Alan Furst: A Preliminary Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

Alan Furst:

A Preliminary Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

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	Repository:	The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
	Creator:	Furst, Alan
	Title:	Alan Furst Papers
	Dates:	1961-2005
	Extent:	31 boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder, 1 galley folder (14.62 linear feet)
	Abstract:	The papers of American writer Alan Furst contain drafts of his novels and non-fiction works, as well as articles, book reviews, essays, poems, screenplays, and stories. Correspondence and career-related material are also included.
	RLIN Record #:	None
	Language:	English.

Administrative Information

The papers of American writer Alan Furst contain drafts of his novels and non-fiction, as well as articles, book reviews, essays, poems, screenplays, and stories. Literary and personal correspondence as well as career-related material is also included. The papers are organized into three series: I. Works, 1963-2004; II. Correspondence, 1963-2005; and III. Career-Related Material.

The Works series is subdivided into Subseries A. Books, and Subseries B. Other Writings. Book titles are arranged alphabetically and include the novels Blood of Victory (2002), The Caribbean Account (1981), Dark Star (1991), Dark Voyage (2004), Heart of the Raining Queen (serialized, 1977), Kingdom of Shadows (2001), Night Soldiers (1988), The Paris Drop (1980), The Polish Officer (1995), Red Gold (1999), Shadow Trade (1983), The World at Night (1996) including 1997 screenplay, and Your Day in the Barrel (1976). Also present is material for The Book of Spies (2002), an anthology of literary espionage edited by Furst, and drafts of One Smart Cookie (1987), written with Debbi Fields, founder of the cookie and baked goods chain "Mrs. Field's Cookies." All drafts are typed, rather than handwritten or computer-generated. Revised sections are often typed and taped on top of the original typescript. In addition, the drafts contain many handwritten changes. Frequently present are notes and research material, a succession of drafts, copy-edited typescripts, setting copies, proofs, dust jackets, publicity (including posters for Dark Star and Red Gold), and reviews. A small amount of editorial correspondence is available for a number of the novels.

Subseries B. Other Writings includes early typescripts such as a graduate school paper on Sir George Savile, a fragment from an untitled first novel, and poems. Also present are newspaper and magazine articles, numerous book reviews, essays, screenplays, and stories. Furst 's articles on a variety of topics appeared in popular magazines and newspapers including Architectural Digest, Elle, Esquire, 50 Plus, International Herald Tribune, Islands, New Choices, New York, The New York Times, Pursuits, Salon, and Seattle Weekly. The articles are arranged by year of publication and frequently include typescript drafts and tearsheets. Of note is the April 1984 Esquire article, "The Danube Blues," which sparked Furst's interest in writing espionage novels. Numerous slides of his 1983 Danube trip are also available. Unproduced screenplays include "Heros of the Last War" (1984), and "Warsaw" (1992). Stories and essays vary in title and topic, such as "A Crisis in Our Lives," for the 1961/1962 Oberlin Yeoman, "East Coast Time," "A New York Story," "Schmuck Economics" and "Things in the Woods. "

The correspondence in Series II, primarily incoming letters, is arranged in chronological order from 1963-2005, the bulk between 2001-2005. Correspondents include academics, agents, booksellers, literary associations, publishers, and readers worldwide. The small amount of personal correspondence from friends and acquaintances is virtually all related to Furst's books, with the exception of a 1963 letter from Furst's grandfather Max Stockman in which his grandson is urged to be a teacher and "write as a sideline" in his spare time.

Series III. Career-Related Material includes articles about Furst, book catalogs and festival fliers, contracts and royalty statements, interviews and publicity photographs.

Separated Material

Books, books on tape, and personal effects received with this collection were transferred to appropriate departments within the Ransom Center.

Index Terms

People

Fields, Debbi.

Document Types

Contracts.

Galley proofs.

Typescripts.

Container List


Series I. Works, 1963-2004
		Subseries A. Books
			Blood of Victory (2002)
Box	Folder
1	1			Notes and proposal; early title "The Fools of Time"
	2-5			Research material
	6-9			First draft, fragments, rough order

2	1-2			First draft, fragments, cont'd
	3			Draft fragment, pp. 1-47

				Final first draft

2	4-6				Original typescript
	7				Photocopy

3	1				Photocopy, cont'd
	2-3			Final draft
	4-5			Copy edited typescript, 4/7/2002
	6			Page proofs, incomplete; dust jacket proofs
	7			Reviews, foreign
	8		The Book of Spies (edited by Furst, 2002), notes, introduction, contracts, correspondence, dust jackets
			The Caribbean Account (1981)
Box	Folder
3	9			"Isn't Life a Fountain?," early title, drafts

4	1-2			"Isn't Life a Fountain?," cont'd
	3-5			Typescript titled "The Caribbean Account"
	6-7			Setting copy

5	1			Setting copy, cont'd
	2			Reviews
			Dark Star (1991)
Box	Folder
5	3-6			Notes, research, book synopsis, and chapter outlines
	7-8			Draft

6	1-2			Draft, cont'd
	3-5			Setting copy
	6			Proofs, master set, first pass

7	1			Proofs, cont'd
	2			Dust jacket copy and jacket proofs
	3*			Publicity and reviews (*poster removed to Oversize Folder)
			Dark Voyage (2004)
Box	Folder
7	4			Notes
	5-7			First draft

8	1-5			First draft, cont'd
	6			Four intermediary drafts

9	1-7			Four intermediary drafts, cont'd

10	1			Four intermediary drafts, cont'd
				Setting copy
Box	Folder
10	2-3				Original typescript
	4-5				Photocopy
	6			Correspondence, re copy-editing
	7			Dust jackets
			Heart of the Raining Queen (1977)
Box	Folder
10	8			Setting copy

11	1			Setting copy, cont'd
	2-4*			Serialization in The Weekly: Seattle's Newsmagazine, tearsheets (*oversize tearsheets removed to Box 32)
			Kingdom of Shadows (2001)
Box	Folder
11	5-6			Research, notes
	7-8			First draft, with book proposal

12	1			First draft, with book proposal, cont'd
	2-3			Copy-edited typescript
	4-5			Setting copy
				Proofs
Box	Folder
12	6				Printer's proof

13	1				Printer's proof, cont'd
	2-3				Master set, first pass
	4-5				Master set, second pass
	6-7				Reviews, with related correspondence
			Night Soldiers (1988)
Box	Folder
14	1-2			Notes and research
	3			Outline and plot summaries
				Drafts
Box	Folder
14	4-5				Two uncorrected photocopies to p.109
	6-8				Top copy, with corrections

15	1-2				Top copy, cont'd
	3-6				Edited photocopy
				Author's proofs
Box	Folder
16	1-3				First set
	4-6				Extra set
	7			Paperback covers, dust jacket proofs and copy
	8			Publicity, reviews, and related correspondence
			One Smart Cookie (with Debbi Fields, 1987)
				Drafts, 1986
Box	Folder
17	1				Debbi's copy
	2				Master copy
	3				Randy's copy
	4-5			Copy-edited typescript
	6			Correspondence re revisions

			The Paris Drop (1980)

17	7			"Where's My Chocolate Chip Cookie?," early title, draft

18	1-3			"Original manuscript"
	4			Reviews
			The Polish Officer (1995, 2001)
Box	Folder
18	5			Notes and research
				Drafts
Box	Folder
18	6-7				"First draft pages"

19	1				"First draft pages," cont'd
	2-6				Intermediary drafts

20	1				Intermediary drafts, cont'd
	*			Setting copy and photocopy (*removed to Oversize Boxes 32-33)
				Proofs
Box	Folder
20	2-3				Copy-edited, 5/19/94
					Trade paperback edition
Box	Folder
20	4-5					Uncorrected, 6/28/01
	6-7					Master set, first pass, 6/28/01

21	1-2					Master set, second pass, 7/26/01
	3			Correspondence and publicity
			Red Gold (1999)
Box	Folder
21	4			Proposal, "work points"
	5			Research
	6-8			Drafts

22	1-4			Drafts, cont'd
	5			Revisions and notes
	*			Poster (*removed to Oversize Folder)
	6			Reviews
			Shadow Trade (1983)
				Drafts
Box	Folder
22	7-8				First draft, titled "Doubles"

23	1-2				"Original manuscript"
	3-4			Proofs

	*			Galleys (*removed to galley files)

23	5			Dust jackets
	6			Reviews
			The World at Night (1996)
Box	Folder
				Novel

24	1				Proposal
	2				Research, notes
	3-6				Draft

25	1*				Publicity (*poster to removed to Oversize Folder)
	2-3				Reviews
				Screenplay, with James B. Harris
Box	Folder
25	4				First draft
	5				Draft titled "Soldiers of the Night," 1997

26	6				Draft, 1998
			Your Day in the Barrel (1976)
Box	Folder
25	7			Final draft
	8			Reviews and correspondence

	*			Poster for reading at Montana Books, Seattle (*removed to Oversize Box 32)
		Subseries B. Other Writings
Box	Folder
26	1		"The Aphorisms of Sir George Savile," graduate school paper, 1963-1964

	*		Articles (*oversize removed to Box 32)

26	2			Absolut vodka ads, various dates
	3			1976, 1981, Seattle Weekly
	4-9			1983-1984, Esquire and Islands

27	1-3			1985-1987, Esquire, Architectural Digest, Elle
	4-6			1988-1990, 50 Plus, International Herald Tribune, New Choices, Pursuits
	7-9			2001-2002, New York, Salon, The New York Times
	10-11		Book reviews
	12		"First novel" fragment, spring 1963
	13		"The Last Catalogue," with Jim Peterson
	14		Notes, typescript and handwritten fragments
	15		Poems, ca. 1969-1970
			Screenplays
				"Heros of the Last War," screenplay
Box	Folder
28	1				Treatment, ca. March 1984
	2				Screenplay, second draft, October 1984, for Northwest Indies, Inc.
				"Warsaw," screenplay
Box	Folder
28	3				First revision, July 14, 1992
	4				Photocopy
	5		Stories and essays, 1961-1983, and nd


Series II. Correspondence, 1963-2005
Box	Folder
29	1	1963, letter from grandfather with photographs
	2	1975-1986
	3	1988-1992, Paris
	4	1993-2000
	5-6	2001
		2002
Box	Folder
29	7		January-March
	8		April-June
	9		July-September

30	1		October-December
	2-4	2003-2005


Series III. Career-Related Material
Box	Folder
30	5	Articles about Furst
	6	Book catalogs and fliers
	7	Book festivals, fliers
		Contracts, with related correspondence
Box	Folder
30	8		The Caribbean Account
	9		Dark Star
	10		The Heart of the Raining Queen
	11		Night Soldiers
	12		One Smart Cookie
	13		The Paris Drop
	14		The Polish Officer

31	1		Red Gold
	2		Shadow Trade
	3		Your Day in the Barrel
	4		Magazine articles
	5		Other works
	6	Interviews
	7*	Photographs, personal and publicity (*oversize contact prints, April 1, 1981, removed to Box 32)
	8	Royalty statements and related correspondence

Box

Folder

32-33

Oversize materials

Harry Ransom CenterThe University of Texas at Austin

Research

Alan Furst:

A Preliminary Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

Administrative Information

Acquisition:

Processed by:

Restrictions

Access:

Scope and Contents

Separated Material

Index Terms

People

Document Types

Container List

Series I. Works, 1963-2004

Series II. Correspondence, 1963-2005

Series III. Career-Related Material