A Masque of Poets. Including Guy Vernon, A Novelette In Verse by Lathrop, George Parsons, 1851-1898, editor - 1878

Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1878. "A book that is at once a first edition for Emily Dickinson, Lanier, Lowell, Christina Rossetti, Dobson, and Thoreau is one that should be better known to collectors" (Starke). "The authors themselves seemed to like the idea of having their work appear anonymously, and tried to disguise their style to make the game more difficult." Contains 71 poems of varying length (Trowbridge's 'Guy Vernon' runs from page 175 to the end); first appearances include Louisa May Alcott, Transfiguration; T. B. Aldrich (Epilogue, Prologue, A Preacher); William Ellery Channing the younger, Children's Song; Bunner, I Love To Dine; two poems by Fawcett; Lowell, My Heart, I Cannot Still It & Red Tape; Dobson's "exquisite rondel" The Wanderer; Christina Rossetti, Husband and Wife; Thoreau, Pilgrims; Lanier, Marshes of Glynn (BAL 11255). On this first appearance of Emily Dickinson's 'Success is counted sweetest' (BAL 4564), Thomas H. Johnson (The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Belknap Press, p. xxx), says, "During the summer of 1876, [Helen Hunt] Jackson began her negotiations to secure a contribution from Emily Dickinson for a proposed anthology of verse. ...In this year the well-known Boston publishing firm of Roberts Brothers decided to bring out a series of anonymous books which they called the 'No Name Series.' They were to be stories... written by American authors, 'each a great unknown.' ...The first... was widely reviewed when it appeared. Some critics correctly guessed that Helen Hunt Jackson was the author, but neither she nor Thomas Niles, the publisher, confirmed or denied the conjecture. Some fourteen 'No Names' were issued, and Niles, encouraged by Mrs. Jackson, decided to bring out as a final volume an anthology of anonymous verse... by American and English writers. "The advertisements hinted that readers would encounter poems by Christina Rossetti, William Morris, Jean Ingelow, and 'H. H.' Such an anthology would greatly extend the chance for speculation, and the volume, called 'A Masque of Poets', appeared in 1878. It was one of the most profitable ventures Roberts Brothers ever undertook..." Of the order and style of publication, Aubrey H. Starke (An Omnibus of Poets, Colophon Part 16, 1934) states: "'A Masque of Poets', published in November, 1878, in a first printing of 2,000 copies, must have met with some success, for in December, 1878, five hundred more copies were printed. A slight change in both format and binding was made for the second printing. Each poem was inclosed in a red line box; a few page ornaments were changed; all reference to the 'No Name' series was omitted from title-page, half-title, and binding; and the book was bound in a pebbled cloth, some copies in brownish red, some in green." The copy in hand is bound in maroon cloth with beveled edges and stamped in gold, top edge gilt; VG. stock#OB409.