Ashley MS 1867

'Bothwell'. Fragments of the revise, with autograph corrections, revisions and additions; [1871?]-[1874]. According to Wise (Ashley Library Catalogue, vi, p. 92) there also survived another, and complete, copy of the revise, containing 69pp., and covering the same portion of Acts I and II as the trial printing. Of 1867, however, only pp. 25 and 26 (f. 1), 31-46 (ff. 2-9), 49-52 (ff. 10-11), and 59-69 (ff. 12-22) are extant. These are now all single leaves with the exception of pp. 39-42, which are on a folded sheet.

Collation: 190 x 128; 2 leaves (pp. 25/26 and 31/32) D8 (8 missing) E8 (3, 4 and 5 missing) F2 Gl; 7 leaves; pp. 25, 26, 31-46, 49-52, 59-69 70; $I (- G) signed.

Contents: 25, 26, 31-46, 49-52, 59-69 text (70 blank).

No running title.

Paper: White wove unwatermarked.

Binding: None.

Notes: If the make-up of 1866 is assumed to be analogous, 1867 may probably be reconstructed as follows: 190 x 128; B-E8 F2 Gl; 35 leaves; pp. 12-69 70; $I (- G) signed. 1-69 text (70 blank).

Wise (Ashley Library Catalogue, vi, p. 92) states that Rizzio's sestina was placed on p. 20 in the revise. As a result the paginations of 1866 and 1867 do not correspond exactly, pp. 25 and 26 of the latter containing the same text as pp. 24 and 25 of the former, except that the last line on p. 24 is the penultimate line on p. 25 in 1867, the first line of p. 25 in 1866, being placed last on p. 25 in 1867. Pages 30-32 in 1866 contain the same text as pp. 31-33 in 1867. Page 33 is blank in 1866, and p. 34 in both printings contains the same text. In the remainder of 1866 and 1867 the same text is on the same pages, except that the last line on p. 50 in 1866 is placed first on p. 51 in 1867. Over and above the differences caused by the inclusion of Rizzio's sestina in the revise, there are further differences on almost every page of the printed text caused by the printers having followed some of the corrections made by Swinburne in 1866, but by no means all.

Swinburne re-corrected almost all the remaining errors, and went on to make further revisions, additions and deletions. In some places these were so extensive as to necessitate their being written on separate leaves, and notes directing the printer's attention to them were written in pencil or ink beside the deleted passage. Such notes are found opposite p. 25, ll. 16-19 and 29-30, p. 26, ll. 11-33, and p. 49, ll. 16-19, but the MS. leaves themselves are missing. Conversely, between pp. 52 and 59 is inserted autograph additional material (ff. 12-16), written on one side only of five octavo leaves of white wove paper watermarked 'Baskerville Vellum Wove', and intended to be inserted between p. 53, ll. 22 and 23 (ff. 12a, 13a), and p. 54, ll. 13 and 17 (ff. 14a-l6a). The printed leaf containing pp. 53 and 54 is, however, missing.

1867 was evidently used as copy when the First Edition was set up, for there are compositors' names and printers' marks throughout and, moreover, the page divisions of the First Edition are marked off. There is also a red crayon foliation corresponding to the present foliation as follows:― 20 = f. 1; 28-35 = ff. 2-9; 37-39 = ff. 10-12; 41 (42 deleted), 42, 42b = ff. 14-16; 45-50 = ff. 17-22. The differences between the text of 1867 as revised and expanded (where the additional material is still extant for comparison) and the text of the First Edition are very slight, amounting only to twelve individual words and three lines. In addition, one line retained in 1867 is omitted in the First Edition. Seven lines found in the First Edition (p. 82, l. 23-p. 83, l. 5) are not to be found in 1866, nor among the additional MS. material in 1867. Very possibly they were written in on the now missing p. 54 of 1867.

Octavo; ff. i+22.

Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Verse tragedy, 'Bothwell' by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1871?]-[1874]: Fragms. of the printed revise with autogr. corrections, revisions and additions.