Transcribed by: Dirk Van Hulle

Holding Library: University of Reading (MS 1659)

Abbreviated in the Manuscript Chronology as ET5

Typescript of Krapp's Last Tape with corrections and additions in Samuel Beckett's hand. Undated. 8 leaves. 28 x 21 cm. Titled, and with words '(with proof corrections)' in Beckett's hand at head of page.
Late formative draft. Corrections made in black ink and blue-black ink and in type. These are minor but frequent, including deletion and some exchanges of words and phrases. The initial setting is altered from 'A late evening in the nineteen eighties' to 'A late evening in the future', Krapp's hair is identified as grey, and the directions rather than the actions of the opening mime are abbreviated. Some important changes to the text in the latter stages, including the deletion of 'wire-haired fox terrier' for 'little white dog', and the substitution of 'flags' for 'reeds' in the twice-heard punt episode.
Beckett types 'Krapp' and 'Tape' for the first time in the adjacent left margin each time the role of speaker changes from one to the other.

Bryden, Mary, Julian Garforth, and Peter Mills, eds. (1998), Beckett at Reading: Catalogue of the Beckett Manuscript Collection at the University of Reading (Reading: Whiteknights Press and the Beckett International Foundation), p. 59

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