Ashley MS 5268*

'Astrophel and Other Poems'. 'A Sequence of Sonnets on the Death of Robert Browning'; 1889. Fair copy, with revisions, written on one side only of two folio leaves of blue laid paper (ff. 5 and 7), and on both sides of a folio leaf of light blue laid paper (f. 6). Watermarks 'Mayfield / Fine' and the figure of Britannia (ff. 5 and 7), and none (f. 6). The MS. was first entitled by Swinburne 'On the death of Robert Browning', 'A sequence of Sonnets' being added by him later. Below sonnet I is the autograph date 'Dec. 13, 1889.'. Below sonnet IV is the autograph date 'Dec. 14.', and below the last sonnet the signature 'Dec. 15 Algernon Charles Swinburne.'.

As follows: Sonnets I and II, f. 5a; sonnets III and IV, f. 6a; sonnets V, VI, and VII, f. 7a. A deleted version of sonnet III, l. 1, is found on f. 6b. Swinburne has numbered ff. 6 and 7 '2' and '3' respectively. He originally numbered f. 6b '2', but this was later deleted.

The addition to the title, and the date following sonnet I, suggest that Swinburne originally planned to compose only one sonnet. Sonnet II has been squeezed onto f. 5a after two thirds of the page had already been used for sonnet I. The final text found in the fair copy differs by one word only from that printed on pp. 136-142 of the first edition. The sonnets were first published in the Fortnightly for Jan. 1890.

Bound up with the MS. are the leaf containing pp. 165-66 from a copy of Messrs. Maggs Bros.' catalogue for Spring 1932, p. 166 bearing the description of lot 417 (another autograph MS., presumably a draft, of

'A Sequence of Sonnets') (f. ii), a photograph of the Ca' Rezzonico at Venice (f. iii), and a copy of T. J. Wise's piratical printing of the sonnets

(ff. 1-4, 8-12), as follows:―

Printed pamphlet: A SEQUENCE OF SONNETS / ON THE DEATH OF / ROBERT BROWNING / BY A. C. SWINBURNE / London / PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION / MDCCCXC No imprint.

Collation: Small quarto (201 x 143); A2 B-D2 (2 missing); 7 leaves; pp. 1-7 8-13 14; $I (-A) signed.

Contents: p. 1 A SEQUENCE OF SONNETS p. 2 blank. p. 3 title. p. 4 blank. p. 5 note. p. 6 blank, p. 7 dropped title A SEQUENCE OF SONNETS / ON THE DEATH OF ROBERT BROWNING, and text of sonnet I. p. 8 text of sonnet II. p. 9 text of sonnet III. p. 10 text of sonnet IV. p. 11 text of sonnet V. p. 12 text of sonnet VI. p. 13 text of sonnet VII. p. 14 blank.

Running title: A Sequence of Sonnets. on pp. 8-13.

Paper: cream laid unwatermarked.

Binding: slate blue paper. Front: identical with title page. Back: blank.

Notes: The text of the pamphlet follows that of the MS. and of the Fortnightly, except that it has 'to-night' for 'tonight' in sonnet IV, l. 3, and a comma at the end of sonnet V, l. 5. This copy has been broken up, and the leaves inlaid in folio leaves. The pamphlet is a piracy by Wise, falsely attributed to Harry Buxton Forman (see John Carter and Graham Pollard, An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets, 1934, p. 290, and William B. Todd, ed. Thomas J. Wise Centenary Studies, 1959, p. 106). The type used in the pamphlet appears to be Carter and Pollard's fount (C). Another copy of the pamphlet is Ashley Library No. 4396 in the Department of Printed Books.

Folio; ff. iii+12.

includes:

• ff. 5, 6-7 Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: 'A Sequence of Sonnets on the Death of Robert Browning' by Algernon Charles Swinburne: 1889: Autogr. fair copy with revisions. Signed.