[478] Simon Lee was probably the first poem of Wordsworth’s published in a Literary Journal in America, and is the beginning of Wordsworth’s Bibliography in U.S.A. A note in “The Port Folio” (vol. i. p. 24) is as follows: “The public may remember reading in some of the newspapers the interesting little ballads, We are Seven, and Goody Blake and Harry Gill. They were extracted from the ‘Lyrical Ballads,’ a collection remarkable for originality, simplicity, and nature.… The following, Simon Lee, is from the same work.”
It is evident from this that two, at least, of Wordsworth’s poems were copied into American newspapers as early as 1800, and that Joseph Dennie, the founder, as well as editor, of “The Port Folio”—the first purely Literary Journal established in this country—was the first American champion of Wordsworth.
C. M. St. John.
[479] The Pet Lamb appeared in this Book almost immediately after its publication in England. It was the first poem of Wordsworth’s published in a book in America. It was also the first instance of the introduction of a poem of Wordsworth’s into a School Book.
C. M. St. John.
[480] The first American edition, and the first work by Wordsworth, printed in America. It looks as if the Poet found appreciative readers in America sooner than in England; the first edition of “Lyrical Ballads,” which had fallen dead in his own country in 1798, being published in Philadelphia in 1802. The American edition was delayed in the press, in order to include certain pieces which first appeared in the second (English) edition of 1802. See Humphreys’ Preface.
A copy of “Lyrical Ballads,” 1802, is in the possession of Judge Henry Reed, with exactly the same title-page as the above, except that it reads—
“Printed by James Humphreys for Joseph Groff.”
It is believed that the work was printed at the joint expense of Humphreys and Groff, each bookseller taking a certain number of copies upon which was placed his individual imprint. Both book-sellers advertised the volumes almost simultaneously. I know of another copy of (1802) “Lyrical Ballads,” of which the first volume contains the imprint of Humphreys, and the second volume that of Groff. The two volumes are bound together, and are identical in type, paper, etc.
C. M. St. John.
[481] Amongst the contents there are four long extracts from The Excursion, with titles attributed to W.W. Goody Blake and Harry Gill is amongst the extracts from “Lyrical Ballads,” and there is a long note to the former poem by Joseph Dennie.
C. M. St. John.
[482] The first collected edition of Wordsworth’s Poems printed in America.
C. M. St. John.
[483] The sketch is by R. H. Home. The poems are The Last of the Flock, The Dungeon, The Mad Mother, Anecdote for Fathers, We are Seven, Lines Written in Early Spring, The Female Vagrant, Goody Blake and Harry Gill, The Waterfall and the Eglantine, The Oak and the Broom, Lucy Gray, Hart-Leap Well, Lucy, Nutling, Ruth.
C. M. St. John.
[484] Printed and published by Peck and Newton.
C. M. St. John.
[485] First double-column edition of the poems, adopted by Moxon in 1845 edition.
C. M. St. John.
[486] The Boxall portrait was engraved for the above. I could not find the 1844 imprint, but presume that it is the same as that of 1837 and 1839.
C. M. St. John.
[487] In an editorial of April 16 of “The New World” is the following: “We are enabled by the purchase of the printed sheets considerably in advance of their publication in England to present the first and only American Editions of new poems by William Wordsworth.”
C. M. St. John.
[488] This is spoken of in Ellis Yarnall’s Reminiscences as having no date. When John Locken—the first publisher—failed, the plates passed into the possession of Messrs. Uriah Hunt and Son. They retired from business, and Messrs. Leavitt and Co. took the plates. It is possible that there was an edition earlier than 1843.
C. M. St. John.
[489] The last two named are exactly as in 1843, except that they are printed on larger paper. Why one is put down 32mo and the other 24mo is a mystery!
C. M. St. John.
[490] If this edition was published, it seems to have disappeared. It is advertised in A. V. Blake’s American Booksellers’ Complete Trade List, published at Claremont, N.H., 1847.
C. M. St. John.
[491] Copyright in 1848. It contains about one-fifth of all Wordsworth’s poems. The Essay, which occupies ten pages, is taken “by permission” from Tuckerman’s Thoughts on Poets.
C. M. St. John.
[492] In connection with this edition, I can vouch for the five firms of Publishers in Philadelphia, but I cannot explain it.
C. M. St. John.
[493] “This edition contains some pieces omitted—inadvertently it is believed—from the latest London edition.” Additional poems have been introduced, and the arrangement changed since the 1839 edition.
C. M. St. John.
[494] This edition contains a remarkable “Sketch of Wordsworth’s Life,” by James Russell Lowell, which was afterwards embodied, with additions, in Among my Books. Mr. Ellis Yarnall believed that this edition was an English reprint. I doubt this from the fact that it is “Entered according to the Act of Congress in 1854,” and was “Printed at Cambridge by H.O. Houghton.”
C. M. St. John.
[495] This edition is mentioned in some lists, but I am inclined to doubt if it can be authenticated.
C. M. St. John.
[496] The size is given as 32mo. I have not seen the book.
C. M. St. John.
[497] Edited by Waldron J. Cheney, though not credited to him. C. M. St. John.
[498] No date is given to this edition. The firm-name and place of business according to the Boston Directory would limit the date of the title page at least to 1863-65. It is in the New Haven Library. Allibone notes a volume of “Selections,” Boston, 12mo, 1863, which may be this.
C. M. St. John.
[499] I have placed the two works together, as they are closely related, if not identical. The edition contains The Excursion and fifty-seven other poems.
C. M. St. John.
[500] From plates of the 1854 edition, with changes.
C. M. St. John.
[501] This excellent edition—as to selection, size, paper, binding, and illustrations—is the best handy edition of Wordsworth issued in America.
C. M. St. John.
[502] Eighty-eight of the sonnets are here illustrated with rare skill and artistic effect. The illustrations first appeared in wood-cuts in Harper’s Monthly Magazine.
C. M. St. John.
A Bibliography of Wordsworth in America is not complete without some reference to the many editions of Wordsworth, and of works pertaining to him, which have—for the most part—appeared simultaneously in England and America. These works cannot properly be termed American, but they have been welcomed, and they have also supplied a want, on this side of the Atlantic. The editions are confined, for the most part, to the last twenty years. I have endeavoured to select those which are of most value.
C. M. St. John.
1859. Wordsworth’s Pastoral Poems. Illustrated. New York: D. Appleton and Co. 12mo.
1875. Same Title. New York: Putnam. 12mo.
1859. Poems by William Wordsworth. Selected and Edited by Robert Aris Willmott. Illustrated with 100 Designs by Birket Foster and others. London and New York: George Routledge and Co. 4to.
1870. The above republished.
1869. The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth. Globe Edition. Square 12mo. Philadelphia: Lippincott and Co.
1874. Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland. By Dorothy Wordsworth. Edited by J. C. Shairp. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. (Printed at the Edinburgh University Press.) 12mo.
1880. Wordsworth’s Poems. Chosen and Edited by Matthew Arnold. Large Paper Edition. London and New York: Macmillan and Co. 8vo.
1892. Same Title. With Steel Portrait. Printed on India paper. London and New York: Macmillan and Co. 8vo.
1881. William Wordsworth: a Biography with Selections from Prose and Poetry. By A. J. Symington. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 2 vols. 16mo.
1885. Ode on Immortality and Lines on Tintern Abbey. London and New York: Cassell and Co. 12mo. (Popular Illustrated Series.)
1886. Pastoral Poems. London and New York: Cassell and Co. 4to.
1887. Memorials of Coleorton. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by William Knight. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. 12mo. (Printed at the Edinburgh University Press.)
1887. Through the Wordsworth Country. By William Knight. London and New York: Scribner and Welford. Engraving. 8vo.
1888. The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth. With an Introduction by John Morley. London and New York: Macmillan and Co. Crown 8vo.
1888. The Recluse. London and New York: Macmillan and Co. 16mo.
1889. Wordsworthiana. Edited by William Knight. London and New York: Macmillan and Co. 16mo.
1889. Poetical Works, with Memoir. Illustrated. 8 vols. New York: A. C. Armstrong and Son. 16mo. (Printed at the University Press, Glasgow.)
1889. Selections from Wordsworth. By William Knight, and other Members of the Wordsworth Society. With Preface and Notes. New York: Scribner and Welford. 8vo.
1889. Wordsworth’s Poetical Works. Edited by William Knight. New York: Macmillan and Co. 8 vols. 8vo. (First published in Edinburgh 1882-89.)
1889. Life of William Wordsworth. By William Knight. New York (and London): Macmillan and Co. 3 vols. 8vo. (First published in Edinburgh, in 1889.)
1891. William Wordsworth. By Elizabeth Wordsworth. New York: Scribner. 18mo. (Also London: Percival and Co.)
1889. Early Poems by William Wordsworth. Edited by J. R. Tutin. London, etc., and New York: George Routledge and Sons. (Routledge’s Pocket Library.)
1890. Dove Cottage, Wordsworth’s Home from 1800 to 1808. By Stopford A. Brooke. Small paper. London and New York: Macmillan and Co.
1891. Wordsworth’s The White Doe of Rylstone, etc. Edited with Introduction and Notes by William Knight. (Clarendon Press Series.) London and New York: Macmillan and Co.
1892. Wordsworth’s Lyrics and Sonnets. Selected and Edited by C. K. Shorter. London: David Stott. New York: Macmillan and Co. 32mo.
1892. Wordsworth’s Poetical Works. Edited with Memoir by E. Dowden. 7 vols. 16mo. London: George Bell and Sons. New York: 112 Fourth Avenue.
Gleanings from Wordsworth. Edited by J. Robertson. Vest-pocket Edition. New York: White, Stokes and Allen. (Printed at the University Press, Glasgow.)
We are Seven. By William Wordsworth.[503] With Drawings by Mary L. Grow. Small 4to. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. With Biographical Sketch and Notes. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., “Riverside Literature Series,” No. 76. March 1895.
[503] This was lithographed and printed by Ernest Nister at Nuremberg.
C. M. St. John.
The Writers are arranged in Alphabetical Order
1867. Alger, W. R. The Genius of Solitude. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 16mo. Wordsworth, p. 277.
1859-71. Allibone, S. A. Critical Dictionary of English Literature, and British and American Authors. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. 3 vols. Imperial 8vo. Wordsworth, vol. iii. pp. 2843-2849.
1884. Burroughs, J. “Fresh Fields.” Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. 16mo. In the Wordsworth Country, p. 161.[504]
1878. Calvert, G. H. Wordsworth; A Biographic, Aesthetic Study. Boston: Lee-Sheperd. 16mo.
1863. Calvert, G. H. Scenes and Thoughts in Europe. Boston: 16mo.[505]
1873. Channing, W. Ellery. Address before the Mercantile Library Company of Philadelphia, May 11, 1841. Also in his “Complete Works.” Boston.[506]
1895. Cheney, John Vance. Thoughts on Poetry and the Poets. Chicago. Chapter X. is on Wordsworth.
1879. Deshler, C. D. Afternoons with the Poets. New York: Harper and Brothers. 12mo. Wordsworth.
1871. Fields, J. T. Yesterdays with Authors. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co.; also,
1889. Wordsworth, A Sketch, p. 253.
1838. Frost, John. Select Works of the British Poets, with Biographical Sketches. Philadelphia: Thomas Wardle. Wordsworth.
1849. Graham, G. F. English Synonyms. New York: D. Appleton and Co. Edited with an Introduction and Illustrative Authorities. By Henry Reed.[507]
1854. Giles, H. T. Illustrations of Genius. Boston: Ticknor and Fields. 16mo. William Wordsworth, pp. 239-266.
1886. Griswold, H. T. Home Life of Great Authors. Chicago. 18mo. William Wordsworth, p. 43.
1849. Griswold, R. W. Sacred Poets of England and America. New York. Wordsworth.
1842. Griswold, R. W. Poets and Poetry of England. Philadelphia: Carey and Hunt. A Review and Selections.
Hodgkins, Louise M. Guide to Nineteenth Century Authors. Boston. Wordsworth Bibliography.
1884. Hudson, H. N. Studies in Wordsworth. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.[508]
1886. Johnson, C. F. Three Americans and Three Englishmen. New York. Wordsworth.
1864. Lowell, J. R. The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. 4 vols. Vol. 1.—A Sketch of Wordsworth’s Life.
1876. Lowell, J. R. Among my Books. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. Wordsworth,[509] pp. 201-251.
1887. Lowell, J. R. Democracy and other Addresses. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. Wordsworth,[510] 22 pp.
1885. Mason, E. T. Personal Traits of British Authors. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. William Wordsworth, pp. 7-55.
What follows is due to American Enterprise, but it is, of course, not strictly American.
C. M. St. John.
1883. Macdonald, George. The Imagination and other Essays (“Wordsworth’s Poetry,” pp. 245-263). Boston: D. Lothrop and Co.
1881. Myers, F. W. H. William Wordsworth. (“English Men of Letters Series.”) New York: Harper and Brothers. 12mo.
1884. Same Title. New York: J. W. Lovell. 12mo.
1889. Same Title. New York. Harper and Brothers.
1838. Osborn, Laughton. The Vision of Rubeta.[511] Boston: Weeks, Jordan and Co. 8vo.
1846. Ossoli, Margaret Fuller. Art, Literature, and the Drama. Boston. Wordsworth.[512]
1885. Phillips, Maud Gillette. A Popular Manual of English Literature. New York: Harper and Brothers. Vol. ii. pp. 217-264.
1851. Reed, Henry. Memoirs of Wordsworth. By C. Wordsworth. Edited by Henry Reed. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields.[513]
1857. Reed, Henry. Lectures on the British Poets. In two vols. Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger. Vol. ii. pp. 199-231. Lecture XV.—Wordsworth.
1870. Reed, Henry. Lectures on the British Poets. Philadelphia: Claxton, Reinsen and Haffelfinger. Essay on the English Sonnet, vol. ii. pp. 235-272.[514]
1887. Saunders, Frederick. Story of some Famous Books. New York: Armstrong and Son. William Wordsworth, p. 125.
Saunders, Frederick. Evenings with Sacred Poets. New York: Randolph and Co. Wordsworth.[515]
1894. Scudder, Horace E. Childhood in Literature and Art. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. In the chapter entitled “In English Literature and Art,” Wordsworth is dealt with (chap. vi. pp. 145-157).[516]
1895. Scudder, Vidad. The Life of the Spirit in Modern English Poets. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. Crown 8vo.
1892. Stedman, C. E. Nature and Elements of Poetry. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co.[517]
1846. Tuckerman, H. T. Thoughts on the Poets. New York. Genius and Writings of Wordsworth.
1882. Welsh, A. H. Development of English Literature and Language. Chicago. Wordsworth, vol. ii. pp. 330-339.
1850. Whipple, E. P. Essays and Reviews. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. Wordsworth, vol. i. p. 222.[518]
1871. Whipple, E. P. Literature and Life. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. Wordsworth, p. 253.[519]
1854. Willis, N. P. Famous Persons and Places. New York: Charles Scribner.[520]
[504] A reprint of the article was published in The Century Magazine, 1884.
C. M. St. John.
[505] Not of much importance—the author praises Wordsworth and criticises Jeffrey.
C. M. St. John.
[506] About the same in the “Address” as in the “Complete Works.”
C. M. St. John.
[507] Contains four hundred quotations from Wordsworth.
C. M. St. John.
[508] Contains 258 pages on Wordsworth.
C. M. St. John.
[509] The same as above with some corrections, and twenty-three new pages added.
C. M. St. John.
[510] The above was first given as an address to “The Wordsworth Society,” 1884, and appeared in Wordsworthiana in 1889.
C. M. St. John.
[511] In the Appendix are about twenty pages containing a ferocious criticism on “Wordsworth, his Poetry and his Misrepresentations.”
C. M. St. John.
[512] In the Memoirs of M. F. Ossoli (Boston, vol. iii. p. 84) there is a short reference to Wordsworth.
C. M. St. John.
[513] Introduction and Editorial Notes by H. R., interesting and valuable.
C. M. St. John.
[514] In the Lecture on the Sonnet, there are interesting allusions to Wordsworth’s Sonnets.
C. M. St. John.
[515] This book and the previous one have about half a dozen pages each on Wordsworth.
C. M. St. John.
[516] The substance of this chapter on Wordsworth as a revealer of Childhood, first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, October 1885.
C. M. St. John.
[517] In this volume there are many references to Wordsworth of interest—especially at pp. 202, 206, 210 and 263—on Subjective Interpretation, The Pathetic Fallacy, etc.
C. M. St. John.
[518] This essay was also published in The Complete Poetical Works. Philadelphia: James Kay jun. and Brothers, 1837. Also in The North American Review, 1844.
C. M. St. John.
[519] The above appeared first in The North American Review. It was “written when the news came of Wordsworth’s death.” It is not given elsewhere in this list.
C. M. St. John.
[520] Letter V. contains some characteristic remarks on Wordsworth by “Christopher North,” who gave Willis a note of introduction to Wordsworth and Southey. Willis did not write about Wordsworth in this book. As it is inserted in some of the lists, I include it, with this explanation.
C. M. St. John.
From 1801 to 1840
In examining American Reviews and Magazines, for articles on Wordsworth, I find—after much laborious search—only some insignificant notices of his poems, of no critical or literary merit.
I have carefully read each article which appears in this list, and I add brief explanatory notes, indicative of the general tenor of the articles. It was disheartening to find that many of the references to Wordsworth, in Poole’s elaborate Index to Periodical Literature, were inaccurate and misleading; and that nearly all the articles on Wordsworth published in Harper’s Monthly Magazine for 1850 were “conveyed” from contemporary English journals.
1801. The Port Folio. Vol. i.
Memoranda regarding the first publication of “Lyrical Ballads” in America.
1801. December, p. 407. The Original Prospectus of “Lyrical Ballads.”[521] (James Humphreys publisher.)
1801. P. 408.[522]
1802. Vol. ii. p. 62.[523]
1803. Vol. iii. p. 288.[524]
1803. P. 320. Note on the poem beginning,
“A whirl-blast from behind the hill.”
1804. Vol. iv. p. 87. Announcement that the editor wishes to obtain a copy of Descriptive Sketches (1798) from some publisher or reader.
1804. P. 96.[525]
1802. The Philadelphia Gazette and Daily Advertiser. (Published by Samuel Relf.) Friday, Jan. 15, “Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads.” (The publisher’s advertisement of the First American Edition.)
1819. Dana, R. H.[526] North American Review. Vol. xxiii. p. 276. In review of Hazlitt’s English Poets.
1824. North American Review. Vol. xviii. p. 356.[527]
1824. United States Literary Gazette. Vol. i. p. 245.[528]
1825. The Atlantic Magazine, vol. ii. pp. 334-348.
1827. Christian Monthly Spectator. Vol. ix. p. 244. (A short article on Wordsworth.)
1832. Prescott, W. H. North American Review. Vol. xxxv. pp. 171, 173-176. (In a “Review of English Literature of Nineteenth Century,” is an important reference to Wordsworth.)
1836. Edwards, B. B. American Biblical Repository. Vol. vii. pp. 187-204.[529]
1836. American Quarterly Review. Vol. xix. p. 66.[530]
1836. American Quarterly Review. Vol. xix. pp. 420-442.[531]
1836. Felton, C. C. The Christian Examiner. Vol. xix. p. 375.[532]
1836. Porter, Noah. Christian Quarterly Spectator.[533] Vol. viii. pp. 127-151.
Christian Monthly Spectator. Vol xviii. p. 1.[534]
1837. “Waldie’s” Octavo Library. (Edited by John J. Smith.)[535]
1837. “Waldie’s” Octavo Library. March 21.[536]
1837. Southern Literary Messenger. Vol. iii. p. 705. “By a Virginian.”[537]
1837. Whipple, E. P. The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth[538] (1837).
1839. New York Review. Vol. iv. pp. 1-71.[539]
1839. American Biblical Repository.[540] Vol. i. pp. 206-239. (Second edition.)
1839. Boston Quarterly Review. Vol. ii. pp. 137-169. (A review of “Wordsworth’s Poetical Works,” London, 1832.)
1839. American Methodist Review.[541] Vol. xxi. p. 449.
[521] An enthusiastic announcement.
C. M. St. John.
[522] An appreciatory and critical Introductory Note to The Waterfall and the Eglantine.
C. M. St. John.
[523] Editorial reporting the increasing popularity of “Lyrical Ballads,” and further commendation of the poems.
C. M. St. John.
[524] Note on The Fountain.
C. M. St. John.
[525] An editorial announcement that “Lyrical Ballads” had reached a third edition, and containing one of the most ardent tributes to Wordsworth in the language.
C. M. St. John.
[526] Not long, but of much interest.
C. M. St. John.
[527] An unsigned and excellent review of the 1824 (Boston) edition of the poems. The writer remarks that not a volume of Wordsworth’s poems has been published in America since 1802. Attributed to F.W.P. Greenwood.
C. M. St. John.
[528] Anonymous review of the 1824 (Boston) edition of the poems. One of the very best.
C. M. St. John.
[529] Sectarian in spirit, but on the whole fair to Wordsworth.
C. M. St. John.
[530] Anonymous. A well-written article of about twenty-four pages, reviewing Yarrow Revisited. It was one of the earliest reviews in an American journal that claimed for Wordsworth a high order of genius. It was probably written by Robert Walsh, the editor of the Review.
C. M. St. John.