by Julie Dobrow
Mabel submitted the completed manuscript of Letters to Roberts Brothers toward the end of 1893. An entry in her diary noted that she was looking at proofs as early as January of 1894. However, there were doubts about the arrangement of the letters, and the question of whether the work should appear in one or two volumes. The Panic of 1893, the worst economic depression seen to that date, lent additional uncertainty to the venture of publishing two concurrent volumes. But it was eventually resolved to adhere to Mabel’s ordering of the letters by recipient, and to publish the letters in two volumes, to be released simultaneously.
In addition, the publisher wished to have some image of Emily in the book. This posed a major problem because camera-shy Emily had only appeared in one known daguerreotype. Neither Austin nor Vinnie wanted that to be the image reproduced, thinking that it made their sister look “too plain.” Vinnie advocated for a reproduction of a childhood portrait of the three Dickinson siblings by O. A. Bullard; Austin did not wish this image to be used. An artist’s rendering, depicting Emily with curly hair, and a retouched photo were also rejected. In the end, they decided upon a somewhat altered version of Emily’s image from the Bullard painting for the frontispiece.
Tensions over the books of Letters were growing in other ways, as well. Lavinia wrote to E. D. Hardy that she would not relinquish copyright of the volume to Mabel. “This I shall never do. If Mrs. Todd wanted such ownership she should have told me at the outset & then give up the work if my answer was not satisfactory. Collecting the letters was my own idea,” she claimed. Vinnie wrote that this idea was “endorsed by all my friends. . . . Emily would be indignant at any attempt to rob her sister.” Furthermore, Vinnie insinuated Mabel had done no more than copy the letters, and therefore Vinnie should be the sole recipient of any royalties—just as with the poems—and that she might then consider giving Mabel a fraction of the money earned.
Mabel was outraged. Neither David, Colonel Higginson, nor Austin felt that Vinnie’s proposal was right or equitable. Austin stepped in, writing to the publisher in September of 1894, “I have had a talk with my sister today. She had accepted the idea that Mrs. Todd had done a little something about the letters—though I think she believes the main work was in copying them into an intelligible hand, and that she did this for love (as she did) and so it would be base to offer to pay for it.” However, Austin did get Vinnie to agree that while the copyright would be held in her name, royalties should be divided equally between Vinnie and Mabel. Two days later Mabel also wrote to the publisher: “I have been of course somewhat annoyed, but also amused, at Miss Lavinia’s evasion of the contract matter, but Mr. Dickinson says it is all settled now, and as we wish. He will have her sign it as soon as it comes, as he wrote you. It has annoyed him a great deal.”116 As usual, Mabel believed that Austin’s word prevailed; but as usual, it would turn out that he had not quite protected her adequately enough.
THE THREE DICKINSON CHILDREN IN THE O. A. BULLARD PORTRAIT FROM 1840. AUSTIN REJECTED THE IDEA OF USING EMILY’S IMAGE (TOP) FROM THIS PAINTING. AUSTIN AND VINNIE ALSO REJECTED AN ARTIST’S RENDERING OF EMILY (BOTTOM). THEY EVENTUALLY COMPROMISED AND USED A SLIGHTLY REVISED IMAGE OF EMILY FROM THE BULLARD PORTRAIT IN THE FIRST EDITION OF THE LETTERS OF EMILY DICKINSON.
The copyright issue and division of royalties weren’t the only sources of contention. While Mabel was putting the finishing touches on her preface to the volumes in October, she read it to Vinnie. Vinnie’s reaction, according to Mabel, was extreme: “She apparently heard nothing of it except the first sentence, in which she was mentioned. Did not think it sufficiently prominent.” Vinnie insisted that Mabel’s sentence, reading, “The lovers of Emily Dickinson’s poems have been so eager for some of her prose that her sister has asked me to prepare these volumes of her letters,” be changed to “The lovers of Emily Dickinson’s poems have been so eager for her prose that her sister has gathered these letters, and committed their preparation to me.”117
But here again, Austin intervened. He sent a telegram to Roberts Brothers, instructing them to print just ten copies of the book with Vinnie’s corrected sentence; all the rest would contain Mabel’s words. Millicent suggested years later, “her brother thought it necessary to deceive her. So far as I know, the ruse was successful because she could not see to read. Having examined, by proxy, the first paragraph in any early copy of the book, she would have been satisfied once and for all that it was to her liking.”118 The books finally were printed in late November of 1894.
As she had with the two volumes of poetry, Mabel set out to publicize The Letters of Emily Dickinson with a series of endorsements, articles in significant periodicals and a sojourn back out on the lecture circuit. Aided by generally positive reviews (the New York Times said of the book, “a most remarkable woman is revealed in this collection of letters, a woman who lived in recluse in the college town of Amherst, and who wrote poetry . . . [which is] remarkable for its epigrammatic quality, its terseness and vigor,” and the Boston Herald reviewer noted, “Mrs. Mabel Loomis Todd, the editor of these letters, likens Miss Dickinson to Emily Brontë”).119 In November of 1894, Mabel wrote an article on Emily’s letters for a publication called The Bookbuyer. She also published “Emily Dickinson’s Letters” in the inaugural issue of Bachelor of Arts Magazine in 1895.
Mabel also increased her talks on the life and work of Emily Dickinson. In 1891 she gave four talks on Emily; in 1892–1893 she gave seven; and between 1894 and 1895, thirteen. But the talks, too, became an ongoing source of tension between Mabel and Lavinia. Millicent noted, “Most of all, she resented my mother’s talks. It was not so much that she objected to the ‘$10 and expenses’ which my mother sometimes received for her lectures about Emily . . . but that my mother was somehow or other capitalizing some aspect of Emily—some emanation which she, Lavinia, could neither reach nor control. . . . But in her youthful strength and buoyancy my mother continued to go right ahead with the work, unaware of the rancor eating into Lavinia’s soul.”120 Millicent also stated that Vinnie’s attitude was consistent: any work Mabel or Colonel Higginson had done to get Emily’s messages out to the world was simply copying what was there—“in doing the work they were only parts of the machinery, automatons, and should so consider themselves.” Millicent suggested that Vinnie probably felt any information about Emily was solely under her jurisdiction, that it was her right to impart it. When she realized that people were increasingly turning to Mabel as the authority on Emily’s life, Vinnie’s jealousy and resentment grew.121
Though the sales of the initial print run of 1,000 copies were brisk and Mabel optimistically hoped for “a dozen editions before Christmas,” the subsequent editions did not sell as well. While the first series of Poems sold 10,000 copies, Letters sold a disappointing 2,000. Contemporary Dickinson scholar Marietta Messmer points out that, “of the 1500 copies [of Letters] issued in December 1894 as a second edition, 1200 were still unsold by 1898. This surprising lack of interest in Dickinson’s letters can at least in part be attributed to a discrepancy between the readers’ expectations and the editorial format in which Todd chose to present them.”122 Messmer suggests there was a disconnect between Mabel’s desire to “highlight the chronological development of Dickinson’s epistolary style” and the public’s desire to understand more about the person behind the poems. However, by reading Mabel’s journal entries, it is evident that she believed she was doing the latter.
It wasn’t until 1958 that a complete edition of all of Emily’s letters was published in three volumes, edited by Thomas H. Johnson and Theodora Ward. What became clear from the initial publication of Mabel’s Letters of Emily Dickinson in 1894 is that the stage was set for growing tensions between members of the Todd and Dickinson families. These tensions would not soon abate.
Even with two volumes of Emily’s poetry published, Mabel was still in possession of many other poems that she had laboriously copied. She made a preliminary selection of poems for a third volume in July of 18
91, before she had even received the page proofs of the second volume. She had great ambitions for all of the poems she copied that had yet to be printed. She wrote to E. D. Hardy at Roberts Brothers that she had “unpublished poems enough for at least six more volumes like the first Series and Second, and sometime we may want them.”123
Even when she was preoccupied with her work on collecting, ordering and editing Emily’s letters, Mabel was still working to transcribe poems. She also continued to submit individual poems to magazines, in a clever attempt to keep the poetry coming out in a controlled manner, and the public clamoring for more.
In September of 1895, Mabel spoke with Colonel Higginson about the possibility of editing a third volume. However, as she noted in her diary, he had taken seriously ill and could not promise that he would be able to assist her. Mabel had been in touch with Mr. Hardy at Roberts Brothers, who agreed to publish a third volume. Vinnie, of course, urged her to press forward.
Although Higginson could not commit to being a coeditor on a third volume, in fact his imprimatur was already on many poems. Some of the selections Mabel made for the third series were poems that the two of them edited and ultimately rejected from the first two volumes. Even without Higginson fully present to push for it, Mabel continued the practice of giving many of the poems titles. Years later, Millicent suggested, “In spite of her own dislike, more than half of the poems in the Third Series appeared with titles, many of them suggested in Mr. Higginson’s handwriting on this printer’s copy.”124 It might well be that Mabel, as the consummate marketer, understood that titling poems for the nineteenth-century audience would add to their appeal and felt they had developed a saleable strategy with the first two volumes.
In addition, Mabel continued the editorial practices she and Higginson had followed in the first two volumes with regard to punctuation, capitalization and word alteration, supposedly to improve the rhymes. Years later, Millicent observed that she found a carton containing her mother’s manuscript of the Third Series. She noted, “This manuscript is important because, by comparing it with Emily’s originals, one fact is made clear—that my mother copied the poems exactly. The fact should be emphasized that in copying my mother did not alter anything Emily had written. . . . Any corrections were made subsequently on my mother’s own copies and are plainly indicated. This will eventually make it possible to restore to their original form those poems in which changes occur.”125
Mabel submitted the manuscript for the Third Series to Roberts Brothers at the very end of December 1895. At the time, she was also busily engaged with a number of other projects: completing her own book, Stars and Telescopes; editing her father’s book, An Eclipse Party in Africa; helping David with A New Astronomy and “an anonymous friend” with A Cycle of Sunsets. She was also preparing to leave the country for several months on the Amherst eclipse expedition to Japan. According to R. W. Franklin, Mabel was so busy that the third volume went to press with several errors uncorrected: “The result is that the third series appears to be the most altered of the three nineteenth century editions. It was probably not deliberately so.” Franklin’s assessment is linked to Millicent’s account in Ancestors’ Brocades, in which she detailed the numerous punctuation changes Mabel had attempted to correct in the plate proofs—however, since she “was to be gone for more than six months, an interval during which the book was to be published, she had no opportunity to check final corrections.”126
Poems, Third Series came out at the beginning of September 1896, while Mabel was in Japan. Reviews of the book were once again a mixture of praise and criticism, though altogether the book garnered less critical acclaim than had the previous two volumes. (Wrote one reviewer in the New York Evening Post, “It is needless to say that Miss Dickinson’s poetry achieves its success, in spite of all its flagrant literary faults.”)127 Nor was this volume the commercial success that its predecessors had been. R. W. Franklin suggests, “The temporary Dickinson vogue was over, and the fame that belongs to Emily Dickinson escaped her for a while longer.”128
Of course there could not be another volume of Emily’s poetry published, nor the attendant lectures given and articles written, without Lavinia’s notice and growing resentment of the attention Mabel received. When Mabel wrote to E. D. Hardy shortly after submitting the manuscript, she related, “I have said nothing to Lavinia about contracts. I will see her soon—but of course she will want everything, as usual. The next time I am in Boston I will come see you about it.”129
Mabel had reason to be concerned. Sales from Letters were such that they only covered the plates for the books; despite the agreement Austin had brokered, neither Vinnie nor Mabel received any royalties for this book. Vinnie retained the majority of royalties from the first two books of poetry. It wasn’t clear, and it was very concerning to Mabel, what might happen with subsequent books she might publish. In 1895, Austin sought to “make things a little more even” by deeding some of his land to Mabel. But this idea was derailed before it could be actualized. Mabel’s lack of insistence on being adequately compensated for her work because of her relationship with Austin and her unflagging belief in him turned out to be a most fateful decision.
Mabel still had many more copied poems she had not included in any of the first three volumes of published poetry. And yet, these poems would not see the light of day for decades to come. The potential of publishing the complete works of Emily Dickinson came to an abrupt and most unexpected halt.
Millicent wrote, “The year 1895 marked the end of an era. There are losses which prostrate; there are bereavements which stupefy; and there are Acts of God which smite and paralyze.” In August 1895, she observed, an event occurred “which combined all three.”130
CHAPTER 7
LOSING AUSTIN, FINDING MABEL (1895–1904)
“Without a particle of zest”
The publication of Emily’s poetry and letters took Mabel’s public speaking career to new heights; she was called on as a Dickinson authority as the public, the critics and the press increasingly recognized the life and work of the poet. Mabel’s other work was thriving, too: her book Total Eclipses of the Sun was published in 1894, and her articles were routinely accepted by major papers and magazines with national circulation. Mabel was recognized around Amherst for her civic work and for her leadership of the Amherst Woman’s Club and the Mary Mattoon chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). She gave music and art lessons and performed on a regular basis. Her life, as she observed in her daily recounting of it, was full and bright. But as the year opened, there were already ominous clouds gathering.
“Dear Austin is pretty sick, with symptoms of pneumonia,” she wrote in the very first days of 1895. “Dr. Cooper came over, and a trained nurse has come from New York. I cannot do anything, or put my mind anywhere, except upon that dear man at whose side I do so long to be. The tears stream from my cheeks all day. I am so helpless and terrified.”1
This entry marked one of the first times Mabel used her diary, rather than her journal, to discuss her feelings about the events of a given day. It was also one of the first times in her diaries that she referred to Austin intimately; usually “dear Austin” would be found in her journals, while “Mr. Dickinson” was more typical of her diaries, the more public record of her life. Now Mabel wrote about Austin’s health with equal emotion in both her daily diaries and her journals.
During his illness, Mabel wrote frequently to Austin and had Vinnie deliver her letters. “I really believe I have suffered more during your sickness than you have,” she wrote on January 5. “I am without a particle of zest. I am completely unnerved today. The news this morning was that you are comfortable, that Dr. Cooper was over, and you are getting on all right. Yet I cannot eat or work, and I do not know what I shall do.”2
As 1895 wore on, Mabel continued to report the ups and downs of Austin’s health in her diaries and journals. She recorded every respiratory infection, she observed how pale he was and how markedl
y different his new, slow gait was from his normal “springy, elegant step.” Each time he fell ill, she was filled with frustration that his marriage to Sue prevented her from being his caregiver. She was also filled with terror at what his recurring illnesses might portend. Despite her busy speaking schedule, she did not travel far from Amherst if Austin was ill. Every time he improved she rejoiced; each time he relapsed she was despondent. She wrote, “I tried to do things but absolutely couldn’t. I seem to almost have been unnerved by the terror to me of my dear Austin’s illness.”3
After a long winter of poor health, Austin seemed mostly recovered by April. Relieved, Mabel wrote of some planting they would do together on the strip of land that he wanted to give to her as partial compensation for the work she had done on Emily’s poetry and letters. Austin’s attempt to “make things a little more even,” caused Mabel to write: “Austin and I struck down stakes for trees on my new east line—they will comfort me a great deal.”4 Austin was also setting out trees at the new Wildwood Cemetery, another of his pet civic projects, and coming to call on Mabel in the evenings for short periods of time.
June 1 felt like the first real day of summer. Mabel described it in her daily recounting as “excessively hot.” She wrote, “dear Austin came by for me to go to Wildwood with him, which I did, & found it lovelier than a dream, & quite a good breeze. It was a very happy time, and he said things to me coming back that make me insensitive of any earthly pain or irritation or discomfort, forever!”5
But forever didn’t last. As the hot summer officially began a few weeks later, Mabel’s fear returned as Austin’s health took a turn for the worse. Each day in July, Mabel recorded what Austin conveyed about how much or how little he had slept and what he was or wasn’t able to eat. These bulletins often came via Vinnie; Mabel was not able to see Austin unless Sue and the children were not at home. Austin, Mabel reported, was “very weak and tired from this oppression in his breathing. I would give ten years of my life to have him perfectly well now. . . . May God take me too, at once, if anything happens to Austin. I could not live without him.”6 Unable to be with him or to take care of him as she so desired, Mabel tried to comfort herself by balancing his checkbook—one of the few things she could do to help. Still, it didn’t come close to what she wanted or needed. “My heart is every second of time with Austin. I do not eat, I sleep badly, and I am checking all the time. He is so tired and ill, and so strangely short breathed.”7