The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911)

The 1911 edition of DGR's Works edited by William Michael Rossetti has been the standard text of the poet's work since it appeared.

It is the culminant (and best) in the series of editions WMR produced beginning with the two-volume set issued in 1886, also published by Ellis. The latter set was reissued in 1887 and from time to time through the mid 90s. The first volume of the 1886 edition, containing DGR's original writings, was re-issued in 1891 without the prose and with minor changes to WMR's preface.

Two other important editions preceded the 1911 edition: The Siddal Edition [of the Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti] in 7 volumes (1899-1901) and The Poems of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, with Illustrations from His Own Pictures and Designs in 2 volumes (1904). The latter includes many new poems, not least among them being “Nuptial Sleep”, which had been removed by DGR after its publication in the several printings of the 1870 Poems.

In this one-volume 1911 edition, WMR reorganized the corpus in several ways, though it largely follows the organization as established in 1886. It also added significantly to the printed corpus of DGR's works in both verse and prose. Its editorial apparatus is important as well: not so much for the preface, which follows its precedent incarnations closely, as for the chronology WMR gave to the poems (composition and publication dates alike) and for the new and invaluable notes to the text.

The 1911 edition is, however, by no means complete. Fredeman and Fennell both note various omissions, and there are others that neither of them have called attention to.