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Complete Works of Robert Browning 8: with variant Readings and Annotations (Complete Works Robert Browning) PDF

405 Pages·1988·28.9 MB·English
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THE COMPLETE WORKS OF ROBERT BROWNING, VOLUME VIII Drawzng, by William Wetmore Story, 1869. EDITORIAL BOARD J A C: K W. H E K R 1 N G Generd editor ROMA A. KING, .JR. PARK HONAN Volume VIII P h BAYl.OR IJNIVE:RSITY WACO, I’EXAS OHIO IJNIVERSITY PRESS A’I‘HE:NS, OHIO 1988 Members of the Editorial Staff who have assisted in the preparation ( Volume VIII: John Berkey Ashby Bland Crowder, Jr. David R. Ewbank Nathaniel Hart W. Craig Turner Ohio University Press books are printed on acid free paper. 03 Gpyright 0 1988 by Ohlo 1Jniversity Press and Baylor University Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-18389 ISBN O-821 4-0380-X All rights reserved Prmted in the IJnited States of America CONTENTS Page Number PREFACE vii TABLES xx ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xxiv THE RING AND THE BOOK Book V. Count Guido Franceschini Book VI. Giuseppe Caponsacchi 79 Book VII. Pompilia 159 Book VIII. Dominus Hyacinthus de Archangelis 233 EDITORIAL NOTES 307 This Page Intentionally Left Blank PREFACE 1 CONTENTS This edition of the works of Robert Browning is intended to be complete. It will comprise at least fourteen volumes and will contain: 1. The entire contents of the first editions of Browning’s works, arranged in their chronological order of publication. (The poems included in Dramatic Lyrics, Dramatic Romances and Lyrics, and Men and Women, for example, appear in the order of their first publication rather than in the order in which Browning rearranged them for later publication.) 2. All prefaces and dedications which Browning is known to have written for his own works and for those of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 3. The two prose essays that Browning is known to have published: the review of a book on Tasso, generally referred to as the “Essay on Chatterton,” and the preface for a collection of letters supposed to have been written by Percy Bysshe Shelley, generally referred to as the “Essay on Shelley.” 4. The front matter and the table of con tents of each of the collect- ed editions (1849,1863,1865,1868, 1888- 1889) which Browning himself saw through the press. 5. Poems published during Browning’s lifetime but not collected by him. 6. Poems not published during Browning’s lifetime which have come to light since his death. 7. John Forster’s Thomas Wentworth. Earl ofstrafford, to which Browning contributed significantly, though the precise extent of his contribution has not been determined. 8. Variants appearing in primary and secondary materials as defined in Section II below. 9. Textual emenda tions. 10. Informational and explanatory notes for each work. 11 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY MATERIALS Aside from a handful of uncollected short works, all of Browning’s works but Asolando ( 1889) went through two or more editions during vii his lifetime. Except for Puuline (1833), Strufford (1837), and Sordello ( 1840), all the works published before 1849 were revised and corrected for the 1849 collection. Strufford and Sordello were revised and corrected for the collection of 1863, as were all the other works in that edition. Though no further poems were added in the collection of 1865, all the works were once again corrected and revised. The 1868 collection added a revised Pauline and Dramatis Personae (1864) to the other works, which were themselves again revised and corrected. The printing of the last edition of the Poetical Works over which Browning exercised control began in 1888, and the first eight volumes aredated thuson their title-pages. Volumes 9 through 16 of this first impression are dated 1889, and we have designated them 1889a to distinguish them from the second impression of all 16 volumes, which was begun and completed in 1889. Some of the earlier volumes of the first impression sold out almost immediately, and in preparation for a second impression, Browning revised and corrected the first ten volumes before he left for Italy in late August, 1889. The second impression, in which all sixteen volumes bear the date 1889 on their title-pages, consisted of a revised and corrected second impression of volumes l- 10, plus a second impression of volumes 1 I- 16 altered by Browning in one instance. This impression we term 1889 (see section III below). Existing manuscripts and editions are classified as either primary or secondary material. The primary materials include the following: 1. The manuscript of a work when such is known to exist. 2. Proof sheets, when known to exist, that contain authorial corrections and revisions. 3. The first and subsequent editions of a work that preserve evidence of Browning’s intentions and were under his control. 4. The collected editions over which Browning exercised control: 1849-Poems. Two Volumes. London: Chapman and Hall. 1863-l’he Poetical Works. Three Volumes. London: Chapman and Hall. 1865-7’he Poetical Works. Three Volumes. London: Chapman and Hall. 1868-‘I”he Poetical Works. Six Volumes. London: Smith, Elder and Company. Reissued in stereotype impressions with varying title pages. 18881889-The Poetical Works. Sixteen Volumes. London: Smith, Elder and Company. Exists in numerous stereotype impres- sions, of which two are primary material: 1888-1889a-The first impression, in which volumes l-8 are dated 1888 and volumes 9- 16 are dated 1889. 1889-The corrected second impression of volumes l-10 and a second impression of volumes 1 l-16 altered by Browning .. . Vlll only as stated in section III below; all dated 1889 on the title pages. 5. The corrections in Browning’s hand in the Dykes Campbell copy of 1888-188&r, and the manuscript list of corrections to that impression in the Brown University Library (see section III below). Other materials (including some in the poet’s handwriting) that affected the text are secondary. Examples are: the copy of the first edition of Pauline which contains annotations by Browning and John Stuart Mill; the copies of the first edition of Paracelsus which contain correc- tions in Browning’s hand; a very early manuscript of A Blot in the ‘Scutcheon which Browning presented to William Macready, but not the one from which the first edition was printed; informal lists of corrections that Browning included in letters to friends, such as the corrections to Men and Women he sent to D. G. Rossetti; Elizabeth Barrett’s suggestions for revisions in A Soul’s Tragedy and certain poems in Dramatic Romances and Lyrics; and the edition of Strufford by Emily Hickey for which Browning made suggestions. The text and variant readings of this edition derive from collation of primary materials as defined above. Secondary materials are occasion- ally discussed in the notes and sometimes play a part when emendation is required. 111 COPY-TEXT The copy-text for this edition is Browning’s final text: the first ten volumes of 1889 and the last six volumes of 1888-1889a, as described above. For this choice we offer the following explanation. Manuscripts used as printer’s copy for twenty of Browning’s thirty- four book publications are known to exist; others may yet become available. These manuscripts, or, in their absence, the first editions of the works, might be considered as the most desirable copy-text. And this would be the case for an author who exercised little control over his text after the manuscript or first edition stage, or whose text clearly became corrupted in a succession of editions. To preserve the intention of such an author, one would have to choose an early text and emend it as evidence and j udgmen t demanded. With Browning, however, the situation is different, and our copy- text choice results from that difference. Throughout his life Browning continually revised his poetry. He did more than correct printer’s errors and clarify previously intended meanings; his texts themselves remained fluid, subject to continuous alteration. As the manuscript which he submitted to his publisher was no doubt already a product of revision, so each subsequent edition under his control reflects the results of an ongoing process of creating, revising, and correcting. If we were to ix

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