Introduction
When discussing the final stage of DGR's elaborate process
of production for the 1870
<xref doc="a.1-1870.raw">Poems</xref>
, scholars
have regularly written as if these proofs existed in a single
state. Several copies of these proofs survive in integral
condition: two copies at the Fitzwilliam [copy 1, copy 2], and single
copies at the British Library and
in the Troxell Collection,
Princeton University. Another incomplete proof copy exists—a set of pages from the proof copy that DGR sent on 5 March 1870 to John Skelton, and that Skelton used for his review in
<hi rend="i">Fraser's Magazine</hi>
(May 1870), 609-622
. (All five of these copies, however, represent
a single state of these proofs—one that was completed just
before 7 March 1870 (see DGR's letter to Swinburne, 7 March 1870:
Fredeman,
<xref doc="a.">
<hi rend="i">Correspondence</hi>
</xref>
70. 45
). These copies are all the first issue, second state. But a
mixed state of the proofs for the First Edition which
is in the Troxell Collection, Princeton University shows very clearly that
the proofs existed in two other printing states. In her discussion of
these proofs,
Troxell
(188-189) writes
as if they were composed of a single true first edition proof plus numerous
revises. But this view of the matter is not correct.
The proofs for the First Edition went through three distinct
printing stages. There was a first issue, first state made from DGR's revised
Second Trial Book proofs. This first state
was printed and sent to DGR in early March (see his letter to Swinburne of 7
March). The second state of this issue was produced as he changed the lineation in
the poem
<xref doc="a.51-1869.raw">Ave</xref>
and as
he altered the material in the
<xref doc="a.1-1870.raw">Sonnets for Pictures and Other Sonnets</xref>
section of the
book. The first issue, second state served as the
basis for DGR's final set of alterations to these proofs—a complex
set of changes through which new poems were added and the ordering of
the poems was shifted about. This is the second issue of the proofs for
the first edition.
No integral set of this second issue appears to survive. Nonetheless,
pieces of it can be found in the set of
<xref doc="a.1-1870.1prmisc.trox.rad">Mixed Proofs for
the First Edition</xref>
in the Princeton/Troxell collection. That
it had to have been pulled is plain from the situation caused by DGR's
massive late changes to his forthcoming book. These began around 18 March
and continued through the rest of the month, as his letters of that period to his
publisher show. The
second issue was printed off in pieces in late March 1870 as a result of two factors: first,
DGR decided to change the order of the poems in all three sections of
the book; second, he added a series of new poems to the volume.
The new poems added to the book were
<xref doc="a.21-1869.raw">The Stream's Secret</xref>
, and the sonnets
<xref doc="a.24-1869.raw">The Wine of Circe</xref>
,
<xref doc="a.4-1870.raw">The
Love-Letter</xref>
,
<xref doc="a.13-1870.raw">Barren Spring</xref>
, the first of the
<xref doc="a.2-1849.s102.raw">Old and New Art</xref>
sonnets “St. Luke the Painter”,
<xref doc="a.11-1870.raw">The Monochord</xref>
,
<xref doc="a.7-1870.raw">Love-Sweetness</xref>
,
and
<xref doc="a.15-1870.raw">He and I</xref>
. DGR
had these poems first printed separately so that they could be sent to
several persons who already had copies of the first issue, second state as
pre-publication review copies (see his letter to Ellis of 30 March 1870:
Fredeman,
<xref doc="a.">
<hi rend="i">Correspondence</hi>
</xref>
70. 75
). The new poems were then incorporated into the proofs.
Even as the second issue was being constructed DGR made a
final set of changes. These did not alter the pagination but required only
the reprinting of a few pages in signatures M and N. This last change called
for the replacement of
<xref doc="a.1-1864.s105.raw">The Seed
of David</xref>
by
<xref doc="a.7-1878.s75.raw">Francesca da Rimini</xref>
,
and proposed shifting
<xref doc="a.1-1865.s183.raw">Aspecta Medusa</xref>
to accommodate the change (see his letter to Ellis of 30 March). In
the event he chose a new translation of Villon,
<xref doc="a.25-1870.raw">His Mother's Service
to Our Lady</xref>
, as the replacement poem.