Ffeil NLW MSS 23672-6E - 'Work without a name' (drafts)

Four notebooks and a series of disbound notebooks and loose leaves, [c. 1900]-[c. 1902], containing parts of a projected first novel by John Cowper Powys comprising substantial drafts of a romance set on the Sussex Downs; together with numerous, shorter fragments of narrative, mainly passages of prolix theological and philosophical discussion, and Rabelaisian fantasy, involving characters based on the author's friends. Also included are heavily worked drafts of unpublished poems (NLW MS 23672E, ff. 57-60 and ff. 135-137 verso, 138 verso, 139 verso-140, inverted text; NLW MS 23673E, ff. 146 recto-verso, 147 verso, 154 recto-verso, 155 verso, 156 verso-60 verso, 161 verso-162, inverted text; NLW MS 23676E, ii, ff. 250 verso-251, 253 verso-255, 259 verso, 260 verso, 261-262 verso, 263 verso, 264 verso-265 verso, 266 verso, 267 verso-268 verso, 269 verso, 270 verso, inverted text); and notes on Shakespeare's The Tempest, Macbeth, Richard III and The Taming of the Shrew (NLW MS 23673E, ff. 148-153 verso, inverted text), possibly for use in Powys's lecturing work.