Transcribed from the 1914 Richard Clay and Sons edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

a
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of
THE WRITINGS IN PROSE AND VERSE
of
GEORGE HENRY BORROW

by
THOMAS J. WISE

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY
By Richard Clay & Sons, ltd.
1914

Of this book
One Hundred Copies Only
have been Printed.

PREFACE

The object of the present Bibliography is to give a concise account, accompanied by accurate collations, of the original editions of the Books and Pamphlets of George Borrow, together with a list of his many contributions to Magazines and other Publications. It will doubtless be observed that no inconsiderable portion of the Bibliography deals with the attractive series of Pamphlets containing Ballads, Poems, and other works by Borrow which were printed for Private Circulation during the course of last year. Some account of the origin of these pamphlets, and some information regarding the material of which they are composed, may not be considered as inopportune or inappropriate.

As a writer of English Prose Borrow long since achieved the position which was his due; as a writer of English Verse he has yet to come by his own.

The neglect from which Borrow’s poetical compositions (by far the larger proportion of which are translations from the Danish and other tongues) have suffered has arisen from one cause, and from one cause alone,—the fact that up to the present moment only his earliest and, in the majority of cases, his least successful efforts have been available to students of his work.

In 1826, when Borrow passed his Romantic Ballads through the Press, he had already acquired a working knowledge of numerous languages and dialects, but of his native tongue he had still to become a master. In 1826 his appreciation of the requirements of English Prosody was of a vague description, his sense of the rhythm of verse was crude, and the attention he paid to the exigencies of rhyme was inadequate. Hence the majority of his Ballads, beyond the fact that they were faithful reproductions of the originals from which they had been laboriously translated, were of no particular value.

But to Borrow himself they were objects of a regard which amounted to affection, and there can be no question that throughout a considerable portion of his adventurous life he looked to his Ballads to win for him whatever measure of literary fame it might eventually be his fortune to gain. In Lavengro, and other of his prose works, he repeatedly referred to his “bundle of Ballads”; and I doubt whether he ever really relinquished all hope of placing them before the public until the last decade of his life had well advanced.

That the Ballad Poetry of the old Northern Races should have held a strong attraction for Borrow is not to be wondered at. His restless nature and his roving habits were well in tune with the spirit of the old Heroic Ballads; whilst his taste for all that was mythical or vagabond (vagabond in the literal, and not in the conventional, sense of the word) would prompt him to welcome with no common eagerness the old Poems dealing with matters supernatural and legendary. Has he not himself recorded how, when fatigued upon a tiring march, he roused his flagging spirits by shouting the refrain “Look out, look out, Svend Vonved!”?

In 1829, three years after the Romantic Ballads had struggled into existence, Borrow made an effort to place them before a larger public in a more complete and imposing form. In collaboration with Dr. (afterwards Sir John) Bowring he projected a work which should contain the best of his old Ballads, together with many new ones, the whole to be supported by the addition of others from the pen of Dr. Bowring. [0a] A Prospectus was drawn up and issued in December, 1829, and at least two examples of this Prospectus have survived. The brochure consists of two octavo pages of letterpress, with the following heading:—

PROSPECTUS.

It is proposed to publish, in Two Volumes Octavo,
Price to Subscribers £1 1s., to Non-Subscribers £1 4s.,
THE SONGS OF SCANDINAVIA,
translated by
Dr. BOWRING and Mr. BORROW.

dedicated to the king of denmark, by permission of his majesty.

Then came a brief synopsis of the contents of the volumes, followed by a short address on “the debt of justice due from England to Scandinavia.”

Two additional pages were headed List of Subscribers, and were left blank for the reception of names which, alas! were recorded in no sufficient number. The scheme lapsed, Borrow found his mission in other fields of labour, and not until 1854 did he again attempt to revive it.

But in 1854 Borrow made one more very serious effort to give his Ballads life. In that year he again took them in hand, subjected many of them to revision of the most drastic nature, and proceeded to prepare them finally for press. Advertisements which he drew up are still extant in his handwriting, and reduced facsimiles of two of these may be seen upon the opposite page. But again Fate was against him, and neither Kœmpe Viser nor Songs of Europe ever saw the light. [0b]

After the death of Borrow his manuscripts passed into the possession of his step-daughter, Mrs. MacOubrey, from whom the greater part were purchased by Mr. Webber, a bookseller of Ipswich, who resold them to Dr. William Knapp. These Manuscripts are now in the hands of the Hispanic Society, of New York, and will doubtless remain for ever the property of the American people. Fortunately, when disposing of the bulk of her step-father’s books and papers to Mr. Webber, Mrs. MacOubrey retained the Manuscripts of the Ballads, together with certain other

documents of interest and importance. It was from these Manuscripts that I was afforded the opportunity of preparing the series of Pamphlets printed last year.

The Manuscripts themselves are of four descriptions. Firstly, the Manuscripts of certain of the new Ballads prepared for the Songs of Scandinavia in 1829, untouched, and as originally written; [0c] secondly, other of these new Ballads, heavily corrected by Borrow in a later handwriting; thirdly, fresh transcripts, with the revised texts, made in or about 1854, of Ballads written in 1829; and lastly some of the more important Ballads originally published in 1826, entirely re-written in 1854, and the text thoroughly revised.

As will be seen from the few examples I have given in the following pages, or better still from a perusal of the pamphlets, the value as literature of Borrow’s Ballads as we now know them is immeasurably higher than that hitherto placed upon them by critics who had no material upon which to form their judgment beyond the Romantic Ballads, Targum, and The Talisman, together with the sets of minor verses included in his other books. Borrow himself regarded his work in this field as superior to that of Lockhart, and indeed seems to have believed that one cause at least of his inability to obtain a hearing was Lockhart’s jealousy for his own Spanish Ballads. Be that as it may—and Lockhart was certainly sufficiently small-minded to render such a suspicion by no means ridiculous

or absurd—I feel assured that Borrow’s metrical work will in future receive a far more cordial welcome from his readers, and will meet with a fuller appreciation from his critics, than that which until now it has been its fortune to secure.

Despite the unctuous phrases which, in obedience to the promptings of the Secretaries of the British and Foreign Bible Society [0d] whose interests he forwarded with so much enterprise and vigor, he was at times constrained to introduce into his official letters, Borrow was at heart a Pagan. The memory of his father that he cherished most warmly was that of the latter’s fight, actual or mythical, with ‘Big Ben Brain,’ the bruiser; whilst the sword his father had used in action was one of his best-regarded possessions. To that sword he addressed the following youthful stanzas, which until now have remained un-printed:

THE SWORD

Full twenty fights my father saw,
And died with twenty red wounds gored;
I heir’d what he so loved to draw,
His ancient silver-handled sword.

It is a sword of weight and length,
Of jags and blood-specks nobly full;
Well wielded by his Cornish strength
It clove the Gaulman’s helm and scull.

Hurrah! thou silver-handled blade,
Though thou’st but little of the air
Of swords by Cornets worn on p’rade,
To battle thee I vow to bear.

Thou’st decked old chiefs of Cornwall’s land,
To face the fiend with thee they dared;
Thou prov’dst a Tirfing in their hand
Which victory gave whene’er ’twas bared.

Though Cornwall’s moors ’twas ne’er my lot
To view, in Eastern Anglia born,
Yet I her son’s rude strength have got,
And feel of death their fearless scorn.

And when the foe we have in ken,
And with my troop I seek the fray,
Thou’lt find the youth who wields thee then
Will ne’er the part of Horace play.

Meanwhile above my bed’s head hang,
May no vile rust thy sides bestain;
And soon, full soon, the war-trump’s clang
Call me and thee to glory’s plain.

These stanzas are interesting in a way which compels one to welcome them, despite the poverty of the verse. The little poem is a fragment of autobiographical juvenilia, and moreover it is an original composition, and not a translation, as is the greater part of Borrow’s poetical work.

Up to the present date no Complete Collected Edition of Borrow’s Works has been published, either in this country or in America. There is, however, good reason for hoping that this omission will soon be remedied, for such an edition is now in contemplation, to be produced under the agreeable editorship of Mr. Clement Shorter.

It is, I presume, hardly necessary to note that every Book, Pamphlet, and Magazine dealt with in the following pages has been described de visu.

T. J. W.

CONTENTS

PART I.
EDITIONES PRINCIPES, etc.

(1) [Celebrated Trials: 1825]

Celebrated Trials, / and / Remarkable Cases / of / Criminal Jurisprudence, / from / The Earliest Records / to / The Year 1825. / [Thirteen-line quotation from Burke] / In Six Volumes. / Vol. I. [Vol. II, &c.] / London: / Printed for Knight and Lacey, / Paternoster-Row. / 1825. / Price £3. 12s. in Boards.

Collation:—Demy octavo.

Vol. I. Pp. xiii + v + 550, with nine engraved Plates.

Vol. II. „ vi + 574, with seven engraved Plates.

[P. 574 is misnumbered 140.]

Vol. III. „ vi + 572, with three engraved Plates.

Vol. IV. „ vi + 600, with five engraved Plates.

Vol. V. „ vi + 684, with five engraved Plates.

Vol. VI. „ viii + 576 + an Index of 8 pages, together with six engraved Plates.

Issued in drab paper boards, with white paper back-labels. The leaves measure 8⅝ × 5 inches.

It is evident that no fewer than five different printing houses were employed simultaneously in the production of this work.

The preliminary matter of all six volumes was printed together, and the reverse of each title-page carries at foot the following imprint: “London: / Shackell and Arrowsmith, Johnson’s-Court, Fleet-Street.”

The same firm also worked the whole of the Second Volume, and their imprint is repeated at the foot of p. 574 [misnumbered 140].

Vol. I bears, at the foot of p. 550, the following imprint: “Printed by W. Lewis, 21, Finch-Lane, Cornhill.”

Vol. III bears, at the foot of p. 572, the following imprint: “J. and C. Adlard, Printers, / Bartholomew Close.”

Vols. IV and VI bear, at the foot of pages 600 and 576 respectively, the following imprint: “D. Sidney & Co., Printers / Northumberland-street, Strand.”

Vol. V bears, at the foot of p. 684, the following imprint: “Whiting and Branston, / Beaufort House, Strand.”

Both Dr. Knapp and Mr. Clement Shorter have recorded full particulars of the genesis of the Celebrated Trials. Mr. Shorter devotes a considerable portion of Chapter xi of George Borrow and his Circle to the subject, and furnishes an analysis of the contents of each of the six volumes. Celebrated Trials is, of course, the Newgate Lives and Trials of Lavengro, in which book Borrow contrived to make a considerable amount of entertaining narrative out of his early struggles and failures.

There is a Copy of the First Edition of Celebrated Trials in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 518.g.6.

(2) [Faustus: 1825]

Faustus: / His / Life, Death, / and / Descent into Hell. / Translated from the German. / Speed thee, speed thee, / Liberty lead thee, / Many this night shall harken and heed thee. / Far abroad, / Demi-god, / Who shall appal thee! / Javal, or devil, or what else we call thee. / Hymn to the Devil. / London: / W. Simpkin and R. Marshall. / 1825.

Collation:—Foolscap octavo, pp. xii + 251; consisting of: Half-title (with imprint “Printed by / J. and C. Adlard, Bartholomew Close” at the foot of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. iii–iv; Preface (headed The Translator to the Public) pp. v–viii; Table of Contents pp. ix–xii; and Text pp. 1–251. The reverse of p. 251 is occupied by Advertisements of Horace Welby’s Signs before Death, and John Timbs’s Picturesque Promenade round Dorking. The headline is Faustus throughout, upon both sides of the page. At the foot of the reverse of p. 251 the imprint is repeated thus, “J. and C. Adlard, Bartholomew Close.” The signatures are A (6 leaves), B to Q (15 sheets, each 8 leaves), plus R (6 leaves).

Issued (in April, 1825) in bright claret-coloured linen boards, with white paper back-label. The leaves measure 6¾ × 4¼ inches. The published price was 7s. 6d.

The volume has as Frontispiece a coloured plate, engraved upon copper, representing the supper of the sheep-headed Magistrates, described on pp. 64–66. The incident selected for illustration is the moment when the wine ‘issued in blue flames from the flasks,’ and ‘the whole assembly sat like so many ridiculous characters in a mad masquerade.’ This illustration was not new to Borrow’s book. It had appeared both in the German original,

and in the French translation of 1798. In the original work the persons so bitterly satirized were the individuals composing the Corporation of Frankfort.

In 1840 ‘remainder’ copies of the First Edition of Faustus were issued with a new title-page, pasted upon a stub, carrying at foot the following publishers’ imprint, “London: / Simpkin, Marshall & Co. / 1840.” They were made up in bright claret-coloured linen boards, uniform with the original issue, with a white paper back-label. The published price was again 7s. 6d.

Faustus was translated by Borrow from the German of Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger. Mr. Shorter suggests, with much reason, that Borrow did not make his translation from the original German edition of 1791, but from a French translation published in Amsterdam in 1798.

The reception accorded to Faustus was the reverse of favourable. The Literary Gazette said (July 16th, 1825):—

“This is another work to which no respectable publisher ought to have allowed his name to be put. The political allusion and metaphysics, which may have made it popular among a low class in Germany, do not sufficiently season its lewd scenes and coarse descriptions for British palates. We have occasionally publications for the fireside,—these are only fit for the fire.”

Borrow’s translation of Klinger’s novel was reprinted in 1864, without any acknowledgment of the name of the translator. Only a few stray words in the text were altered. But five passages were deleted from the Preface, which, not being otherwise modified or supplemented, gave—as was no doubt the intention of the publishers—the work the appearance of a new translation specially prepared. This unhallowed edition bears the following title-page:

Faustus: / His / Life, Death, and Doom. / A Romance in Prose. / Translated from the German. / [Quotation as in the original edition, followed by a Printer’s ornament.] / London: / W. Kent and Co., Paternoster Row. / 1864.—Crown 8vo, pp. viii + 302.

“There is no reason to suppose,” remarks Mr. Shorter (George Borrow and his Circle, p. 104) “that the individual, whoever he may have been, who prepared the 1864 edition of Faustus for the Press, had ever seen either the German original or the French translation of Klinger’s book.”

There is a copy of the First Edition of Faustus in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is N.351.

(3) [Romantic Ballads: 1826]

Romantic Ballads, / Translated from the Danish; / and / Miscellaneous Pieces; / By / George Borrow. / Through gloomy paths unknown— / Paths which untrodden be, / From rock to rock I roam / Along the dashing sea. / Bowring. / Norwich: / Printed and Published by S. Wilkin, Upper Haymarket. / 1826.

Collation:—Demy octavo, pp. xii + 187; consisting of: Half-title (with imprint “Norwich: / Printed by S. Wilkin, Upper Haymarket” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. iii–iv; Table of Contents (with blank reverse) pp. v–vi; Preface pp. vii–viii; Prefatory Poem From Allan Cunningham to George Borrow pp. ix–xi, p. xii is blank; Text of the Ballads pp. 1–184; and List of Subscribers pp. 185–187. The reverse of p. 187 is blank. There are head-lines throughout, each page being headed with the title of the Ballad occupying it.

The imprint is repeated at the foot of p. 184. The signatures are a (a half-sheet of 4 leaves), b (a quarter-sheet of 2 leaves), B to M (eleven sheets, each 8 leaves), and N (a half-sheet of 4 leaves), followed by an unsigned quarter-sheet of 2 leaves carrying the List of Subscribers. [12] Sigs. G 5 and H 2 (pp. 89–90 and 99–100) are cancel-leaves, mounted on stubs, in every copy I have met with.

Issued (in May 1826) in dark greenish-grey paper boards, with white paper back-label, lettered “Romantic / Ballads / From the / Danish By / G. Borrow / Price 10/6 net.” The leaves measure 9 × 5½ inches.

The volume of Romantic Ballads was printed at Norwich during the early months of 1826. The edition consisted of Five Hundred Copies, but only Two Hundred of these were furnished with the Title-page transcribed above. These were duly distributed to the subscribers. The remaining Three Hundred copies were forwarded to London, where they were supplied with the two successive title-pages described below, and published in the ordinary manner.

“I had an idea that, provided I could persuade any spirited publisher to give these translations to the world, I should acquire both considerable fame and profit; not perhaps a world-embracing fame such as Byron’s, but a fame not to be sneered at, which would last me a considerable time, and would keep my heart from breaking;—profit, not equal to that which Scott had made by his wondrous novels, but which would prevent me from starving, and enable me to achieve some other literary enterprise. I read and re-read my ballads, and the more I read them the more I was convinced that the public, in the event of their being published, would freely purchase, and hail them with merited applause”—[“George Borrow and his Circle,” 1913, p. 102.]

Allan Cunningham’s appreciation of the manner in which

Borrow had succeeded in his effort to introduce the Danish Ballads to English readers is well expressed in the following letter:

27, Lower Belgrave Place,
London.
16th May, 1826.

My dear Sir,

I like your Danish Ballads much, and though Oehlenslæger seems a capital poet, I love the old rhymes best. There is more truth and simplicity in them; and certainly we have nothing in our language to compare with them. . . . ‘Sir John’ is a capital fellow, and reminds one of Burns’ ‘Findlay.’ ‘Sir Middel’ is very natural and affecting, and exceedingly well rendered,—so is ‘The Spectre of Hydebee.’ In this you have kept up the true tone of the Northern Ballad. ‘Svend Vonved’ is wild and poetical, and it is my favourite. You must not think me insensible to the merits of the incomparable ‘Skimming.’ I think I hear his neigh, and see him crush the ribs of the Jute. Get out of bed, therefore, George Borrow, and be sick or sleepy no longer. A fellow who can give us such exquisite Danish Ballads has no right to repose. . . .

I remain,
Your very faithful friend,
Allan Cunningham.

Contents.

I spurr’d my courser, and more swiftly rode,
In moody silence, through the forests green,
Where doves and linnets had their lone abode.

Immers’d in pleasing pensiveness I rode
Down vistas dim, and glades of forest green,
Where doves and nightingales had their abode.

At evening fall I chanced to ride,
My courser to a tree I tied.
So wide thereof the story goes.

Against a stump my head I laid,
And then to slumber I essay’d
So wide thereof the story goes.

The servants led her then to bed,
But could not loose her girdle red!
“I can, perhaps,” said John.

He shut the door with all his might;
He lock’d it fast, and quench’d the light:
“I shall sleep here,” said John.

A servant to Sir Lavé hied:—
“Sir John is sleeping with the bride:”
“Aye, that I am,” said John.

Sir Lavé to the chamber flew:
“Arise, and straight the door undo!”
“A likely thing!” said John.

He struck with shield, he struck with spear—
“Come out, thou Dog, and fight me here!”
“Another time,” said John.

They carried the bride to the bridal bed,
But to loose her girdle ne’er entered their head—
“Be that my care,” said John.

Sir John locked the door as fast as he might:
“I wish Sir Lavé a very good night,
I shall sleep here,” said John.

A messenger to Sir Lavé hied:
“Sir John is sleeping with thy young bride!”
“Aye, that I am!” said John.

On the door Sir Lavé struck with his glove:
“Arise, Sir John, let me in to my love!”
“Stand out, you dog!” said John.

He struck on the door with shield and spear:
“Come out, Sir John, and fight me here!”
“See if I do!” said John.

St. Oluf built a lofty ship,
With sails of silk so fair;
“To Hornelummer I must go,
And see what’s passing there.”

“O do not go,” the seamen said,
“To yonder fatal ground,
Where savage Jutts, and wicked elves,
And demon sprites, abound.”

St. Oluf climb’d the vessel’s side;
His courage nought could tame!
“Heave up, heave up the anchor straight;
Let’s go in Jesu’s name.

“The cross shall be my faulchion now—
The book of God my shield;
And, arm’d with them, I hope and trust
To make the demons yield!”

And swift, as eagle cleaves the sky,
The gallant vessel flew,
Direct for Hornelummer’s rock,
Through ocean’s wavy blue.

’Twas early in the morning tide
When she cast anchor there;
And, lo! the Jutt stood on the cliff,
To breathe the morning air:

His eyes were like the burning beal—
His mouth was all awry;
The truth I tell, and say he stood
Full twenty cubits high.

* * * * *

“Be still, be still, thou noisy guest—
Be still for evermore;
Become a rock and beetle there,
Above the billows hoar.”

Up started then, from out the hill,
The demon’s hoary wife;
She curs’d the king a thousand times,
And brandish’d high her knife.

Sore wonder’d then the little elves,
Who sat within the hill,
To see their mother, all at once,
Stand likewise stiff and still.

Saint Oluf caused a ship be built,
At Marsirand so fair;
To Hornelummer he’ll away,
And see what’s passing there.

Then answer made the steersman old,
Beside the helm who stood:
“At Hornelummer swarm the Trolas,
It is no haven good.”

The king replied in gallant guise,
And sprang upon the prow:
“Upon the Ox [23] the cable cast,
In Jesu’s name let go!”

The Ox he pants, the Ox he snorts,
And bravely cuts the swell—
To Hornelummer in they sail
The ugly Trolds to quell.

The Jutt was standing on the cliff,
Which raises high its brow;
And thence he saw Saint Oluf, and
The Ox beneath him go.

His eyes were like a burning beal,
His mouth was all awry,
The nails which feve’d his fingers’ ends
Stuck out so wondrously.

“Now hold thy peace, thou foulest fiend,
And changed be to stone;
Do thou stand there ’till day of doom,
And injury do to none.”

Then out came running from the hill
The carline old and grey;
She cursed the King a thousand times,
And bade him sail away.

Then wondered much the little Trolds,
Who sat within the hill,
To see their mother all at once
Stand likewise stiff and still.

On Dovrefeld in Norroway
Free from care the warriors lay.
Who knows like us to rhyme and rune?

Twelve bold warriors there were seen,
Brothers of Ingeborg the Queen.
Who knows like us to rhyme and rune?

The first the rushing storm could turn,
The second could still the running burn.
Who knows like us to rhyme and rune?

1826.

Six score there were, six score and ten,
From Hald that rode that day;
And when they came to Brattingsborg
They pitch’d their pavilion gay.

King Nilaus stood on the turrets top,
Had all around in sight:
“Why hold those heroes their lives so cheap,
That it lists them here to fight?

“Now, hear me, Sivard Snaresvend;
Far hast thou rov’d, and wide,
Those warriors’ weapons thou shalt prove,
To their tent thou must straightway ride.”

* * * * *

There shine upon the eighteenth shield
A man, and a fierce wild boar,
Are borne by the Count of Lidebierg;
His blows fall heavy and sore.

There shines upon the twentieth shield,
Among branches, a rose, so gay;
Wherever Sir Nordman comes in war,
He bears bright honour away.

There shines on the one-and-twentieth shield
A vase, and of copper ’tis made;
That’s borne by Mogan Sir Olgerson:
He wins broad lands with his blade.

And now comes forth the next good shield,
With a sun dispelling the mirk;
And that by Asbiorn Mildé is borne;
He sets the knights’ backs at work.

Now comes the four-and-twentieth shield,
And a bright sword there you see;
And that by Humble Sir Jerfing is borne;
Full worthy of that is he.

* * * * *

Sir Humble struck his hand on the board;
No longer he lists to play:
I tell you, forsooth, that the rosy hue
From his cheek fast faded away.

“Now, hear me, Vidrik Verlandson;
Thou art so free a man;
Do lend me Skimming, thy horse, this day;
I’ll pledge for him what I can.”

* * * * *

In came Humble, with boot and spur,
He cast on the table his sword:
“Sivard stands in the green wood bound,
He speaks not a single word.

“O, I have been to the wild forest,
And have seiz’d the warrior stark;
Sivard there was taken by me,
And tied to the oak’s rough bark.”

* * * * *

The queen she sat in the high, high loft,
And thence look’d far and wide:
“O there comes Sward Snaresvend,
With a stately oak at his side.”

Then loud laugh’d fair Queen Gloriant,
As she looked on Sivard full:
“Thou wert, no doubt, in great, great need,
When thou such flowers didst pull.”

1854.

There were seven and seven times twenty
Away from Hald that went;
And when they came to Brattingsborg
There pitch’d they up their tent.

King Nilaus stood on the turret’s top,
Had all around in sight:
“If yonder host comes here to joust
They hold their lives but light.

“Now, hear me, Sivard Snarenswayne,
One thing I crave of thee;
To meet them go, for I would know
Their arms, and who they be.”

* * * * *

There shine upon the eighteenth shield
A Giant and a Sow;
Who deals worse blows amidst his foes,
Count Lideberg, than thou?

Wherever Sir Nordman comes in war
He winneth fame in field;
Yon blooming rose and verdant boughs
Adorn the twentieth shield.

A copper kettle, fairly wrought,
Upon the next you see;
’Tis borne by one who realms has won,
Sir Mogan good, by thee!

Forth comes the two-and-twentieth shield,
A sun mid mist and smoke;
Of wrestler line full many a spine
Has Asborn Milday broke.

A glittering faulchion shines upon
The four-and-twentieth shield;
And that doth bear Sir Jerfing’s heir,
He’s worthy it to wield.

* * * * *

Young Humble struck his hand on the board,
No longer he lists to play;
I tell to you that the rosy hue
From his cheek fast fled away.

“Now hear me, Vidrik Verlandson,
Thou art a man so free;
Lend me thy horse to ride this course,
Grey Skimming lend to me.”

* * * * *

In came Humble, with boot and spur,
On the table cast his sword:
“’Neath the green-wood bough stands Sivard now,
He speaketh not a word.

“O, I have been to the forest wild,
And have seiz’d the warrior good:
These hands did chain the Snarenswayne
To the oak’s bark in the wood.”

* * * * *

The Queen she sat in the chamber high,
And thence look’d far and wide:
“Across the plain comes the Snarenswayne,
With an oak-tree at his side.”

Then loud laughed fair Queen Ellinore,
As she looked on Sivard full:
“Thou wast, I guess, in sore distress
When thou such flowers didst pull!”

“A handsome smith my father was,
And Verland hight was he:
Bodild they call’d my mother fair;
Queen over countries three:

“Skimming I call my noble steed,
Begot from the wild sea-mare:
Blank do I call my haughty helm,
Because it glitters so fair:

“Skrepping I call my good thick shield;
Steel shafts have furrow’d it o’er:
Mimmering have I nam’d my sword;
’Tis hardened in heroes’ gore:

“And I am Vidrik Verlandson:
For clothes bright iron I wear:
Stand’st thou not up on thy long, long legs,
I’ll pin thee down to thy lair:

“Do thou stand up on thy long, long legs,
Nor look so dogged and grim;
The King holds out before the wood;
Thou shall yield thy treasure to him.”

“All, all the gold that I possess,
I will keep with great renown;
I’ll yield it at no little horse-boy’s word,
To the best king wearing a crown.”

“So young and little as here I seem,
Thou shalt find me prompt in a fray;
I’ll hew the head from thy shoulders off,
And thy much gold bear away.”

* * * * *

It was Langben the lofty Jutt,
He wav’d his steel mace round;
He sent a blow after Vidrik;
But the mace struck deep in the ground.

It was Langben the lofty Jutt,
Who had thought his foeman to slay,
But the blow fell short of Vidrik;
For the good horse bore him away.

It was Langben the lofty Jutt,
That shouted in wild despair:
“Now lies my mace in the hillock fast,
As though ’twere hammered in there!”

* * * * *

“Accursed be thou, young Vidrik!
And accursed thy piercing steel!
Thou hast given me, see, a wound in my breast,
Whence rise the pains I feel.”

* * * * *

“Now hear, now hear, thou warrior youth,
Thou canst wheel thy courser about;
But in every feat of manly strength
I could beat thee out and out.”

1854.

“My father was a smith by trade,
And Verland Smith he hight;
Bodild they call’d my mother dear,
A monarch’s daughter bright.

“Blank do I call my helm, thereon
Full many a sword has snapped;
Skrepping I call my shield, thereon
Full many a shaft has rapped.

“Skimming I call my steed, begot
From the wild mare of the wood;
Mimmering have I named my sword,
’Tis hardened in heroes’ blood.

“And I am Viderik Verlandson,
Bright steel for clothes I wear;
Stand up on thy long legs, or I
Will pin thee to thy lair!

“Stand up on thy long legs, nor look
So dogged and so grim;
The King doth hold before the wood,
Thy treasure yield to him!”

“Whatever gold I here possess
I’ll keep, like a Kemp of worth;
I’ll yield it at no horseboy’s word
To any King on earth!”

“So young and little as I seem
I’m active in a fray;
I’ll hew thy head, thou lubbard, off,
And bear thy gold away!”

* * * * *

It was Langben the Giant waved
His steely mace around;
He sent a blow at Vidrik, but
The mace struck deep in the ground.

It was Langben, the lofty Jutt,
Had thought his foe to slay;
But the blow fell short, for the speedy horse
His master bore away.

It was Langben, the lofty Jutt,
He bellow’d to the heaven:
“My mace is tight within the height,
As though by a hammer driven!”

* * * * *

Accurs’d be thou, young Vidrik!
Accursed be thy steel!
Thou’st given me a mighty wound,
And mighty pain I feel.

* * * * *

“Now hear, now hear, thou warrior youth,
Thou well canst wheel thy steed;
But I could beat thee out and out
In every manly deed.”

I rested my head upon Elvir Hill’s side, and my eyes were beginning to slumber;
That moment there rose up before me two maids, whose charms would take ages to number.

One patted my face, and the other exclaim’d, while loading my cheek with her kisses,
“Rise, rise, for to dance with you here we have sped from the undermost caves and abysses.

“Rise, fair-haired swain, and refuse not to dance; and I and my sister will sing thee
The loveliest ditties that ever were heard, and the prettiest presents will bring thee.”

Then both of them sang so delightful a song, that the boisterous river before us
Stood suddenly quiet and placid, as though ’twere afraid to disturb the sweet chorus.

I rested my head upon Elfin Hill, on mine eyes was slumber descending;
That moment there rose up before me two maids, with me to discourse intending.

The one kissed me on my cheek so white, the other she whispered mine ear in:
“Arise, arise, thou beautiful swain! for thou our dance must share in.

“Wake up, wake up, thou beautiful swain! rise and dance ’mongst the verdant grasses;
And to sing thee the sweetest of their songs I’ll bid my elfin lasses.”

To sing a song then one began, in voice so sweet and mellow,
The boisterous stream was still’d thereby, that before was wont to bellow.

“What darkens? It is the wide arch of the sky.”

O pause for a time,—for a short moment stay;
Still art thou streaming,—my words are in vain;
Oft-changing winds, with tyrannical sway,
Lord there below on the time-serving main!

Abandon, abandon, thy headlong career—
But downward thou rushest—my words are in vain,
Bethink thee that oft-changing winds domineer
On the billowy breast of the time-serving main.

Note.—Each poem to which no reference is attached, appeared for the first time in this volume.

There is at present no copy of the First Issue of the First Edition of Romantic Ballads, with the original Title-page, in the Library of the British Museum.

Second Issue: 1826

Romantic Ballads, / Translated from the Danish; / and / Miscellaneous Pieces; / By / George Borrow. / Through gloomy paths unknown—/ Paths which untrodden be, / From rock to rock I roam / Along the dashing sea. / Bowring. / London: / John Taylor, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, / 1826.

Collation:—Demy octavo, pp. xii + 187. The details of the collation follow those of the First Issue described above in every particular, save that, naturally, the volume lacks the two concluding leaves carrying the List of Subscribers.

Issued in drab paper boards, with white paper back-label. The published price was Seven Shillings.

“Taylor will undertake to publish the remaining copies. His advice is to make the price seven shillings, and to print a new title-page, and then he will be able to sell some for you I advise the same,” etc.—[Allan Cunningham to George Borrow.]

There is a copy of the Second Issue of the First Edition of Romantic Ballads in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 11565. cc. 8.

Third Issue: 1826

Romantic Ballads, / Translated from the Danish; / and / Miscellaneous Pieces; / By / George Borrow. / Through gloomy paths unknown—/ Paths which untrodden be, / From rock to rock I roam / Along the dashing sea. / Bowring. / London: / Published by Wightman and Cramp, / 24 Paternoster Row. / 1826.

Collation:—Demy octavo, pp. xii + 187. The details of the collation follow those of the Second Issue described above in every particular.

Issued in drab paper boards, with white paper back-label. The price was again Seven Shillings.

In 1913 a type-facsimile reprint of the Original Edition of Romantic Ballads was published by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons of Norwich. Three hundred Copies were printed.

(4) [Targum: 1835]

Targum. / Or / Metrical Translations / From Thirty Languages / and / Dialects. / By / George Borrow. / “The raven has ascended to the nest of the nightingale.” / Persian Poem. / St. Petersburg. / Printed by Schulz and Beneze. / 1835.

Collation:—Demy octavo, printed in half-sheets, pp. viii + 106; consisting of: Title-page, as above (with

a Russian quotation upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Preface pp. iii–v; Table of Contents pp. vi–viii, with a single Erratum at the foot of p. viii; and Text of the Translations pp. 1–106. There are no head-lines, the pages being numbered centrally in Arabic numerals. Beyond that upon the foot of the title-page, there is no imprint. The signatures are given in large Arabic numerals, each pair of half-sheets dividing one number between them; thus the first half-sheet is signed 1, the second 1*, the third 2, the fourth 2*, &c. The Register is therefore 1 to 7 (thirteen half-sheets, each 4 leaves), followed by a single unsigned leaf (pp. 105–106), the whole preceded by an unsigned half-sheet carrying the Title-page, Preface, and Table of Contents. The book was issued without any half-title.

Issued in plain paper wrappers of a bright green colour, lined with white, and without either lettering or label. The leaves measure 8 11/16 × 5½ inches.

Borrow was happy in the title he selected for his book. Targum, as Mr. Gosse has pointed out, is a Chaldee word meaning an interpretation. The word is said to be the root of ‘dragoman.’

Targum was written by Borrow during his two years’ residence at St. Petersburg (August, 1833, to August, 1835), and was published in June of the latter year. One hundred copies only were printed. As might naturally be expected the book has now become of very considerable rarity, but a small proportion of the original hundred copies being traceable to-day.

A reduced facsimile of the Title-page is given herewith.

“Just before completing this great work, the Manchu New Testament, Mr. Borrow published a small volume in the English language, entitled Targum, or Metrical Translations from Thirty Languages and Dialects. The exquisite delicacy with which he has caught and rendered the beauties of his well-chosen originals, is a proof of his learning and genius. The work is a pearl in literature, and, like pearls, it derives value from its scarcity, for the whole edition was limited to about a hundred copies.”—[John P. Hasfeld, in The Athenæum, March 5th, 1836.]

“Some days ago I was at Kirtof’s bookshop on the Gaternaya Ulitza. I wanted to buy a Bible in Spain to send to Simbirsk (on the Volga), where they torment me for it every post-day. The stock was all sold out in a few days after its arrival last autumn. The bookseller asked me if I knew a book by Borrow called Targum, which was understood to have been written by him and printed at St. Petersburg, but he had never been able to light upon it; and the surprising thing was that the trade abroad and even in England did him the honour to order it. I consoled him by saying that he could hardly hope to see a copy in his shop or to get a peep at it. ‘I have a copy,’ continued I, ‘but if you will offer me a thousand roubles for the bare reading of it I cannot do you the favour.’ The man opened his eyes in astonishment. ‘It must be a wonderful book,’ said he. ‘Yes, in that you are right, my good friend,’ I replied.”—[John P. Hasfeld.]

“After he became famous the Russian Government was desirous of procuring a copy of this rare book, Targum, for the Imperial Library, and sent an Envoy to England for the purpose. But the Envoy was refused what he sought, and told that as the book was not worth notice when the author’s name was obscure and they had the opportunity of obtaining it themselves, they should not have it now.”—[A. Egmont Hake, in The Athenæum, August 13th, 1881.]

Contents.

Where died the Almighty’s Son,

Have seen the Trinity.

I with my Lord and God
On the highest places trod,
When Lucifer down fell
With his army into hell.
I know each little star
Which twinkles near and far;
And I know the Milky Way
Where I tarried many a day.

Note.—Each poem to which no reference is attached, appeared for the first time in this volume.

In 1892 Targum was reprinted, together with The Talisman, by Messrs. Jarrold & Sons, of Norwich, in an edition of 250 copies.

There is a copy of the First Edition of Targum in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is C.57.i.6.

(5) [The Talisman: 1835]

The / Talisman. / From the Russian / of / Alexander Pushkin. / With other Pieces. / St. Petersburg. / Printed by Schulz and Beneze, / 1835.

Collation:—Royal octavo, pp. 14; consisting of: Title-page, as above (with a Russian quotation upon the centre of the reverse) pp. 1–2; and Text of The Talisman and other Poems pp. 3–14. There are no head-lines, the pages being numbered centrally in Arabic numerals. Beyond that upon the title-page there is no imprint. There are also no signatures, the pamphlet being composed of a single sheet, folded to form sixteen pages. The last leaf is a blank. The book was issued without any half-title.

Issued stitched, and without wrappers. The leaves measure 9¾ × 6¼ inches.

One Hundred Copies only were printed.

A reduced facsimile of the Title-page of The Talisman is given herewith. It will be observed that the heavy letterpress upon the reverse of the title shows through the paper, and is reproduced in the photograph.

Contents.

Note.—The whole of the poems printed in The Talisman appeared there for the first time.

In 1892 Messrs. Jarrold & Sons published page for page reprints of Targum and The Talisman. They were issued together in one volume, bound in light drab-coloured paper boards, with white paper back-label, and were accompanied by the following collective title-page:

Targum: / or, / Metrical Translations from Thirty Languages / and Dialects. / And / The Talisman, / from the Russian of Alexander Pushkin. / With Other Pieces. / By / George Borrow. / Author of “The Bible in Spain” &c. / London: / Jarrold & Sons, 3, Paternoster Buildings.

In 1912 a small ‘remainder’ of The Talisman came to light. The ‘find’ consisted of about Five Copies, which were sold in the first instance for an equal number of Pence. The buyer appears to have resold them at progressive prices, commencing at Four Pounds and concluding at Ten Guineas.

There is a copy of the First Edition of The Talisman in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is C.57.e.33.

(6) [The Gospel of St. Luke: 1837]

Embéo / e Majaró Lucas. / Brotoboro / randado andré la chipe griega, acána / chibado andré o Romanó, ó chipe es / Zincales de Sesé. / El Evangelio segun S. Lucas, / traducido al Romaní, / ó dialecto de los Gitanos de España. / 1837.

Collation:—Foolscap octavo, pp. 177, consisting of: Title-page, as above (with Borrow’s Colophon upon the reverse, followed by a quotation from the Epistle to the Romans, Chap. XV. v. XXIV.) pp. 1–2; and Text of the Gospel pp. 3–177. The reverse of p. 177 is blank. There are no head-lines, the pages being numbered centrally in Arabic numerals. There is no printer’s imprint. The signatures are A to L (11 sheets, each 8 leaves), plus L repeated (two leaves, the second a blank). The book was issued without any half-title.

I have never seen a copy of the First Edition of Borrow’s translation into the dialect of the Spanish Gypsies of the Gospel of St. Luke in the original binding. No doubt the book (which was printed in Madrid) was put up in paper wrappers, with untrimmed edges, in accordance with the usual Continental custom.

Most of the copies now extant are either in a modern binding, or in contemporary brown calf, with marbled edges and endpapers. The latter are doubtless the copies sent home by Borrow, and bound in leather for that purpose. The leaves of these measure 6 × 4 inches.

As will be seen from the following extracts, it is probable that the First Edition consisted of 250 copies, and that 50 of these were forwarded to London:

“In response to Borrow’s letter of February 27th, the Committee resolved ‘to authorise Mr. Borrow to print 250 copies of the Gospel of St. Luke, without the Vocabulary, in the Rummanee dialect, and to engage the services of a competent person to translate the Gospel of St. Luke by way of trial in the dialect of the Spanish Basque.’”—[Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1911, pp. 205–206.]

“A small impression of the Gospel of St. Luke, in the Rommany, or Gitano, or Gipsy language, has been printed at Madrid, under the superintendence of this same gentleman, who himself made the translation for the benefit of the interesting, singular, degraded race of people whose name it bears, and who are very numerous in some parts of Spain. He has likewise taken charge of the printing of the Gospel of St. Luke, in the Cantabrian, or Spanish Basque language, a translation of which had fallen into his hands.”—[Thirty-Fourth Annual Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1838, p. xliii.]

“All the Testaments were stopped at the custom house, they were contained in two large chests. . . . The chests, therefore, with the hundred Gospels in Gitano and Basque [probably 50 copies of each] for the Library of the Bible Society are at present at San Lucar in the custom house, from which I expect to receive to-morrow the receipt which the authorities here demand.”—[Borrow’s letter to the Rev. A. Brandram, Seville, May 2nd, 1839.]

A Second Edition of the Gospel was printed in London in 1871. The collation is Duodecimo, pp. 117. This was followed by a Third Edition, London, 1872, the collation of which is also Duodecimo, pp. 117. Both bear the same imprint: “London: / Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street, / and Charing Cross.”

For these London Editions the text was considerably revised.

The Gospel of St. Luke in the Basque dialect, referred to in the above paragraphs, is a small octavo volume bearing the following title-page:

Evangelioa / San Lucasen Guissan / El Evangelio segun S. Lucas. / Traducido al vascuence. / Madrid: / Imprenta de la Campañia Tipografica / 1838.

The translation was the work of a Basque physician named Oteiza, and Borrow did little more than see it through the press. The book has, therefore, no claim to rank as a Borrow princeps.

The measure of success which attended his efforts to reproduce the Gospel of St. Luke in these two dialects is best told in Borrow’s own words:

“I subsequently published the Gospel of St. Luke in the Rommany and Biscayan languages. With respect to the first, I beg leave to observe that no work printed in Spain ever caused so great and so general a sensation, not so much amongst the Gypsies, for whom it was intended, as amongst the Spaniards themselves, who, though they look upon the Roma with some degree of contempt, nevertheless take a strange interest in all that concerns them. . . . Respecting the Gospel in Basque I have less to say. It was originally translated into the dialect of Guipuscoa by Dr. Oteiza, and subsequently received corrections and alterations from myself. It can scarcely be said to have been published, it having been prohibited and copies of it seized on the second day of its appearance. But it is in my power to state that it is anxiously expected in the Basque provinces, where books in the aboriginal tongue are both scarce and dear.”—[Borrow’s Survey of his last two years in Spain, printed in his Letters to the Bible Society, 1911, pp. 360–361.]

There is a copy of the First Edition of The Gospel of St. Luke in the dialect of the Spanish Gypsies in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is C.51.aa.12. The Museum also possesses a copy of the Gospel in the Basque dialect; the Pressmark is C.51.aa.13.

(7) [The Zincali: 1841]

The Zincali; / Or, / An Account / of the / Gypsies of Spain. / With / An Original Collection of their /

Songs and Poetry, / and / A Copious Dictionary of their Language. / By / George Borrow, / Late Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society / in Spain. / “For that, which is unclean by nature, thou canst entertain no hope: no / washing will turn the Gypsy white.”—Ferdousi. / In Two Volumes. / Vol. I. [Vol. II] / London: / John Murray, Albemarle Street. / 1841.

Vol. I.

Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. xvi + 362; consisting of: Half-title (with imprint “G. Woodfall and Son, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. iii–iv; Dedication To the Right Honourable the Earl of Clarendon, G.C.B. (with blank reverse) pp. v–vi; Preface pp. vii–xii; Table of Contents pp. xiii–xvi; and Text pp. 1–362, including a separate Fly-title (with blank reverse) to The Zincali, Part II. There are headlines throughout, each verso being headed The Zincali, whilst each recto carries at its head a note of the particular subject occupying it. The imprint is repeated at the foot of p. 362. The signatures are a (six leaves), b (two leaves), B to Q (15 sheets, each 12 leaves), plus R (two leaves). Sig. R 2 is a blank.

Vol. II.

Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. vi + 156 + vi + *135; consisting of: Half-title (with imprint “G. Woodfall and Son, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London” upon

the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. iii–iv; Table of Contents pp. v–vi; Fly-title to The Zincali, Part III (with blank reverse) pp. 1–2; Text of Part III (including separate Fly-titles, each with blank reverse, to The Praise of Buddh, On the Language of the Gitanos, and Robber Language) pp. 3–156; Fly-title (with blank reverse) to The Zincali. Vocabulary of their Language pp. i–ii; Advertisement to the Vocabulary pp. iii–v; p. vi is blank; Text of the Vocabulary pp. *1–*113; p. *114 is blank; Fly-title (with blank reverse) to Miscellanies in the Gitano Language pp. *115–*116; Advertisement to the Miscellanies p. *117; and Text of the Miscellanies pp. *118–*135. The reverse of p. *135 is blank. There are head-lines throughout, each verso being headed The Zincali, whilst each recto carries at its head a note of the particular subject occupying it. The imprint is repeated at the foot of p. *135. The signatures are a (2 leaves), b (one leaf), B to G (6 sheets, each 12 leaves), H (6 leaves), a (3 leaves), b to e (4 sheets, each 12 leaves), f (9 leaves), and g (12 leaves). b 6, b 8, and b 12 are cancel-leaves. The last leaf of Sig. g is occupied by a series of Advertisements of Works just Published by John Murray.

Issued (in April, 1841) in dark blue cloth boards, with white paper back-label, lettered “Borrow’s / Gypsies / of / Spain. / Two Volumes. / Vol. I. [Vol. II.].” The leaves measure 7⅞ × 4¾ inches. The published price was 18s.

Of the First Edition of The Zincali Seven Hundred and Fifty Copies only were printed. A Second Edition, to which a new

Preface was added, was published in March, 1843, and a Third in September, 1843, each of which was restricted to the same number of copies. The Fourth Edition appeared in 1846, the Fifth in 1870, the Sixth in 1882, the Seventh in 1888, and the Eighth in 1893. The book has since been included in various popular editions, and translated into several foreign languages.

Examples of The Zincali may sometimes be met with bearing dates other than those noted above. These are merely copies of the editions specified, furnished with new title-pages.

Included in the second volume of The Zincali is a considerable amount of verse, as follows:

There is a copy of the First Edition of The Zincali in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 1429.g.14.

(8) [The Bible in Spain: 1843.]

The / Bible in Spain; / Or, the / Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments / Of an Englishman, / in / An Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures / in / The Peninsula. / By George Borrow, / Author of “The Gypsies of Spain.” / In three volumes. /

Vol. I. [Vol. II, etc.] / London: / John Murray, Albemarle Street. / 1843.

Vol. I.

Collation:—Large duodecimo pp. xxiv + 370; consisting of: Half-title (with imprint “G. Woodfall and Son, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. iii–iv; Contents of Vol. i pp. v–viii; Preface pp. ix–xxiv; and Text pp. 1–370. There are head-lines throughout, each verso being headed The Bible in Spain together with the number of the Chapter, whilst each recto carries at its head a note of the particular subject occupying it, with the Chapter number repeated. The imprint is repeated at the foot of p. 370. The signatures are A to Q (sixteen sheets, each 12 leaves), plus R (a half-sheet of 6 leaves). The last leaf of sig. R carries a series of Advertisements of books published by John Murray.

Vol. II.

Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. viii + 398; consisting of Half-title (with imprint “G. Woodfall and Son, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. iii–iv; Contents of Vol. ii. pp. v–viii; and Text pp. 1–398. There are headlines throughout, as in the first volume. The imprint is repeated at the foot of p. 398. The signatures are A (four leaves), B to R (sixteen sheets, each 12 leaves), plus S (8 leaves). The last leaf of Sig. R carries a series of Advertisements of books published by John Murray.

Vol. III.

Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. viii + 391; consisting of: Half-title (with imprint “G. Woodfall and Son, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. iii–iv; Contents of Vol iii pp. v–viii; and Text pp. 1–391. There are headlines throughout, as in the two preceding volumes. The reverse of p. 391 is occupied by Advertisements of Romantic Ballads, Targum, and The Zincali. The imprint is repeated at the foot of p. 391. The signatures are a (2 leaves), b (2 leaves), B to R (sixteen sheets, each 12 leaves), plus S (4 leaves).

Issued (in December, 1842) in deep claret-coloured cloth boards, with white paper back-label, lettered “The | Bible | in | Spain | Vol. I. [Vol. II, &c.].” The leaves measure 7¾ × 4¾ inches. The published price was 27s.

Although the title page of the First Edition of The Bible in Spain is dated 1843, there can be no doubt that the book was ready early in the preceding December. I have in my own library a copy, still in the original cloth boards, with the following inscription in Borrow’s handwriting upon the flyleaf:

Autographed presentation copies of Borrow’s books are remarkably few in number, I only know of four, in addition to the above. One of these is preserved in the Borrow Museum, at Norwich.

Of the First Edition of The Bible in Spain One Thousand Copies were printed. The Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Editions were all published in 1843. By 1896 eighteen authorised editions had made their appearance. Since that date the book has been re-issued in numberless popular editions, and has been translated into various foreign languages.

The following verses made their first appearance in The Bible in Spain:

There is a copy of the First Edition of The Bible in Spain in the Library of the British Museum. The press-mark is 1369.f 23.

(9) [Review of Ford’s “Hand-book for Travellers in Spain”: 1845]

Art.—Hand-book for Travellers in Spain. London: 2 Vols. / post 8vo. 1845.

Collation:—Folio, pp. 12. There is no Title-page proper, the title, as above, being imposed upon the upper portion of the first page, after the manner of a ‘dropped head.’ The head-line is Spanish Hand-book throughout, upon both sides of the page. There is no printer’s imprint. There are also no signatures; but the pamphlet is composed of three sheets, each two leaves, making twelve pages in all.

Issued stitched, and without wrappers. The leaves measure 13½ × 8½ inches. The pamphlet is undated. It was printed in 1845.

This Review is unquestionably the rarest of the First Editions of Borrow’s Works. No more than two copies would appear to have been struck off, and both are fortunately extant to-day. One of these was formerly in the possession of Dr. William I. Knapp, and is now the property of the Hispanic Society, of New York. The second example is in my own library. This was Borrow’s own copy, and is freely corrected in his characteristic handwriting. A greatly reduced facsimile of the last page of the pamphlet is given herewith.

In 1845 Richard Ford published his Hand-Book for Travellers in Spain and Readers at Home [2 Vols. 8vo.], a work, the compilation of which is said to have occupied its author for more than sixteen years. In conformity with the wish of Ford (who had himself favourably reviewed The Bible in Spain) Borrow undertook to produce a study of the Hand-Book for The Quarterly Review. The above Essay was the result.

But the Essay, brilliant though it is, was not a ‘Review.’ Not until page 6 is the Hand-Book even mentioned, and but little concerning it appears thereafter. Lockhart, then editing the Quarterly, proposed to render it more suitable for the purpose for which it had been intended by himself interpolating a series

of extracts from Ford’s volumes. But Borrow would tolerate no interference with his work, and promptly withdrew the Essay, which had meanwhile been set up in type. The following letter, addressed by Lockhart to Ford, sufficiently explains the position:

London,
June 13th, 1845.

Dear Ford,

‘El Gitano’ sent me a paper on the “Hand-Book” which I read with delight. It seemed just another capital chapter of his “Bible in Spain” and I thought, as there was hardly a word of ‘review,’ and no extract giving the least notion of the peculiar merits and style of the “Hand-Book,” that I could easily (as is my constant custom) supply the humbler part myself, and so present at once a fair review of the work, and a lively specimen of our friend’s vein of eloquence in exordio.

But, behold! he will not allow any tampering . . . . I now write to condole with you; for I am very sensible, after all, that you run a great risk in having your book committed to hands far less competent for treating it or any other book of Spanish interest than Borrow’s would have been . . . and I consider that, after all, in the case of a new author, it is the first duty of the “Quarterly Review” to introduce that author fully and fairly to the public.

Ever Yours Truly,
J. G. Lockhart.

“Our author pictures Gibraltar as a human entity thus addressing Spain:

Accursed land! I hate thee, and far from being a defence, will invariably prove a thorn in thy side.

And so on through many sentences of excited rhetoric. Borrow forgot while he wrote that he had a book to review—a book, moreover, issued by the publishing house which issued the periodical in which his review was to appear.”—[George Borrow and his Circle, 1913, p. 257].

In 1913 Borrow’s Review was reprinted in the following Pamphlet:

A / Supplementary Chapter / to / The Bible in Spain / Inspired by / Ford’s “Handbook for Travellers in Spain.” / By / George Borrow / London: / Printed for Private Circulation / 1913.—Square demy 8vo, pp. 46. [See post, No. 10.]

(10) [A Supplementary Chapter to “The Bible in Spain”: 1913]

A / Supplementary Chapter / to / The Bible in Spain / Inspired by / Ford’s “Handbook for Travellers in Spain.” / By / George Borrow / London: / Printed for Private Circulation / 1913.

Collation:—Square demy octavo, pp. 46; consisting of: Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. 1–2; Frontispiece (with blank recto) pp. 3–4; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. 5–6; Prefatory Note (signed ‘T. J. W.’) pp. 7–10; and text of the Chapter pp. 11–46. There are head-lines throughout, each verso being headed A Supplementary Chapter, and each recto To the Bible in Spain. Following p. 46 is a leaf, with blank recto, and with the following imprint upon the reverse, “London: / Printed for Thomas J. Wise, Hampstead, N. W. / Edition limited to Thirty Copies.” The signatures are A to C (3 sheets, each 8 leaves), inset within each other.

Issued in bright green paper wrappers, with untrimmed

edges, and with the title-page reproduced upon the front. The leaves measure 8¾ × 6⅞ inches.

Thirty Copies only were printed.

The Frontispiece consists of a greatly reduced facsimile of the last page, bearing Borrow’s corrections, of the original edition of his Review of Ford’s ‘Hand-Book.’

This Supplementary Chapter to “The Bible in Spain” is a reprint of the Review of Ford’s Hand-book for Travellers in Spain written by Borrow in 1845 for insertion in The Quarterly Review, but withdrawn by him in consequence of the proposal made by the Editor, John Gibson Lockhart, that he should himself introduce into Borrow’s Essay a series of extracts from the Handbook. [See ante, No. 9.]

Included in the Prefatory Note is the following amusing squib, written by Borrow in 1845, but never printed by him. I chanced to light upon the Manuscript in a packet of his still unpublished verse:

Would it not be more dignified
To run up debts on every side,
And then to pay your debts refuse,
Than write for rascally Reviews?
And lectures give to great and small,
In pot-house, theatre, and town-hall,
Wearing your brains by night and day
To win the means to pay your way?
I vow by him who reigns in [hell],
It would be more respectable!

There is a copy of A Supplementary Chapter to “The Bible in Spain” in the Library of the British Museum. The press-mark is C. 57. d. 19 (2).

(11) [Lavengro: 1851]

Lavengro; / The Scholar—The Gypsy—The Priest. / By George Borrow, / Author of “The Bible in Spain,” and “The Gypsies of Spain” / In Three Volumes.—Vol. I. [Vol. II., &c.] / London: / John Murray, Albemarle Street. / 1851.

Vol. I.

Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. xviii [85] + 360; consisting of: Half-title (with imprint “London: / George Woodfall and Son, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” upon the centre of the reverse). Pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with Advertisements of The Bible in Spain and The Zincali upon the reverse) pp. iii–iv; Preface pp. v–xii; and Text pp. 1–360. At the foot of p. 360 the imprint is repeated thus, “G. Woodfall and Son, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” There are head-lines throughout, each page being headed with the number of the chapter, together with the title of the individual subject occupying it. The signatures are A (nine leaves, a single leaf being inserted between A 6 and A 7), and B to Q (fifteen sheets, each 12 leaves).

A Portrait of Borrow, engraved by W. Holl from a painting by H. W. Phillips, serves as Frontispiece.

Vol. II.

Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. xii + 366; consisting of: Half-title (with imprint “London: / George Woodfall and Son, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” upon the

centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with Advertisements of The Bible in Spain and The Zincali upon the reverse) pp. iii–iv; Contents of Vol. II pp. v–xi; p. xii is blank; and Text pp. 1–366. At the foot of p. 366 the imprint is repeated thus, “G. Woodfall and Son, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” There are head-lines throughout, as in the first volume. The signatures are a (2 leaves), b (4 leaves), B to Q (fifteen sheets, each 12 leaves), plus R (3 leaves).

Vol. III.

Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. xii + 426; consisting of: Half-title (with imprint “London: / George Woodfall and Son, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with Advertisements of The Bible in Spain and The Zincali upon the reverse) pp. iii–iv; Contents of Vol. III pp. v–xi; p. xii is blank; and Text pp. 1–426. At the foot of p. 426 the imprint is repeated thus, “G. Woodfall and Son, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” There are head-lines throughout, as in the first volume. The signatures are a (2 leaves), b (4 leaves), B to S (seventeen sheets, each 12 leaves), T (6 leaves), and U (3 leaves).

Issued in dark blue cloth boards, with white paper back-labels, lettered “Lavengro; / the / Scholar, / the Gypsy, / and / the Priest. / By George Borrow / Vol. i. [Vol. ii., &c.]” The leaves measure 7¾ × 4⅞ inches. The edition consisted of 3,000 Copies. The published price was 30s.

A Second Edition (miscalled Third Edition) was issued in 1872; a Third (miscalled Fourth) in 1888; and a Fourth (miscalled Fifth) in 1896. To the edition of 1872 was prefixed a new

Preface, in which Borrow replied to his critics in a somewhat angry and irritable manner. Copies of the First Edition of Lavengro are to be met with, the three volumes bound in one, in original publishers’ cloth, bearing the name of the firm of Chapman and Hall upon the back. These copies are ‘remainders.’ They were made up in 1870. It is by no means unlikely that in 1872 some confusion prevailed as to the nature of this subsidiary issue, and that it was mistaken for a Second Edition of the book. If so the incorrect numbering of the edition of that date, the actual Second Edition, may be readily accounted for.

An important edition of Lavengro is:

Lavengro / By George Borrow / A New Edition / Containing the unaltered Text of the Original Issue; / some Suppressed Passages now printed for the / first time; MS. Variorum, Vocabulary and Notes / By the Author of / The Life of George Borrow / London / John Murray, Albemarle Street / 1900.—Crown 8vo, pp. xxviii + 569.

The book was reprinted in 1911. The Editor was Dr. William Knapp.

An edition of Lavengro, with a valuable Introduction by Mr. Theodore Watts-Dunton, was published by Messrs. Ward, Lock & Co., in 1893. The work is also included in Everyman’s Library, and in other series of popular reprints.

When put to press in February, 1849, the first volume of Lavengro was set up with the title-page reading as follows:—

Life, A Drama. / By / George Borrow, Esq., / Author of “The Bible in Spain,” etc. / In Three Volumes. / Vol. i. / London: / John Murray, Albemarle Street. / 1849.

Only two examples of the volume with this interesting early title-page are known to have survived. One of these is now in the possession of the Hispanic Society, of New York. The other is the property of Mr. Otto Kyllmann.

Later in the same year Murray advertised the work under the following title:—

Lavengro, An Autobiography. By George Borrow, Esq., &c.

The same title was employed in the advertisements of 1850.

Mr. Clement Shorter possesses the original draft of the first portion of Lavengro. In this draft the title-page appears in its earliest form, and describes the book as Some Account of the Life, Pursuits, and Adventures of a Norfolk Man. A facsimile of this tentative title was given by Mr. Shorter in George Borrow and his Circle, 1913, p. 280.

“Borrow took many years to write Lavengro. ‘I am writing the work,’ he told Dawson Turner, ‘in precisely the same manner as The Bible in Spain, viz. on blank sheets of old account-books, backs of letters,’ &c., and he recalls Mahomet writing the Koran on mutton bones as an analogy to his own ‘slovenliness of manuscript.’ I have had plenty of opportunity of testing this slovenliness in the collection of manuscripts of portions of Lavengro that have come into my possession. These are written upon pieces of paper of all shapes and sizes, although at least a third of the book in Borrow’s very neat handwriting is contained in a leather notebook. The title-page demonstrates the earliest form of Borrow’s conception. Not only did he then contemplate an undisguised autobiography, but even described himself as ‘a Norfolk man.’ Before the book was finished, however, he repudiated the autobiographical note, and we find him fiercely denouncing his critics for coming to such a conclusion. ‘The writer,’ he declares, ‘never said it was an autobiography; never authorised any person to say it was one.’ Which was doubtless true, in a measure.”—[George Borrow and his Circle, 1913, pp. 279–281].

There is a copy of the First Edition of Lavengro in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 12622. f. 7.

(12.) [The Romany Rye: 1857]

The / Romany Rye; / A Sequel to “Lavengro.” / By George Borrow, / Author of / “The Bible in

Spain,” “The Gypsies of Spain,” etc. / “Fear God, and take your own part.” / In Two Volumes.—Vol. I. [Vol. II.] / London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. / 1857. / [The Right of Translation is reserved.]

Vol. I.

Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. xii + 372; consisting of: Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with imprint “London: Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” at the foot of the reverse) pp. iii–iv; Preface (styled Advertisement) pp. v–vi; Table of Contents pp. vii–xi; Extract from Pleasantries of the Cogia Nasr Eddin Efendi p. xii; and Text pp. 1–372. The head-line is The Romany Rye throughout, upon both sides of the page; each page also bears at its head the number of the particular Chapter occupying it. At the foot of p. 372 the imprint is repeated thus, “Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” The signatures are A (a half-sheet of 6 leaves), B to Q (15 sheets, each 12 leaves), plus R (a half-sheet of 6 leaves).

Vol. II.

Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. viii + 375 + ix; consisting of: Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with imprint “London: Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” at the foot of the reverse) pp. iii–iv; Table of Contents pp. v–vii; p. viii is

blank; and Text pp. 1–375. The reverse of p. 375 is blank. The volume is completed by eight unnumbered pages of Advertisements of Works by the Author of “The Bible in Spain” ready for the Press. There are head-lines throughout; up to, and including, p. 244 the head-line is The Romany Rye, together with the numbers of the Chapters, pp. 245–375 are headed Appendix, accompanied by the numbers of the Chapters. At the foot of the last of the eight unnumbered pages carrying the Advertisements (Sig. R 12 verso) the imprint is repeated thus, “Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” The signatures are A (four leaves), plus B to R (16 sheets, each 12 leaves).

Issued (on April 30th, 1857) in dark blue cloth boards, with white paper back-labels, lettered “The / Romany Rye. / By / George Borrow. / Vol. I. [Vol. II.]” The leaves measure 7⅞ × 5 inches.

Of the First Edition of The Romany Rye One Thousand Copies were printed. The published price was 21s. A Second Edition was published in 1858, a Third in 1872, a Fourth in 1888, and a Fifth in 1896. The book is included in Everyman’s Library, and in other series of popular reprints.

The series of Advertisements of Works by Borrow, announced as “Ready for the Press,” which occupy the last eight pages of the second volume of The Romany Rye are of especial interest. No less than twelve distinct works are included in these advertisements. Of these twelve The Bible in Spain was already in the hands of the public, Wild Wales duly appeared in 1862, and The Sleeping Bard in 1860. These three were all that Borrow lived to see in print. Two others, The Turkish Jester and The Death of

Balder, were published posthumously in 1884 and 1889 respectively; but the remaining seven, Celtic Bards, Chiefs, and Kings, Songs of Europe, Kœmpe Viser, Penquite and Pentyre, Russian Popular Tales, Northern Skalds, Kings, and Earls, and Bayr Jairgey and Glion Doo: The Red Path and the Black Valley, were never destined to see the light. However, practically the whole of the verse prepared for them was included in the series of Pamphlets which have been printed for private circulation during the past twelve months.

As was the case with Lavengro, Borrow delayed the completion of The Romany Rye to an extent that much disconcerted his publisher, John Murray. The correspondence which passed between author and publisher is given at some length by Dr. Knapp, in whose pages the whole question is fully discussed.

Mr. Shorter presents the matter clearly and fairly in the paragraphs he devotes to the subject:

“The most distinctly English book—at least in a certain absence of cosmopolitanism—that Victorian literature produced was to a great extent written on scraps of paper during a prolonged Continental tour which included Constantinople and Budapest. In Lavengro we have only half a book, the whole work, which included what came to be published as The Romany Rye, having been intended to appear in four volumes. The first volume was written in 1843, the second in 1845, and the third volume in the years between 1845 and 1848. Then in 1852 Borrow wrote out an advertisement of a fourth volume, which runs as follows:

Shortly will be published in one volume. Price 10s. The Rommany Rye, Being the fourth volume of Lavengro. By George Borrow, author of The Bible in Spain.

But this volume did not make an appearance ‘shortly.’ Its author was far too much offended with the critics, too disheartened it may be, to care to offer himself again for their gibes. The years rolled on, and not until 1857 did The Romany Rye appear. The book was now in two volumes, and we see that the word Romany had dropped an m. . . .

The incidents of Lavengro are supposed to have taken place between the 24th of May 1825, and the 18th of July of that year. In The Romany Rye the incidents apparently occur between the 19th of July and the 3rd of August 1825. In the opinion of Mr. John Sampson, the whole of the episodes in the five volumes occurred in seventy-two days.”—[George Borrow and his Circle, 1913, pp. 341–343.]

A useful edition of The Romany Rye is:

The Romany Rye / A Sequel to “Lavengro” / By George Borrow / A New Edition / Containing the unaltered text of the Original / Issue, with Notes, etc., by the Author of / “The Life of George Borrow” / London / John Murray, Albemarle Street / 1900.—Crown 8vo. pp. xvi + 403.

The book was edited by Dr. William Knapp.

There is a copy of the First Edition of The Romany Rye in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 12622. f. 8.

(13) [The Sleeping Bard: 1860]

The Sleeping Bard; / Or / Visions of the World, Death, and Hell, / By / Elis Wyn. / Translated from the Cambrian British / By / George Borrow, / Author of/ “The Bible in Spain,” “The Gypsies of Spain,” etc. / London: / John Murray, Albemarle Street. / 1860.

Collation:—Crown octavo, pp. x + 128; consisting of: Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. i–ii; Preface pp. iii–vii; p. viii is blank; Fly-title to A Vision of the Course of the World (with blank reverse) pp. ix-x; and Text of the three Visions pp.

1–128. There are head-lines throughout, each double-page being headed with the title of the particular Vision occupying it. A Vision of Hell is preceded by a separate Fly-title (pp. 67–68) with blank reverse. At the foot of p. 128 is the following imprint, “James M. Denew, Printer, 72, Hall Plain, Great Yarmouth.” The sheets carry no register. The book was issued without any Half-title. In some copies the Christian name of the printer is misprinted Jamms.

Issued (in June, 1860) in magenta coloured cloth boards, lettered in gold along the back, “The Sleeping Bard,” and “London / John Murray” across the foot. The published price was 5s.; 250 copies were printed. Murray’s connection with the work was nominal. The book was actually issued at Yarmouth by J. M. Denew, the printer by whom it was produced. The cost was borne by the author himself, to whom the majority of the copies were ultimately delivered.

Some few copies of The Sleeping Bard would appear to have been put up in yellowish-brown plain paper wrappers, with untrimmed edges. One such example is in the possession of Mr. Paul Lemperley, of Cleveland, Ohio; a second is in the library of Mr. Clement Shorter. The leaves of both these copies measure 8¾ × 5¾ inches. The leaves of ordinary copies in cloth measure 7½ × 4¾ inches. The translation was made in 1830.

The text of The Sleeping Bard is divided into three sections. Each of these sections closes with a poem of some length, as follows:—

The song and dance afford, I ween,
Relief from spleen, and sorrows grave;
How very strange there is no dance,
Nor tune of France, from Death can save!

The song and dance can drive, they say,
The spleen away, and humour’s grave;
Why hast thou not devised, O France!
Some tune and dance, from Death to save?

There is a copy of the First Edition of The Sleeping Bard in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 12355. c. 17.

(14) [Wild Wales: 1862]

Wild Wales: / Its People, Language, and Scenery. / By George Borrow, / Author of “The Bible in Spain,” etc. / “Their Lord they shall praise, / Their language they shall keep, / Their land they shall lose, / Except Wild Wales.” / Taliesin: Destiny of the Britons. / In Three Volumes.—Vol. I. [Vol. II, &c.] / London: / John Murray, Albemarle Street. / 1862. / The right of Translation is reserved.

Vol. I.

Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. xii + 410; consisting of: Half-title (with advertisements of five of

Borrow’s Works upon the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with imprint “London: / Printed by Woodfall and Kinder, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. iii–iv; Notice regarding the previous appearance of a portion of the work in The Quarterly Review (with blank reverse) pp. v–vi; Contents of Vol. I pp. vii–xi; p. xii is blank; and Text pp. 1–410. There are head-lines throughout, each verso being headed Wild Wales, whilst each recto is headed with the title of the particular subject occupying it. At the foot of p. 410 the imprint is repeated thus: “Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” The signatures are A (a half-sheet of 6 leaves), B to S (17 sheets, each 12 leaves), plus T (2 leaves). The second leaf of Sig. T is a blank.

Vol. II.

Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. viii + 413; consisting of: Title-page, as above (with imprint “London: / Printed by Woodfall and Kinder, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Contents of Vol. II pp. v–vii; p. viii is blank; and Text pp. 1–413. The reverse of p. 413 is blank. There are head-lines throughout, as in the first volume. At the foot of p. 413 the imprint is repeated thus, “Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” The signatures are A (4 leaves), B to S (17 sheets, each 12 leaves), plus T (4 leaves). The last leaf of Sig. T is a blank. The volume was issued without any Half-title.

Vol. III.

Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. viii + 474; consisting of: Title-page, as above (with imprint “London: / Printed by Woodfall and Kinder, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Contents of Vol. III pp. iii–viii; and Text pp. 1–474. There are head-lines throughout, as in the first volume. At the foot of p. 474 the imprint is repeated thus, “Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” The signatures are A (8 leaves), B to U (18 sheets, each 12 leaves), plus X (10 leaves). The last leaf of Sig. H is a blank. The volume was issued without any Half-title.

Issued (in December, 1862) in dark green cloth boards, with white paper back-label, lettered “Wild Wales. / By / George Borrow. / Vol. I [Vol. ii, &c.].” The leaves measure 7⅝ × 4⅞ inches. The published price was 30s.; 1,000 copies were printed.

A Second Edition of Wild Wales was issued in 1865, a Third Edition in 1888, and a Fourth Edition in 1896. The book has since been included in divers series of non-copyright works.

The following Poems made their first appearance in the pages of Wild Wales:

Of Chester the ale has but sorry renown,
’Tis made of ground-ivy, of dust, and of bran;
’Tis as thick as a river belough a hugh town,
’Tis not lap for a dog, far less drink for a man.