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A turn-up for the books – when lost manuscripts are rediscovered

This week the New York Review of Books’ blog revealed that a literary manuscript assumed to be among those lost for ever has reappeared, but what of the others?

Reviewing 2015’s remarkable run of rediscovered lost books – including works by Charlotte Brontë, F Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton, Dr Seuss and, above all, an entire previously unknown novel, Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee – Claire Fallon wondered in November if the streak of luck would continue in 2016 and, more cynically, “did any famous authors not have lost manuscripts?”.

The first question can be easily answered, since in January a long-lost Beatrix Potter book was readied for publication – The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots immediately entered Amazon’s bestseller chart, eight months before its publication in September – and this week the New York Review of Books’ blog revealed that a literary manuscript assumed to be among those lost for ever, like the first version of Seven Pillars of Wisdom that TE Lawrence left on a station platform, has reappeared.