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| The famous Hollyer portrait of Morris, one of the sale's offerings. |
In April and May, there will be a highly interesting sale at Bonhams in London, of items from the collection of Roy Davids. The offerings include a photographic portrait of William Morris, taken by Frederick Hollyer in 1886; and the autograph revised manuscript for Morris's poem “The God of the Poor.” There are many differences between this manuscript and the printed version of the poem. From the official description:
THIS
MANUSCRIPT, THE ONLY ONE KNOWN OF THE POEM, PRESERVES A TEXT VERY
SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE RECEIVED VERSION. Of the 260 lines
in 52 five-line stanzas in the printed version many do not appear in
the present manuscript at all, and vice versa, and many lines and
stanzas were very significantly rewritten. According to Fairfax
Murray this manuscript was written in the early 1860s, but the poem
was only sent for publication in theFortnightly Review in 1868.
Between those dates Morris clearly rethought and very extensively
rewrote the poem so that whole stanzas in this manuscript do not
correspond in any way with those in the printed text and were
completely replaced; others have been so reworked as to be almost
unrecognisable, and vice versa. The following examples are but two
instances of those where any comparison can be made at all:
The
third stanza in this manuscript ends:
...Many
a fair maid white & red
By
him was deflowered.
Deus
est Deus pauperum.
The
printed version ends:
...Whatso
man loved wife or maid
Of
Evil-head was sore afraid.
Deus
est Deus pauperum.
The
first four lines of the sixth stanza in this manuscript read:
But
Boncoeur knew it was in vain
To
strive to take him by force plain;
Therefore
he made a crafty wile
God
gave him wit and much good guile.
