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TENNYSON, Alfred, 1st Baron Tennyson (1809-1892). Maud and Other Poems. London: Edward Moxon, 1855.
8° (168 x 102mm). [4], 155, [1]p. TRIAL PRINTING WITH CORRECTIONS TO ALL SEVEN POEMS IN THE AUTHOR'S HAND. Red morocco gilt by Rivière, covers with triple fillets, spine in six compartments with raised bands, two lettered 'Maud Tennyson/First proofs,' the remainder with repeated floral motif, gilt turn-ins, top edges gilt, others uncut, brown morocco solander case. Provenance: lot 966, Sotheby's 4 March 1891, part of a Tennyson collection, the property of a 'well-known private collector,' evidently withdrawn from sale and sold privately to: -- G.L. Craik [signed note by Hallam Tennyson on front blank reading: 'Mr. Craik of Macmillans brought this (They got it at Sotheby's sale March 1891 privately for my Father (with In Memoriam proofs)'; facing blank with further inscription in HT's hand 'March 16 - 1891/Presentation from Messrs. Macmillan' and note 'Lionels birthday' above the date] -- Frank Capra, sold Parke-Bernet, New York, April 27 1949, lot 353 for $1000 (£250).
THE MORE IMPORTANT OF TWO SURVIVING TRIAL COPIES, showing the text of 'Maud' and 'The Charge of the Light Brigade,' in key stages of transformation; the four other poems in the volume are 'The Brook,' 'The Letters,' 'Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington,' 'The Daisy,' and 'To the Rev. F.D. Maurice.' Hallam Tennyson remarked that his father 'always liked to see his poems in print some months and sometimes some years before publication, "for," as he said, "poetry looks better, more convincing, in print"' (Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir, 1897, I, p. 190). 'Maud' was composed at Farringford, the house on the Isle of Wight into which Tennyson moved on 25 November 1853. The germ of the poem, 'Oh! that 'twere possible,' was a lyric he had composed long before in 1833-34. By the spring of 1854, six sections existed, to be expanded into twenty-six sections before publication of the first edition in 1855. Three sets of proofs are known: P1, the first proofs; P2, proofs later than P1; P3, proofs later than P2, used to set the trial issue (see Maud: A Definitive Edition, ed. Susan Shatto, 1986, p. 246). The first edition, as published, differs in the make up of its pages by having a fly-title to 'Maud' and a leaf of advertisements; as a result of Tennyson's alterations, it ends on p. 154 whereas this trial printing ends on p. 155. The trial title-page omits the words 'D.C.L., Poet Laureate.'
THE TRIAL COPY FROM WHICH THE FIRST EDITION WAS LARGELY SET; it was unknown to Susan Shatto who describes the trial copy at the Tennyson Research Centre, Lincoln Central Library, as 'the only one known to survive.' Amendments to 'Maud' in the TRC copy are limited to 'corrections of punctuation in three places,' although there are in addition 'many corrections in miscellaneous poems.' In the present copy there are corrections to all the poems, but it is to 'Maud' and 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' that the principal alterations have been made, some lines being suppressed and others inserted. On pp. 36-38 of 'Maud' (section X), stanzas 2-5 are deleted, and stanza 2 is entirely rewritten on a slip of paper which is inserted; on p. 64 (section XIX), the first 11 lines are deleted from stanza 1 and 13 lines substituted on a slip of paper, wrongly inserted opposite p. 38. In sum, amendments to this poem occur on pp. 2, 6, 8 (section I), 13 (section III), 15, 17 (section IV), 30 (section VII), 36-40 (section X), 46, 47 (section XIII), 52 (section XV), 64-66 (section XIX), 68 (section XX), 81, 83 (section XXIII), 95, 96 (section XXV), 98 (section XXVI).
In 'The Charge of the Light Brigade,' deletions and additions occur as follows: p. 151, four lines added, one of which was again altered before its appearance in the first edition; pp. 151-152, two stanzas deleted, including the famous line 'Some one had blunder'd'; p. 153, two lines rewritten and two lines added, one line again being altered before its appearance in the first edition; p. 154, one stanza deleted, one line in the following stanza deleted and three others altered; p. 155, final stanza deleted. Taking both 'Maud' and 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' together, the additional lines in Tennyson's hand number 38 and the suppressed lines 85. There are corrections to other poems on pp. 105, 106, 108, 113, 118, 128-133 ('Ode on the Duke of Wellington'), 138, 140-144, 147, 148. At the bottom of p. 150 the date 'January, 1854' is added to the poem 'To the Rev. F.D. Maurice,' and also the instruction to include an extra poem: 'Here comes the new poem last but one in Vol -- "Will"'.
The only corrections not substantively followed in the first edition are those on p. 46 ('on his breast' instead of 'on his heart' in the new line of the stanza), p. 52 ('I' not put in italics in five cases as directed), 118 (correction not made), 153 (alterations to the last 4 lines of the stanza not followed). Two changes to the first edition are not reflected in AT's amendments to this trial copy: the first line of the 'Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington,' begins 'Let us bury the great Duke' (trial) as opposed to 'Bury the great Duke' (1st edition). In the first edition, 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' has a new final stanza; this is an addition in the Texas Ransom Centre that is not in the Vander Poel trial copy.
Tennyson explicitly asked for trial copies to be destroyed after publication of the first edition. He wrote to Aubrey de Vere at Curragh Chase, promising to send him a trial copy of the poem 'on the condition that when the book is published the vaunt courier of it shall be either sent back to me, or die the death by fire in Curra[g]h Chase. I shall print about 25 copies and let them out among friends under the same condition of either return or cremation' (Letters, ed. C.Y. Lang and Edgar F. Shannon, I, p. 321). Another trial copy, owned by Coventry Patmore, was examined and transcribed by R.H. Shepherd but later burnt. Wise never examined a copy of what he calls the 'pre-natal edition'; Shatto finds that he erred in stating that the title was Maud; or the Madness, and that the trial issue was printed on its own, without the minor poems. Using Shepherd's transcriptions, Wise nevertheless provided a useful 'list of variations between the text of Maud; or the Madness and the first edition' (I, pp. 126-131): the variations on Wise's list agree with the text of the present copy (before deletions or changes by the poet), indicating that both it and the Patmore copy were assuredly from the same trial printing. The Texas Ransom Centre copy has no title, but this may well be due to accidental loss.
The Texas Ransom Centre copy was offered as lot 967 in the same Sotheby's sale of 4 March 1891, and likewise purchased before the sale by G.L. Craik of Macmillan so it could be returned to Tennyson. In the BL copy of the catalogue, both lots are crossed through, indicating their withdrawal; the 'proofs' of In Memoriam which Craik also gave to the poet were in a separate lot, 958, similarly withdrawn. That two trial copies of Maud were returned to his father at the same time is a point glossed over in Hallam's reference to the event, and unclear from Tennyson's letter of thanks to Craik: 'I thank you and the Macmillans for your chivalrous gift. I value this more especially as showing your abhorrence of the sale of proof-sheets' (Memoir, II, p. 383). Maud, ed. S. Shatto (1986), pp. 1-38 ('History of Composition') and pp. 246-48 ('Descriptions of the Manuscripts and Printed Texts'); Wise Tennyson I, 58.
8° (168 x 102mm). [4], 155, [1]p. TRIAL PRINTING WITH CORRECTIONS TO ALL SEVEN POEMS IN THE AUTHOR'S HAND. Red morocco gilt by Rivière, covers with triple fillets, spine in six compartments with raised bands, two lettered 'Maud Tennyson/First proofs,' the remainder with repeated floral motif, gilt turn-ins, top edges gilt, others uncut, brown morocco solander case. Provenance: lot 966, Sotheby's 4 March 1891, part of a Tennyson collection, the property of a 'well-known private collector,' evidently withdrawn from sale and sold privately to: -- G.L. Craik [signed note by Hallam Tennyson on front blank reading: 'Mr. Craik of Macmillans brought this (They got it at Sotheby's sale March 1891 privately for my Father (with In Memoriam proofs)'; facing blank with further inscription in HT's hand 'March 16 - 1891/Presentation from Messrs. Macmillan' and note 'Lionels birthday' above the date] -- Frank Capra, sold Parke-Bernet, New York, April 27 1949, lot 353 for $1000 (£250).
THE MORE IMPORTANT OF TWO SURVIVING TRIAL COPIES, showing the text of 'Maud' and 'The Charge of the Light Brigade,' in key stages of transformation; the four other poems in the volume are 'The Brook,' 'The Letters,' 'Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington,' 'The Daisy,' and 'To the Rev. F.D. Maurice.' Hallam Tennyson remarked that his father 'always liked to see his poems in print some months and sometimes some years before publication, "for," as he said, "poetry looks better, more convincing, in print"' (Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir, 1897, I, p. 190). 'Maud' was composed at Farringford, the house on the Isle of Wight into which Tennyson moved on 25 November 1853. The germ of the poem, 'Oh! that 'twere possible,' was a lyric he had composed long before in 1833-34. By the spring of 1854, six sections existed, to be expanded into twenty-six sections before publication of the first edition in 1855. Three sets of proofs are known: P1, the first proofs; P2, proofs later than P1; P3, proofs later than P2, used to set the trial issue (see Maud: A Definitive Edition, ed. Susan Shatto, 1986, p. 246). The first edition, as published, differs in the make up of its pages by having a fly-title to 'Maud' and a leaf of advertisements; as a result of Tennyson's alterations, it ends on p. 154 whereas this trial printing ends on p. 155. The trial title-page omits the words 'D.C.L., Poet Laureate.'
THE TRIAL COPY FROM WHICH THE FIRST EDITION WAS LARGELY SET; it was unknown to Susan Shatto who describes the trial copy at the Tennyson Research Centre, Lincoln Central Library, as 'the only one known to survive.' Amendments to 'Maud' in the TRC copy are limited to 'corrections of punctuation in three places,' although there are in addition 'many corrections in miscellaneous poems.' In the present copy there are corrections to all the poems, but it is to 'Maud' and 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' that the principal alterations have been made, some lines being suppressed and others inserted. On pp. 36-38 of 'Maud' (section X), stanzas 2-5 are deleted, and stanza 2 is entirely rewritten on a slip of paper which is inserted; on p. 64 (section XIX), the first 11 lines are deleted from stanza 1 and 13 lines substituted on a slip of paper, wrongly inserted opposite p. 38. In sum, amendments to this poem occur on pp. 2, 6, 8 (section I), 13 (section III), 15, 17 (section IV), 30 (section VII), 36-40 (section X), 46, 47 (section XIII), 52 (section XV), 64-66 (section XIX), 68 (section XX), 81, 83 (section XXIII), 95, 96 (section XXV), 98 (section XXVI).
In 'The Charge of the Light Brigade,' deletions and additions occur as follows: p. 151, four lines added, one of which was again altered before its appearance in the first edition; pp. 151-152, two stanzas deleted, including the famous line 'Some one had blunder'd'; p. 153, two lines rewritten and two lines added, one line again being altered before its appearance in the first edition; p. 154, one stanza deleted, one line in the following stanza deleted and three others altered; p. 155, final stanza deleted. Taking both 'Maud' and 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' together, the additional lines in Tennyson's hand number 38 and the suppressed lines 85. There are corrections to other poems on pp. 105, 106, 108, 113, 118, 128-133 ('Ode on the Duke of Wellington'), 138, 140-144, 147, 148. At the bottom of p. 150 the date 'January, 1854' is added to the poem 'To the Rev. F.D. Maurice,' and also the instruction to include an extra poem: 'Here comes the new poem last but one in Vol -- "Will"'.
The only corrections not substantively followed in the first edition are those on p. 46 ('on his breast' instead of 'on his heart' in the new line of the stanza), p. 52 ('I' not put in italics in five cases as directed), 118 (correction not made), 153 (alterations to the last 4 lines of the stanza not followed). Two changes to the first edition are not reflected in AT's amendments to this trial copy: the first line of the 'Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington,' begins 'Let us bury the great Duke' (trial) as opposed to 'Bury the great Duke' (1st edition). In the first edition, 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' has a new final stanza; this is an addition in the Texas Ransom Centre that is not in the Vander Poel trial copy.
Tennyson explicitly asked for trial copies to be destroyed after publication of the first edition. He wrote to Aubrey de Vere at Curragh Chase, promising to send him a trial copy of the poem 'on the condition that when the book is published the vaunt courier of it shall be either sent back to me, or die the death by fire in Curra[g]h Chase. I shall print about 25 copies and let them out among friends under the same condition of either return or cremation' (Letters, ed. C.Y. Lang and Edgar F. Shannon, I, p. 321). Another trial copy, owned by Coventry Patmore, was examined and transcribed by R.H. Shepherd but later burnt. Wise never examined a copy of what he calls the 'pre-natal edition'; Shatto finds that he erred in stating that the title was Maud; or the Madness, and that the trial issue was printed on its own, without the minor poems. Using Shepherd's transcriptions, Wise nevertheless provided a useful 'list of variations between the text of Maud; or the Madness and the first edition' (I, pp. 126-131): the variations on Wise's list agree with the text of the present copy (before deletions or changes by the poet), indicating that both it and the Patmore copy were assuredly from the same trial printing. The Texas Ransom Centre copy has no title, but this may well be due to accidental loss.
The Texas Ransom Centre copy was offered as lot 967 in the same Sotheby's sale of 4 March 1891, and likewise purchased before the sale by G.L. Craik of Macmillan so it could be returned to Tennyson. In the BL copy of the catalogue, both lots are crossed through, indicating their withdrawal; the 'proofs' of In Memoriam which Craik also gave to the poet were in a separate lot, 958, similarly withdrawn. That two trial copies of Maud were returned to his father at the same time is a point glossed over in Hallam's reference to the event, and unclear from Tennyson's letter of thanks to Craik: 'I thank you and the Macmillans for your chivalrous gift. I value this more especially as showing your abhorrence of the sale of proof-sheets' (Memoir, II, p. 383). Maud, ed. S. Shatto (1986), pp. 1-38 ('History of Composition') and pp. 246-48 ('Descriptions of the Manuscripts and Printed Texts'); Wise Tennyson I, 58.
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