BEFORE T .E. LAWRENCE (LAWRENCE of Arabia) burned his personal library, he saved the books he liked. One of the volumes spared was an obscure seafaring novel called Ultramarine. The author of Ultramarine, Malcolm Lowry, loathed his first novel and tried to suppress its circulation for the rest of his life. He alleged that he was forced to re-write the entire work in a matter of weeks because the publishing house had lost his manuscript. Accused with plagiarism after Ultramarine was published, Lowry never allowed any academics or booksellers to have access to his personal copy, an extensively annotated edition he kept hidden, hoping to one day rewrite Ultramarine--and redeem himself.

But of course there was no redemption for Malcolm Lowry. The author of the most famous book ever written in British Columbia, Under the Volcano, was a paranoiac alcoholic who died ignominiously, guilt-ridden and obsessive to the end. Now UBC Special Collections has purchased Lowry's personal copy of Ultramarine from its owner, a California woman who had befriended Lowry's equally impossible alcoholic wife prior to her death. As soon as UBC's Brenda Peterson learned of Ultramarine's impending auction, she and scholar Sherrill E. Grace jumped into action. Because the library's acquisitions have been drastically reduced, due to inflation and the low Canadian dollar, two UBC vice-presidents--both scientists--helped to finance UBC's successful bid ($14,000 U.S.). The acquisition enhances the value of UBC's already unprecedented stash of Lowry loot--including photos taken by Basil Stuart-Stubbs, for a lark, of every location around Vancouver where Lowry lived. Scholars from around the world will beat a path to UBC, eager for new glimpses into Lowry's tortured soul and brilliant mind.

[BCBW 1999]