The Dusseldorf Artists Album Mary Howitt, editor and translator 1 © Princeton University Library. A color slide or transparency of this image can be ordered from the Princeton University Library by contacting the Photoservices Coordinator, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. This electronic document is a partial reconstruction of the original edition. Only the material relevant to DGR is gathered into this work. The complete document is scheduled for transcription later. The Dusseldorf Artists Album Howitt, Mrs. Mary, editor and translator Treubner & Co. G. D. Baedeker London 1854 1 [i-ii], [1]-40 plus plates DGR The Dusseldorf Artists' Album was published originally in Dusseldorf by Arnz & Co. from 1851-1866; the only English translation was Mrs. Howitt's, in 1854; the English poems, including Rossetti's, were not printed in the original German periodical. Princeton U. Library, Troxell Collection nc1140.d8 paper cover with pictorial design; lettering in green, gold, and red 6 42 2 2.1 cm 1.9 cm 1.7 cm 25x20cm Commentary
Introduction

Writer and journalist Mrs. Mary Howitt was a close friend of DGR and Elizabeth Siddal, and used the opportunity of translating a German periodical to publish some of DGR's work. She created an English version of the 1854 issue of The Dusseldorf Artists' Album, published in Germany (1851-6), and added to it works by several English poets, including DGR.

Textual History: Composition

Textual History: Revision

Printing History

The Dusseldorf Artists' Album was published originally in Dusseldorf by Arnz & Co. from 1851-1866; the only English “translation” was Mrs. Howitt's, in 1854; the English poems, including DGR's, were not printed in the original German periodical. A facsimile of the first page of the Album text is printed as the frontispiece in Troxell's critical edition of DGR's poem.

Historical

Literary

Autobiographical

Bibliographic

Troxell, <hi rend="i">Rossetti's Sister Helen</hi> . Doughty, <hi rend="i"> A Victorian Romantic</hi> , 142-143.

Single rule border with ornamented corners. The first letter of the first word of the poem (A) is a large capital. All pages containing “<quote>Sister Helen</quote>” are formatted in two columns. All opening double quotation marks fall at the baseline, rather than the cap height. <hi rend="b">Sister Helen.</hi> By H. H. H. The author line beneath the text title reads “By H. H. H.”. According to Sharp (p. 20), DGR wrote on the leaves of his own corrected and annotated copy of this text that the initials “were taken from the lead-pencil [where they signified a very hard graphite] because people used to say my style was hard”. CR wrote in a letter to WMR that “At the Howitts one evening Allingham suggested ‘Hear, hear, hear’ for H. H. H.” ( <xref doc="a.pr5238.a3.rad" link="dead" from="172">CRFamlet</xref> ). “And if ye have melted your wax aright, Sister Helen, Ye'll let me play, for ye said I might!” “Be very still in your play to night, Little Brother!” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Dark night and loud between Hell and Heaven.) “Ye said, it must melt ere vesper-bell Sister Helen, If now it be molten, all is well!” “Even so, nay peace! ye cannot tell, Little Brother!” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Oh what is this, between Hell and Heaven!) “Oh the waxen knave was plump to-day, Sister Helen, How like dead folk he has dropt away!” “Nay now of the dead what can ye say Little Brother?” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Why looks she thus between Hell and Heaven?) “See, see the pile of burning wood, Sister Helen, Shines through the thin wax red as blood”, Nay now, when looked ye yet on blood, Little Brother? (O Mother Mary, Mother, How pale she is between Hell and Heaven!) “Now close your eyes for they 're sick and sore Sister Helen, And I'll play without and keep the door.” “Aye keep it well—I'll lie on the floor, Little Brother.” (O Mother Mary, Mother, What ails her heart between Hell and Heaven?) “And here it's merry in the wind's wake, Sister Helen, In the shaking trees the chill stars shake.” “Hush, heard ye horse-tread while ye spake, Little Brother?” (O Mother Mary, Mother, What would she between Hell and Heaven?) “I hear a horse-tread and I see, Sister Helen, Three horsemen that ride terribly.” “Little Brother, whence come the three, Little Brother?” (O Mother Mary, Mother, What hope is her's between Hell and Heaven.) “They come by the hill-verge by Boyne Bar, Sister Helen, And one draws nigh, but two are afar.” “Look, look do ye know them, who they are, Little Brother?” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Who should they be, between Hell and Heaven?) “Oh its Keith of Eastholm rides so fast, Sister Helen, For I know the white mane on the blast.” “The hour has come, has come at last, Little Brother!” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Is this like joy between Hell and Heaven?) “He has made a sign and calls Halloo! Sister Helen, “And he says that he would speak with you.” “Oh tell him I fear the frozen dew, Little Brother!” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Why smiles she thus between Hell and Heaven.) single rule border with decorated corners Typo: on page 10, line 144 of the poem reads What here should the migthy Baron seek, rather than What here should the mighty Baron seek, “The wind is loud, but I hear him cry, Sister Helen, That Keith of Ewan is like to die.” “And he and thou, and thou and I Little Brother!” (O Mother Mary, Mother, She mocks at death, between Hell and Heaven!) “Since yesterday, he lies sick a-bed, Sister Helen, And he prays in torment, to be dead.” “The thing may chance, if he have prayed, Little Brother!” (O Mother Mary, Mother, She scoffs at prayer between Hell and Heaven!) “But he has not ceased to cry all day, Sister Helen, That you should take your curse away.” “God heard; God grants; shall I gainsay, Little Brother!” (O Mother Mary, Mother, She speaks of God between Hell and Heaven.) “He says, till you take back your ban, Sister Helen, His soul would pass, but never can.” “Nay then,—shall I slay a living man, Little Brother?” (O Mother Mary, Mother, A wicked word between Hell and Heaven!) “Here's Keith of Westholm riding fast Sister Helen, For I know the white plume on the blast.” “The hour, the sweet hour I forecast, Little Brother.” (O Mother Mary, Mother, What mirth is her's between Hell and Heaven?) “He stops to speak and he stills his horse, Sister Helen, But his talk sounds like the talking gorse.” “Nay hear, nay hear, ye must hear perforce, Little Brother.” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Are such words sweet between Hell and Heaven!) “Oh he says that Keith of Ewan's cry, Sister Helen, Is ever to see you ere he die.” “He sees me in earth, in moon and sky Little Brother!” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Alas for sin between Hell and Heaven!) “He sends a broken ring and a coin, Sister Helen, And bids you mind the banks of Boyne.” “What else he broke can he ever join, Little Brother?” (O Mother Mary, Mother, What wrong is her's between Hell and Heaven!) “He yields you these and craves full fain, Sister Helen, You pardon him in his mortal pain.” “What else he took will he give again, Little Brother?” (O Mother Mary, Mother, O shame and love between Hell and Heaven.) “Oh it's Keith of Keith now that rides fast, Sister Helen, For I know the white hair on the blast.” “The short, short hour will soon be past, Little Brother!” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Thou heard'st her laugh between Hell and Heaven!) “He looks at me and he tries to speak, Sister Helen, But oh, his voice is sad and weak.” “What here should the migthy Baron seek, Little Brother?” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Alas, alas between Hell and Heaven.) “O his son is lost, the priest has said, Sister Helen, If he die ere he and you be wed.” “I'll be his bride in a warmer bed, Little Brother.” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Has she no fear between Hell and Heaven?) single rule border with decorated corners “Ah he prays you, as his heart would rive, Sister Helen, To save his dear son's soul alive.” “Nay, flame cannot slay it, it shall thrive, Little Brother!” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Her soul blasphemes between Hell and Heaven!) “He cries to you, kneeling on the road, Sister Helen, O go with him for the love of God!” “The way is long to his son's abode, Little Brother!” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Has the end come between Hell and Heaven?) “O Sister Helen, ye heard the bell, Sister Helen, More loud than the vesper chime it fell.” “No vesper chime, but a dying knell, Little Brother.” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Our doom is sealed between Hell and Heaven.) “Alas, but I fear the heavy sound, Sister Helen; Is it in the sky, or in the ground?” “Say have they turned their horses round, Little Brother?” (O Mother Mary, Mother, What would she more between Hell and Heaven?) “They have raised the old man from his knee Sister Helen, And they ride in silence hastily.” “Now fast the naked one doth flee, Little Brother.” (O Mother Mary, Mother, And is all o'er between Hell and Heaven?) “O the wind is sad in the iron chill Sister Helen, And weary sad they look by the hill.” “But he they mourn is sadder still, Little Brother.” (O Mother Mary, Mother, No hope at all between Hell and Heaven!) “Look, look, the wax has dropt down from its place Sister Helen, And the flames are winning up apace.” “Yet here they burn but for a space, Little Brother.” (O Mother Mary, Mother, Are such deeds known between Hell and Heaven?) “Ah what white thing at the door has crossed, Sister Helen?— Ah what is this that sighs in the frost?” “A soul that is lost as mine is lost, Little Brother.”— (O Mother Mary, Mother, O purge their souls between Hell and Heaven!) ----------