The Publishing of "We Built and Destroyed"

In August 2006, a couple of months after Douglas's death, I was looking through a small collection of personal documents and found a few relating to the publication of "We Built and Destroyed".

• 9th Oct 1942 The first letter to an agency.
• 5th March 1943 The agent responds, with two letters of rejection, but also some encouraging news from Hurst and Blackett. Note that, because of the lack of modern technology such as a photocopier, the inclusion of "part of a letter from Herbert Jenkins" means exactly that; the original cut down with scissors. Also, the second paragraph of the letter from John Murray alludes to the rationing of paper, which made publication of books a competitive business - but the competition was not only for readers' interest and cash but also for precious paper.
• 10th March 1943 Douglas seeks advice on how to improve the book. Douglas once told me that the final chapter had been added in response to a request from the publishers. This explains why the story ends at chapter 13, and the style of chapter 14 is reflective rather than narrative.
• 16th March 1943 An overdue rejection letter.
• 19th July 1943 The publishers write to Douglas asking for "blurb".
• 22nd July 1943 Having received an explanation of what is meant by "blurb", Douglas responds with two possible versions. (1) and (2).
• 22nd July 1943 As the book included many references to living persons, the manuscript had to be checked for libel.
• 26th July 1943 With the acceptance of the "blurb" and a photograph, everything is now ready for publication.
• 10th August 1943 The agent sends a contract for signature - and apologises for his scrawl, due to lack of a secretary!
• 11th August 1943 Douglas returns the contract having signed it....
• 13th August 1943 ...but gets it wrong, which elicits a prompt response from his agent.
• 16th August 1943 Business is over, and Douglas begins waiting for publication to begin.
• 26th September 1944 The book is in short supply.
• 4th September 1945 The final letter - the agent tells Douglas not to expect a reprint.