Poems. (Privately Printed.): First Trial Book (partial), Princeton/Taylor
(bound with Penkill Proof Copy 2)
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Production Description
Document Title: Poems.
Author: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Printer: Strangeways and Walden
City of publication: London
Date of publication: 1869 September 30 (late September)
Pre-Publication Information: This is an early set of proof pages for the First
Trial Book.
Pagination: [1], 2-13, [14]
Authorization: DGR
Collation: [B]
7
Note on Publication: Three pages with hand notes are gathered with these proofs, all
written by William Bell Scott. The proofs are tipped into Scott's copy
of the
Penkill Proofs.
Corrector: DGR
Provenance
Current Location: Princeton U. Library, Troxell Collection
Catalog Number: 23298
Bibliography
- Lewis,
The Trial
Book Fallacy
, 186.
- Wise,
The Ashley Library, VIII. 171-176.
- Troxell, “The Trial Books”, 184-185.
- Fraser, “The Rossetti Collection of Janet Camp Troxell”, 162.
Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Copyright: Used with permission of Princeton University. From the Princeton
University Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. All rights
reserved. Redistribution or republication in any medium requires express written
consent from Princeton University Library. Permissions inquiries should be
addressed to Associate University Librarian, Rare Books and Special Collections,
Princeton University Library.
page images | transcript
Scholarly Commentary
Introduction
This is a partial set of proof pages for the First Trial Book. Fraser and Lewis were the first to describe these materials correctly (see Fraser, 162; and Lewis, 186). The proofs contain two of the new poems that DGR wrote while he was staying at Penkill Castle in the summer of 1869: Troy Town and Eden Bower. These proofs are tipped into William Bell Scott's copy of the Penkill Proofs.
Despite Scott's note in these proofs, they could not have been printed off and sent to DGR while he was still at Penkill Castle. A letter to Alice Boyd sent by DGR from London to Penkill on 21 September 1869, the day after he left, shows that the second poem on these proofs, “ Eden Bower”, was still in process of composition and had not been put into print (see Fredeman, Correspondence, 69.160). But the letter shows that DGR intended to “put it in print at once”, so these proofs were probably done soon after the 21st.
Textual History: Revision
Not all of DGR's revisions on this set of proofs were incorporated into the first state of the complete printing of the First Trial Book, which was done on 3 October.