Roald Dahl (1916-1990)

Production archive for the publication of Boy, including original sketches by Dahl
1. Roald Dahl’s original sketches for illustrations in Boy, some 33 in total, all in black ballpoint pen on paper sheets of various dimensions, housed in manila envelope annotated by Craig ‘Dahl’s Drawings & odds + sods’, comprising: i) Group of 14 sketches, each on a separate sheet, mainly 15 x 10cm: Harald Dahl’s fork and carry-case, freight train, dead mouse in gobstopper jar, ‘closed’ sign for Mrs Pratchett’s sweetshop, ‘wanted for murder’ poster, Bestepapa’s pipe (on larger irregularly-cut sheet), Norwegian goat’s head, Norwegian doctor’s Bunsen burner, Dahl’s broken fountain pen, Dahl in his Repton uniform (versions of all these reproduced in Boy respectively at pp. 14, 16, 37, 38, 41, 54, 62, 65, 104, 126), and 5 sketches apparently not published in (teacup, icicle-encrusted toilet bowl, snake, boy touching his toes, and one unidentifiable object resembling a chequerboard on a table); ii) ‘Liquorice bootlaces’, with Dahl’s autograph caption, 17 x 19.5cm, sketch and text traced in black ink by Ian Craig on sheet of tracing paper tipped along top edge and annotated by Craig with index number and page reference (Boy p. 30); iii) ‘The cane’, ‘The cane again’, ‘and again’, 3 sketches on 1 sheet, with Dahl’s autograph captions, 15 x 14.5cm, small tear to top right corner (Boy pp. 45, 109, 130); iv) Dr Dunbar’s bottle of pills, and another bottle (possibly Dr Dunbar’s chloroform), 2 sketches on 1 sheet, 10 x 15cm (Boy p. 91, possibly p. 97); v) Dahl’s St Peter’s toothbrush, 10 x 15cm, with Ian Craig’s revised version below on same sheet (Boy p. 88); vi) Dead mouse in gobstopper jar, 2 versions of the same sketch, each on separate sheet, 13 x 11cm and 12 x 14cm, taped together at corner, one sheet unevenly torn along edges (Boy p. 37); vii) Dahl’s St Peter’s tuck-box, and contents of tuck-box, 2 sketches each on separate sheet, both 15 x 10cm, taped together at left-hand edge (Boy pp. 70 and 71, the contents sketch showing several items not in the published version, e.g. toy soldiers, banana); viii) Dead mouse (chapter headpiece for ‘The Great Mouse Plot’), 2 versions of the same sketch, each on separate sheet, 9 x 8cm and 7 x 13cm, taped together at corner, one sheet unevenly torn along edges (Boy p. 35); ix) Gobstopper, sherbet suckers, liquorice bootlaces, tricycle, 4 sketches, each on separate sheet (various dimensions, approx. 7 x 9.5cm to 11 x 20.5cm), gobstopper and sherbet suckers both with Dahl’s autograph captions, tricycle sketch remaining taped at one corner to A4 sheet of rough ink sketches by Ian Craig (one captioned ‘Mama and Papa admiring the view’ in an imitation of Dahl’s handwriting), the remaining 3 sketches taped together but now detached from Craig’s sheet (adhesive residue visible) (Boy pp. 29 and 24); x) Outhouse and icicle-encrusted toilet bowl, 2 sketches on 1 sheet, 16.5 x 10cm, creased, taped at one corner to A4 sheet containing 7 sketches of Mrs Pratchett and the gobstopper jar by Ian Craig. 2. Ian Craig’s sketches and finished designs for the illustrations in Boy, mainly in black ink, comprising numerous discrete drawings on 28 sheets (nearly all A4, i.e. 29.5 x 21cm), 15 of which containing the final versions of the illustrations before typesetting, being identical to the printed illustrations in the published work and marked up with page numbers and typesetting instructions (reduction, magnification and re-orientation) on sheet of tracing paper tipped to original sheet or on original sheet itself (tracing paper detached in most cases), these comprising the freight train (Boy p. 16), Dahl’s favourite sweets (p. 29), tonsil ticklers and pear drops (p. 32), dead mouse (chapter headpiece for ‘The Great Mouse Plot’, p. 35), dead mouse in gobstopper jar (p. 37), ‘Closed’ sign for Mrs Pratchett’s shop (p. 38, on a small sheet, 8 x 17.5cm only), Mrs Pratchett’s revenge (p. 46), Norwegian toilet (p. 59), Norwegian goats (p. 62), Norwegian doctor’s Bunsen burner (p. 65), Dahl’s tuckbox and contents (pp. 70 and 71, the drawings on one sheet), Dahl’s toothbrush (p. 88), Captain Hardcastle (p. 99), Dahl’s broken fountain pen (p. 104), sports gear (chapter headpiece for ‘Boazers’, p. 128). The remaining 13 sheets with numerous sketches, from rough to fair copies, mostly recognisable versions of the published illustrations in Boy (e.g. sweets, Dahl’s toothbrush, the Bunsen burner, Mrs Pratchett, the toilet at Repton, Dahl in Repton uniform), but including several sketches not published (e.g. Dahl with a bandaged nose). 3. Two typed letters signed from Roald Dahl to Ian Craig, 1984, on the book’s title (‘I must thank you for coming up with the first sensible title for my book. “Boy” is fine. We all like it …’) and enclosing a photograph (‘Here’s the picture of the whole of St. Peter’s which I promised you. Captain Lancaster is the terrifying creature with the glasses and the finger moustache …’). 4. Publisher’s layouts and designs for photographic illustrations, comprising: layout for endpapers (14 pencil sketches from photographs pasted onto A5 sheet of thin paper, with cuttings of photocopied manuscript captions pasted below each image, images numbered and the sheet annotated in blue pencil, together with 3 A4 sheets of tracing paper with manuscript captions only, apparently in imitation of Dahl’s hand, in black ink with annotations in blue pencil, one sheet with section cut away); group of trial page-layouts (4 single A4 sheets each stapled to single A5 sheet, and one ‘booklet’ of 4 A4 sheets stapled together, including photocopies of photographs and Dahl’s childhood letters, and original pencil sketches and copies of the same, annotated in ink and pencil by publisher); annotated paste-ups for the ‘Wanted for Murder’ poster and the Dahl family motorcar illustrations (pp. 41 and 92); approx. 30 sheets of tracing paper marked up with typesetting instructions for photographic illustrations, often with outline sketches of the relevant photographs). 5. Publisher’s paste-ups of Dahl’s childhood letters, comprising photocopies of 25 letters and letter fragments, pasted onto black card mounts, each annotated with typesetting instructions on sheet of tracing tipped to mount (tracing paper detached in several instances). Together with an envelope of photocopied letters and typed extracts annotated by publisher, in envelope annotated by Craig (‘Xeroxes of letters & typed extracts’). 6. Folder of miscellaneous material, including typed memos, editorial checklist, specimen pages, annotated designs for page-layouts (some apparently relating to the US edition), and similar