Ballads and Sonnets (1881), proof Signature R (Delaware Museum, first revise, copy 2)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Production Description

Document Title: Ballads and Sonnets
Author: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Publisher: F. S. Ellis
Printer: Chiswick Press, C. Whittingham and Co.
City of publication: London
Date of publication: 1881 May 9
Pre-Publication Information: proof
Pagination: 241-256
Issue: 2
Authorization: DGR
Collation: R 8

Provenance

Current Location: Library, Delaware Art Museum

Physical Description

Point: 10 point; 6 point leading
Font: roman
Lines per Page: 17
Margin top: 2 cm
Margin bottom: 3.8 cm
Margin right: 2 cm
Margin left: 2.5 cm
Dimensions of Document: 19 x 12.8cm (crown octavo)

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

This is a complete copy of the first revise proof of Signature R (though this copy is undated, the other copy is dated 9 May). The revise is especially interesting because it is the last printing to retain the footnote on page 241, which represents DGR's gloss on that important sonnet.

Textual History: Revision

Besides this copy of the first revise, the Delaware Art Museum library has the following proof copies of Signature R: a corrected copy of the author's first proof, dated 5 May and numbered 1; two uncorrected copies of the first revise, this copy and another (the latter dated, the former not); a copy of the second revise (dated 10 May 1881); and four copies of the third revise (none dated): WMR's copy, this uncorrected copy, a set of uncorrected proof sheets ; and two uncorrected copies, copy 1 and copy 2; and finally an uncorrected final proof (dated 27 May 1881 and numbered 5). The British Library proofs have another copy of the first author's proof for this signature (undated but marked 1).

Electronic Archive Edition: 1