Philip K Dick, Poetry, Essays, Ephemera
Manuscripts by Philip K. Dick
POETRY, ESSAYS, EPHEMERA
8. "The Android and the Human." (n.p.) (n.d.) Original manuscript for a speech given by Dick at the Vancouver SF Convention at the University of British Columbia, in March 1972. 42 ribbon-copy typewritten pages, with many corrections and emendations throughout in Dick's hand. The speech was later published in SF Commentary in December, 1972 and then reprinted in Vector in March-April 1973. In a letter that accompanied its publication in SF Commentary, Dick wrote that "this speech is the sole product... of these [past two] years" and in it he tried "to sum up an entire lifetime of developing thought." He concluded that it contained, "I hope, the seed for my novels to come." An important piece of writing, which anticipated the themes and concerns of the novels of Dick's last decade. An especially significant essay, and one of the earliest pieces of writing that we have, which stands at a watershed period of his life and career, summing up that which came before, and pointing the way toward that which was to come. Unfolded sheets, about fine.
9. "Hey, Dumb Little Girls." Ribbon copy typescript of a 65-line poem that appeared posthumously in The Dark-Haired Girl (Ziesing, 1988). With three small ink corrections in Dick's hand. Dick was well-known for his womanizing -- his numerous marriages and love affairs -- and this is a poignant lament to lost love. Few of his poems, or attempts at poetry, have been published or survive. Two leaves, edge-darkened; near fine.
10. "Fog." Carbon copy typescript of a seven line poem. Signed "Phil Dick." Folded; else fine.
11. ["Ten Principles of Gnostic Christianity."] Carbon copy typescript, two pages, outlining in Dick's characteristic, idiosyncratic idiom the "ten principles" and concluding with an ink sketch by Dick of a double helix and an eye.
12. "Cosmogony and Cosmology." January 23, 1978. Carbon copy typescript, 29 pages, of an essay on God, gnosticism, and the universe, with two ink corrections in Dick's hand. Paper clip indentation; very good. A long essay on metaphysics, published posthumously in 1987 as a pamphlet, in an edition of 825 copies.
13. Autograph Note Unsigned. Circa 1972. A single sheet on which Dick has written two drafts of a statement in German, designed to help Powers speak to a girl he was dating. Folded four times.
14. Autograph Note Signed. Circa 1972. A note to Tim Powers, in which Dick claims to have suddenly evacuated his apartment. Folded, with thumbtack hole. Very good. Signed "Phil Dick."
15. Typed Letter Signed. December 23, 1974. Three pages, to Paul Williams, later executor of Dick's estate, in which he muses on his relationship to Empedocles and covert CIA operations, among many other things. Extensive ink notes and postscripts in the margins. Signed "Phil." Very good.
16. (POWERS, Tim and DICK, Philip K.). Manuscript. One page, ribbon copy, from the Powers novel The Anubis Gate, on which the first 14 lines are Powers' own text (page 241 of the published book) and the last 13 lines were typed by Dick in a parodying continuation of the story. Across the top, in Powers' hand, is a note explaining that Dick typed while Powers was out getting beer. A humorous invention, and an indication of the closeness between the two writers.
17. (POWERS, Tim and DICK, Philip K.). Postcript. September, 1981. A photocopy of a Tim Powers cover letter that accompanied a story submission with an original, ribbon copy typescript postcript by Dick.