Second Series. Edited by Two of Her Friends, T. W. Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd.

DICKINSON, Emily.

Item Number: 96586

Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1891.

First edition, first issue of Emily Dickinson’s second book of poetry, containing the six typographical errors corrected in all subsequent printings. Octavo, original cloth gilt, top edge gilt. One of 960 copies printed. In near fine condition with a some rubbing to the extremities. Contemporary name to the front free endpaper.

Emily Dickinson published only 11 poems during her lifetime, but upon her death in 1886, her sister Lavinia discovered 1775 manuscript poems. Mabel Todd edited and published the three series of these poems until a quarrel between the Dickinson and Todd families led to a division of the manuscripts, preventing the further publication of complete and authoritative editions of Dickinson’s poetry until 70 years after her death (Wolff). Dickinson’s lyrics, “her letter to the world,” offer an account “of the life about her, of tiny ecstasies set in motion by mutations of the seasons or by home and garden incidents, of candid insights into her own states of consciousness, and of speculations on the timeless mysteries of love and death. Her mind was charged with paradox” (Hart, 201).