Asimov, Isaac. "Fair Exchange?"
Divergence: 1871 CE
What if: Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta Thespis was not lost.
Summary: A mental time traveler attempting to learn the score of Thespis causes it to go into print, with personally damaging consequences.
Published: In Asimov's SF Adventure Magazine Fall 1978; 3 by Asimov: Three Science Fiction Tales, Targ 1981; and The Winds of Change and Other Stories, Doubleday 1983 (0385180993).
Original in: English.
Translation: French by Monique Lebailly as "Un marchié de dupes", in Les vents du changements, Denoël 1985 (2207304035).
Translation: Italian by Giuseppe Lippi as "Scambio sconveniente", in Rivista di Isaac Asimov. Avventure spaziali e Fantasy , SIAD 1979; v.t. "Thespis", in Il vento èg cambiato, Mondadori 1984.