Images from George Orwell's 1984 manuscript – George Orwell Novels

Images from George Orwell's 1984 manuscript – George Orwell Novels

Preliminary drafts representing about 44% of the published text of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four have survived and were reproduced in a facsimile edition published in 1984. As Sonia Orwell wrote on 28 August 1974 to Daniel G. Siegel, who now owns the manuscript, “it is such a rare document” for “unfortunately George always threw away all his mss. letters etc., so his actual working methods are very badly documented.”

---

Opening paragraph of 1984:
Draft version: It was a bright/cold, blowy day in early April and a million radios were striking thirteen.
Final version: It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.