Many Trollope enthusiasts will be fully aware of the considerable work undertaken by Professor Steven Amarnick and his team in reconstructing the original text of The Duke’s Children from the amended manuscript held at Yale. This has now been generally accepted as the definitive text containing approximately 65,000 additional words and other corrections which occur on almost every page.

The text is being published for the first time, so the ownership of copyright comes into consideration and this has descended through the direct Trollope line. We were very grateful to the fact that the family has generously transferred these rights to the Trollope Society who have worked hard to ensure publication of this ‘new’ Trollope novel.  Although the financial return for the Society is small, it is always welcome and we would encourage Members to always make sure that they are buying the extended version of this novel when making a purchase.

Currently, extended versions are available relatively cheaply from:

• Everyman’s Library (hardback, £15.00)
• Oxford University Press (Oxford World’s Classics paperback with notes, £12.99)
• NaxosAudioBooks (unabridged audio version read by David Shaw-Parker).

Always ensure that you are purchasing the ‘extended’ or ‘complete’ version as the original truncated text is still widely available.

For more information see:

• Professor Amarnick’s  explanatory notes to the restoration of The Duke’s Children
• Online Conversazione – The Duke’s Children. Professor Steven Amarnick, Bob Wiseman and former Chair of the Trollope Society, Michael Williamson, discuss the restored version of The Duke’s Children

Main image: A page from Trollope’s manuscript of The Duke’s Children showing the various forms of crossing out Trollope used.