222
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* S. V. MARCH 24. 1900.
pp. [1, 2, page 2 blank] ; Text of * The Mighty
Magician,' pp. 3-63 (p. 64 blank and unnumbered) ;
Half-title, Such Stuff as Dreams are Made of, | A
Drama, | taken from | Calderon's 'Vidaes Suefio.' |
[Line.]
For Calderon's Drama sufficient would seem The title he chose for it " Life is a Dream "; Two words of the motto now filch'd are enough For the impudent mixture they label " Such stuff! " P. [65] ; Dramatis Personse, p. [66] ; Text of ' Such Stuff/ &c., pp. 67-131 ; Imprint, "John Childs and Son, Bungay," p. [132]. Issued in a grey paper wrapper.
It is stated in the ' Catalogue of the Library of Mr. Edmund Gosse' that the plays were printed separately, and more copies were dis- tributed of the former than the latter. As the collation begins with signature B, it seems probable it was intended that a general title- page should be prefixed, but no copy is known with one. In a letter to Prof. Cowell, dated 11 Nov., 1864, FitzGerald wrote:
" I have caught up a long ago begun Version of the 4 Magico,' and have so recast it that scarce a Plank remains of the original ! Pretty impudence : and yet all done to conciliate English, or modern, Sym- pathy. This I sha'n't publish : so say (pray !) nothing of it all remember only I shall print some Copies for you and one or two more." ' Letters,' ii. 60.
He adds (p. 61) he should like to take up ' Vida es Suefio,' too, in the same manner, so it is evident it had not been begun in Novem- ber, 1864 ; but on 25 Feb., 1865, in writing to Archbishop Trench, he says that he had licked the two Calderons into some sort of shape of his own, and was sending the 'Magico' to his correspondent (ibid., p. 62). FitzGerald kept the copies of these plays in his own hands, and as before stated, bound up several copies of them, together with the 1 Agamemnon,' for presentation to his friends. In a letter to Mrs. Kemble (p. 64; he wrote that he had about a hundred copies of the Calderon plays printed, and had not a hundred friends to give them to. These, as well as the privately printed 'Agamemnon,' have now become exceedingly scarce.
1865.
Agamemnon. | [Ornamental line.] A Tragedy, Taken from ^Eschylus. | Ornamental cul-de-lampe.
Collation : Small octavo: pp. 1-64 (last page blank and unnumbered), consisting of : Half-title
- Agamemnon,' pp. [1, 2, verso blank]; Title-page
as above, pp. [3, 4, verso blank]; [Introduction] pp. 5, 6 ; p. [7, blank] ; Dramatis Personae, p. 8 Text, pp. 9-63. No date or imprint. Issued ii dark blue paper wrappers.
FitzGerald seems to have sketched out th translation of this drama several years befon he printed it (see ' Letters,' ii. 62, 109, 112 In a letter to Sir W. F. Pollock, written in 1873, he says :
"I think you have seen, or had, all the things
ut the last [' Agamemnon '], which is the most
mpudent of all. It was, however, not meant for
cholars : mainly for Mrs. Kemble : but as I can't
ead myself, nor expect others of my age to read, a
ong MS., I had it printed by a cheap friend (to
be bane of other Friends), and here it is." Ibid..
. 161 ; also pp. 186, 188.
1868.
Rubaiyat | of | Omar Khayyam, I the astronomer- oet | of Persia. | Rendered into English Verse. | Second Edition. | London : | Bernard Quaritch, I Piccadilly. | 1868.
Collation : Square octavo : pp. xyiii and 30, con- isting of : Title-page as above [p. i, verso blank] ; Introduction], pp. iii-xviii ; Text and Notes, pp. 1- 0. Issued in a paper wrapper, containing title as ,bove within a two-line border.
This edition of the ' Rubaiyat ' contained 10 quatrains.
1872.
Rubaiyat | of | Omar Khayyam, | the astronomer- )oet | of Persia. | Rendered into English verse. | Third Edition. | London : | Bernard Quaritch, I Piccadilly. | 1872.
Collation : Square octavo : pp. xxiv and 36, con- sisting of : Title-page as above [p. i, verso blank] ; Introduction], pp. iii-xxiv; Text and Notes, >p. 1 36 ; the whole printed within a two-line )order. Issued in a half-Roxburgh binding.
In this edition of the ' Rubaiyat ' nine of he quatrains were cancelled, leaving only a hundred and one.
1876.
Agamemnon | a Tragedy | Taken from ^schylus | London : j Bernard Quaritch, | 15 Piccadilly. | 1876.
Collation : Small quarto : pp. viii and 80 (last page blank and unnumbered, with ornament in centre), consisting of : Title-page as above, with inscription on verso : "The edition consists of 250 copies. | Bernard Quaritch," pp. [i-ii]; Preface, pp. iii-vi ; Dramatis Persona?, p. [vii] ; p. [viii, blank, with ornamental scroll in centre] ; Text, pp. 1-79. The whole is printed within an ornamental two-line Dorder. Issued in a half-Roxburgh binding, with cloth sides, lettered in gold upwards along the back, "Agamemnon of ^Sschylus."
It was to this (the first published) edition that FitzGerald referred when writing to Prof. Fitzedward Hall on 24 June, 1877 :
" Which also leads me to say that some one sent me a 'number of your American Nation with a Review of my redoubtable 'Agamemnon': written by a superior hand, and, I think, quite discriminat- ing in its distribution of Blame and Praise : though I will not say the Praise was not more than de- served ; but it was where deserved, I think." ' Letters,' ii. 224.
1879.
Rubaiyat | of | Omar Khayyam ; | and the | Sala- man and Absal | of | Jam! ; | Rendered into English Verse. | [Ornamental line.] | Bernard Quaritch ; 15 Piccadilly, London. | 1879.
Collation : Square octavo: pp. [iv] and pp.
