Designed and printed for The Wordsworth Trust
Edited by Robert Woof with an Introduction by
Stephen Gill
Watercolours by David Esslemont
Published by The Wordsworth Trust
Publisher's copy:
Wordsworth’s masterpiece
This edition of Wordsworth’s masterpiece follows the text of one of the
Trust’s greatest treasures, the fair copy made by Dorothy Wordsworth in
1805–6 known as ‘Manuscript A’. In 1805 Dorothy wrote to Lady Beaumont:
‘I am now engaged in making a fair and final transcript of the poem on his
life, I mean final till it is prepared for the press, which will not be
for many years. No doubt before that time he will, either from the suggestions
of his friends, or his own, or both, have some alterations to make, but
appears to us at present to be finished.’
Greatest poetic achievement
As predicted, Wordsworth continued to revise the poem and it was not published
until after his death in 1850. The 1805 version of the poem, now considered
Wordsworth’s greatest poetic achievement, did not reach the public until
1926 and was based on Manuscript A, with reference to ‘Manuscript B’, another
fair copy made at the same period by Mary Wordsworth. This new edition follows
closely the original spelling and light punctuation of Manuscript A and
presents Wordsworth’s poem as it stood at a particular point in time when
he appeared, to his wife and sister, ‘to be finished’.
A haunting need
Robert Woof’s introductory essay describes the early growth of the poem,
tracing the changes that were made between the very first fragments of 1798
and the poem as completed in 1805–6: ‘Many of these changes reveal a different,
often expanded and more deeply explored presentation of Wordsworth’s experience
as a boy, a young man, a political figure and a potential poet whose subject
is a haunting need to deepen his own self-analysis.’
A unique memorial
The Prelude will be a unique memorial to the bicentenary of the poem and
to the life and work of Robert Woof, the Trust’s first Director, who died
in November 2005. It represents his final achievement as a great Wordsworth
scholar.
Illustrations
There are fourteen watercolours, one facing the start of every 'Book' and
one used as a frontispiece. They are printed digitally using archival inks.
The images are details from a single watercolour. Each of the special bindings
will include all fourteen watercolours as separate prints together with
a fifteenth that makes up the full picture.
Designed and printed in Minneapolis by David Esslemont. Set in Adobe Bembo and printed from photopolymer plates on Zerkall mould-made acid-free paper in an edition of 200 copies. Ten copies are offered in a special binding by Esslemont.
380 pp., 290 x 185 mm. (11.4 x 7.3 inches).
For further details and to order copies please contact:
The Wordsworth Trust, Dove Cottage, Grasmere, Cumbria, LA22 9SH, UK
Telephone: 015394 35544
