Manuscripts
There are nearly three thousand separate manuscripts and manuscript notes in the Jack London Collection. As could be expected, the majority of the manuscripts are those written by Jack London himself. However, a significant number of the manuscripts in the collection were written by other persons: Charmian London, Sinclair Lewis, George Sterling, or others who sent London their work for his commentary or were paid to dramatize Jack London stories.
A complete listing of all the manuscripts in the collection is available in the Jack London Register of Manuscripts -- a separate, bound volume located in the reference stacks or by request from the Manuscripts Department. However, in summary, the collection contains written notes, typewritten or holograph versions of almost everything Jack London wrote. The following books are represented in the manuscript collection: The Abysmal Brute, The Acorn Planter, Adventure (including the notes), The Assassination Bureau Ltd., Before Adam, Burning Daylight, Cherry (including a number of variant versions augmented by Charmian London and Jack London's original holographic version), The Cruise of the Snark, Dutch Courage ("Whose Business is to Live" only), Hearts of Three, The House of Pride (including some original artwork for "Koolau the Leper"), The Human Drift ("Nothing That Ever Came to Anything") and "A Classic of the Sea" are not included), The Iron Heel, Jerry of the Islands, John Barleycorn, The Kempton-Wace Letters (incomplete), The Little Lady of the Big House, Lost Face ("Flush of Gold" is not included), Love of Life ("Love of Life" and "The Story of Keesh" are not included), Martin Eden, Michael, Brother of Jerry, Moon Face (only "All Gold Canyon" and "Planchette" are available), The Mutiny of the Elsinore, The Night-Born (except "Winged Blackmail" and "Under the Deck Awnings"), On the Makaloa Mat (except "On the Makaloa Mat"), The Red One ("The Hussy" only), Revolution and Other Essays ("The Dignity of Dollars," "The Golden Poppy," "The Shrinkage of the Planet" and "Foma Gordyeeff" are not included), The Road, The Sea-Wolf, Scorn of Women, Smoke Bellew, A Son of the Sun, South Sea Tales, The Star-Rover, The Strength of the Strong (except "The Enemy of All the World" and "The Dream of Debs"), Theft, The Turtles of Tasman (except "The First Poet"), The Valley of the Moon, War of the Classes (Table of Contents and Preface only), White Fang, and A Wicked Woman. London's manuscripts are arranged by title for each individual piece however. Thus a short story collection such as The Son of the Sun is scattered throughout the manuscripts according to the title of each individual story.
The collection is also rich in manuscript material written by Charmian London. Included are a number of manuscript versions of The Book of Jack London, Our Hawaii, The Log of the Snark and Charmian's ending to Eyes of Asia (Cherry). Other notable manuscripts include Charmian's notes for "Us" which later became The Book of Jack London. Also notable are her diaries from 1900-1947. The diaries were previously restricted and readers were required to obtain special permission from the Jack London estate. As of 2004, these restrictions have been lifted and the diaries are available for use without special permission.
Among the manuscripts not written by the London family are those by:
ATHERTON, Frank. "My Boyhood Days with Jack London." A somewhat unreliable, but nonetheless important reminiscence of Jack London's early days in Oakland.
FOX, Barry. "Nakata, Son of Jack London." An article about one of Jack London's later Japanese servants.
JENSEN, Emil. "Jack London at Stewart River." Recollections of London's months in the Klondike.
LEWIS, Sinclair. "Plot Summaries." Some seventeen ideas for stories and novels which Sinclair Lewis sold to Jack London between 1911 and 1913.
MORRELL, Edward. "Statement ... made to Jack London ..." An account of Morrell's prison experiences which London used as the basis for The Star-Rover.
OPPENHEIMER, Jacob. "The Prison Tiger." Another prison story, which London incorporated into The Star-Rover.
STERLING, George. Poems. Some 128 poems, some holograph, some typed, most signed, which George Sterling sent to Jack London during the many years of their friendship.
THOMPSON, Fred. "Diary of Yukon Experiences." A copy of the diary which Thompson made during his trek to Dawson City with Jack London in 1897.
WALLING, Anna Strunsky. "The Kempton-Wace Letters." Anna Walling's notes and writings about the book she and Jack London wrote in 1903.
