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39 EKWENSI, Cyprian. Original hand-corrected typescript for An African Night’s Entertainment . London, [1951–56] rare typescript by the pioneering Nigerian author, written during his time in london A remarkable survival: the original draft typescript, heavily corrected and revised throughout in manuscript by the author, and with illustrations by him. Manuscript material by Ekwensi is exceptionally rare in commerce. A copy of the first edition, which featured illustrations by Bruce Onabrakpeya, accompanies the typescript. Ekwensi produced the typescript during his training at the Chelsea School of Pharmacy in London, for which he had won a government scholarship in 1951; it bears two of his London addresses from this time: 31 Wandsworth Bridge Road, SW6, and 4 St Luke’s Road, London, W11. On the voyage out to Britain he wrote People of the City , his first major literary work, which was published in London in 1954. However, like many of his works from this time, this story remained unpublished for several years. In 1961 Ekwensi found international acclaim and major success with the publication of Jagua Nana , and the next five years were the most productive of his literary career, including the publication of this work in 1962. During this period, Ekwensi published three major novels, four collections of short stories, and four children’s readers: “many of these were manuscripts which for years had been buried in drawers, lockers, and cupboards” (Emenyonu, p. 11). At his death, Ekwensi entrusted many of his papers to his biographer Professor Ernest Emenyonu. Institutionally, the Heinemann Education Books archive at the University of Reading Special Collections holds typescripts and manuscript material for several of Ekwensi’s works ( Burning Grass , Beautiful Feathers , People of the City , Jagua Nana , Lokotown and Other Stories , and Restless City and Christmas Gold ); a copy of Ekwensi’s unpublished autobiography, In My Time , is held in the Harry Ransom Center. While the title of this work references two formative literary influences on Ekwensi, The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment and Robert
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Louis Stevenson’s Island Night’s Entertainment, the story itself is an adaptation of an African folktale for young students. In the 1960s, when many African countries achieved political independence, “scholars were quick to note the dearth of books for children and young people dealing with authentic African experiences. In response to this lack, the African Universities Press was established in Nigeria in the early 1960s with the goal, as it proudly announced on the covers of its first publications, of providing ‘educational books chosen to answer the needs of Nigerian schools and colleges.’ The African Universities Press started its African Readers Library Series with the publication of its first title, An African Night’s Entertainment (1962) by Ekwensi. The work was a contrast to the imported European literature for African children” ( Encyclopedia of African Literature , pp. 143–4). “On Ekwensi’s return to Nigeria the medical profession and the news media competed for his services, as he had now become by training a pharmacist and by inclination and seasoned practice a broadcaster and writer” (ibid., p. 9). The West African Review commented on the two contrasting trajectories of Ekwensi’s career: “There are two Cyprian Ekwensis. Cyprian Ekwensi, the Nigerian novelist, broadcaster, short story writer, the man who lives in the world of ink and literature – and Cyprian Ekwensi, the pharmacist, the man of the white coat, dispensing medicine, sterilising injections, and controlling drugs” (June 1956). In 1968 Ekwensi received the Dag Hammarskjöld International Prize in Literature, was made an MFR (Medal of the Order of the Federal Republic) in 2001, and in 2006 became a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters. 90 leaves, typed on one side only, numbered throughout, brown paper wrappers, original ink and watercolour illustration and lettering to front wrapper, tied with string. Introduction page pasted to front wrapper verso, “C.O.D. [Cyprian Odiatu Duaka] Ekwensi, 4 St Luke’s Road, London, W.11”; rear wrapper verso: “31 Wandsworth Brdg R, SW6” (struck out and with
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