PREFATORY NOTE

The Poems in this collection are chosen from volumes published at intervals over more than fifty years—among them The Piromides, issued in 1839, Madeline, reviewed by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the Academy in 1871; Parables and Tales, to which Rossetti gave a Fortnightly Review article in 1873; down to The New Day, dated 1890; together with verses which will be new even to the readers of the hitherto published works.

Dr. Hake has a solemn and distinct note, little confusible with the other notes of the concerted song of poets. Only nine years younger than the century, he inherited, by right of his time and place, a tradition of deep composure—poetry aloof from the peril of excitement which knows neither how to contain nor how to express itself. Dr. Hake’s expression always implies long intention, ivdeliberate decision. The verse is a consequence long foreseen.

The emotion of moments lacks indeed no swiftness of passage, but we are made aware that it had a past of experience and has a future of power. It was not a gust born of the moment and then no more. Poetic passion must be like a wind; thou canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth; but surely it appeared with an approach and disappeared with a departure; it was a thing of transitory phase, but not of transitory life. Essentially durable and spiritual is the passion of those infrequent poems in which this poet, raising himself from the attitude of meditation, gathers his word into intenser action.

He has emotion which is thus proved true. For the proof of the authenticity of his thought, also, the reader will look into his own experience as he reads.

The question which Virgil asked of Dante is a poet’s question. The world takes it as generally the reader’s question; but it is emphatically the poet’s. Now, vthe thought to which Dr. Hake appeals in his reader’s mind is unquestionably not an easy nor an obvious one. In saying this we assign to the reader of poetry some part of the writer’s responsibility, some part of his honour. Or, if this is too much to say, the reader is at any rate responsible for choosing his poet. And if a poet is worth reading at all, he is to be trusted both with the importance and with the distinctness of his own thought.

The exceeding solemnity of what we have called Dr. Hake’s note—and it is as indescribable and as peculiar as the note of a voice—suggests a further meaning, even an allegory, where in fact he had no intention of proposing anything beyond the text. The more does this illusion occur, perhaps, because Dr. Hake tells a story—a story of events—in most meditative stanzas. He writes movingly of dreams and sleep; and his study of these has added to all or almost all his verse something of the ecstasy of dreams.

February 1894.

THE GOLDEN WEDDING

A word must be said for the manner in which the publishers have produced the volume (i.e. “The Earth Fiend”), a sumptuous folio, printed by Constable, the etchings on Japanese paper by Mr. Goulding. The volume should add not only to Mr. Strang’s fame but to that of Messrs. Elkin Mathews and John Lane, who are rapidly gaining distinction for their beautiful editions of belles-lettres.’—Daily Chronicle, Sept. 24, 1892.

Referring to Mr. Le Gallienne’s ‘English Poems’ and ‘Silhouettes’ by Mr. Arthur Symons:—‘We only refer to them now to note a fact which they illustrate, and which we have been observing of late, namely, the recovery to a certain extent of good taste in the matter of printing and binding books. These two books, which are turned out by Messrs. Elkin Mathews and John Lane, are models of artistic publishing, and yet they are simplicity itself. The books with their excellent printing and their very simplicity make a harmony which is satisfying to the artistic sense.’—Sunday Sun, Oct. 2, 1892.

‘Mr. Le Gallienne is a fortunate young gentleman. I don’t know by what legerdemain he and his publishers work, but here, in an age as stony to poetry as the ages of Chatterton and Richard Savage, we find the full edition of his book sold before publication. How is it done, Messrs. Elkin Mathews and John Lane? for, without depreciating Mr. Le Gallienne’s sweetness and charm, I doubt that the marvel would have been wrought under another publisher. These publishers, indeed, produce books so delightfully that it must give an added pleasure to the hoarding of first editions.’—Katharine Tynan in The Irish Daily Independent.

‘To Messrs. Elkin Mathews and John Lane almost more than to any other, we take it, are the thanks of the grateful singer especially due; for it is they who have managed, by means of limited editions and charming workmanship, to impress book-buyers with the belief that a volume may have an æsthetic and commercial value. They have made it possible to speculate in the latest discovered poet, as in a new company—with the difference that an operation in the former can be done with three half-crowns.’

N.B.—The Authors and Publishers reserve the right of reprinting any book in this list if a second edition is called for, except in cases where a stipulation has been made to the contrary, and of printing a separate edition of any of the books for America irrespective of the numbers to which the English editions are limited. The numbers mentioned do not include the copies sent for review or to the public libraries.

ADAMS (FRANCIS).

Essays in Modernity. Cr. 8vo. 5s. net.

ALLEN (GRANT).

The Lower Slopes: A Volume of Verse. 600 copies. Cr. 8vo. 5s. net.

ANTÆUS.

The Backslider and other Poems. 100 only. Small 4to. 7s. 6d. net.

BEECHING (H. C.), J. W. MACKAIL, & J. B. B. NICHOLS.

Love in Idleness. With Vignette by W. B. Scott. Fcap. 8vo, half vellum. 12s. net.

Transferred by the Authors to the present Publishers.

BENSON (ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER).

Poems. 550 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net.

BENSON (EUGENE).

From the Asolan Hills: A Poem. 300 copies. Imp. 16mo. 5s. net.

BINYON (LAURENCE).

Poems. 16mo. 5s. net.

BOURDILLON (F. W.).

A Lost God: A Poem. With Illustrations by H. J. Ford. 500 copies. 8vo. 6s. net.

BOURDILLON (F. W.).

Ailes d’Alouette. Poems printed at the private press of Rev. H. Daniel, Oxford. 100 only. 16mo. £1, 10s. net.

BRIDGES (ROBERT).

The Growth of Love. Printed in Fell’s old English type at the private press of Rev. H. Daniel, Oxford. 100 only. Fcap. 4to. £2, 12s. 6d. net.

COLERIDGE (HON. STEPHEN).

The Sanctity of Confession: A Romance. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. net.

CRANE (WALTER).

Renascence: A Book of Verse. Frontispiece and 38 designs by the Author.

There remain a few large paper copies, fcap. 4to. £1, 1s. net. And a few fcap. 4to, Japanese vellum. £1, 15s. net.

CROSSING (WM.).

The Ancient Crosses of Dartmoor. With 11 plates. 8vo, cloth. 4s. 6d. net.

DAVIDSON (JOHN).

Plays: An Unhistorical Pastoral; A Romantic Farce; Bruce, a Chronicle Play; Smith, a Tragic Farce; Scaramouch in Naxos, a Pantomime, with a Frontispiece, Title-page, and Cover Design by Aubrey Beardsley. 500 copies. Small 4to. 7s. 6d. net.

DAVIDSON (JOHN).

Fleet Street Eclogues. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo, buckram. 5s. net.

DAVIDSON (JOHN).

A Random Itinerary: Prose Sketches, with a Ballad. Frontispiece, Title-page, and Cover Design by Laurence Housman. Fcap. 8vo. Uniform with ‘Fleet Street Eclogues.’ 5s. net.

DAVIDSON (JOHN).

The North Wall. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. net.

The few remaining copies transferred by the Author to the present Publishers.

DE GRUCHY (AUGUSTA).

Under the Hawthorn, and other Verses. Frontispiece by Walter Crane. 300 copies. Crown 8vo. 5s. net.

Also 30 copies on Japanese vellum. 15s. net.

DE TABLEY (LORD).

Poems, Dramatic and Lyrical. By John Leicester Warren (Lord De Tabley). Illustrations and Cover Design by C. S. Ricketts. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net.

DIAL (THE).

No. 1 of the Second Series. Illustrations by Ricketts, Shannon, Pissarro. 200 only. 4to. £1, 1s. net.

The present series will be continued at irregular intervals.

EGERTON (GEORGE).

Keynotes: Short Stories. With Title-page by Aubrey Beardsley. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.

FIELD (MICHAEL).

Sight and Song. (Poems on Pictures.) 400 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net.

FIELD (MICHAEL).

Stephania: A Trialogue in Three Acts. 250 copies. Pott 4to. 6s. net.

GALE (NORMAN).

Orchard Songs. Fcap. 8vo. With Title-page and Cover Design by J. Illingworth Kay. 5s. net.

Also a Special Edition limited in number on hand-made paper bound in English vellum. £1, 1s. net.

GARNETT (RICHARD).

A Volume of Poems. 350 copies. Crown 8vo. With Title-page designed by J. Illingworth Kay. 5s. net.

GOSSE (EDMUND).

The Letters of Thomas Lovell Beddoes. Now first edited. Pott 8vo. 5s. net.

GRAHAME (KENNETH).

Pagan Papers: A Volume of Essays. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net.

GREENE (G. A.).

Italian Lyrists of To-day. Translations in the original metres from about thirty-five living Italian poets, with bibliographical and biographical notes. Crown 8vo. 5s. net.

HAKE (DR. T. GORDON).

A Selection from his Poems. Edited by Mrs. Meynell. With a Portrait after D. G. Rossetti. Crown 8vo. 5s. net.

HALLAM (ARTHUR HENRY).

The Poems, together with his essay ‘On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry and on the Lyrical Poems of Alfred Tennyson.’ Edited, with an Introduction, by Richard Le Gallienne. 550 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net.

HAMILTON (COL. IAN).

The Ballad of Hadji and other Poems. Etched Frontispiece by Wm. Strang. 50 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. net.

Transferred by the Author to the present Publishers.

HAYES (ALFRED).

The Vale of Arden and Other Poems. With Title-page and Cover Design by Laurence Housman. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net.

HICKEY (EMILY H.).

Verse Tales, Lyrics and Translations. 300 copies. Imp. 16mo. 5s. net.

HORNE (HERBERT P.).

Diversi Colores: Poems. With ornaments by the Author. 250 copies. 16mo. 5s. net.

IMAGE (SELWYN).

Carols and Poems. With decorations by H. P. Horne. 250 copies. 16mo. 5s. net.

JAMES (W. P.).

Romantic Professions: A Volume of Essays, with Title-page by J. Illingworth Kay. Crown 8vo. 5s. net.

JOHNSON (EFFIE).

In the Fire and Other Fancies. Frontispiece by Walter Crane. 500 copies. Imp. 16mo. 3s. 6d. net.

JOHNSON (LIONEL).

The Art of Thomas Hardy: Six Essays. With Etched Portrait by Wm. Strang, and Bibliography by John Lane. Crown 8vo. 5s. 6d. net.

Also 150 copies, large paper, with proofs of the portrait. £1, 1s. net.

JOHNSON (LIONEL).

A Volume of Poems. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net.

KEATS (JOHN).

Three Essays, now issued in book form for the first time. Edited by H. Buxton Forman. With Life-mask by Haydon. Fcap. 4to. 10s. 6d. net.

LEATHER (R. K.).

Verses. 250 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. net.

Transferred by the Author to the present Publishers.

LEATHER (R. K.), & RICHARD LE GALLIENNE.

The Student and the Body-Snatcher and Other Trifles.

There remain a very few of the 50 large paper copies. 7s. 6d. net.

LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD).

Prose Fancies. With a Portrait of the Author. Cr. 8vo. 5s. net.

Also a limited large paper edition. 12s. 6d. net.

LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD).

The Book Bills of Narcissus. An Account rendered by Richard le Gallienne. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, buckram. 3s. 6d. net.

LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD).

English Poems. Third Edition. Cr. 8vo. 5s. net.

LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD).

George Meredith: Some Characteristics. With a Bibliography (much enlarged) by John Lane, portrait, etc. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 5s. 6d. net.

LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD).

The Religion of a Literary Man. Cr. 8vo. 3rd thousand. 3s. 6d. net.

Also a special rubricated edition on hand-made paper. 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.

LETTERS TO LIVING ARTISTS.

500 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.

MARSTON (PHILIP BOURKE).

A Last Harvest: Lyrics and Sonnets from the Book of Love. Edited by Louise Chandler Moulton. 500 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net.

Also 50 copies on large paper, hand-made. 10s. 6d. net.

MARTIN (W. WILSEY).

Quatrains, Life’s Mystery and other Poems. 16mo. 2s. 6d. net.

MARZIALS (THEO.).

The Gallery of Pigeons and Other Poems. Fcap. 8vo. 4s. 6d. net.

Transferred by the Author to the present Publishers.

MEYNELL (MRS.), (ALICE C. THOMPSON).

Poems. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d. net. A few of the 50 large paper copies (First Edition) remain, 12s. 6d. net.

MEYNELL (MRS.).

The Rhythm of Life, and other Essays. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d. net. A few of the 50 large paper copies (First Edition) remain. 12s. 6d. net.

MURRAY (ALMA).

Portrait as Beatrice Cenci. With critical notice containing four letters from Robert Browning. 8vo, wrapper. 2s. net.

NETTLESHIP (J. T.).

Robert Browning: Essays and Thoughts. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 5s. 6d. net. Half a dozen of the Whatman large paper copies (First Edition) remain. £1, 1s. net.

NOBLE (JAS. ASHCROFT).

The Sonnet in England and Other Essays. Title-page and Cover Design by Austin Young. 600 copies. Crown 8vo. 5s. net.

Also 50 copies large paper. 12s. 6d. net.

NOEL (HON. RODEN).

Poor People’s Christmas. 250 copies. 16mo. 1s. net.

OXFORD CHARACTERS.

A series of lithographed portraits by Will Rothenstein, with text by F. York Powell and others. To be issued monthly in term. Each number will contain two portraits. Part I. contains portraits of Sir Henry Acland and Mr. W. A. L. Fletcher, and Part II. of Mr. Robinson K. Ellis, and Lord St. Cyres. 200 copies only, folio, wrapper, 5s. net per part; 25 special copies containing proof impressions of the portraits signed by the artist, 10s. 6d. net per part.

PINKERTON (PERCY).

Galeazzo: A Venetian Episode and other Poems. Etched Frontispiece. 16mo. 5s. net.

Transferred by the Author to the present Publishers.

RADFORD (DOLLIE).

Songs. A New Volume of Verse.

RADFORD (ERNEST).

Chambers Twain. Frontispiece by Walter Crane. 250 copies. Imp. 16mo. 5s. net.

Also 50 copies large paper. 10s. 6d. net.

RHYMERS’ CLUB, THE BOOK OF THE.

A second series is in preparation.

SCHAFF (DR. P.).

Literature and Poetry: Papers on Dante, etc. Portrait and Plates, 100 copies only. 8vo. 10s. net.

SCOTT (WM. BELL).

A Poet’s Harvest Home: with an Aftermath. 300 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net.

SHAW (A. D. L.).

The Happy Wanderer. Poems. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net.

STODDARD (R. H.).

The Lion’s Cub; with other Verse. Portrait. 100 copies only, bound in an illuminated Persian design. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net.

SYMONDS (JOHN ADDINGTON).

In the Key of Blue, and other Prose Essays. Cover designed by C. S. Ricketts. Second Edition. Thick Crown 8vo. 8s. 6d. net.

THOMPSON (FRANCIS).

A Volume of Poems. With Frontispiece, Title-page and Cover Design by Laurence Housman. Second Edition. Pott 4to. 5s. net.

TODHUNTER (JOHN).

A Sicilian Idyll. Frontispiece by Walter Crane. 250 copies. Imp. 16mo. 5s. net.

Also 50 copies large paper, fcap. 4to. 10s. 6d. net.

TOMSON (GRAHAM R.).

After Sunset. A Volume of Poems. With Title-page and Cover Design by R. Anning Bell. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net.

Also a limited large paper edition. 12s. 6d. net.

TREE (H. BEERBOHM).

The Imaginative Faculty: A Lecture delivered at the Royal Institution. With portrait of Mr. Tree from an unpublished drawing by the Marchioness of Granby. Fcap. 8vo, boards. 2s. 6d. net.

TYNAN HINKSON (KATHARINE).

Cuckoo Songs. With Title-page and Cover Design by Laurence Housman. 500 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net.

VAN DYKE (HENRY).

The Poetry of Tennyson. Third Edition, enlarged. Crown 8vo. 5s. 6d. net.

The late Laureate himself gave valuable aid in correcting various details.

WATSON (WILLIAM).

The Eloping Angels: A Caprice. Second Edition. Square 16mo, buckram. 3s. 6d. net.

WATSON (WILLIAM).

Excursions in Criticism: being some Prose Recreations of a Rhymer. Second Edition. Cr. 8vo. 5s. net.

WATSON (WILLIAM).

The Prince’s Quest, and other Poems. With a Bibliographical Note added. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 4s. 6d. net.

WEDMORE (FREDERICK).

Pastorals of France—Renunciations. A volume of Stories. Title-page by John Fulleylove, R.I. Crown 8vo. 5s. net.

A few of the large paper copies of Renunciations (First Edition) remain. 10s. 6d. net.

WICKSTEED (P. H.).

Dante. Six Sermons. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 2s. net.

WILDE (OSCAR).

The Sphinx. A poem decorated throughout in line and colour, and bound in a design by Charles Ricketts. 250 copies. £2, 2s. net. 25 copies large paper. £5, 5s. net.

WILDE (OSCAR).

The incomparable and ingenious history of Mr. W. H., being the true secret of Shakespear’s sonnets now for the first time here fully set forth, with initial letters and cover design by Charles Ricketts. 500 copies, 10s. 6d. net.

Also 50 copies large paper. 21s. net.

WILDE (OSCAR).

Dramatic Works, now printed for the first time with a specially designed Title-page and binding to each volume, by Charles Shannon. 500 copies. Small 4to. 7s. 6d. net per vol.

Also 50 copies large paper. 15s. net per vol.

Vol. I. Lady Windermere’s Fan: A Comedy in Four Acts.

Vol. II. A Woman of No Importance: A Comedy in Four Acts.

Vol. III. The Duchess of Padua: A Blank Verse Tragedy in Five Acts.

WILDE (OSCAR).

Salomé: A Tragedy in one Act, done into English. With 11 Illustrations, title-page, and Cover Design by Aubrey Beardsley. 500 copies. Small 4to. 15s. net.

Also 100 copies, large paper. 30s. net.

WYNNE (FRANCES).

Whisper. A Volume of Verse. With a Memoir by Katharine Tynan and a Portrait added. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. net.

Transferred by the Author to the present Publishers.

The Hobby Horse

A new series of this illustrated magazine will be published quarterly by subscription, under the Editorship of Herbert P. Horne. Subscription £1 per annum, post free, for the four numbers. Quarto, printed on hand-made paper, and issued in a limited edition to subscribers only. The Magazine will contain articles upon Literature, Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and the Decorative Arts; Poems; Essays; Fiction; original Designs; with reproductions of pictures and drawings by the old masters and contemporary artists. There will be a new title-page and ornaments designed by the Editor. Among the contributors to the Hobby Horse are:

Prospectuses on Application.

THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO STREET, LONDON, W.

‘Nearly every book put out by Messrs. Elkin Mathews & John Lane, at the Sign of the Bodley Head, is a satisfaction to the special senses of the modern bookman for bindings, shapes, types, and papers. They have surpassed themselves, and registered a real achievement in English bookmaking by the volume of “Poems, Dramatic and Lyrical,” of Lord De Tabley.’—Newcastle Daily Chronicle.

‘A ray of hopefulness is stealing again into English poetry after the twilight greys of Clough and Arnold and Tennyson. Even unbelief wears braver colours. Despite the jeremiads, which are the dirges of the elder gods, England is still a nest of singing-birds (teste the Catalogue of Elkin Mathews and John Lane).’—Mr. Zangwill in Pall Mall Magazine.

‘All Messrs. Mathews & Lane’s Books are so beautifully printed and so tastefully issued, that it rejoices the heart of a book-lover to handle them; but they have shown their sound judgment not less markedly in the literary quality of their publications. The choiceness of form is not inappropriate to the matter, which is always of something more than ephemeral worth. This was a distinction on which the better publishers at one time prided themselves; they never lent their names to trash; but some names associated with worthy traditions have proved more than once a delusion and a snare. The record of Messrs. Elkin Mathews & John Lane is perfect in this respect, and their imprint is a guarantee of the worth of what they publish.’—Birmingham Daily Post, Nov. 6, 1893.

‘One can nearly always be certain when one sees on the title-page of any given book the name of Messrs Elkin Mathews & John Lane as being the publishers thereof that there will be something worth reading to be found between the boards.’—World.