A Date with Destiny

If you have been following my daily posts, dear reader, then you know I’ve been chronicling the events from the first leg of my recent Dickinson-related trip to New York, Boston, and Amherst. If you have not been following my daily posts, I’ve been chronicling the events from the first leg of my recent Dickinson-related trip to New York, Boston, and Amherst.

At oh-thirteen-hundred (or is it just "thirteen-hundred"?) on the eleventh day of the seventh month – of the year and not of my trip – I entered the Brook Russell Astor Reading Room in the North Hall of the Stephen  A. Schwarzman building of the New York Public Library for my rendezvous with destiny in the Rare Books and Manuscripts chamber. 

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the mid of summer,
And each separate glowing light source wrought its ghost upon the floor.
    Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow
    From their books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the Belle of yore --
For the rare and radiant maiden whose poetry I adore --
            Famous now for evermore.

There upon a midday eerie, I’d hoped to ponder, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
“Surely,” said I, “surely there is something in this ghostly chamber;
      Let me see, then, what there is, and this mystery explore--
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore”--
            And here I opened wide the door –

Spooky, huh?

Yes, dear reader, as the clock struck one on the eleventh calendar day of Quintilis, I entered the Rare Books and Manuscripts chamber and spoke to Kyle, Rare Books Librarian and Archivist Extraordinaire, who helped me register for a NYPL library card and complete the required documentation and administrative tasks necessary to obtain and peruse a timeworn volume.

I had hoped to view (and hold) one of the first three in the series of Dickinson’s Poems (from 1890, 1891 and/or 1896) edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson..  However, that was not to be.  Such notable and valuable editions are marked for “exhibition only."  Therefore, I inquired about a 1924 publication of The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, and Kyle worked his magic.  He informed me that the volume was, indeed, available for inspection.  He asked that I return at two o'clock in order to give him time to retrieve it from the vault.  I was there on the dot.
 
At that time, a cordial librarian aide (alas, I do not recall his name) seated me at a table, prepared a black Styrofoam frame upon which to cradle the book, and handed me the volume.  

To be honest, I thought my study of the book would be quick.  I knew it was a compilation of four previous publications – the 1890, 1891, and 1896 series of Poems edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, and all of the works from The Single Hound (1914) edited by Emily Dickinson’s niece, Martha Dickinson Bianchi.  I thought I would thumb through pages casually, snap a few pics, take a quick look at “Because I could not stop for Death” – the main reason I’d asked to see this volume – and be on my way.   

I wanted to check out “Because I could not stop for Death” because I’d only recently discovered the version in this book differed from the two versions of the poems with which I am familiar – Dickinson’s version and Todd’s version – but I’ll get to that in some future post.  For now, let me say, that what I thought would be a quick glance through the pages of the 1924 The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson was anything but – and my decelerated scrutiny of the pages began with the opening poem of the book on page 3, “Success is counted sweetest." 

Someone had made handwritten corrections to the text of the poem and had written below it, “Higginson wrote in Masque of Poets ‘altered probably by Helen Hunt.”  On the side of the page, in pencil, is the word “war.”

What did all of that mean?  Well – I knew what all of that meant. “Success is counted sweetest” is one of the handful of poems by Dickinson published in her lifetime, and her friend Helen Hunt had submitted it for inclusion in an 1878 poetry anthology, “Masque of Poets,” published by Roberts Brothers and edited by George Parsons Lathrop – and at some point, Dickinson’s friend, mentor, and later editor, Thomas Wentworth Higginson must have indicated that alterations to the poem were probably made by Hunt. 

Who had made that note in the book I was perusing?  This was no cursory comment from some casual reader of poetry.  This was made by someone “in the know."  Who had owned this book?  Turns out it was owned by one Genevieve Taggard. She’d signed the first page and dated it “July 24 – 24," 1924, the very year the book was first published.  

Hmm…I was familiar, of course, with Dickinson and Todd – but  bachelorette number three,  the captivating Genevieve Taggard?  No, she was a mystery to me – but by reading through her marginalia, I could tell – the woman knew her stuff -- and I was on a date with destiny.

My heart is still palpitating.  Let me catch my breath!

More on Taggard, her corrections to “Success is counted sweetest,” the rest of her marginalia, and The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson is coming tomorrow – and beyond!  Stay tuned!

MORE:  See more pages from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson in my travelogue, "Dial 'Em' for Emily," HERE. 

More posts from my trip are here:

07.22.2026:  THIS – IS THE BLOG POST – ​THE SUNSET WASHES, CLICK HERE.
07.21.2026:  DOUBLE ETERNITY, CLICK HERE. 
07.20.2026:  THE ORACLE WORE A WHITE DRESS -- PART DEUX, CLICK HERE.
07.19.2026:  ALL THINGS MATTER, CLICK HERE. 
07.18.2026:  INTRODUCTORY PLOG POST ABOUT "DIAL 'EM' FOR EMILY," CLICK HERE.