The first edition also held by the Sackner Archive was published in 1971. From the Preface by Matthews: "While rummagine in my attic recently I discovered the manuscript which is presented here. Unfortunately the top half had been seriously corroded by what forensic experts assure me is black treacle, and much is illedgible. The book was clearly some sort of autobiographical sketch (whose we don't know) written in a somehwat poetical style. Footnotes had been added in ink by someone who obviously knew the author fairly well; these have survived because the treacle did not affect the bottom part of the manuscript. They are presented together with the fragments which remain, plus the original index which mercifully survived complete. In my opinion all one ever writes is footnotes to what one might have been.". -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.