WATSON, James D.

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The Molecular Biology of the Gene. A pre-publication draft typescript for one of the most popular and influential textbooks of molecular biology, first published in 1965. This is among the first drafts produced under the work's final title, reflecting Watson's instinctive analysis of the key features of modern genetics.A decade after his groundbreaking research on the structure of DNA, Watson began writing the present text as an accompaniment to a series of lectures for promising high school students. He delivered these at the University of Sydney's International Science School in January 1964. The earliest drafts retain the title of that series, "Replication of living modules". After reviewing the three chapters completed by the end of the course, Watson decided to rewrite the work as a college-level textbook, titled The Molecular Biology of the Gene.This typescript, comprising 10 chapters across 134 pages, appears to be one of the earliest drafts produced after the decision to re-title and revise the book. In the Watson archive at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he served as director for many years, an earlier version has the old "Replication" title crossed out, replaced by the final "Molecular Biology". The present typescript appears to be based substantially on that: in the introductory chapter, for example, various edits and two sizeable passages added in manuscript to the Cold Spring Harbour draft have been transcribed verbatim. In the published version, which

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