This set of disbound notebook pages represents (with two exceptions) the remains of an integral notebook that was used between 1863-1868 by DGR for various kinds of memoranda. As WMR's cover note indicates, the book originally contained quite a few drawings and sketches which, however, WMR later removed, as he notes. Nonetheless, a few of the drawings remain among the pages. The notebook is particularly interesting because it contains, at the front, the prescription and dosage that DGR used for his chloral.
Unlike the other notebooks in the Duke University Library, the pages gathered here are not marked by WMR with his bracketed numeration. The order of the pages as they appear in the library's archive is clearly not the order of the pages as they were originally sequenced in the bound notebook. The dates that appear throughout testify to the scattering of the leaves.
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel
Writings: XXV. Note Book I
Many
Designs
here—Some
fit to mount
Taken out &
kept with
drawings
15/2/98
Also personal memoranda
& a few verses
Begins June/63
but page given to Helen [Agresti]
for
autographs
contains this date
Done with 3/12/99
Mem: to send flowers to the
vases on M's birthday, & find
out
what day it is in April ?
Subject:— “Di donne io vidi una
gentile
schiera” treated something
like the
the foreground
Minister.— Glass £4-10/- Corner
Cupboard
£3 Chair £1 Carved
oak bed foot £1
Like the hyacinth that the shepherds on the
mountains trample with their
feet—and its
purple flower upon the ground:—
Like as the hyacinth in the mountains
shepherds mar with their feet tread
down
& on the ground the purple flower.
F. Who is that yonder?
M. Mark her well. It
is
Lilith.
F. Who?
M. Lilith, the first wife of Adam.
Beware
of her fair hair, for she excels
All women in the magic of her
locks:
And, when she winds them around a
young man's neck,
She
will not ever set him free again.
Wer ist denn das?
Betrachte sie genau:
Lilith ist
das.
Wer?
Adam's erste Frau.
Nimm dicht in Archt vor ihren
schönen
Haaren,
Vor diesem Schmuck, mit dem sie
einzig
prangt!
Wenn sie damait den jungen Mann
erlangt,
So
läszt sie ihn sobald nicht wieder fahren.
Subject — Figure holding glass globe
reflecting landscape
Subject — Pietra degli Scrovigni
among ricks
reflecting
la muove se non come pietra
Lo
dolce tempo che riscalda i colli.”
Housemaid came 20 April
Green £50 Oct 22. (bill
dated 4th May for 6 months
& 15 days after date)
with 3 days grace.
Lent Smetham Brown Indian
dressing gown & green smock frock.
May—/66
Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower
Isaiah (cf Ephraim)
For “Sappho's Apple“—Pearls lying in
a
glass casket in an open cupboard
(from John Marshall)
Eat Meat, Poultry, Game, Fish, Oysters,
Kidneys, Green
vegetables, stewed
fruit, Ripe Fruit
Small quantity of Toast or
Rusk
Very few potatoes
Drink Thin wines or Cyder
(Summer) Claret or Chablis
with equal parts
cold water
(winter)Do with half as much
hot
water
& nutmeg
very little tea or coffee
Avoid or Reduce
much Bread, Potatoes,
Sugar, Beer,
Spirits,
Cocoa, Chocolate, Olive Oil,
Eggs, Bacon—
Nov 7 (Smith 73-153 £61 — 1st May
30 (Ludlow 40
- 13 - 11 — 1st April
£31-10(?) (Terry 36 - 15
- 4 Feb 17
Feb (£30 Porter Feb 17
(£33
Walker 1st April
£33-10(?)
Marble dealer—Smith
Street Westminster
Wills — Gt St Andrews St (or
Little) Seven Dials. Sets
up
animals to paint from
Sara Howes
Dr [Merrion?]
[Normanton Cottage?]
North End [?]. [Fulham?]
£14 wages
Hymen & Cupid. Door of marriage
chamber hung with garlands.
Hymen
standing sentinel & preventing Cupid
from peeping
in at keyhole.
Feb 21 £30 Porter
Feb 21 £31 to Terry
April
1 £33 Walker
The “Cratur” of the Irish Volcano
—a
whiskey bottle with little Irishmen
swarming up it & taking
fire at the
mouth.
Byfield House—about 3 miles
South of Weybridge—over
railway
bridge to the on the left side of
the railway
B's prices. Bust 30 gs in Plaster, 35
in Terra Cotta,
90 in marble & 80 in bronze
Statuettes 25 in terra cotta, 40
in bronze.
Arthur. £50. 20th Oct.
Wareham £22-5-6. 21 July
L's head. 16 1/8 — 12 inches
Size of
receiving Sangrael”
For Dante to match Beatrice — background
—Love in
black — & Beatrice
back view
Winchelsea — Northram House
—Tenterden, Kent about
10 miles
[?], good inn kept by Tabrett, within
a drive of Rye.
Cranbrooke, Dutch
[weaving?] town.
Ask J P S. to dinner & T J & Traer.
Nov. Lent Brown peacock fan.
Grocer. £26-6-11 Feb. (for 8th)
2 months bill
3 months bill
To give photos of my designs to
Smetham, Johnson
Revd Blunt, Howell,
Miller, Burton
Craven Mackinnon
Title for Comic Journal—Gas, of the
London Luminary. Cover, a large
gaslamp with the title
on it and
dark view of London street behind.
M. S.'s mistress standing by the girl with a cup
of magic wine ready,
& looking at her with pity.
Deer-hound with his head up
howling at the spell,—women
trying to stop him—or
perhaps old woman frowning & railing
at him from
corner.
Michael lying along the front of the picture
at the girl's
feet.
Death's head moth fluttering round the burning lock of hair.
Perhaps two opening above the side seats with a
number of girls
watching—M. S's harem.
Raven picking up scraps in old woman's lap, while she
cuts a silver cross
from the girl's girdle. Michael
Scott might be seated upright with his
head against the
wall watching the burning of the hair &
perhaps slipping a
magic ring on the girl's finger.
Size of
22 3/4 x 18 3/4
Lent Solomon bit
of blue & silver brocade
(Wareham)
& Purple
Kingiole]
N.B. £5 for Ellis
Miss L. Wilson
Stage Door
Alhambra
per favor
of Mr Howell
introduced by A. Glover Esq
Lent Brown velvet cote hardie
kirtle with separate [?]
and angel's
dress. Also Green Kirtle.
N.B. Kate Howell has bracelet
of emeralds — thus
[design
inserted by DGR]
Mem: Send photos: to
Mrs Blackmore
Subject: Last scene in the
Cruel Sister
— The spirit
standing by the harper with
her hands
on his as he plays
and looking at the lover
the personages watching the
harp in
astonishment without
seeing the Spirit; except the Cruel
sister, who
sits upright looking
at her—
N B Eatwell keeps French
stick charcoal.
Mem:
Tre Rose
sarà avanguta, far
produce a C. una piccola
aquarella
per cento lire, accio che ci sia più
da
ricevere sulle Tre Rose
June 5. Lent Brown
yellow & silver cloak, &
fragment
of Blue & silver brocade with birds
got from Wareham
Mrs. Proctor, Mrs Cooper, Matthews
Lawrence, 6 Wells St. Millais
Ch[?], 28 London St—£20-10-0
Mantell [?] Middle[?]
M Moses, 189 Oxford St W. £4-70
Moorehead & Glaa[?] 152 Strand £7-12-9
W. B. Verity 2 Charles St. West, Woburn
Terrace West, £5-18-9
Steam Bleaching Compy £4-1-2
F. S. Ellis, 33 King St £9-19 (Lat. Dict,
to deduct)
E. Parsons, 45 Brompton Rd £2-9
G[?] Cailvetti 39 Cranbourne St £15-4-0
K. Keating [?] Frairs £4-4-6
J Charles 9 Arabella Row SW £20-6-5
Bartlin[?] & Co 18 Bl[?] St £5-12-6
Mrs Cohen 12 Charles St Soho £2-5-0
J. S. Phillips £0-16-0
J Stanton 22 Davies St [?]Sq £4-0-2
S B Faller 61 Pall Mall £2-1
Howell & Co 32 K.William St. £16-2-6
Sir J. Soane's Museum
open Thursdays & Fridays
in April May
& June—
some other day during the rest
of the week
Motto:— Non si sa
E. J. P. to Maclennan
photos to Paton
Housemaid came 15 Jany /67
Mrs. D. Basil W. [?] Proctor
Here followeth a maid, well apparelled
that shall sing a song of the birth
of Christ
For plain scarlet try laying ground
with Venetian or Indian red
&
white to the full depth of the
glazing with orange vermilion
Feb. 22 /67 Lent Saffi
Poeti del Primo Secolo 1 vol
Nannucci Manuale
2 vols
Trucchi Poesie Italiane
ined 4
vols—Barberino
Dac: d'Amore 1 vol Reggiamente &c 1
vol.
Fraticelli 3 vols.
To Bower £18-0-9
Nov 15th (for 12th)
To Mr Keeling £22-7-6
payable 1st April 1866
Andrews: Latin English Lexicon—
Sampson Low 47 Ludgate Hill
1863 price 18/-
Lent to Chapman 23 Sept/65
1 green kirtle 1 white surcoat
1 white
& yellow cote hardie with
kirtle to match
Put charcoal in water to keep
plants for painting. 2 tablespoon
fuls
for a tumbler or so
Thurs 19
Mem: To get Johnson's photos
of
same size for him
H. P. £5 payable every 14th Feby
& 14th Aug.
Mem: Write to Hes: Dixon &
Mrs Proctor Beloved is done
Gambart £100 /19 March
Address about silver plate
—spoons forks
&.c
Signor Marchetti
Apsley House
Torquay
Green £50 payable Aug 31
Subject— Death of Lady Macbeth
Lady M.
nearly dead on pillow, but still
rubbing her hands. Women facing
back
from bed ?
kneeling
her. M's army seen
seen transparent against window (perhaps)
witches
Dec 28 /64. Lent Scott, Palm branch
Japanese brown robe, Indian
blue
& white scarf, & orange drapery
belonging
to Sandys.
To receive from Rae £50 on
12 Feb. &
£50 on 15 March
Mem: To paint screen for M's
birthday
Marks, £100. 3rd (for 1st)
Aug May
29 January. Lent Solomon
gold Indian bracelet
30 Jan. Sunday fortnight to go
to Anthony's
Mem: To ask Ruskin about
Lizzie's “Sister Helen”
— also about
reviewing B. in A.S.
Subject: Fair Rosamund fastening
skein to branch of tree
LA PIA