NOTES ON THE CONAN TYPESCRIPTS AND THE CHRONOLOGY

By Patrice Louinet

LIST OF THE EXTANT CONAN TYPESCRIPTS (January–June 1934)

The final drafts of the stories published in Weird Tales were probably destroyed after the story was typeset, and thus are no longer extant. The surviving typescript for A Witch Shall Be Born is the exception rather than the rule, unfortunately.

Regarding the terminology used: a draft is “incomplete” when we are missing at least one page; it is “unfinished” when Howard didn't finish the draft. Sometimes Howard would write a draft and rewrite only a portion of it; such drafts are subdivided with numerals (i.e., draft b2 recycles pages from draft b1).

We are particularly indebted to Glenn Lord for furnishing copies of the typescripts mentioned below, and to Terence McVicker for the copy of the typescript of A Witch Shall Be Born.

The People of the Black Circle

– synopsis, untitled, 2 pgs.

– draft a, untitled, 80 pgs.

– draft b1, incomplete and unfinished (pgs. 10-92; 94-98 + 47a of 98; numbered 10-28, 30, 30-98 in error; missing pg. 93; pg. 47a discarded in favor of 47b; pgs. 1-9 lost, pgs. 10-90 survive as carbon (and were reused in draft b2); pg. 91 survives as original and carbon; pg. 47a and pgs. 92 and 94-98 as originals)

– draft b2 (final Weird Tales version) was comprised of draft b1 pgs. 1-10 [lost], draft b1 pgs. 11-91 [survive as carbon], plus draft b2 pg. 92 [lost] and pgs. 93-98 [survive as carbon]

In addition to his drafts, Howard wrote the paragraphs which appeared before the second and third installment of the serialization in Weird Tales, summing up the events of the previous chapters. A total of ten pages survive, six as originals and four as carbons, the latter identical to the text appearing in Weird Tales.

Untitled story

– synopsis, untitled, 3 pgs.

– draft, untitled and unfinished, 29 pgs.

The Hour of the Dragon

– synopsis, untitled, 2 pgs.

– notes, 4 pgs.

– draft a, untitled, incomplete and unfinished (pgs. 1-7, 21-29, 31-119 of 119)

– draft b1, untitled, diminishing to part-story, part-synopsis 160 pgs. (numbered 1-70, 72-116, 118-162 in error)

– draft b2, incomplete and unfinished, diminishing to a synopsis, (re-uses draft b1 pgs. 1-150 plus part of pg. 151; pgs. 151-163, 165-169 of 169; numbered 151, 153, 153-163, 165-169 in error; missing pg. 164)

– draft c, untitled, unfinished and incomplete, (pgs. 1, 3-196 of 196; missing pg. 2; numbered 1-65, 67-196 in error)

– draft d1, incomplete (pgs. 210-229 of 229 pgs.; numbered 210-227, 229, 229 in error; pgs. 1-209 were reused for drafts d2 and d3 then later lost; pgs. 210-216 were also reused for draft d2 and were discarded)

– draft d2 (re-uses draft d1 pgs. 1-216; numbered 217-221, 227-237 of 237; there are no missing pgs. between 221 and 227 in spite of the numbering)

– draft d3 [lost: this draft was probably 236 pgs. long, among the papers sent to Otis Adelbert Kline after Howard’s death and later lost; pgs. 1-209 came from draft d1; pgs. 210-236 were new]

– discarded pages from final draft (draft e): pgs. 1-4, 6, 9, 15-18, 24, 38-39, 46-50, 52, 55, 61, 70, 72 (2 different), 79-80, 85, 94, 96-99, 101, 111, 113, 117, 122, 128, 134-136, 170, 206, 211-213, 216-217, 221-223, 225-226, 228-229, 232-241 of 241 pgs. There is a strong possibility that these pages were discarded and revised when Howard prepared the novel for submission to Farnsworth Wright.

– draft e (final Weird Tales version) [lost: the carbon for this was probably among the papers sent to Otis Adelbert Kline after Howard’s death and later lost]

– submission sheet to Denis Archer, with verse heading, 1 pg.

A Witch Shall Be Born

– synopsis, untitled, 1 pg.

– draft a (this draft was sent to Robert H. Barlow on 5 July 1934; the typescript is now in private hands; unfortunately, it hasn’t been possible to examine the typescript for this edition.)

– draft b1, incomplete, 53 pgs. (pgs. 1-4, 6-52 survive as originals, pgs. 1-53 as carbon, with slight differences between the two.)

– draft b2 (final Weird Tales version: reuses draft b1, pgs. 1-52; pgs. 53-55 survive as originals, pgs. 54-55 as carbon [REH probably kept the wrong pg. 53 carbon in his files.])