John Lennon's Hand-Edited Typescript for 'Snore Wife

Typed and hand-corrected manuscript by John Lennon, entitled "Snore Wife and Some Several Dwarts," two pages, 8 x 10, no date but circa 1964–65. Lennon wrote the piece for inclusion in his 1965 book A Spaniard in the Works; it is a humorous take-off on the classic tale of Snow White, featuring "Sleezy, Grumpty, Sneeky, Dog, Smirkey, Alice? Derick, and Wimpey" as the "several dwarts or cretins." In blue ballpoint, Lennon has bolded some punctuation, crossed out a few things, and changed a few letters. In fine condition. Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Tracks, noting that this originates from the collection of Tom Maschler, the publisher of A Spaniard in the Works. Like Beatles lyrics, manuscripts by Lennon hand are very rare. This is an incredibly important artifact showcasing Lennon's critically-acclaimed literary talents, composed at the height of Beatlemania._x000D_
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During a BBC interview a few days before the books publication Lennon stated that although he started writing before he even owned a guitar, his writing always remained a hobby and, before meeting the book's publisher Tom Maschler, he had never considered publishing his work: 'If I hadn't been a Beatle I just wouldn't have thought of having the stuff published 'cuz I would've been crawling around, broke, and just writing it and throwing it away. I might've been a Beat poet.' He also revealed in this interview how much more difficult it was to write than his first book, ‘In His Own Write', which was the product of years of work, whereas with ‘Spaniard' he not only had to contend with the discipline of writing new work to a publisher's deadline, ('The publisher rang up and said, 'Have you written anything yet?' and I said 'No, I've been writing songs', because I can't do both at once'). Indeed, with the competing pressures of song writing, touring and filming Help!, ‘A Spaniard in the Works' would be the final book Lennon would publish whilst in the group. _x000D_
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‘A Spaniard in the Works' was similar in style to the 1964 predecessor ‘In His Own Write,' but, reflective of a maturing Lennon, was more ambitious in scope and had a particular bite to its subject matter. 'A Spaniard in the Works gave me another personal boost,' said Lennon, 'The book is more complicated; there are some stories and bits in it that even I don't understand, but once I've written something what's the point of letting it hang around in a drawer when I know I can get it published? The plain unvarnished fact is that I like writing, and I'd go on writing even if there wasn't any publisher daft enough to publish them.'

Typescript