Doctor Original reads “Doctor Williams,” change marked by WCW on Za189.
once briefly All printings and typescripts Original reads “briefly once”
As to my history WCW omits the five lines that follow in the original, marking the omission on Za189, and adds these four words to the original’s next paragraph. The original reads “—my father is Louis Ginsberg, of whom you know. He would send his regards, if he knew I was writing, and also an invitation to come to supper, as we have bought a house in Eastside and are able to entertain for the first time in years. He was remarried last week.” WCW’s uncatalogued correspondence at Yale indicates that he met Louis Ginsberg in 1931.
schools/school 1963 and in the original
do there All typescripts and printings, original reads “do here”
or lyric/of lyric 1963 and in the original
harking All printings and typescripts, original reads “barkening”
did Original and 1963 read “dig,” but WCW marked the change on Za189, probably unfamiliar with the usage and thinking “dig” a typing error,
cadences All printings and typescripts, original reads “cadence”
an old IST printed “on old,” possible uncaught error on the galleys
have real IST and NC printed “did have real,” possible uncaught error on the galleys
bum of a paterson/bum of Paterson 1963, the original reads “bum of paterson”
A.G. First edition and NC read “A.P.,” original reads “Allen Ginsberg.” Although this is a posthumous change, WCW used “A.G.” for the Ginsberg letter in Book V, pp. 210–211. The identification of Ginsberg’s letters in the first editions runs “A.P,” no identification, “A.G.” “WCW said ‘A.P.’ was for ‘A Poet,’” letter from Allen Ginsberg to Christopher MacGowan, July 29, 1992.
176 Levy Weaver 214 identifies as H. Levy, author of .4 Philosophy for a Modern Man (New York, 1938).
176 CASE … reprisal From Joseph Felsen, Alfred J. Weil, and William Wolarsky, “Inapparent Salmonella Infections in Hospitals,” in Journal of the American Medical Association 143 (29 July 1950), 1136. The passage from the original is cut out and pasted onto a sheet now with Yale Za189. WCW changed the initials, age, and date at a late stage, for the Dartmouth page proofs still read as the original. The original also reads “pediatrics” for “pediatric.”
177 On Friday … known From WCW’s chapter on Columbus in his 1925 In the American Grain, 25–26, which is in turn from Columbus’ Journals. IAG reads “On shore I sent” and “I had ever seen….” The differences are in the early typescripts.
178 brow/brows NC, but in no other printings, and not on any typescripts.
179 les idées Wilsoniennes nous/gâtent Weaver 214 suggests a reference to New Democracy, 1 February 1934, which cited Woodrow Wilson on the control of credit. In his own copy of Paterson Thirlwall annotates “Fed. Reserve.”
180 Weaver 215 gives the citation, Money 15,4 (June 1950), I. The original page is pasted in full onto a sheet among the Za189 typescripts, but WCW omits parts of the source in the drafts.
The original carries the headline “DO YOU FAVOR LENIN OR UNCLE SAM?” with a sub-headline “Our Treasury Officials Support A Legally Protected, Dishonest Finance Plan Which Will Accomplish Lenin’s Wish to Bankrupt America. There’s Still Time to Wreck Lenin’s Wish.”
WCW omits an introductory paragraph in the original, which reads:
Would you continue to support a strictly dishonest, legally protected finance system if you were convinced the writer has the solution to our financial and economic chaos? Would you continue to oppose a finance system based on the Constitution? Do you know that the Treasury officials are actually assisting the Russians by supporting a finance system which will eventually bankrupt us?
Following “more airplanes” the original adds: “They propose to foist Communism upon the people by force and nothing else.”
Between the Paterson version’s last sentence and “Enforce the Constitution on Money” (which is pasted in separately in Za189) the original has an additional 19 lines, including the assertion that following
the present dishonest, legally protected finance method …
The airplane would cost 1 million dollars.
The National debt would be increased 1 million dollars.
Federal taxes would raise to higher levels, so would prices.
WCW moves August Walters’ name from a by-line position following the subhead to the bottom of the page, and omits the full address the advertisement gives.
Other differences from the original, all present in the Za189 typescripts:
stronger than they/stronger than they are
Pay the manufacturer/Pay the manufacturers
deposits the/deposits this
his credit/this credit
Bankers make/Banker makes
only cost/actual cost
181 short of/out of Poetry New York (1950)
Trade winds … drive/In Poetry New York reads “the/trade wind … drives”
sequestered/misspent Poetry New York
182 Release the Gamma/let out the Beta Poetry New York
out . out/out of . out Poetry New York
credit, stalled … pen/ Poetry New York reads:
Stalled in money
(concealing the generative)
that kills art . or buys it out of
poverty of wit, to win vicariously
the blue ribbon . for courage .
Stalled in money
—the Congressional Medal
for bravery beyond the call of duty and
end as a bridge-tender
on government dole
Defeat may steel us
in knowledge; money : joke
to be wiped out at a stroke
of thought
182 just … NOWHERE Ezra Pound wrote to WCW on 13 December 1949, concerning the juxtaposition in Book III of the Artesian Well chart against his 13 October 1948 letter (pp. 138–139): “2100 ft. = thaz v. interestin’ page . but don’t prove there aint no water no where” (Yale uncat.). An early Za189 draft paraphrases the letter differently again. Following further comments from WCW, on 30 June 1950 Pound suggested “when artesian at 2055 000 in depth is undrinkable—aqueduct useful” (Yale uncat.). These exchanges on the virtues of aqueducts, and of their effect upon impurities in the water, continued into July. WCW’s side of the correspondence is at the Lilly Library, Indiana University.
182 Tolson and … Tate Weaver 215 identifies and annotates the issue of Poetry (July 1950) that contains Melvin B. Tolson’s “From Libretto for the Republic of Liberia” and Allen Tate’s commentary.
183 Reuther United Auto Workers’ leader Walter Reuther was wounded in his home April 20, 1948.
184–85 IN … cities From a note sent by Ezra Pound [1950?]. Pound noted in a letter to WCW May 22, 1950, that he had not seen Book II of Paterson, and WCW forwarded a copy. Section I of Book II contains a passage on “invention” that resembles the style of Pound’s Canto XLV (see p. 50).
In the original “Will you” reads “Will yu” and “cities” reads “italian cities.” I have restored Pound’s spelling of “splendour,” which WCW retained on the typescripts but which was not reproduced on the galleys. WCW omitted a final line in Pound’s note: “there is ALso the motto to my Gaudier book/wunner ef yu evr seen that?” The two letters are at Yale.
185 cities/italian cities Quarterly Review of Literature
186 “The past … past,” In a letter to his editor David McDowell, August 22, 1950, WCW writes: “To the Past and those that lived in the Past—which is a direct quotation from my paternal grandmother [Emily Dickenson Wellcome]—or rather a paraphrase of something she once told me, with a dirty look in her eye, in reply to an inquiry I once made of her” (HRC).
186 all but … river “After Newark, the river enters Newark Bay, and merges with salt water,” George Zabriskie, “The Geography of Paterson,” Perspective, 6: 215. Zabriskie�
��s article, pp. 201–16, provides a useful summary of the path of the river and the history and geography of Paterson.
186–87 Jonatan … prominence WCW’s notes in Yale Za188 identify the source as Nelson 345.
The first edition’s “Jonatan,” which I have restored, reproduces a printing error in Nelson, and is present in all typescripts. NC and all subsequent printings read “Jonathan.” The account appears as part of Nelson’s genealogy of the Doremus family.
Verbal differences from Nelson: the first occurs on what appears to be the transcription typescript, the other two with subsequent retypings, all filed with Za189:
someone is/somebody is
bayonetted/repeatedly bayoneted
attained/attained to
Gritie (all typescripts and printings) reads “Grietie” in Nelson.
187 an old friend … refreshed An early Za189 typescript reads “When Pep West” which WCW revises to the printed version. WCW and Nathanael West edited the short-lived magazine Contact together in 1932. West worked at the Kenmore Hotel from 1927 to 1930, and the Sutton from 1930 to 1933, both in New York City. The prose is WCW’s.
188 Kill … us? Probably WCW’s own prose. The passage undergoes revision in a number of the typescripts.
190 The greyhaired … secretary A detail of WCW’s first air trip in 1941, see A 313–14.
192 The whereabouts … buried WCW adapted a note apparently prepared for him by KH (a reference to this passage filed with Za189 reads “see Kitty’s note”). An early draft identifies “Peter the Dwarf” as “Peter Van Winkle,” although WCW marked the change to “Peter the Dwarf” on a Za189 typescript. Pieter Van Winkle is the figure visited by General Washington (see p. 10) and a relative of the murdered John S. Van Winkle (see p. 197). The genealogy is in NS Volume II 7–8.
192–93 In a deep-set … river Adapted, largely verbatim, from prose in scattered pages of Charles P. Longwell, A Little Story of Old Paterson as Told by an Old Man (Paterson, 1901). Here from pages 10, 9, 32, 10, 9, 10–11, 12 and 29.
193. A print Weaver reproduces the print opposite page 189.
193 Dear Doc … A.G. From Allen Ginsberg, the letter is now at Yale (Yale uncat.). The letter is mistakenly dated by Ginsberg June 6, 1949, but is postmarked 7 June 1950. The second of three letters by Ginsberg in Paterson, see pp. 172–174 and 210–211.
As with the other Ginsberg letters, the printed version of this prose was amended in the 1963 and subsequent printings in the direction of reproducing the original more accurately, although the changes are incomplete and inconsistent. Most of the first edition’s differences from the original have as their source a retyping of what appears to be a transcription draft, the transcription draft being much closer to the original letter. There is no manuscript evidence that WCW initiated these changes, but in a subsequent draft he cut and pasted a version that contains the differences. He accepted the changes in all subsequent drafts and in both printings that appeared in his lifetime. For the reasons outlined in the “Note on the Text” I have returned to the version WCW submitted to the printer for the first edition, and note below the differences from the original and post-1963 printings.
Doc. Original reads “Dr. Williams.”
which is in/which in Original and 1963
neighborhood and/neighborhood Original and 1963
the City/City Original and 1963
the people All printings, original has “people.”
see in/see it Original and 1963
really/really at Original and 1963
seen/known Original and 1963
day—the look All printings, original and earliest typescript read “day—that is really my main interest in anything—the look.”
A.G. Added in 1963, see note to pp. 172–174.
WCW omits the final nine paragraphs of the letter, including AG’s request for his thoughts on Paterson declaring “a WCW week.” “We had Lou Costello week, we had Larry Doby week, why don’t we do something princely for a change?”
194 There were … days Adapted, largely verbatim, from the prose in scattered pages of Charles P. Longwell, A Little Story of Old Paterson as Told by an Old Man (Paterson, 1901), pp. 29, 23, 11, and 15.
194–95 Paterson … skull From the New York Herald Tribune, September 18, 1950, p. 16. September 17 was WCW’s birthday.
WCW omits four final paragraphs on the Harvard typescript. The three remaining differences from the printed version are present in the Za189 typescripts:
months/month
told the police/told police
Following “county physician” WCW omits “who examined Nancy.”
The spelling “Garrett” is in the original and all typescripts and printings.
195–97 There was … Falls Adapted, largely verbatim, from the prose in scattered pages of Charles P. Longwell, A Little Story of Old Paterson as Told by an Old Man (Paterson, 1901), pp. 24–25, 32–33, 66–67, 21, 21–22, 47, 51, 52, 53, 59, 49, 33 and 32.
197 Paterson … butchery Taken from a much longer account in The Prospector, September 25, 1936, I and 4, where it is described as “the first crime of murder, in the County of Passaic.” The version in Paterson quotes from about a tenth of the source, selecting sentences from throughout the article.
The verbal differences from The Prospector appear in Za189 with one exception:
this county/the county
to find and arrest their man/to track him, who soon succeeded in finding and arresting him WCW marks the revision on the Harvard typescript.
knowledge of /knowledge or
198 Trip … was The Dutch rhyme appears in Nelson 395 and NS 156. All printings have “kocien” for “koeien”—an error on the typescripts.
199 the tame sea/the time sea In all printings and on page proof, a possible uncaught error on the galleys. I have restored the reading in all typescripts.
202 John Johnson … spectacle WCW adapted a note researched and prepared for him by KH, now filed with Za189, which reads: “John Johnson from Liverpool was convicted after 20 minutes conference by the Jury. He was hung on April 30th, 1850 in the Jail Yard in full view of thousands who gathered on Garrett Mountain and on the house tops to witness the spectacle.” The spelling “Garrett” is in all typescripts and printings.
BOOK V (1958)
WCW originally conceived Paterson as having four books, but even while completing Book IV he noted possible themes for a continuation. Subsequently, he published a twenty-four-line poem “Paterson, Book V: The River of Heaven” in 1952, but this poem developed into the long poem “Asphodel, that Greeny Flower.” See CP2 238–39, 310–337, and accompanying notes.
For a comment by WCW on Paterson V that appeared on the dust jacket of the 1958 text see the “Preface” of this edition.
206 at the end … was one Probably WCW’s prose. The material appears as verse in early typescripts filed with an uncatalogued box at Yale.
206 The Unicorn Within sections I and III of Book V WCW makes a number of references to details in the 15th—16th-century Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries in the collection of the Cloisters Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The six tapestries, and the fragments of another, all have rich floral backgrounds. The first tapestry depicts the hunters and dogs setting out, the second the surrounded unicorn at a fountain, and the third its attempted escape. In the fourth the unicorn gores a greyhound, in the fifth, the fragment, the virgin/maiden fondles the neck of the unicorn while the huntsmen gather, and in the sixth the slain unicorn is brought before the castle. In the seventh tapestry the gored but alive unicorn is alone within a low, circular wooden enclosure, and the image has been discussed as a symbol of the risen Christ, of the Blessed Virgin and the Incarnation, and as the consummation of marriage.
207 the Dadaist novel WCW’s translation of Soupault’s novel was published in 1929.
208 Dear Bill … Josie From a letter to WCW from Josephine Herbst, Monday May 14 [1956] (Yale uncat.).
As with the prose b
ased on some other letters that are now at Yale, this passage was amended with the posthumous 1963 printing to bring it closer to the original, but inconsistently and—in this case—with the introduction of two new printing errors. In keeping with the principles for Book V laid out in “A Note on the Text,” I have generally followed WCW’s probable transcription typescript, filed with Za190, and note below the verbal differences from the original, the first edition and the post-1963 printings. Most of the changes from the original are introduced in one of the later Za190 drafts. For this particular passage, however, WCW or his typist apparently went back to the original after a number of retypings and picked up some dropped material. I have incorporated these changes from the transcription typescript into the text.
F. Original reads Florence [Mrs. Williams]
The farm … saw them. I have restored this sentence, which appears on the transcription typescript, but is dropped on the retyped draft that introduces most of the differences from the original. The next sentence begins directly under this sentence’s opening “The” on the transcription, and with the same word, and thus the omission is quite possibly a typing error. The 1963 text added an ellipsis. See A 269–271, where WCW describes the farm at Erwinna, Pa.
D.E. Dick Eberhart
one D.E. envied when he saw it and/and D.E. envied it when he saw it IST
writing Omitted in IST
barn/farm IST
who Omitted in transcription, but appears in later drafts
in space/for space IST
E’s/ E. in IST, “Eberharts” in original
E’s will/E’ll IST and 1963, “Eberharts will” on original. I follow the transcription typescript.
H./Hanover Sentence omitted in transcription, but appears in later drafts
J.G./Jean Garrigue
of memories/of them IST
Hepatica/Hepaticas IST
trees/the trees IST
warblers … warbler/warbler … warblers IST and 1963. I follow the transcription, which is as on the original,
Paterson (Revised Edition) Page 25
