Pocket+Volume+of+Selections+from+Poetical+Works+of+Robert+Browning

//Pocket Volume of Selections from Poetical Works of Robert Browning// Published in London by Smith, Elder & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, 1891 Call no: PR4203 S65



This copy of selected poems by Robert Browning was clearly well-loved. It's hard cover and faded brown binding is falling apart. The book has an inscription to "M.White" on the first page.

The pages are in good shape with clean, cut edges, measuring to 16cm. The poems are laid out on the page to suggest the value cultured capital. This particular volume has a total of 319 pages.

The collection begins with selections from two songs, and then proceeds through a selection of Browning's most popular poems and epistles that were published and re-published through magazines and separate anthologies and collections. The two songs that start the volume (Song from "Paracelsus," 1835, and Songs from "Pippa Passes," 1841) are two of Browning's earliest works, and the volume concludes with Browning's "Epilogue, to Asolando," which was published in 1889- the day of Browning's death. Out of the many collections of selected poetry by Browning, this copy is one of the plainer ones aesthetically compared to the other examples of the same collection (which can be viewed by the links provided at the bottom of this page). It includes a stamp that has information about the "uniform Edition of the Works of Robert Browning," in the same font and style as this version. This stamp shows that Smith, Elder & co was also the publisher of Browning's uniform edition, which was sold in sixteen volumes in two series that could be purchased separately for 5 shillings each, or as a set binding for 4 pounds.

Many of the poems selected for this volume are from one of Browning's break-through editions of published poetry entitled //Men and Women.// The twenty-three out of the entire fifty-one poems selected from //Men and Women// are spread throughout the beginning of the volume and are most concentrated in the middle of the collection as they make up the bulk of the collection. The poems selected from Browning's 1855 //Men and Women// in this collection are ordered as follows: How It Strikes a Contemporary An Epistle- Karshish Andrea Del Sardo Cleon One Word More The Patriot The Twins The Light Woman The Last Ride Together Holy-Cross Day "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" A Woman's Last Word Evelyn Hope A Lovers' Quarrel By the Fire-Side Any Wife to Any Husband A Serenade at the Villa A Pretty Woman Love in a Life Life in a Love In Three Days In a Year Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha Robert Browning was born on May 7, 1812 in London and was the eldest of two children. He was an active learner throughout his childhood and his adolescence was very influenced by the Romantics like Coleridge and Byron in his younger years. As he grew up Shelley became a major influence, which encouraged Browning to become a vegetarian and an atheist in an otherwise pious family. As Browning grew away from Shelley's mythopoeic views and beliefs, Browning was reading about and developing a philosophy of his own that "saw truth and meaning [as] not fixed but, instead are always becoming" (ODNB). This view on how truth and meaning intersect with each other could account for the many different dedications and organization of the contents in the many different versions of Browning’s Selections of Poetry that he and other editors and publishers have put together. One of Browning's most complicated and misunderstood works, "Sordello," was described similarly as "carefully ordered but appearing unstructured" (ODNB).

After the death of Browning’s wife, Elizabeth, Browning began publishing even more collections of his poetry, with new original poetry in 1863. They were variously dedicated to Browning’s friends John Forster, B.W. Procter, and Alfred Tennyson. “Browning's main business during 1887 and 1888 was to prepare his collected works, issued in sixteen volumes monthly between April 1888 and July 1889” (ODNB). It was in 1868 that Browning chose a new publisher for his poem about a 1698 murder trial in Rome, which was Smith, Elder & co. Browning had known the senior partner of the publishing company, George Murray Smith, since 1843, and it was Smith, Elder & co. who would continue to publish collections of Browning's poetry after Browning's death, such as this copy.

This collection was published two years after Robert Browning’s death and therefore would have been one of the earliest collections of poetry put together after he passed away. The poems selected seem to be a collection of Browning's most popular poetry, yet put together and ordered in a thoughtful way as the collection begins and finishes with some of the earliest and latest poems. Throughout the middle of the volume the poems do not have any chronological significance "as Mr. Browning himself rearranged some of his smaller poems regardless of their dates of publication, [therefore] his publishers have not felt themselves at liberty in these cases to adhere to chronology” (Birrell v). The collection excludes many of Browning’s poems that were not received well or received with controversy.

Some helpful links: Here is a digitized copy of the 1880 (second) edition of the book: Published by Smith, Elder & co (the same as the copy researched above) @http://archive.org/details/ed2selectionsfro00brow/

Here is a digitized copy of the 1889 edition of the book: Published by Smith, Elder & co during the year of Browning’s death. It states on the title page that this edition is a New Edition of the First Series. It also contains dedication to Tennyson. It is (more or less) the exact same as the 1886 version (see link below) published by American publisher Thomas Y. Crowell but has less poems which are much more spaced out on the pages. https://archive.org/stream/selectionsbrowning00brow#page/n7/mode/2up

Here is a digitized copy of the 1886 edition of the book: This contains the first and second series, and is published by Thomas Y. Crowell & co. This copy has a dedication to Alfred Tennysen written by Robert Browning in 1872. [Browning was buried in Westminster Abbey adjacent to Alfred Tennyson] http://archive.org/stream/selectionsfrompo00browuoft#page/n5/mode/2up

Here is a digitized copy of the 1916 edition of the book: Published by Macmillan Company and containing an editorial note explaining that Browning has put together many volumes of poetry not adhering to chronological order. It also contains a dedication by Browning to John Forster written in 1863. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">https://archive.org/stream/nedcompletepoeti00browuoft#page/n9/mode/2up

<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Here is a link to more biographical information on Robert Browning: @http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/robert-browning Works Cited: <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Birrell, Augustine ed. Browning, Robert. //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Browning //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1916. Digitized Print.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Browning, Robert. //Pocket Volume of Selections from the Poetical Works of Robert Browning//. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1891. Print.

Ryals, Clyde de L. “Browning, Robert (1812-1889).” //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//, Oxford University Press, 2004. Web. May 2006.

(S.K.Engl386.UVic.Spring2016)