History MissingEpisode / Literature

** Entire swaths of classic Chinese literature were destroyed [[ThePurge (along with their creators)]] in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_books_and_burying_of_scholars burning of books and burying of scholars]] in the Qin dynasty. Among them was ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_of_Music The Classic of Music]]'', thought to be the sixth Chinese classic text and important to interpreting the Classic of Poetry.

** Entire swaths of classic Chinese literature were destroyed [[ThePurge (along with their creators)]] in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_books_and_burying_of_scholars]] in the Qin dynasty. Among them was ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_of_Music The Classic of Music]]'', thought to be the sixth Chinese classic text and important to interpreting the Classic of Poetry.

** Entire swaths of classic Chinese literature were destroyed [[(ThePurge along with their creators)]] in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_books_and_burying_of_scholars]] in the Qin dynasty. Among them was ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_of_Music The Classic of Music]]'', thought to be the sixth Chinese classic text and important to interpreting the Classic of Poetry.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria The Library of Alexandria]]
*** A particularly scary hypothesis on the destruction of the Library's contents claims that the works of Creator/{{Aristotle}}, Creator/{{Plato}}, Sappho, Alceus and many more were used to heat the baths in the city for months after the Library was ransacked. Luckily (or not) it's more widely accepted that most of the work in the Library was lost simply due to negligence during what was a politically disastrous time.

* Creator/VCAndrews had written several stories before ''Literature/FlowersInTheAttic'' was published, but for one reason or another, only ''Gods Of Green Mountain'' (Her first novel) was published, and only almost twenty years after her death (And only in eBook form). The most famous of these unpublished stories was ''The Obsessed'', which was mistaken for years to be the original transcript for ''FITA'' until a 2013 interview with ''FITA'''s editor cleared that up.
** Andrews' only published short story from her lifetime, ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin I Slept With My Uncle On My Wedding Night]]'', was published only once in a pulp confessions magazine. She never told any of her family ''what'' magazine, so it remains unknown. In any case, it has yet to resurface, and no one (Not even her estate) seems to have a copy of it.

* ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' had a series of 8 spin-off novels (which are apparently considered canon). A 9th novel was apparently ready for production, but either the license lapsed or it was cancelled due to lack of profitability. This left the final book, "White Silence" with an ad for "Barricades", a novel which doesn't exist.

* Creator/VCAndrews had written several stories before Literature/FlowersInTheAttic was published, but for one reason or another, only ''Gods Of Green Mountain'' (Her first novel) was published, and only almost twenty years after her death (And only in eBook form). The most famous of these unpublished stories was ''The Obsessed'', which was mistaken for years to be the original transcript for ''FITA'' until a 2013 interview with ''FITA'''s editor cleared that up.

** One well known example of lost literature: Creator/{{Sappho}}'s poems, the vast majority of which are simply lost to history (read: out of nine volumes of poetry, exactly ''one'' complete poem has survived.)

* The ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' book ''Campaign'', which was originally pitched to BBC Books as a "pure historical" (a story focusing on historical places with no sci-fi elements beyond the time travellers themselves), with the TARDIS crew following Alexander the Great's campaign in Europe and being forced to take roles in history due to accidentally wrecking the timeline - Barbara heading for India to learn, Susan marrying Alexander (playing off the historical Alexander's bride being a Persian princess described as a 'teenager of no more than fifteen years given to dancing and wild flights of fantasy and occultism') and Ian spying on Alexander by becoming his bodyguard [[AdaptationalSexuality and]] [[HoneyTrap lover]]. ExecutiveMeddling insisted that the pitch was out of character and the plot contrived, to which the author justified his character decisions and suggested AnachronicOrder, to which the executives agreed. The book that eventually happened is a {{metafiction}}al MindScrew about various iterations of the TARDIS crew (modelled after non-canonical ''Doctor Who'' works - TV Comics annuals, Target novelisations, even the boardgames in ''The Dalek Book'') trapped in the TARDIS when the universe no longer exists, with the Alexander historical relegated to backstory, and the plot being about the TARDIS crewmembers slowly going mad and [[TheyKilledKennyAgain repeatedly dying in order to 'ascend']] while taking [[IncestIsRelative even]] [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation bigger]] [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption liberties]] with characterisation. This version of the book was rejected outright and eventually self-published as a fanzine.

* The ''DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' book ''Campaign'', which was originally pitched to BBC Books as a "pure historical" (a story focusing on historical places with no sci-fi elements beyond the time travellers themselves), with the TARDIS crew following Alexander the Great's campaign in Europe and being forced to take roles in history due to accidentally wrecking the timeline - Barbara heading for India to learn, Susan marrying Alexander (playing off the historical Alexander's bride being a Persian princess described as a 'teenager of no more than fifteen years given to dancing and wild flights of fantasy and occultism') and Ian spying on Alexander by becoming his bodyguard [[AdaptationalSexuality and]] [[HoneyTrap lover]]. ExecutiveMeddling insisted that the pitch was out of character and the plot contrived, to which the author justified his character decisions and suggested AnachronicOrder, to which the executives agreed. The book that eventually happened is a {{metafiction}}al MindScrew about various iterations of the TARDIS crew (modelled after non-canonical ''Doctor Who'' works - TV Comics annuals, Target novelisations, even the boardgames in ''The Dalek Book'') trapped in the TARDIS when the universe no longer exists, with the Alexander historical relegated to backstory, and the plot being about the TARDIS crewmembers slowly going mad and [[TheyKilledKennyAgain repeatedly dying in order to 'ascend']] while taking [[IncestIsRelative even]] [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation bigger]] [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption liberties]] with characterisation. This version of the book was rejected outright and eventually self-published as a fanzine.

** ''Literature/TheBible'' references books, such as the ''Book of Jasher'' and ''Chronicles of the Kings of Israel''. These are known as lost Jewish texts.

** ''TheBible'' references books, such as the ''Book of Jasher'' and ''Chronicles of the Kings of Israel''. These are known as lost Jewish texts.

* ''DeadSouls'', the masterpiece of Creator/NikolaiGogol's career, survives in fragments. It was going to be a three-volume work; Gogol had completed the second volume and started the third when he succumbed to severe depression and burned a lot of his drafts. What's left is volume one and some fragments from volume two.
* JTEdson completed a fifth novel of his ''Bunduki'' series, titled ''Amazons of Zillikian'', that was never released due to a dispute with the Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs estate. Fans hold out hope that it will one day be released.
* ''ForeverKnight'' produced three spin-off novels. A fourth, "On Holy Ground", was ready for release, but the license was cancelled. The fan-produced copies of the book that occasionally show up on Ebay can fetch a high price.
* ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' had a series of 8 spin-off novels (which are apparently considered canon). A 9th novel was apparently ready for production, but either the license lapsed or it was cancelled due to lack of profitibility. This left the final book, "White Silence" with an ad for "Barricades", a novel which doesn't exist.
* This may also be the case with the ''{{Dinotopia}}'' digest novels. There's a Library of Congress listing for a novel entitled "Groundswell", but no such novel was ever released.

* The ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' short stories ''The Hand of Destiny'', ''Hornblower and His Majesty'' and ''The Bad Semaritan'', originally published in Argosy in 1941, were discouraged from reprinting due to a ContinuitySnarl caused by ''The Happy Return'', ''The Hand of Destiny'' and ''Hornblower and the Atropos'' -- the taking of the Spanish ship ''Castilla'' and the powder burn on Hornblower's hand -- but were included in a (quite rare) biography of C. S. Forester ([[http://www.scaryfangirl.com/Once%20Again5thNetVer.pdf found]] by [[MeaningfulName scaryfangirl.com]]) and ''The Point and Edge'', which was unfinished when [[AuthorExistenceFailure C S Forester died]], and only exists as an outline in ''The Hornblower Companion'' and ''Hornblower and the Crisis''.

* The original manuscript of ''[[Literature/AliceInWonderland Through the Looking Glass]]'' by LewisCarroll included a character called "the wasp in a wig" (Alice would have encountered the wasp at the end of Chapter 8, after her meeting with the White Knight), but the character was cut before publication, possibly because illustrator John Tenniel found the character superfluous and could not see a satisfactory way to draw it. The galley proofs of the missing section (which included a previously unpublished poem) were reported to have turned up at auction at Sotheby's in 1974; they are widely believed to be authentic, but not universally so as no tests have been carried out to prove their age.

*** A particularly scary hypothesis on the destruction of the Library's contents claims that the works of Creator/{{Aristotle}}, {{Plato}}, Sappho, Alceus and many more were used to heat the baths in the city for months after the Library was ransacked. Luckily (or not) it's more widely accepted that most of the work in the Library was lost simply due to negligence during what was a politically disastrous time.

* The never-published (but still canon) ''{{Bionicle}}'' book, ''Invasion'', which was eventually lost forever after Greg Farshtey's computer died.

* Many ancient philosophical texts are considered lost. This includes all of Aristotle's dialogues (which themselves [[TropeMaker started a genre]] of texts distinct from [[{{Plato}} Plato's]] dialogues) and all the writings of the pre-Socratic philosophers. If Socrates himself ever wrote anything, that has vanished too. All that we know about any of these works, we owe to excerpts, summaries and other secondary sources written by later authors.

* The ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' short stories ''The Hand of Destiny'', ''Hornblower and His Majesty'' and ''The Bad Semaritan'', originally published in Argosy in 1941, were discouraged from reprinting due to a ContinuitySnarl caused by ''The Happy Return'', ''The Hand of Destiny'' and ''Hornblower and the Atropos'' -- the taking of the Spanish ship ''Castilla'' and the powder burn on Hornblower's hand -- but were included in a (quite rare) biography of C. S. Forester ([[http://www.scaryfangirl.com/Once%20Again5thNetVer.pdf found]] by [[MeaningfulName scaryfangirl.com]]) and ''The Point and Edge'', which was unfinished when [[AuthorExistanceFailure C S Forester died]], and only exists as an outline in ''The Hornblower Companion'' and ''Hornblower and the Crisis''.

* The ''Literature/{{Hornblower}}'' short stories ''The Hand of Destiny'', ''Hornblower and His Majesty'' and ''The Bad Semaritan'', originally published in Argosy in 1941, were discouraged from reprinting due to a ContinuitySnarl caused by ''The Happy Return'', ''The Hand of Destiny'' and ''Hornblower and the Atropos'' -- the taking of the Spanish ship ''Castilla'' and the powder burn on Hornblower's hand -- but were included in a (quite rare) biography of C. S. Forester ([[http://www.scaryfangirl.com/Once%20Again5thNetVer.pdf found]] by [[MeaningfulName scaryfangirl.com]]) and ''The Point and Edge'', which was unfinished when [[AuthorExistanceFailure C S Forester died]], and only exists as an outline in ''The Hornblower Companion'' and ''Hornblower and the Crisis''.

* One of the ''JustWilliam'' books contain a story where the Outlaws dress as "Nasties" (Nazis) in order to frighten a local Jewish shopkeeper whom they suspect of cheating his customers. This is now left out of reprints of the book at the initial request of the author and the executor of her estate.

* ''Cosmic Corkscrew'', the first story Creator/IsaacAsimov submitted (unsuccessfully) for publication, no longer existed by the time Asimov's other early work was collected and published.

* The memoirs of [[EvilMatriarch Agrippina the Younger]], which we only know existed due to their having been used as references by later Roman historians. Seeing the life of one of the most powerful and prominent woman in Roman history from her own point of view would've been nice.

* An example that's notable for being a missing book concerning a major film. In the final years of his life, ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' writer Michael Piller spent a significant amount of time writing ''Fade In: The Making of StarTrekInsurrection'', a very comprehensive look at the behind-the-scenes process and development of what was the ninth feature film for the franchise. While the book is very thorough and engaging, it also highlighted several elements that contributed to the DorkAge the franchise found itself in during the early 2000's: lots of jockeying between members of the TNG cast (notably Brent Spiner) for increased screen time, the scuttling of several scripts that had the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen potential]] to be much, much better than the final product, and a detailed breakdown of Paramount's policies and correspondence regarding test screenings and film reshoots. The manuscript was left unreleased, apparently due to Paramount not agreeing with the content in the book, and it remained lost for many years until a source close to Piller passed it to some of the notable Trek fan sites. Almost immediately, the sites were all forced to remove the manuscript due to a cease-and-desist order from Piller's family, and it has once again fallen into obscurity (save for the few fans who downloaded a copy when it was still available).

** One well known example of lost literature: {{Creator/Sappho}}'s poems, the vast majority of which are simply lost to history (read: out of nine volumes of poetry, exactly ''one'' complete poem has survived.)
** ''Literature/TheIliad'' and ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' were originally just two of eight poems that made up the Literature/TrojanCycle telling the story of the Trojan War. The other six, which were not attributed to {{Homer}}, are all lost. However, it is possible to deduce the contents of the other poems through a number of summaries, excerpts and references in extant works.

** Not that it was ever close to being finished, mind you. Even if the written chapters were to be published somehow, about two thirds of the story would still have been missing.

* JTEdson completed a fifth novel of his ''Bunduki'' series, titled ''Amazons of Zillikian'', that was never released due to a dispute with the EdgarRiceBurroughs estate. Fans hold out hope that it will one day be released.

* ''DeadSouls'', the masterpiece of Nikolai Gogol's career, survives in fragments. It was going to be a three-volume work; Gogol had completed the second volume and started the third when he succumbed to severe depression and burned a lot of his drafts. What's left is volume one and some fragments from volume two.

* This may also be the case with the ''{{Dinotopia}}'' digest novels. There's a Library of Congress listing for a novel entitled "Groundswell", but no such novel was ever released.

*** A particularly scary hypothesis on the destruction of the Library's contents claims that the works of {{Aristotle}}, {{Plato}}, Sappho, Alceus and many more were used to heat the baths in the city for months after the Library was ransacked. Luckily (or not) it's more widely accepted that most of the work in the Library was lost simply due to negligence during what was a politically disastrous time.