A: Those “of most original thought” and “in the best form.”
B: Those with “striking ideas” but “with too many of her peculiarities of construction.”
C: Those considered “too obscure” or “too irregular in form.”
Of course, all of this work took place in 1889, and the first publication debuted in 1890. Todd documented the process in a 1930 article for Harper’s Magazine, and Todd’s daughter Millicent Todd Bingham also wrote about it in her 1945 book “Ancestors’ Brocades.”
In that book, Bingham also included info about her father, David Peck Todd, and his contribution to the process:
“The part played by my father, especially in seeing the poems through the press has hitherto been overlooked. For several years he gave a good deal of time to the work – to proofreading in particular. ‘We made independent lists of the ratings A, B, and C, and then compared them,’ he told me, adding that ‘we used to sit up all night to read the proof.’”
From 1881 to 1917, David Peck Todd was a professor of astronomy and director of the observatory at Amherst College. For more on his life, check HERE.
Below left: David Peck Todd and Mabel Loomis Todd; below right: Millicent Todd (later Millicent Todd Bingham).