Items
Date is exactly
1851; 1867; 1880
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George Eliot’s copy of Wordsworth’s “The Prelude” The cover of George Eliot’s copy of Wordsworth’s “The Prelude” is a rich, brick-red colour, imprinted around the edge with an intricate border of repeating geometric shapes that surrounds an embossed stamp, perhaps that of the volume’s printer. Within the intricate border, the binding has a grainy appearance, while the rest of the surface appears smoother. The cover is slightly warped, and the edges look somewhat discoloured and bent, suggesting that the volume was well used. Page 302 of the book features a header that identifies this page as a part of the “Conclusion” to “Book XIV” of “The Prelude.” Below this header are the last five printed lines of a poem and some handwritten text sketched in graphite pencil that reads: Read second time (aloud to Polly) at Niton, reclining on the cliff or in the long grass, July 1867. An earlier page from the volume includes more text at the top of the page, written in graphite pencil in a different hand. It reads: Begun with J. at Wildbad in our walk on a Sunday morning. July 1880. Finished Aug. 23. Below these handwritten lines are two lines of a poem with the title “Book First” and underneath, “Introduction – Childhood and School-time.” The book is currently housed in the Beinecke Library at Yale University.