Papers of M H F Wilkins: drafts of James Watson’s book, ‘Honest Jim’, subsequently published as 'The double helix'

  • Wilkins, Maurice, 1916-2004 Watson, James D., b.1928 Ray, Gordon Norton Crick, Francis, 1916-2004
Date:
1966-1967
Reference:
K/PP178/3/39/3
Part of:
Wilkins, Maurice Hugh Frederick (1916-2004)
  • Archives and manuscripts
  • Online

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Contains: 49 images

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Credit

Papers of M H F Wilkins: drafts of James Watson’s book, ‘Honest Jim’, subsequently published as 'The double helix'. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider

The original material is held at King’s College London, Archives and Special Collections. This catalogue is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.

About this work

Description

Correspondence relating to James Watson’s book, The double helix: a personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 1968), initially provisionally entitled ‘Honest Jim’, including: copy letter from Wilkins to Watson, 18 Feb 1966, suggesting that any account should incorporate many different individual viewpoints; suggestion from Watson to Wilkins, 2 Mar 1966, that it might provide Wilkins and Crick to write their own accounts; a request from Watson, 22 Jun 1966, for a meeting; Watson’s acknowledgement of receipt of Wilkins’ comments, 9 Aug 1966; Watson’s promise of a revised draft, now provisionally entitled ‘Base pairs’, with a promise of further amendments if required, 22 Sep 1966; Wilkins to Watson, 6 Oct 1966, detailing his objections; copy letter from Gordon Ray, President, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York, USA, to James Watson, 6 Oct 1966, commenting enthusiastically on the draft book; copy letter from Francis Crick to Watson, 10 Oct 1966, detailing Crick’s objections, with enclosed copy letter from Crick to Thomas Wilson, Harvard University Press, withholding his consent to publication; Watson to Wilkins, 19 Oct 1966, with reference to Watson’s account of Rosalind Franklin, and enclosed copy letter from Watson to Crick, denying any intention to defame Crick; notes by Wilkins on disputed points in Watson’s draft text, 2 Feb 1967; Watson to Wilkins, 24 Mar 1967, concerning changes made to the text; copy letter from Crick to Watson detailing Crick’s objections to a revised version of the text; Wilkins to Watson, 5 May 1967, suggesting a compilation of different individual accounts in the place of Watson’s proposed text.

Publication/Creation

1966-1967

Physical description

1 file

Copyright note

King's College London; Ray, Gordon Norton; Watson, James D.

Location of duplicates

A digitised copy is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.

Terms of use

Available at King’s College London, Archives and Special Collections, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Where to find it

Location of original

The original material is held at King’s College London, Archives and Special Collections. This catalogue is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.

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