High Kings and Vikings [author's typescript, author's marked proof set and dust jacket]

London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1998. No Binding. Very Good. [ff] 4 ff 347. Full length authorial typescript of Tranter's novel 'High Kings and Vikings', the story of Cormac Mac Farquhar, Thane of Glamis, set in the 10th century, turbulent years of Viking raids and ineffectual Scots Kings. Typed by the author who entitles his book "-High Kings and Vikings- A Novel by Nigel Tranter'. Minor authorial corrections throughout. The typescript is bound in a homemade white card cover sheet, hole punched and tied with a shoelace. The main text is preceded by what the author calls: 'Possible Cover-blurb for High Kings and Vikings'. Accompanied by [ff344] the author's marked set, and a proof and a fine copy of the dust jacket from the first edition. Nigel Tranter's normal method of composition was described in his Guardian obituary thus: 'Each morning he would leave his house in East Lothian and begin a long walk... In stout boots, flat cap and sensible tweeds, he looked just like any other bird-watcher but for one oddity: in his hands he carried small sheets of paper, protected by a polythene bag in inclement weather. By the time he returned home some 12 miles later, he would have completed another 1,000 words of his next book. Then, with few corrections, the work would be typed up on a venerable Imperial typewriter.' Very Good 1998