tears, perhaps inevitable due to the thinness of the paper stock.
A wonderful, complete copy of the editor’s original working manuscript of James Herriot’s seventh novel in the ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ series. A number of hand corrections have been made throughout the typescript, including crossed out sections of the blurb, directions to the printer about the setting of the pages (‘Centre’ to the publication page; ‘Printer: single quotes throughout for dialogue’ to p. 1, etc.), and numerous punctuation suggestions, including the adding of commas and grammatical corrections (‘were’ for ‘had been’, ‘lives’ for ‘life’, and ‘small caps’ written in margin to p. 11). The pages have been misnumbered, and have been corrected by the editor in black ink from p. 71 until 156. Spelling mistakes have also been picked up, circled with ‘?’ in the margin on several occasions, though for the most part the text appears clean, and seems to be in its final iterations before heading for printing.
Herriot may just be one of the most famous veterinary surgeons of all time. Born in Sunderland and educated at Glasgow University, it was in 1940 that he accepted a position in a rural practice in Thirsk, Yorkshire, under the owner Donald Sinclair and his brother Brian. These experiences - living, working, and practicing in this countryside practice - later went into the creation of his first novel on the subject. Entitled If Only They Could Talk, it detailed with great humour and compassion the daily trials, errors, and downright ludicrous situations which happened on a day to day basis treating animals on the wilds of the moors and sometimes in the wilder practice room of the small surgery he shared with his colleagues. The book was a tremendous success, and a further seven books followed in a similar vein. This particular novel covers the period in which he enlisted in the RAF, and the arrival of his son, Jimmy.
The books have been adapted for television and film on several occasions, most recently in 2020 starring Samuel West, Nicholas Ralph and Rachel Shenton in the roles of Siegfried, James and Helen.
A unique typescript of the original novel, and an insight into the editorial process, showing a number of amendments not included in the final published work.