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Bibliographical Note: Descriptions of Manuscripts and Proofs in Chronological Order
MS1, in Houghton Library, Harvard University, consists of 48 lines in 5 unnumbered stanzas, untitled, written in black ink in Tennyson's autograph, in a tan notebook with a green calf spine, measuring 8⅜” x 5⅝” (Call no. MS Eng 952 *54M-203 [30]). A piece of white cloth tape, measuring 1frac916” x ⅜”, has been pasted on the spine and carries, written in black ink, reading vertically, the title 'MAUDXXXIX'; the front cover has written in black ink 'XXXIX'. Lithographed on the back cover is an advertisement for T. S. Tompkins, Bookseller, Stationer & Printer, 163, Strand. There are 26 fols. and numerous stubs; the paper is plain bluish, wove, unwatermarked, measuring 8⅜” x 5⅜”. In addition to 'The Charge of the Light Brigade', there are 19 pages of Maud, two fragments of 'Merlin and Vivien', and 10 lines of
MS2, in the Tennyson Research Centre, Lincoln, consists of 58 lines in 7 unnumbered stanzas, written in black ink, primarily in Emily Tennyson's autograph, on the recto, verso, and recto of two conjugate leaves of white laid paper, measuring 4⅜” x 7”. There is a small blind stamped design in the upper left-hand corner of fol. 1, and the verso of fol. 2 is blank, except for the handwritten number '64' in black ink (but not the same as that of the text) in the upper left-hand corner. The title, the last six lines of the poem, the signature 'A. T.', the footnote, 'Written after reading the first report of the Times correspondent where only 607 sabres are mentioned as having taken part in the charge.', and several emendations are in the poet's hand. There are directions to the printer in the margins of fol. 1 by John Forster, the editor of the Examiner, and 'MS | Box', in an unknown hand, appears in the upper right-hand margin of this folio.
MS3, in the Tennyson Research Centre, consists of 56 lines in 8 unnumbered stanzas, untitled and without the footnote, written in black ink in Emily Tennyson's autograph, with Tennyson's corrections, on the recto and verso of a quarto sheet of white laid paper, unwatermarked, folded in the middle, of which the leaves measure 7” x 8⅞”. There is a strip of clear gummed tape along the entire left-hand edge of the verso. 'First Draft' in an unknown hand in the upper right-hand corner of fol. 1 is manifestly inaccurate in view of the text in the notebook at Harvard. Although this draft may originally have been earlier than MS2, Tennyson's revisions bring it to a state later than MS2 but earlier than MS4.
MS4, in the Tennyson Research Centre, consists of 56 lines in 8 unnumbered stanzas, written on the rectos and versos of two conjugate leaves of white laid paper, unwatermarked, measuring 4⅜” x 7”, and is a fair copy in Emily Tennyson's hand made from the state of the text in MS3. No line of the entire poem is indented. There is a small blind stamped design in the upper left-hand corner of fol. 1, and 'MS Box', in an unknown hand, appears in the upper right-hand corner. The initials 'A. T.' stand at the end of the poem on fol. 2v, and the numeral '63' in black ink (but not the same as that of the text) occupies the upper left-hand corner of 2v.
Lehman MS, whereabouts unknown, written in ink in Tennyson's autograph, on 2 octavo pages, signed 'Tennyson', Union Galleries, New York, N. H. Lehman sale, April 17, 1936, lot 295. Although described in the sale catalogue (p. 59) as the 'Original Autograph Manuscript', line 6, as quoted, contains accidentals subsequent to MS4 and corresponding to those in P1. No trace of this MS after 1936 appears in American Book Prices Current or Book Auction Records. Thus far, correspondence with booksellers and libraries and a notice in the Newsletter of The Manuscript Society, composed of collectors of manuscripts, have failed to bring it to light.
P1, belonging to Mr. Robert H. Taylor, on deposit in the Princeton University Library, consists of 58 lines in 7 unnumbered stanzas, printed in a single column on the recto of a single leaf of white wove paper, unwatermarked, measuring 5frac1516” x 11frac516”, which has been inlaid and bound by Bradstreet's in full red morocco, measuring 9” x 12¼”. On the front cover in gilt lettering appears 'CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE | ORIGINAL PROOF | [long rule] | MS. CORRECTIONS BY TENNYSON | [long rule]'. A proof for the Examiner, of which the type was set from MS2, it has the title and the footnote. Besides several changes in accidentals in the poem and in the footnote and the printer's error 'He' corrected to 'We' (l. 27)—all of which were probably on the proof when the poet received it— Tennyson altered the beginning of lines 27-28 to read 'Flash'd all' and 'Flash'd' and deleted the line 'No man was there afraid;' between lines 53 and 54. At the bottom of this proof sheet there is the following penciled annotation: 'The original rough proof sheet corrected by A. Tennyson before it was printed in the Examiner.
P2, in the Tennyson Research Centre, consists of 58 lines in 7 unnumbered stanzas (changed to 6), printed in a single column on the recto of a single leaf of white wove paper, unwatermarked, measuring 5frac1516” x 11¾”. Pulled from the same type as P1, it bears extensive corrections by John Forster to bring the text (except for indented lines) into conformity with MS4. This proof is No. 3871 in Tennyson in Lincoln: A Catalogue of the Collections in the Research Centre, comp. by Nancie Campbell, 2 vols. (1971, 1973), II, 10.
P3, in the Tennyson Research Centre, consisting of 56 lines in 6 unnumbered stanzas (changed to 7), printed in a single column on the recto of a single leaf of white wove paper, unwatermarked, measuring 5¼” x 10⅛”, is the final proof for the Examiner, for which the type was set according to MS4 and P2, and corrected according to P1. It has the title and footnote and bears corrections in Forster's hand and in another hand, similar to Tennyson's but that differs from his. There is clear gummed tape running from top to bottom on the left- and right-hand edges. This proof is No. 3868 in Tennyson in Lincoln, II, 10. (The poem appeared in the Examiner, 9 December 1854, p. 780, col. 1.)
Hardie MS, in the Tennyson Research Centre, Lincoln, consists of 56 lines in 7 unnumbered stanzas, untitled, written in black ink in an unknown hand on the rectos and versos of two conjugate leaves of white laid notepaper, unwatermarked, measuring 4½” x 7”, and bearing the address, blind-embossed, 'Hinchingbrook | Huntingdon' in the top center of fol. 1. This MS has no standing in the development of the text. Presented by Mr. William Hardie to the Tennyson Research Centre in 1965, it follows the text of the Examiner in substantives, except for two readings, 'All in the valley of death' for 'Into the valley of Death' (Examiner, l. 5) and 'While horse and rider fell' for 'While horse and hero fell' (l. 44). These variants seem to be lapses by the copyist and appear in no other version of the text of the poem. The Hardie MS has the footnote and the date, 'Hinchingbrook Jany 23. 1855', at the bottom of fol. 2. This MS is not discussed in our article and is described here to avoid any further consideration of its having textual significance. See letters to the editor of the Times Literary Supplement by William Hardie, 3 June 1965, p. 455, and Sir Charles Tennyson, 15 July 1965, p. 597.
MS5 is a facsimile of a fragment of manuscript containing 9 lines that became, with modifications, final ll. 32-38 of 'The Charge', which belonged to William Harris Arnold and which he reproduced in his Ventures in Book Collecting (1923), p. 249. Lot 970 in the Arnold sale at the Anderson Galleries, November 10-11, 1924, the MS was sold to James F. Drake, a New York bookseller, whose files are now at the University of Texas. On November 11, 1924, it was bought from Drake by Howard J. Sachs. Lot 114 in the Sachs sale, Parke Bernet Galleries, February 1, 1944, it was sold, possibly to Maurice Inman, a New York bookseller, now out of business. Mr. Sachs was alive at the time of the sale but is now deceased. The authors have been unable to discover any further record of this MS or its present whereabouts. (We are grateful to Mr. John F. Fleming and to Ms. Ellen S. Dunlap, Research Librarian, at the University of Texas for information about it.)
E1, in the Tennyson Research Centre, is a photocopy of the text on p. 780 of the Examiner with the last four lines of stanza 5 struck out and all but the first of the 9 lines contained in MS5 written in black ink in Emily Tennyson's autograph in the left-hand margin. There are six notations in Hallam Tennyson's hand in black ink in the margins to indicate variations of this version from the Eversley text.
'Knoyle House' MS, in the Tennyson Research Centre, consists of 60 lines in 8 unnumbered stanzas, no footnote, entitled, 'Charge of the Light Brigade | at Balaclava—Oct 25 1855', and is written in black ink in an unknown hand on the recto, verso, and recto of two conjugate leaves of white laid notepaper, unwatermarked. Like the Hardie MS, it has no standing in the development of the text. The address, 'Knoyle House | Swindon Wilts', blind-embossed and centered, appears on fol. 2. Although some accidentals vary, the substantives of the text are those of E1, P4, P5, and P6 (before Tennyson's alterations). The copyist omitted l. 25, wrote 'Valley' for 'jaws' in l. 24, and in the last two lines but one spelled 'Honour' without a 'u'. This MS (No. 3876 in Tennyson in Lincoln, II, 10) is not discussed in our article and is described here to avoid further consideration of its having textual significance.
P4, in the Tennyson Research Centre, consisting of 61 lines in 8 unnumbered stanzas, titled, printed on white laid paper, watermarked with a design, measuring 7⅜” x 9frac116”, is an uncorrected proof, set in Examiner type in two columns (with the footnote in a single line running the width of the page) that incorporates the readings in Emily Tennyson's autograph on E1. Clear gummed tape runs the length of the left- and right-hand edges of this proof (No. 3870 in Tennyson in Lincoln, II, 10).
P5, belonging to Mr. Robert H. Taylor, on deposit at the Princeton University Library, is a duplicate proof, pulled from the same type as P4, on the same white laid paper, watermarked along the left-hand side of the leaf 'J Allen's Superfine', and measuring 7frac516” x 9frac116”. There are four autograph corrections of substantives and two of accidentals in black ink by Tennyson. William Harris Arnold, who owned this proof during much of the first quarter of the twentieth-century, refers to it in his Ventures in Book Collecting, p. 248. It was lot 972 in the sale Catalogue of the William Harris Arnold Collection, November 10-11, 1924, p. 222.
P6, in the Beinecke Library, Yale University, is another duplicate proof, pulled from the same type as P4 and P5, on the same white laid paper, watermarked along the bottom left-hand margin 'J Allen's', and measuring 7frac516” x 9frac116” (Call no. MS Vault Tennyson). There are extensive autograph corrections and alternative readings in black ink by both Tennyson and his wife. The stanzas have been partially numbered by the poet, and on the verso in Hallam Tennyson's hand is the incorrect notation in pencil: 'Leaf sent to | troops in | Crimea | Charge of Light Brigade'.
P7, in the Tennyson Research Centre, which consists of 46 lines in 5 stanzas numbered in Arabic numerals with title and no footnote, appears in a trial- or proof-copy for the 1st edition of Maud, and Other Poems, 1855 (pp. [151]-[154]), that is bound in brown calf with gilt tooling. There are alterations in Tennyson's autograph, and the last stanza, including the numeral 5, is entirely in his hand (No. 4132 in Tennyson in Lincoln, II, 10).
55(a), in the Rare Book Room, University of Virginia, exists in a copy of the first edition of Maud, and Other Poems, 1855, in which Tennyson has drawn a line in black ink vertically down the center of each page of the text of the poem as it appears on pp. [151]-154. A single correction of a colon to a semicolon after 'sabre-stroke' in l. 35 appears on p. 153. The volume has been bound in red morocco by Rivière, with gilt lettering on the spine as follows: '[design of flowers in a vase] | MAUD | & OTHER POEMS | ALFRED | TENNYSON | [short rule] | REVISE |
MS6, in the Widener Collection, Harvard University, consists of 55 lines in 7 stanzas numbered in Arabic numerals, untitled, no footnote, written in Tennyson's autograph in black ink on the recto, verso, and recto of 2 leaves of blue laid paper, unwatermarked, measuring 7⅞” x 9⅞”. It has his revisions of ll. 33-36 and of lower case 'd' to a capital in 'Death' (ll. 7, 16, 24, 46). This MS is preserved in a blue morocco folding case, gilt-tooled, measuring 8¾” x 10¾” (Call. no. HEW 12.4.10) and contains an accompanying letter in black ink, dated 1 Sept. 1911, concerning the provenance of the MS, which belonged to Miss Amelia Walker of Meadfoot Rock, Torquay, an acquaintance and admirer of Tennyson. Upon her death in 1894 it came to her cousin, Arthur Radford, a J.P. in the county of Derby. Across the top of the letter in another hand in pencil appears the notation, 'no. 92—the Tennyson Centenary Exhibition, July 1909. | London.' This MS, erroneously described as the 'original manuscript', was lot 97 in Rosenbach Catalogue 22, offered for a sale November 6-20, 1911 (The Collected Catalogues of Dr. H. S. W. Rosenbach, 1904-1951, 10 vols. [1967], IV). It remained in Rosenbach's possession and became part of 'the extensive additions' after Harry Elkins Widener's loss on the Titanic that his mother, with the blessing of his grandfather, Peter A. B. Widener, somewhat surreptitiously made to Harry's collection. P. A. B. Widener was the actual purchaser for the sum of $6000 (Edwin Wolf 2nd with John F. Fleming, Rosenbach: A Biography [1960], pp. 78, 79).
MS7, in the Tennyson Research Centre, consists of 55 lines in 7 unnumbered stanzas, untitled, no footnote, written in Emily Tennyson's autograph in black ink on the recto, verso, and recto of two leaves of the same blue laid paper, unwatermarked, measuring 7⅞” x 9⅞”, as is MS6, and has revisions of ll. 33-36 in Emily Tennyson's hand in accordance with the poet's on MS6. In addition AT has changed 'Those' to 'They' (l. 45) and 'through' to 'thro" (l. 46). The upper right-hand corner of the recto of fol. 1 bears the notation in black ink, 'MS Box | No 69'.
P8, in the Tennyson Research Centre, consisting of 7 unnumbered stanzas (altered to 6), with title, printed on the recto, verso, and recto of two conjugate leaves of wove paper, unwatermarked, measuring 8½” x 11frac116”, is a proof for the quarto broadsheet, 'the soldier's version', that Tennyson sent to the Crimea. There are corrections of accidentals and the conjoining of a two-line stanza (ll. 37-38) with the preceding one, all by Forster. Tennyson's note to the soldiers, in Forster's autograph, is appended to the bottom of fol. 2. On fol. 2v in the upper right-hand corner in Hallam Tennyson's hand is the notation, 'Charge of Light Brigade | & | Patriotic poems | ---' (No. 3874, Tennyson in Lincoln, II, 10).
P9, in the Tennyson Research Centre, consisting of 6 stanzas, numbered in Arabic numerals, with title and no footnote, is an uncorrected proof of pp. [161]-168 for the so-called '3rd edition' (i. e. 2nd edition) of the Maud volume, 1856, printed on pages of white wove paper, unwatermarked, measuring 4frac316” x 6frac316”, which form an unsewn 8vo gathering. The poem begins on p. [161] (which has the signature 'M' in the right-hand corner at the bottom of the page), continues on pp. 162-163, and concludes on p. 164 (which carries at the bottom of the page, centered, 'LONDON: | BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.'). Moxon's advertisement of Tennyson's Poems, 10th ed., The Princess, 6th ed., Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington, 2nd ed., and In Memoriam, 6th ed. appears on p. [165]. Pages [166-167] are blank. On p. [168] is written in pencil, presumably in Nancie Campbell's hand, 'Proof of pp. 161-164 of | the | 3rd ed of Maud and | other poems 1856' (No. 4140, Tennyson in Lincoln, II, 19).
MS8, in the Rare Book Room, University of Virginia, consists of 55 lines in 6 stanzas, of which the first is unnumbered and the remainder numbered in Arabic numerals, with title and no footnote. It is written in black ink in Tennyson's autograph on the recto, verso, and recto of two conjugate leaves of white laid notepaper,
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