Penguin UK will publish Vladimir Nabokov‘s final, unfinished work, “The Original of Laura,” while Knopf will handle the US version. The author left behind the novel on a series of 138 notecards, and ordered his family to destroy them when he died in 1977.The hardcover book will feature photos of each card, matched with transcripts of the notecard text on the facing page.

According to Bookseller, Nabokov’s son decided to publish, and literary agent Andrew Wylie negotiated a six-figure deal for the notecards.

Penguin Classics editor Alexis Kirschbaum explained in the article: “I’m an avid, obsessed fan of Nabokov and for other fans it’s incredibly interesting to see his handwriting and read his prose–not necessarily extremely polished, but you can still see kernels of genius in everything he wrote.” (Via MobyLives)