London. Novtmbtr 189a
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REFACE. xnd I add here the dedications to Rossetti's volumes 2%2**, and 3. 2*, — Poems, 1870: To William Michael Rossetti, these Poems, to so manyof which, so many years back, he gave the first brotherlyhearing, are now at last dedicated. 2^ — Poems, 1881 : Same dedication, adding the dates ** 1870— 1881.* 3. — Ballads and Sonnets : To Theodore Watts, the Friend whom my verse won forme, these few more pages are affectionately inscribed. In the Poems, 188 1, appeared the ensuing ''Adver-tisement " : " ' Many poems in this volume were written between 1847and 1853. Others are of recent date, and a few belong tothe intervening period. It has been thought ^unnecessaryto specify the earlier work, as nothing is included whichthe author believes to be immature.' "The above brief note was prefixed to these poems whenfirst published in 1870. They have now been for some timeout of print ''The fifty sonnets of the Houst ofLifi, which first appearedhere, are now embodied with the full series in the volumeentitled BaUads and Sonttits. "The fragment of Th4 Brides Prtludt, now first printed,was written very early, and is here associated with otherwork of the same date; though its publication in an un*finished form needs some indulgence." L— PRINCIPAL POEMS.
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