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Document Title: The Bride's Prelude (and other Manuscripts)
Author: DGR
Date of Composition: 1869?, 1871?, 1878
Type of Manuscript: Corrected manuscripts and printed texts
Scribe: DGR

The full Rossetti Archive record for this transcribed document is available.

Image of page unpaginated page: unpaginated
Image of page [i] page: [i]
ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS

BY DANTE GABRIEL

ROSSETTI



  • The first draft of the bride's

    prelude
  • The advertisement of Dante and

    his circle
  • Notes on the proportion of the

    head to various parts of the

    body
Image of page [i verso] page: [i verso]
Note: Blank page.
Image of page 2 page: 2
Manuscript Addition: NB to write all this at full length in prose as a first step.
Editorial Description: DGR note to the text added at top of the page
Manuscript Addition: 2
Editorial Description: WMR pagination
more about The Bride's Prelude
Continuation.
E Urscelyn has become celebrated as a

soldier of fortune selling his sword

to the highest bidder, and in

this character reports reach

Aloyse & her family respecting

him. Aloyse now becomes

enamoured of a young knight

who loves her deeply; this

leads, after fears & hesitations,

to her confessing to him the

stain on her life; he still

remains devoted to her.

E Urscelyn now reappears;

his influence as a soldier

renders a lasting bond with

him desirable to the brothers

of Aloyse, much as they hate

him; and he, on his side, is

bent on assuming an important

position in the family to which

he as yet only half belongs.
Image of page [2verso] page: [2verso]
Note: DGR uses this page for additions and revisions. It is written in pencil and the ink script from the reverse side (page 2 recto) can be seen through the paper, making the pencil marks very difficult to decipher. DGR writes “3” in the upper left hand corner of the page. Someone else has also written “4” in the upper left hand corner of the page.
Manuscript Addition: 3
Editorial Description: WMR pagination
Ctn might go thus.

Amelotte wd draw attention to the passing of the

time. Aloyse then says – There is much now

you remember – how we heard that Urscelyn

had become a soldier of fortune and how he returned here . You must

also remember with the death of that young

knight at the tourney. Amelotte should then

describe the event & say how well she re-

members Urscelyn's bitter grief at the

mischance. Aloyse wd then tell her how

she herself was betrothed herself to the young

knight & how Urscelyn slew him intentio-

nally. As the bridal procession appears, perhaps

it might become apparent that the brothers

meant to kill Urscelyn when he has married her.
Note: Along the left side of the following passage DGR has drawn a bracket and written the word “omit.”


Not necesarily [sic]. Aloyse might have kept

her 2 nd love secret from her sister,

who wd be cognizant of the accidental death

of the one knight by the hand of the

other Erscelyn at the tourney, but not of

its terrible meaning.
Image of page 3 page: 3
Note: The page has a large ink stain in the upper left hand corner which obscures the left-hand portion of six to seven lines. DGR has marked a vertical line alongside the left of the second paragraph and written “omit”.
Manuscript Addition: 3
Editorial Description: WMR pagination
[He] therefore offers marriage to

Aloyse, supported by the will of

brothers who moreover are

fully aware of the blot they

have to efface & which would

fully disappear. At a tournament

E Urscelyn succeeds in treacherously

slaying the knight to whom

Aloyse has betrothed herself;

and this death is followed

in due course by the bridal

to which the poem relates. It

winds up with the descriptions

of the last preparations preceding

the bridal procession.
NB. It will be necessary to

move the return of Amelotte

from her convent to a more

advanced stage of the poem,

shortly before the wedding, as

otherwise she must have been

cognizant of much related.
NB
Image of page [3verso] page: [3verso]
Note: Blank page with writing from reverse side visible.
Image of page [3a] page: [3a]
Manuscript Addition: 3
Editorial Description: WMR's pagination at top right
The narrative now first printed fragment called of The Bride's Prelude

was written earlier than almost anything in

the present volume. To complete it now

seemed less worth while than other poems.

Those who call for the writer's work . Some will may

perhaps be willing to have it preserved

though the printing it as it stands needs

some indulgence on their part.
Image of page [3a verso] page: [3a verso]
Note: This annotation is written by William Michael Rossetti lengthwise up the left side of the page.
Manuscript Addition: MS of 3 pages by DG Rossetti – shows the mode in which he wd have / completed his poem The Bride's Prelude, if he had completed it at / all – The substance of this MS. was published in his Collected Works, / 1886 – In the penciled portion, ending “the brothers meant to kill / Urscelyn” etc. – This termination of the poem was (I think) suggested to / DGR by Swinburne. / WMR.
more about this work
Image of page [4] page: [4]
Note: WMR's note to the manuscript as a whole.
Manuscript Addition: MS. of DG Rossetti / WMR / (except the 4 top lines)
more about this work
Image of page [4verso] page: [4verso]
Note: This notebook page contains DGR's directions to the printer regarding the layout of advertisements. The notes are written vertically, running from the bottom of the page to the top; in addition, a scrap of paper with additional (cancelled) directions has been pasted to this page.
Will be published immediately

A new edition, with additions

Poems

by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

in 8 vo crown 8 vo in an ornamental binding designed bound from the authors' design.

by the author

Price 12/.
Deleted Text The sonnets of the House of Life

originally printed in this volume

having now been embodied with

the full series appearing in “Ballads and

Sonnets”, the space thus vacated

is filled with first other matter now

first published.
Image of page [4a] page: [4a]
Note: This notebook page contains DGR's directions to the printer regarding the layout of advertisements. The notes are written vertically, running from the bottom of the page to the top; in addition, a clipping of a printed notice has been pasted to this page, with DGR's autograph corrections visible.
Manuscript Addition:

Revised and Re-arranged Edition, crown 8vo. / DANTE AND HIS CIRCLE; / WITH THE ITALIAN POETS PRECEDING HIM / (1100-1200-1300) / A Collection of Lyrics Edited and translated in the Original Metres, / BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI. / This work includes a translation of / Dante's Vita Nuova / The Vita Nuova of Dante /

I seem to have lost the / proof sent of this, so correct / the above.

Image of page [4a verso] page: [4a verso]
Note: Blank page.
more about Painting Instructions
Image of page 5 page: 5
Note: This page contains DGR's notes on the proportion of the head to various parts of the body.
height of heads
  • from chin to nipples 1 head
  • Nipples to navel 1 head
  • Navel to genitals 1 head
  • Genitals to mid-thigh 1 head
  • Mid-thigh to knee 1 head
  • Knees to bottom of calf 1 head
  • Bottom of calf to great toe 1 head
  • (Back View)
  • Shoulders to bottom of scapula 1 head
  • Scapula to hips 1 head
  • Hips to rump 1 head
  • (head divided in 4 portions)
  • Top of head to spring of hair 1 part
  • Spring of hair to top of nose 1 part
  • Top of nose to end of [nose] 1 part
  • End of nose to point of chin 1 part
Image of page [5verso] page: [5verso]
Note: This page contains DGR's notes on the proportion of the head to various parts of the body. In addition, WMR has written two notes at the page's bottom, running vertically and then horizontally.
  • The arm from articulation of shoulder

    to that of wrist 2 heads
  • Wrist to end of middle finger 1 head
  • Leg from genitals to soul of foot 4 heads
  • Hand is as long as the face &

    divided in 3 nose lengths
  • Foot is 1 head in length
  • Length of ear extends from eyes to

    end of nose
  • Width of shoulders is 2 heads
Manuscript Addition: MS of DG Rossetti / WMR / The Proportions of the H F to guide him in drawing.
Image of page [6] page: [6]
Note: Blank page.
Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File: 2-1848.princems.rad.xml
Copyright: Princeton University Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections