Add MS 45316

WILLIAM MORRIS LITERARY MANUSCRIPTS. Vol. XX (ff. 46). A collection of fragments, originally loose leaves, of drafts for 'Sigurd the Volsung', viz.:-(1) The narrative continued from 45315, beginning at Book III, canto 10, 'And with many a thought of Sigurd the heart within her glows' (C.W., xii, p. 203). It continues to follow the printed text fairly closely down to Book III, canto 12, 'then clashed the harness of Fafnir as Sigurd stood on his feet' (C. W., xii, p. 221) (ff. 1-10). From this point (f. 10) the MS. is largely crossed out or rewritten and breaks off in the middle of the last interview between Sigurd and Brynhild (ff. 10-15) of which episode there are here fragments of two versions. In Wahl, op. cit., footnote 47, these fifteen lines are incorrectly described as filling the gap between 45313 and 45314 (see art. 3 below). ff. 1-15;-

(2) Fair copy of 5 stanzas of 7 lines each, beg. 'Come hearken dreams and marvels of the days when earth was young'. This is probably an attempted Prologue for the epic. (It is not found in the fair copy, Egerton MS 2866.) ff. 16-16b;-(3) Draft of part of Book II, canto 10, Sigurd's wakening of Brynhild, roughly covering the lines missing between 45313 and 45314, but differing considerably from the printed text. On an envelope (f. 18) is a note by Morris, 'Failure No. 1 of Brynhilds Awakening and alterations'. ff. 19-26;-(4) Another draft of art. 3, being a considerable revision of the episode, parts of which are to be found on the versos of art. 5, but still differing considerably from the printed text. ff. 27-32;-(5) Fair copy based on the drafts in art. 3 above of nearly the whole of Book II, canto 10 (C. W., xii, 119-130) clearly intended for the printer's copy (Egerton MS. 2866), but so much corrected and rewritten that it was eventually abandoned. (The equivalent and final version is on ff. 141-152 of Egerton MS. 2866.) ff. 33-44;-(6) Fragments of a draft of Book III, canto 10 (the contention of the Queens; C.W., xii, pp. 202-213) differing considerably from the printed text. ff. 45b-46.

includes:

• ff. 16-166, 33-44 Calligraphy: W. Morris; poems and translations: circ. 1868-1876.