Beschreibung:

LEAR, EDWARD ‘The Story of the Pobble, who has no toes, and the Princess Bink’ original manuscript draft of ten stanza poem with numerous deletions, corrections and substitutions, [c. 1873] THE ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONAL MANUSCRIPT FOR ONE OF EDWARD LEAR’S IMMORTAL NONSENSE POEMS. ‘The Story of the Pobble, who has no toes’ is known in two different versions. It is thought that ‘The Story of the Pobble, who has no toes, and the Princess Bink’ is the earlier version and ‘The Pobble who has no Toes’, as published by Lear in Laughable Lyrics in 1877, is the later. The first version contains ten stanzas and the second only six. In the first version, the Pobble – who has ten toes – swims across the Bristol Channel. His nose has been wrapped up in a piece of scarlet flannel for, as the Pobble’s Aunt Jobiska notes, “…No harm | Can come to his toes if his nose is warm”. On reaching land the Pobble sees the Princess Bink and asks her to marry him. The Princess agrees on condition the Pobble gives her his flannel and toes (for her father’s museum collection). He does so, they marry and Aunt Jobiska concludes with the statement that “The World in general knows, | Pobbles are happier without their toes!” In the Laughable Lyrics version, Princess Bink is absent and the Pobble’s scarlet flannel is “carried away” by a porpoise. This obviously causes loss of toes, but Aunt Jobiska concludes with the same comforting statement. Vivien Noakes records three sources for ‘The Story of the Pobble, who has no toes, and the Princess Bink’: - Copy for Arthur Buchanan (sold in these rooms, 20 April 1971, lot 544 (part)) - Fair copy for Gertrude Lushington (now in the collection of the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh) - “a further, handwritten transcript was made by Mrs Bowen from a MS in her possession which is now lost”. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL FORMERLY “LOST” MANUSCRIPT. Given that the version sold by Sotheby’s in 1971 comprised 10 autograph verses illustrated with three drawings we may conjecture that this was a specially illustrated presentation copy. The present piece is undoubtedly the original working manuscript and reveals a number of Lear’s original ideas. The Pobble, for example, originally “wrapped his nose | In a piece of Scarlet Flannel”. The word “wrapped” is deleted and “swaddled” substituted. The final line originally read “A Pobble is happy with never a toe”. Loss to the top right-hand corner has resulted in some minor loss to stanzas one and seven. The beginnings of all lines in stanza six are lost.Condition reportWorn and soiled with numerous creases and tears. Some loss, including top right hand corner affecting text The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The