Text Differences between the 1860 (1st) and 1867 (3rd) Editions

Literary World (Boston) 8:68 (June 1877-May 1878),“Notes and Queries,” September 1, 1877, p68:

([Query] 22.) Can you or your readers give me any information concerning the elision of the following beautiful lines from Owen Meredith's Lucille? In Osgood's edition of 1877 I find them, but not in any subsequent edition, although I have sought diligently for them. In the edition of which I speak they occur in the garden scene, the morning after the ball, when the Duke comes in and presses his suit, finishing in these words:

"'Tis the heart that cries out to the heart,
'Tis the soul that appeals to the soul,
'Tis the man you yourself have created in part
That kneels at your feet with this prayer."
Etc., etc.
Possibly I have not quoted this just right, but it is as near as I can recollect it, as it is some time since I have seen it. I want to get a copy, but not without these lines.
I. C. D. , New York City.

In 1880, Lyttton (Meredith) replied to a query from James Ripley Osgood, his Boston publisher, with the following note preserved as an ALS in the Henry Monroe Rogers (1839-1937) Memorial Collection: Letters to Osgood and A.V.S. Anthony at Houghton Library, Harvard University, (kindly transcribed in 2006 by Leslie Morris):

Knebworth
18 Aug 1880

Sir

To the best of my recollection the last Edition of Lucile that recd any correction from my own hand is one published some years ago by Mr. F. Chapman and [p. 2] and which I am told is now out of print.

Yr obedt, svnt[?}
Lytton

In 1880 Osgood was deep in production of his elaborately illustrated "Holiday Edition," published in 1881, and was doubtless concerned to use the "best" text available. The natural questions to Lytton's response are: To which edition does Lytton refer? What "corrections" did he make?

Close comparison of the 1860 Chapman & Hall with the 1862 Chapman & Hall (Second Edition) reveals no changes to the text. Comparison of the 1860 Chapman & Hall with the 1867 Chapman & Hall (Third or New Edition), included in a multi-volume Collected Works, reveals substantial differences however, particularly in the opening sections of many of the Cantos. Click on the indicated links to see the 1860 and 1867 versions side by side.

Ticknor & Fields stereoplated its second Blue & Gold printing (1861) and several following variant editions (e.g., Cabinet 1865), and these plates were used by succeeding firms, with most not withdrawn until the mid-1880s by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. While editions plated after the 1867 British 3rd edition reflected Meredith's editing, the earlier plates continued the 1860 text. Hence "I.C.D" would indeed have been able to find the lines is some Osgood editions, but not in others, including the 1881 "Holiday Edition."

1860
Dedication
-
Part I, Canto I, Verses I-VII
----, Canto II, Verses I-XXXVII
----, Canto III, Verses I-XXVII


----, Canto IV, Verses I-XXIV
----, Canto V, Verses I-XXVIII
----, Canto VI, Verses I-XXVI

Part II, Canto I, Verses I-XXXV
----, Canto II, Verses I-X
----, Canto III, Verses I-XV

----, Canto IV, Verses I-XV
----, Canto V, Verses I-XVI
----, Canto VI, verses I-XLI

1867
Dedication
Preface
Part I, Canto I, Verses I-VII
----, Canto II, Verses I-XXXI [-6]
----, Canto IIII, Verses I-XXXI [+4]
-------------------Verse I
-------------------Verse II
----, Canto IV, Verses I-XXIV
----, Canto V, Verses I-XXVIII
----, Canto VI, Verses I-XXV [-1]
---------------Cantos IV-VI

Part II, Canto I, Verses I-XXXV
----, Canto II, Verses I-X
----, Canto III, Verses I-XIV [-1]
---------------Cantos II-III
----, Canto IV, Verses I-XV
----, Canto V, Verses I-XV [-1]
----, Canto VI, Verses I-XLI

One verse Meredith expunged entirely in 1867 was based on work of Alfred de Musset, "Espoir en Dieu". See also a review in Atlantic Monthly 1881.

Last revised: 18 June 2022

©: Sidney F. Huttner 2010. All rights reserved.