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Philip K. Dick Papers: Finding Aid
mssHM 53576-53639; mssFAC 1280-1281  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Overview of the Collection
  • Access
  • Administrative Information
  • Biographical Note
  • Scope and Content
  • Related materials in the Huntington Library
  • Arrangement
  • Indexing Terms

  • Overview of the Collection

    Title: Philip K. Dick Papers
    Dates (inclusive): 1967-1977
    Collection Number: mssHM 53576-53639; mssFAC 1280-1281
    Creator: Dick, Philip K.
    Extent: 66 items in 1 box
    Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department
    1151 Oxford Road
    San Marino, California 91108
    Phone: (626) 405-2191
    Email: reference@huntington.org
    URL: http://www.huntington.org
    Abstract: This collection contains correspondence and manuscripts related to American science fiction writer Philip K. Dick (1928-198), dating from the 1967 to 1977. The bulk of the collection consists of 53 letters from Dick to his publisher, Doubleday and Company, concerning the publication of his novels and stories.
    Language: English.

    Access

    Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

    Administrative Information

    Publication Rights

    The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Philip K. Dick Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

    Provenance

    Purchased from Joseph the Provider, July 1, 1979.

    Biographical Note

    Born on December 16, 1928, in Chicago, science fiction writer Philip Kindred Dick was the author of 35 books and six collections of short stories, most dealing with the nature of reality. Dick received the Hugo Award in 1962 for The Man in the High Castle, a fantasy novel about Hitler winning World War II. His anti-drug novel, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, won the Campbell Memorial Award in 1974. The movie Blade Runner was based on Dick's 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip Dick died of heart failure following a stroke, on March 2, 1982.

    Scope and Content

    This collection contains correspondence and manuscripts related to American science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The bulk of the collection consists of 53 letters from Dick to his publisher, Doubleday and Company, concerning the publication of his novels and stories, dating from 1967 to 1977 (HM 53578-53630).
    There are also a few letters by others including Dick's collaborator Roger Zelazny and one postcard (1974, February 4) from Ursula K. LeGuin to Dick expressing her admiration for his writing (HM 53634). Original literary manuscripts by Dick include the outline and part of a draft of the novel Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (HM 53576) and a fragment (page 23) of an unidentified novel (HM 53577). There are two Xerox copies: Dick's outline for his novel Deus Irae (FAC 1280) and Fred Zackel's plot summary for the novel Cocaine and Blue Eyes (FAC 1281). Finally, there is one photograph of Dick in the collection.

    Related materials in the Huntington Library

    • Kingsley Amis Papers (mssAMS 1-1362)   Contains letter to Dick to Kingsley Amis discussing Dick's reasons for using the title The Man in the High Castle for his novel. 1979, September 10. (AMS 201).

    Arrangement

    Arranged alphabetically by author, with literary manuscripts preceding correspondence for each author.

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog.  

    Subjects

    Dick, Philip K. -- Archives.
    Dick, Philip K. -- Photographs.
    Authors, American -- Archives.
    Science fiction, American -- Archives.

    Forms/Genres

    Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 20th century.
    Manuscripts for publication -- United States -- 20th century.
    Photographs -- United States -- 20th century.

    Contributors

    Le Guin, Ursula K., 1929-, correspondent
    Lem, Stanisław.
    Zackel, Fred.
    Zelazny, Roger, correspondent.
    Doubleday & Company, Inc., addressee.