"It is fair to accept the statement of his [Wilde's] own ground, in his preface to the decorative verse of his friend Rennell Rodd, though one doubts whether Gautier would not have dubbed the twainjoints brodeurs, rather thanjeunes guerriers, du drapeau romantique. The apostles of our Lord were filled, like them, with a 'passionate ambition to go forth into far and fair lands with some message for the nations and some mission for the world.' But not until many centuries had passed were their texts illuminated to the extent displayed by Mr. Rodd and his printer, with their resources of India-paper, apple-green tissue, vellum, and all the rarities desired by those who die of a rose in aromatic pain. Yet the verse ofRose Leaf and Apple Leafis not so effeminate as one would suppose."
E.C. STEDMAN
Victorian Poets. (1889,) pp. 467-8.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
I
1.ROSE LEAF / AND APPLE LEAF / BY / RENNELL RODD / WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY / OSCAR WILDE (SEAL DEVICE IN RED.) / PHILADELPHIA / J.M. STODDART & CO. /1882.
12mo. Vellum. Pp. 115. Interleaved with green tissue throughout, and printed in brown ink on thin handmade parchment paper on one side of the leaf.
2.ROSE LEAF / AND / APPLE LEAF / BY / RENNELL RODD / WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY / OSCAR WILDE. (SEAL DEVICE IN RED.) / J.M. STODDART & CO./1882.
12mo. Cloth. Pp. 115. Printed in black ink on cream laid book paper, without interleaving of tissue.
This edition must have been re-imposed as it is here printed on both sides of the leaf.
3.ROSE LEAF AND APPLE LEAF / L'ENVOI / BY / OSCAR WILDE / LONDON / PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION / MDCCCCIIII.
12mo. Wrappers. Pp. 32 (including half-title and blanks). 200 numbered copies issued.
4.ROSE LEAF AND APPLE LEAF: L'ENVOI BY WILDE.
Sq. 16mo. Printed inThe Bibelotfor July, 1905. Pp. 221-237.
5.LECTURE ON THE ENGLISH RENAISSANCE: ROSE LEAF AND APPLE LEAF: L'ENVOI BY OSCAR WILDE. PORTLAND, MAINE, THOMAS B. MOSHER. MDCCCCV.
Small quarto (5-1/8 x 7). Pp. x: 1-42. 50 copies on Japan vellum, with portrait of Wilde as frontispiece.
II
In taking an assignment of copyright from the surviving member of the firm of J.M. Stoddart & Co. it has been thought desirable to ascertain howRose Leaf and Apple Leafcame into existence in the peculiarformatwhich has long since set it apart as one of the choicest specimens of applied æsthetics in book-making that America has to offer the collector. Under date of August 17, 1905, Mr. Stoddart wrote as follows:
"I gladly furnish you with such information regarding this book as my memory of a quarter of a century permits.
The paper used in theédition de luxewas a remainder which we found in the possession of a Philadelphia paper dealer, (Charles Megargee, if I remember correctly), and was made at the famous Rittenhouse Mill on the Wissahickon, (near Philadelphia and said to be the first paper mill in America), for the (new) Government of the United States at the time of the first issue of bonds or paper money. It therefore has a historical interest as well as a unique character.
I think this edition was not over 250 copies and price $1.75, but Brentano sold many of these for $3.00 and more, after having secured Wilde's autograph on the cover. This edition is now certainly out of print and so far as I know impossible to procure anywhere. I have heard of copies changing hands at $5.00.
The cheaper edition was issued at $1.00 but comparatively few sold as I was interested in greater matters and transferred the stock to J.B. Lippincott & Co., where the lot was consumed in their fire.
I think the whole credit for the green leaves, and the general oddity of the make-up of the book belongs to our office altho' Wilde may have been consulted. Of course you recognize the reproduction of his seal."
All the circumstances connected with the publication ofRose Leaf and Apple Leafare confessedly not entirely clear to us. It is undoubtedly true, as stated in theN.Y Tribune, (November 25, 1882,) that "Mr. Rennell Rodd, the young English poet whose verses were brought out here in apple-green and rose-red under the enthusiastic auspices of Mr. Oscar Wilde, has altered in his faith. He now disclaims any connection with the æsthetic school, and lets it be known that he had nothing to do with the amazing dress in which his verses appeared. He intends to publish a new volume." This "newsy" note was based on a briefer one made just two weeks earlier inThe Academy, (London, November 11, 1882,) viz.: "We understand that Mr. Rennell Rodd has a new volume of poems in the press. He is anxious to disclaim any connection with the "Æsthetic" school, with which he has been identified."
It may here be said that Mr. Rodd's first impressions were somewhat different from what the above implies. In a letter dated October 6, 1882, he wrote the American publisher:
"I had not till lately seen the little edition,—which is charming. I have seen noédition de luxein England to compare with it.... I have to thank you for the great care and delicacy with which this little book has been published."
What undoubtedly precipitated the trouble was not theformat, "amazing" though it may have seemed to the nameless scribe of theTribune, but the proposal by the Stoddart firm to bring out an English edition. This could not be done, as Mr. Rodd pointed out, because the poems had already been published in London, and as he held the copyright, they could not be reissued save with his consent. Furthermore: "Since I have read the introduction I am not over pleased at the way in which I find myself identified with much that I have no sympathy with." Last of all, probably first of all, "there is one thing in it that has annoyed me excessively, and had I had a proof I should not have allowed it to stand. The dedication is too effusive. I have written to Mr. Wilde on this score, but if he does not write to you, I must ask you as a personal favour to see to it. I want to have it removed from all copies that go out for the future."
Unfortunately Mr. Rodd's request could not well be complied with: the book had been published, and as it turned out no other edition was ever called for by a more or less undiscerning public.
A few other facts are in evidence. The original title of the work as published by Rodd through David Bogue, London, 1881, wasSongs in the Southand the dedication read "To My Father." It is conjectured that the dedication in the American edition was either based on, or copied from an inscription written by the author in the copy Wilde brought over with him. It read as follows:To Oscar Wilde—/ "Hearts Brother"—/ These few songs and many songs to come." It may have been "too effusive." It is seldom, indeed, that we have the time and the place and the loved one all together! It is not denied that this inscriptionwaswritten by Mr. Rodd, however effusive, and somehow, after the lapse of years one wishes he had not so completely discountenanced the kindly offices of one who later on fell into such desperate extremes. It is quite likely that the evident editing bestowed upon the poems by Wilde may have added to the displeasure of the poet. If so, we cannot, after an acquaintance with the original London text of 1881 agree with him. Two poems, "Lucciole" and "Maidenhair," omitted by Wilde attest to his critical acumen, and nine additional poems derived, we may suppose from manuscript sources, do not lessen our respect for his supervising care.
The introduction itself was without question a matter of the greatest regret to Mr. Rodd. It credited him "with much that annoys me excessively." It is conceded however, that "it has been kindly meant"—but if a second edition should be in request—it must be "with no introduction"—there were available other poems that could be made to take its place.
Admitting that Wilde went beyond the spirit, if not the letter of his friend's intent, it is a relief to find Rodd's admission that "where a thing has been kindly meant, one cannot find fault.—On reflection I see how foolish it was to make no reservations and restrictions of any kind—For that very reason I have no excuse to make any complaint." But still harping on the supposedly bad effects of Wilde'sL'Envoi: "It did not occur to me at the time that I should be so completely identified with a lot of opinions with which I have no sympathy whatever." With this disclaimer our quotations from the Rodd letters come to an end.
Well, after all is said what does it matter? The thing we care for most is just this brief, brilliant essay; as for the verse it is in the main well and good, despite benefits forgot. Some of it we feel assured will survive, has indeed, lived to find its way into many anthologies. As for the exquisite littlecauserieit remains to us safe and secure, veritable treasure-trove of unsullied gold against the years that the locust hath eaten.
T.B.M.
HERE ENDS THIS BOOK OF ROSE LEAF AND APPLE LEAF BY RENNELL RODD WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY OSCAR WILDE PRINTED FOR THOMAS B MOSHER AND PUBLISHED BY HIM AT XLV EXCHANGE STREET PORTLAND MAINE IN THE MONTH OF AUGUST AD MDCCCCVI