# What lost work of literature would you most like to get your hands on? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 12, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932 "2003-10-12T00:14:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/21 "2003-10-13T04:25:08Z")
The works that Chaucer refers to in his retraction to _The Canterbury Tales_ but that no longer exist. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/22 "2003-10-13T05:49:13Z")
Coleridge’s original version of Kublai Khan-- the one he had worked out in his head, but forgot because he was interrupted right before he started writing. Byron and Shelley’s horror stories from the contest that spawned Mary Shelley’s _Frankenstein_ and Dr. Polidori’s “The Vampire.” “The Giant Rat of Sumatra,” the Sherlock Holmes story the world isn’t ready to see. And, of course, the notorious sexually-explicit cut of Disney’s _Snow White._ ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_Lehnert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Robert\_Lehnert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert_Lehnert)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/23 "2003-10-13T07:09:08Z")
The complete poems of Sappho ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/24 "2003-10-13T07:50:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Peyote Coyote \* > **Hemingway’s rumored first novel** It wasn’t just a rumour. Hemingway says in _A Moveable Feast_ "It was necessary to write longer stories now as you would train for a longer race. When I had written a novel before, the one that had been lost in the bag stolen at the Gare de Lyon, I still had the lyric facility of boyhood that was as perishable and deceptive as youth was. " The Bag contained all his unpublished manuscripts at the time. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/25 "2003-10-13T12:23:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ianzin \* > \*\*What Martin Luther nailed on to the church door. Would be worth a few dollars by now. \*\* Three of Luther’s 95 Theses broadside still _do_ exist - I saw one! Very cool. It was at New York’s Grolier Club, a fancy book collector’s group. They were sponsoring a show of the Bodmer collection - a European fellow with an amazing collection. He died some time ago, but provided so that the collection could be held in a museum. In addition to the Luther broadside, he has amazing stuff like first editions of Shakespeare, Dante, Cervantes, Mozart and Beethoven. He has a Leibniz’ copy of Newton’s works with notes scribbled in the margin!! Viewing highspots of that collection was amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/26 "2003-10-13T12:35:10Z")
Not exactly a work of literature, but I’d like to know what Jesus wrote in the sand in John chapter 8. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/27 "2003-10-13T13:31:21Z")
The version of “Catcher in the Rye” that everyone raves about. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/28 "2003-10-13T13:57:28Z")
The first written copy of Gilgamesh. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/29 "2003-10-13T14:40:59Z")
The Greek epic poems which predate Homer. Pagan Germanic epic poetry. Robert A. Heinlein’s never-written prequel to _Revolt in 2100._ ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/30 "2003-10-13T14:42:30Z")
Oh boy oh boy oh boy… I’ve always wanted total cataloged access to the secret archives of the Vatican. Many of the things that all of you have asked for could very well be contained in there, plus things that none of us even know exist. It’s a priceless treasure trove of ancient religious works and political information. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/31 "2003-10-13T16:28:07Z")
Not literature _per se_ but… The Lost score to Gilbert & Sullivan’s first collaboration: **Thespis**. The lost writings of explorer, swordsman and all-around he-man Richard Burton (no, the other one) supposedly burned by his wife as too salacious and scandulous. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/32 "2003-10-13T17:52:59Z")
The third and final _Dangerous Visions_ collection. That’ll _never_ see the light of day. ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/33 "2003-10-13T18:16:47Z")
I am not all that religious, but I’d love to read any of the books that were left out of the New Testament. For example, the Book of Timothy, where supposedly Jesus, as a young boy, turns wooden toys into real birds and they fly away, and so on. Mary Magdalene was supposedly well represented in some of these early books which were left out of the official version. [Sort of an old example of out-takes, where the original version has more life and surprise in it than the watered-down studio take.] ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/34 "2003-10-13T22:08:02Z")
Psst! Couldn’t find a Gospel of Timothy, but what you described sounds like an Infancy Gospel of Thomas, for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/35 "2003-10-14T01:14:13Z")
The first draft of _Seven Pillars of Wisdom_. I’d love to see what Lawrence had to say before he’d had enough time to think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/36 "2003-10-14T01:32:32Z")
The complete **Satyricon** by Petronius ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/37 "2003-10-14T05:03:39Z")
Pliny the Elder was Pliny the Younger’s uncle, I believe…and his encyclopedic work has mostly survived; you can find a Latin/English edition of it in the Loeb series…🙂 That said, I would be very happy to have the lost books of Tacitus’ Annals… ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/38 "2003-10-14T05:08:43Z")
Claudius’s History of the Etruscans, which supposedly had extensive language notes, as well. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/39 "2003-10-14T05:27:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*Not exactly a work of literature, but I’d like to know what Jesus wrote in the sand in John chapter 8. \*\* “For a good time, call…” ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932/40 "2003-10-14T05:30:53Z")
From the Roman biographer Suetonius: _Historians and philosophers_. Makes me wonder what great thinkers of the past we lost… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-work-of-literature-would-you-most-like-to-get-your-hands-on/206932.md?page=3)