The making of the book London: The Dog Who Made the Team

When David Malcolmson’s London: The Dog Who Made the Team appeared in 1963, readers could meet Chuck and London through the pages of a book. Behind that finished volume lay several years of writing, letters and revisions. Correspondence preserved at the University of Illinois gives us a glimpse of the work that went into it, and of Chuck’s place behind the scenes.

By 1 March 1960, literary agent Edith Brett had read a manuscript called The Dog Who Made the Team. Her letter gives us an early glimpse of the book in progress, though it does not tell us when Malcolmson began writing it. The manuscript was already something another reader could respond to, and there would be more responses, and more changes, before it reached print.

Finding the heart of the story

In August 1960, Brett suggested giving readers more London and less Chuck. She also floated a more fictionalised treatment of some of London’s experiences. It is an interesting glimpse of the conversation between a writer and an agent: how much space should the human companion occupy in a book whose central attraction was the dog?

The surviving papers do not show that Malcolmson followed that particular suggestion, or that any specific incident in the finished book was invented. What they do show is that he continued working on the manuscript.

A letter in May 1961 referred to a “new London”. By June, the title London the Dog Who Made the Team was in use; an August acknowledgment from Harper used the colon form, London: The Dog Who Made the Team. The familiar title was taking shape while the writing continued. Letters through 1961 and 1962 follow further revisions, including revised material that was delivered and acknowledged.

From manuscript to printed book

By the spring of 1962, the correspondence had moved into the practical business of publishing. On 11 April, Charles A. Pearce of Duell, Sloan & Pearce acknowledged receiving signed contracts and said the advance requisition had gone through. The book was moving beyond the exchanges about its shape and towards production.

On 15 August 1962, complete galley proofs were being sent. These were another step towards the finished volume, with the book now reaching the proof stage before publication. Malcolmson’s London: The Dog Who Made the Team appeared in 1963. The letters let us follow part of that journey without making it seem as though the book arrived fully formed.

Chuck behind the scenes

The correspondence shows Chuck was more closely connected with the project than the finished book alone might suggest. Marie Rodell referred to an existing arrangement involving him and sought a more formal agreement between Chuck and Malcolmson. Shirley Collier recorded Malcolmson’s instruction that royalties and proceeds from rights sold were to be divided 50–50 between Malcolmson and Chuck.

There is also an undated written communication from David to Chuck concerning their arrangement. We cannot tell whether it was sent or received, but it offers a more personal glimpse alongside the agents’ letters.

Some pieces of the story are still missing. The separate agreement itself is not in the material we have, and there is no surviving payment record showing exactly what Chuck received. Another letter mentions “Chuck’s letter”, but that letter is missing too. So we cannot know exactly how much of the final text Chuck reviewed or approved. Even so, the correspondence brings him into view as someone involved in the book’s making.

A separate book: Farm Dog

The archive folder’s name includes Farm Dog, which can make the book’s history seem confusing. Farm Dog was not an earlier title for the London book. It was a separate Malcolmson project, with different characters and its own publishing history, accepted separately in March 1962. The two projects shared a writer and a correspondence folder, rather than being stages of the same book.

Taken together, the letters offer a rare glimpse behind a familiar book. They show Malcolmson shaping the story over several years, Chuck involved behind the scenes, and the many small steps between a manuscript and the volume a reader finally holds.