In yesterday’s post, I shared a version of “Because I could not stop for Death” which I had never seen before. It was from a 1924 edition of The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by the poet’s niece, Martha Dickinson Bianchi. I knew of the volume; I’d just not seen one though, nor did I realize it contained previously published works with additional modifications.
Here’s a recap of the early publications through 1924:
1886: Emily Dickinson died on May 15
1890: “Poems,” first series edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and T. W. Higginson
1891: “Poems,” second series edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and T. W. Higginson
1896: “Poems,” third series edited by Mabel Loomis Todd
Here’s a recap of the early publications through 1924:
1886: Emily Dickinson died on May 15
1890: “Poems,” first series edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and T. W. Higginson
1891: “Poems,” second series edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and T. W. Higginson
1896: “Poems,” third series edited by Mabel Loomis Todd
NOTE: Mabel Todd ceased publishing additional volumes of poems (until 1945) due to a lawsuit brought against her by Dickinson’s sister, Lavinia, who successfully sued to reclaim a strip of meadow her brother, Austin Dickinson, had deeded to Todd. The victory caused a permanent rift, leading Todd to lock up Emily Dickinson's remaining unpublished manuscripts.
1914: “The Single Hound, Poems of a Lifetime,” poems and letters by Dickinson edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi
1924: “The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson,” edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi; this volume included all of the poems from the first, second, and third series and “The Single Hound,” for a total of 595 poems, or about one third of all of Dickinson’s poetry.
1914: “The Single Hound, Poems of a Lifetime,” poems and letters by Dickinson edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi
1924: “The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson,” edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi; this volume included all of the poems from the first, second, and third series and “The Single Hound,” for a total of 595 poems, or about one third of all of Dickinson’s poetry.
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Bianchi included this “NOTE” at the start of her volume:
For the convenience of readers familiar with previous editions of Emily Dickinson’s poems the original four divisions have here been retained, each now including all the poems of its own group in the three volumes of the series.
The names given to many of the poems by former editors have been dropped, leaving them as they were found in manuscript, — not entitled; but the old landmarks of “Life, Nature, Love, Time and Eternity” remain at suggestion of the publisher, for whose kind consideration I make sincere acknowledgement, as also for the invaluable assistance of Alfred Leete Hampson.
Therefore, this 1924 included all of the poems from the first three series, categorized under the previously applied groupings of Life, Nature, Love, and Time & Eternity, plus all of the poems published ten years earlier in “The Single Hound.”
Below: Bianchi's "Introduction" to the collection (click the image to enlarge):
For the convenience of readers familiar with previous editions of Emily Dickinson’s poems the original four divisions have here been retained, each now including all the poems of its own group in the three volumes of the series.
The names given to many of the poems by former editors have been dropped, leaving them as they were found in manuscript, — not entitled; but the old landmarks of “Life, Nature, Love, Time and Eternity” remain at suggestion of the publisher, for whose kind consideration I make sincere acknowledgement, as also for the invaluable assistance of Alfred Leete Hampson.
Therefore, this 1924 included all of the poems from the first three series, categorized under the previously applied groupings of Life, Nature, Love, and Time & Eternity, plus all of the poems published ten years earlier in “The Single Hound.”
Below: Bianchi's "Introduction" to the collection (click the image to enlarge):
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