Commentary
Introduction
The Penkill Proofs (so-called) are the
first integral set of proofs that were prepared for DGR as part of the
printing process that would eventuate in the publication of the
1870
<xref doc="a.1-1870.raw">Poems</xref>
in April 1870. They comprise Lewis's second Proof State
(see
The
Trial Book Fallacy
, 186
). They are called the Penkill Proofs because
they were completed and sent to DGR on 18 August 1869, two days
after he arrived at Alice Boyd's home Penkill Castle, in Ayrshire.
He stayed at Penkill until 20 September. The typesetting began
in July, however, as DGR's letters to Jane Morris of 21 and 30 July 1869
show (see
Fredeman,
<xref doc="a.">
<hi rend="i">Correspondence</hi>
</xref>
69. 91, 103
).
DGR had been thinking about his poetry and its publication
since 1868 but it is clear that he remained uncertain how best to
proceed. Then came the publication in the March 1869
<xref doc="a.ap4.f7.raw">
<hi rend="i">Fortnightly
Review</hi>
</xref>
of a group of
sixteen sonnets comprising
an initial sketch of what would become
<xref doc="a.44-1869.raw">“The
House of Life”</xref>
sequence. The event signalled
his inclination to bring his writing before the public. But he
remained hesitant about publishing a book. So he decided to undertake
a “trial” printing process that
began in July 1869 with these so-called Penkill proofs (and the related proofs that
survive now as some galley proofs for
Sister Helen
and
After the French
Liberation of Italy
). These texts mark DGR's tentative first steps
toward further publications, though the number and form must have
been as yet undecided. He began to decide upon a book
publication after these proofs were printed off—in late August
1869 when he read a favorable review of his poetry by H. Buxton Forman
in
<xref doc="a.tinsleys.rad" link="dead">
<hi rend="i">Tinsley's
Magazine</hi>
</xref>
(September 1869). The review was
responding to the sonnets he had published the previous March. DGR
was so pleased with the
review (see his letter to Frederick Shields, 27 August 1869:
Fredeman,
<xref doc="a.">
<hi rend="i">Correspondence</hi>
</xref>
69. 140
) that he began to
think he should publish a volume of his work.
Two copies of the Penkill Proofs survive: the
William Bell Scott copy,
and another copy that DGR
kept for himself. Both of these copies are preserved in the
Princeton/Troxell Collection of Rossetti materials.
Textual History: Composition
Textual History: Revision
Printing History
These proofs were being set from texts that DGR supplied to
his printers (Strangeways and Walden) before he left London on 17 August
1869 for a sojourn at Penkill Castle in Scotland (see his letters to Messrs. Strangeways of 7 August 1869,
Fredeman,
<xref doc="a.">
<hi rend="i">Correspondence</hi>
</xref>
69. 116
).
The printing process stretched between approximately 18 July
and 18 August 1869. On 7 August DGR wrote to his publisher Ellis, who was
overseeing the printing process, that the poems should each begin on a
separate recto page, except for the longer poems. These he allowed to be
printed on both sides of the page, though each new poem was to begin on a
separate recto. As a consequence, poems that ran only one page or less all
have blank versos. It has been suggested that
this method of printing would allow DGR greater flexibility
in shifting his poems about, as he experimented with the ordering of the
different works. But it is not at all clear that such a procedure would
have any significant impact on the printing process, at least for the
printers who were preparing the works. On the other hand,
such a format may well have facilitated the revision process DGR would
be executing on the proofs.
The texts missing from this proof can be reconstructed from
various documents. Most important is DGR's manuscript list (partial) of
some of the poems he wanted printed in this first set of proofs. The list
is contained in the notebook of materials in the Troxell Collection at
Princeton headed MS Poetry 1869-71.
(Also relevant is DGR's letter to his brother of 21 August 1869: see
Fredeman,
<xref doc="a.">
<hi rend="i">Correspondence</hi>
</xref>
69. 130
). Pages 66-67 carried
<xref doc="a.44-1849.raw">“A Song and Music”</xref>
,
pages 85-86 printed
<xref doc="a.10-1847.raw">“To Mary in Summer”</xref>
, pages 91-92 had
<xref doc="a.1-1849.raw">“Madonna”</xref>
(printed under the title “Madonna Consolata”, and
pages 137-138 had “Placata Venere”, which was the
original title of
<xref doc="a.5-1869.raw">“Nuptial
Sleep”</xref>
.
The half title for
“The House of
Life” in this Proof shows that DGR used as printer's copy
a modified and corrected text of the
<hi rend="i">Fortnightly
Review</hi>
text of sixteen sonnets for that material. The arrangement of the
original
<hi rend="i">Fortnightly
Review</hi>
texts is
very different in this proof, however, clearly showing that DGR
had already begun to think about new
arrangements for the materials of the sequence.
Bibliographic
Troxell,
“The Trial Books”
,
179, 182
.
Fraser,
“The Rossetti
Collection of Janet Camp Troxell”
,
160
.
Lewis,
<hi rend="i">
<xref doc="a.z1024.l49.rad" link="dead">The
Trial Book Fallacy</xref>
</hi>
,
186
.