AustLit

Manuscript - Furphy delivered the 1,125 page manuscript of Such is Life to J. F. Archibald soon after making an enquiry about submission procedures. After inspecting the manuscript, the literary editor A. G. Stephens replied, suggesting that a shorter version would be necessary to be financially viable, and requesting a typed copy to enable closer inspection. Furphy took on the typing job himself, and, in the process of transferring text to the typescript, he discarded or recycled most of the manuscript. Only seventy pages of the manuscript have been preserved in Furphy's archives.

Typescript with author's revisions - Of the 654 typescript pages that Furphy delivered to A. G. Stephens in July 1898, 415 are preserved in Furphy's archives. Furphy completed the typescript version of Such is Life on 11 July 1898. Three years later, acting on A. G. Stephens' persistent requests for a shorter version to please the Bulletin managers, Furphy replaced the two longest chapters with shorter ones. Retyping a new clean copy, he also revised other chapters to match his new narrative scheme, delivering a second typescript (now lost) to A. G. Stephens on 18 October 1901.

'Printed and Published by William Macleod, of Botany-street, Waverley, for The Bulletin Newspaper Company, Limited, at the Office of the Company, 214 George-street North, Sydney, Australia.' - p. [298].

'A List of Books published by The Bulletin Newspaper Company, Limited.' - pp. ii-vi.

This so-called 'second edition' is a re-binding of remaindered copies of the 1903 edition. The only change is the addition of a preface by Vance Palmer.

'Prepared from the print edition published by The Bulletin Newspaper Company Sydney 1903.'

'The editing of this edition was carried out, and the preface written, at Barcelona (Spain) during May and June 1936. Vance Palmer. Melb. Mar. 1939.' (National Library of Australia record)

Includes a preface by Vance Palmer, pp. 11-13. (This is not the same as the preface that appears in the 1917 publication.) Preface dated: 1937.

Includes a publisher's note - p. [iii].

For the next fifty years, most editions of Such is Life were offset from this, the second Australian edition.

'This a photographic reproduction of the first, unabridged Australian edition published by Angus and Robertson [sic] in 1903.' - p. [ii].

Includes the publisher's note from the 1944 Angus and Robertson and Jonathan Cape edition: p. [395].

The preface (p. [iii]) is very slightly updated to reflect the new 1956 publication.

Introduction by John Barnes.

Published: May 1968.

Introduction by David Malouf, pp. [iii-xiii]. Introduction dated: Sydney, 1985.

Offset from 1944 Angus and Robertson edition.

Offset from unabridged Angus & Robertson 1944 edition.

With an introduction and notes by Frances Devlin-Glass, Robin Eaden, Lois Hoffman and G. W. Turner. Includes a photofacsimile of the first edition of Such is Life, published in 1903.

Includes a list of all printings of all Joseph Furphy's novels: pp. 302-307.

Annotations: pp. 311-579.

Includes a 'Preface to the Second Edition': p. x.

With a revised introduction and notes by Frances Devlin-Glass, Robin Eaden, Lois Hoffman and G. W. Turner. Includes index.

Includes a list of all printings of all Joseph Furphy's novels: pp. 300-301.

Annotations: pp. 304-462.

A limited edition (with the pre-assigned ISBN 1875684379) was planned but there is no evidence that it was published.