Second Issue: 1826
Romantic Ballads, / Translated from the Danish; / and / Miscellaneous Pieces; / By / George Borrow. / Through gloomy paths unknown—/ Paths which untrodden be, / From rock to rock I roam / Along the dashing sea. / Bowring. / London: / John Taylor, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, / 1826.
Collation:—Demy octavo, pp. xii + 187. The details of the collation follow those of the First Issue described above in every particular, save that, naturally, the volume lacks the two concluding leaves carrying the List of Subscribers.
Issued in drab paper boards, with white paper back-label. The published price was Seven Shillings.
“Taylor will undertake to publish the remaining copies. His advice is to make the price seven shillings, and to print a new title-page, and then he will be able to sell some for you I advise the same,” etc.—[Allan Cunningham to George Borrow.]
There is a copy of the Second Issue of the First Edition of Romantic Ballads in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 11565. cc. 8.
Third Issue: 1826
Romantic Ballads, / Translated from the Danish; / and / Miscellaneous Pieces; / By / George Borrow. / Through gloomy paths unknown—/ Paths which untrodden be, / From rock to rock I roam / Along the dashing sea. / Bowring. / London: / Published by Wightman and Cramp, / 24 Paternoster Row. / 1826.
Collation:—Demy octavo, pp. xii + 187. The details of the collation follow those of the Second Issue described above in every particular.
Issued in drab paper boards, with white paper back-label. The price was again Seven Shillings.
In 1913 a type-facsimile reprint of the Original Edition of Romantic Ballads was published by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons of Norwich. Three hundred Copies were printed.
(4) [Targum: 1835]
Targum. / Or / Metrical Translations / From Thirty Languages / and / Dialects. / By / George Borrow. / “The raven has ascended to the nest of the nightingale.” / Persian Poem. / St. Petersburg. / Printed by Schulz and Beneze. / 1835.
Collation:—Demy octavo, printed in half-sheets, pp. viii + 106; consisting of: Title-page, as above (with a Russian quotation upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Preface pp. iii–v; Table of Contents pp. vi–viii, with a single Erratum at the foot of p. viii; and Text of the Translations pp. 1–106. There are no head-lines, the pages being numbered centrally in Arabic numerals. Beyond that upon the foot of the title-page, there is no imprint. The signatures are given in large Arabic numerals, each pair of half-sheets dividing one number between them; thus the first half-sheet is signed 1, the second 1*, the third 2, the fourth 2*, &c. The Register is therefore 1 to 7 (thirteen half-sheets, each 4 leaves), followed by a single unsigned leaf (pp. 105–106), the whole preceded by an unsigned half-sheet carrying the Title-page, Preface, and Table of Contents. The book was issued without any half-title.
Issued in plain paper wrappers of a bright green colour, lined with white, and without either lettering or label. The leaves measure 8 11/16 × 5½ inches.
Borrow was happy in the title he selected for his book. Targum, as Mr. Gosse has pointed out, is a Chaldee word meaning an interpretation. The word is said to be the root of ‘dragoman.’
Targum was written by Borrow during his two years’ residence at St. Petersburg (August, 1833, to August, 1835), and was published in June of the latter year. One hundred copies only were printed. As might naturally be expected the book has now become of very considerable rarity, but a small proportion of the original hundred copies being traceable to-day.
A reduced facsimile of the Title-page is given herewith.
“Just before completing this great work, the Manchu New Testament, Mr. Borrow published a small volume in the English language, entitled Targum, or Metrical Translations from Thirty Languages and Dialects. The exquisite delicacy with which he has caught and rendered the beauties of his well-chosen originals, is a proof of his learning and genius. The work is a pearl in literature, and, like pearls, it derives value from its scarcity, for the whole edition was limited to about a hundred copies.”—[John P. Hasfeld, in The Athenæum, March 5th, 1836.]
“Some days ago I was at Kirtof’s bookshop on the Gaternaya Ulitza. I wanted to buy a Bible in Spain to send to Simbirsk (on the Volga), where they torment me for it every post-day. The stock was all sold out in a few days after its arrival last autumn. The bookseller asked me if I knew a book by Borrow called Targum, which was understood to have been written by him and printed at St. Petersburg, but he had never been able to light upon it; and the surprising thing was that the trade abroad and even in England did him the honour to order it. I consoled him by saying that he could hardly hope to see a copy in his shop or to get a peep at it. ‘I have a copy,’ continued I, ‘but if you will offer me a thousand roubles for the bare reading of it I cannot do you the favour.’ The man opened his eyes in astonishment. ‘It must be a wonderful book,’ said he. ‘Yes, in that you are right, my good friend,’ I replied.”—[John P. Hasfeld.]
“After he became famous the Russian Government was desirous of procuring a copy of this rare book, Targum, for the Imperial Library, and sent an Envoy to England for the purpose. But the Envoy was refused what he sought, and told that as the book was not worth notice when the author’s name was obscure and they had the opportunity of obtaining it themselves, they should not have it now.”—[A. Egmont Hake, in The Athenæum, August 13th, 1881.]
Contents.
page
Ode to God. [Reign’d the Universe’s Master ere were earthly things begun]
Borrow reprinted this Ode in The Bible in Spain, 1843, Vol. iii, p. 333.
1
Prayer. [O Thou who dost know what the heart fain would hide]
2
Death. [Grim Death in his shroud swatheth mortals each hour]
3
Stanzas. On a Fountain. [In the fount fell my tears, like rain]
4
Stanzas. The Pursued. [How wretched roams the weary wight]
4
Odes. From the Persian:
1. [Boy, hand my friends the cup, ’tis time of roses now]
5
2. [If shedding lovers’ blood thou deem’st a matter slight]
5
3. [O thou, whose equal mind knows no vexation]
6
Stanzas. From the Turkish of Fezouli. [O Fezouli, the hour is near]
7
Description of Paradise. [Eight Gennets there be, as some relate]
8
O Lord! I nothing crave but Thee. [O Thou, from whom all love doth flow]
11
Mystical Poem. Relating to the worship of the Great Foutsa or Buddh. [Should I Foutsa’s force and glory]
13
Moral Metaphors:
1. [From out the South the genial breezes sigh]
19
2. [Survey, survey Gi Shoi’s murmuring flood!]
20
The Mountain-Chase. [Autumn has fled and winter left our bounds]
21
The Glory of the Cossacks. [Quiet Don!]
24
The Black Shawl. [On the shawl, the black shawl with distraction I gaze]
27
Song. From the Russian of Pushkin. [Hoary man, hateful man!]
29
The Cossack. An ancient Ballad. [O’er the field the snow is flying]
30
The Three Sons of Budrys. [With his three mighty sons, tall as Ledwin’s were once]
32
The Banning of the Pest. [Hie away, thou horrid monster!]
35
Woinomoinen. [Then the ancient Woinomoinen]
37
The Words of Beowulf, Son of Egtheof. [Every one beneath the heaven]
39
The Lay of Biarke. [The day in East is glowing]
The title of this Ballad as it appears in the original MS. is The Biarkemal.
40
The Hail-storm. [For victory as we bounded]
Previously printed (but with
very considerable variations in the text, the first line reading “When from our ships we bounded”) in Romantic Ballads, 1826, pp. 136–138. A final version of the Ballad, written about 1854, was printed in Young Swaigder or The Force of Runes and Other Ballads, 1913, pp. 14–15.
42
The King and Crown. [The King who well crown’d does govern the land]
44
Ode To a Mountain Torrent. [O stripling immortal thou forth dost career]
Previously printed (but with an entirely different text, the first line reading “How lovely art thou in thy tresses of foam”) in The Monthly Magazine, Vol. lvi., 1823, p. 244.
Also printed in Romantic Ballads, 1826, pp. 164–166.
The first stanza of the Ode as printed in Targum does not figure in the version given in Romantic Ballads, whilst the third stanza of the Romantic Ballads version is not to be found in Targum.
45
Chloe. [O we have a sister on earthly dominions!]
Previously printed in The Monthly Magazine, Vol. lvi, 1823, p. 437.
47
National Song. From the Danish of Evald. [King Christian stood beside the mast]
Previously printed (under the title Sea Song; from the Danish of Evald) in The Monthly Magazine, December, 1823, p. 437.
Also printed in Romantic Ballads, 1826, pp. 146–148; and again in The Foreign Quarterly Review, Vol. vi, June, 1830, p. 70.
The four versions of this Song, as printed in The Monthly Magazine, in Romantic Ballads, in The Foreign Quarterly Review, and in Targum, are utterly different, the opening line being the only one which has approximately the same reading in all.
49
Sir Sinclair. [Sir Sinclair sail’d from the Scottish ground]
Previously printed in The Foreign Quarterly Review, Vol. vi, June, 1830, p. 73.
51
Hvidfeld. [Our native land has ever teem’d]
56
Birting. A Fragment. [It was late at evening tide]
This “Fragment” consists of fifteen stanzas from the Ballad The Giant of Berne and Orm Ungerswayne, which was printed complete, for Private Circulation, in 1913. [See post, No. 40.]
59
Ingeborg’s Lamentation. [Autumn winds howl]
62
The Delights of Finn Mac Coul. [Finn Mac Coul ’mongst his joys did number]
65
Carolan’s Lament. [The arts of Greece, Rome and of Eirin’s fair earth]
67
To Icolmcill. [On Icolmcill may blessings pour]
68
The Dying Bard. [O for to hear the hunter’s tread]
In the original Manuscript of this Poem the title reads The Wish of the Bard; the text also differs considerably from that which appears in Targum.
70
The Prophecy of Taliesin. [Within my mind]
73
The History of Taliesin. [The head Bard’s place I hold]
The original Manuscript of The History of Taliesin possesses many points of interest. In the first place, in addition to sundry variations of text, it enables us to fill up the words in the last line of stanza 3, and the fourth line of stanza 7, which in the pages of Targum are replaced by asterisks. The full lines read:
Where died the Almighty’s Son,
and
Have seen the Trinity.
In the second place the Manuscript contains a stanza, following upon the first, which does not occur in the printed text. This stanza reads as follows:
I with my Lord and God
On the highest places trod,
When Lucifer down fell
With his army into hell.
I know each little star
Which twinkles near and far;
And I know the Milky Way
Where I tarried many a day.
A reduced facsimile of the third page of this Manuscript will be found herewith, facing page 54.
74
Epigram. On a Miser who had built a Stately Mansion. [Of every pleasure is thy mansion void]
77
The Invitation. [Parry, of all my friends the best]
78
The Rising of Achilles. [Straightway Achilles arose, the belov’d of Jove, round his shoulders]
82
The Meeting of Odysses and Achilles. [Tow’rds me came the Shade of Peleidean Achilles]
85
Hymn To Thetis and Neoptolemus. [Of Thetis I sing with her locks of gold-shine]
90
The Grave of Demos. [Thus old Demos spoke, as sinking sought the sun the western wave]
91
The Sorceries of Canidia. [Father of Gods, who rul’st the sky]
92
The French Cavalier. [The French cavalier shall have my praise]
97
Address To Sleep. [Sweet death of sense, oblivion of ill]
98
The Moormen’s March From Granada. [Reduan, I but lately heard]
101
The Forsaken. [Up I rose, O mother, early]
103
Stanzas. From the Portuguese. [A fool is he who in the lap]
104
My Eighteenth Year. [Where is my eighteenth year? far back]
105
Song. From the Rommany. [The strength of the ox]
Another version of this Song, bearing the title “Our Heart is heavy, Brother,” is printed in Marsk Stig’s Daughters and other Songs and Ballads, 1913, pp. 17–18.
106
Note.—Each poem to which no reference is attached, appeared for the first time in this volume.
In 1892 Targum was reprinted, together with The Talisman, by Messrs. Jarrold & Sons, of Norwich, in an edition of 250 copies.
There is a copy of the First Edition of Targum in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is C.57.i.6.
(5) [The Talisman: 1835]
The / Talisman. / From the Russian / of / Alexander Pushkin. / With other Pieces. / St. Petersburg. / Printed by Schulz and Beneze, / 1835.
Collation:—Royal octavo, pp. 14; consisting of: Title-page, as above (with a Russian quotation upon the centre of the reverse) pp. 1–2; and Text of The Talisman and other Poems pp. 3–14. There are no head-lines, the pages being numbered centrally in Arabic numerals. Beyond that upon the title-page there is no imprint. There are also no signatures, the pamphlet being composed of a single sheet, folded to form sixteen pages. The last leaf is a blank. The book was issued without any half-title.
Issued stitched, and without wrappers. The leaves measure 9¾ × 6¼ inches.
One Hundred Copies only were printed.
A reduced facsimile of the Title-page of The Talisman is given herewith. It will be observed that the heavy letterpress upon the reverse of the title shows through the paper, and is reproduced in the photograph.
Contents.
page
The Talisman. [Where fierce the surge with awful bellow]
3
The Mermaid. [Close by a lake, begirt with forest]
5
Ancient Russian Songs:
1. [The windel-straw nor grass so shook and trembled]
8
2. [O rustle not, ye verdant oaken branches!]
9
3. [O thou field of my delight so fair and verdant!]
9
Ancient Ballad. [From the wood a sound is gliding]
11
The Renegade. [Now pay ye the heed that is fitting]
13
Note.—The whole of the poems printed in The Talisman appeared there for the first time.
In 1892 Messrs. Jarrold & Sons published page for page reprints of Targum and The Talisman. They were issued together in one volume, bound in light drab-coloured paper boards, with white paper back-label, and were accompanied by the following collective title-page:
Targum: / or, / Metrical Translations from Thirty Languages / and Dialects. / And / The Talisman, / from the Russian of Alexander Pushkin. / With Other Pieces. / By / George Borrow. / Author of “The Bi
ble in Spain” &c. / London: / Jarrold & Sons, 3, Paternoster Buildings.
In 1912 a small ‘remainder’ of The Talisman came to light. The ‘find’ consisted of about Five Copies, which were sold in the first instance for an equal number of Pence. The buyer appears to have resold them at progressive prices, commencing at Four Pounds and concluding at Ten Guineas.
There is a copy of the First Edition of The Talisman in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is C.57.e.33.
(6) [The Gospel of St. Luke: 1837]
Embéo / e Majaró Lucas. / Brotoboro / randado andré la chipe griega, acána / chibado andré o Romanó, ó chipe es / Zincales de Sesé. / El Evangelio segun S. Lucas, / traducido al Romaní, / ó dialecto de los Gitanos de España. / 1837.
Collation:—Foolscap octavo, pp. 177, consisting of: Title-page, as above (with Borrow’s Colophon upon the reverse, followed by a quotation from the Epistle to the Romans, Chap. XV. v. XXIV.) pp. 1–2; and Text of the Gospel pp. 3–177. The reverse of p. 177 is blank. There are no head-lines, the pages being numbered centrally in Arabic numerals. There is no printer’s imprint. The signatures are A to L (11 sheets, each 8 leaves), plus L repeated (two leaves, the second a blank). The book was issued without any half-title.
A Bibliography of the Writings in Prose and Verse of George Henry Borrow Page 4
