...to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Yes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first book is available to buy today. The Narrative of John Smith (catchy title, yes?) was written between 1883 and 1884. He sent it to a publisher and - oh, the horror - it was lost in the post. Yes, even back in the 1880s it seems that the good old British postal service was a bit lax.
If that happened to one of us, we'd simply print out another copy. We'd have the story backed up everywhere and we'd have a file stored safely online just in case our house burned to the ground. Not Sir Arthur. He had to rewrite the entire thing from memory. Can you imagine that? I'd want to slit my wrists.
Perhaps he was never entirely satisfied with the rewritten version because, although he drew on passages for later books, he never submitted it for publication again. I wonder how he'd feel if he could see his book for sale on Amazon. I suppose we'll never know.
I'll be ordering a copy. I'm fascinated to see the first words from the pen of the mighty Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
First though, I'm off to check that I really do have all my important files backed up in suitably safe places...