Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. xii + 372; consisting of: Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with imprint “London: Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” at the foot of the reverse) pp. iii–iv; Preface (styled Advertisement) pp. v–vi; Table of Contents pp. vii–xi; Extract from Pleasantries of the Cogia Nasr Eddin Efendi p. xii; and Text pp. 1–372. The head-line is The Romany Rye throughout, upon both sides of the page; each page also bears at its head the number of the particular Chapter occupying it. At the foot of p. 372 the imprint is repeated thus, “Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” The signatures are A (a half-sheet of 6 leaves), B to Q (15 sheets, each 12 leaves), plus R (a half-sheet of 6 leaves).
Vol. II.
Collation:—Large duodecimo, pp. viii + 375 + ix; consisting of: Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with imprint “London: Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, / Angel Court, Skinner Street” at the foot of the reverse) pp. iii–iv; Table of Contents pp. v–vii; p. viii is
blank; and Text pp. 1–375. The reverse of p. 375 is blank. The volume is completed by eight unnumbered pages of Advertisements of Works by the Author of “The Bible in Spain” ready for the Press. There are head-lines throughout; up to, and including, p. 244 the head-line is The Romany Rye, together with the numbers of the Chapters, pp. 245–375 are headed Appendix, accompanied by the numbers of the Chapters. At the foot of the last of the eight unnumbered pages carrying the Advertisements (Sig. R 12 verso) the imprint is repeated thus, “Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.” The signatures are A (four leaves), plus B to R (16 sheets, each 12 leaves).
Issued (on April 30th, 1857) in dark blue cloth boards, with white paper back-labels, lettered “The / Romany Rye. / By / George Borrow. / Vol. I. [Vol. II.]” The leaves measure 7⅞ × 5 inches.
Of the First Edition of The Romany Rye One Thousand Copies were printed. The published price was 21s. A Second Edition was published in 1858, a Third in 1872, a Fourth in 1888, and a Fifth in 1896. The book is included in Everyman’s Library, and in other series of popular reprints.
The series of Advertisements of Works by Borrow, announced as “Ready for the Press,” which occupy the last eight pages of the second volume of The Romany Rye are of especial interest. No less than twelve distinct works are included in these advertisements. Of these twelve The Bible in Spain was already in the hands of the public, Wild Wales duly appeared in 1862, and The Sleeping Bard in 1860. These three were all that Borrow lived to see in print. Two others, The Turkish Jester and The Death of
Balder, were published posthumously in 1884 and 1889 respectively; but the remaining seven, Celtic Bards, Chiefs, and Kings, Songs of Europe, Kœmpe Viser, Penquite and Pentyre, Russian Popular Tales, Northern Skalds, Kings, and Earls, and Bayr Jairgey and Glion Doo: The Red Path and the Black Valley, were never destined to see the light. However, practically the whole of the verse prepared for them was included in the series of Pamphlets which have been printed for private circulation during the past twelve months.
As was the case with Lavengro, Borrow delayed the completion of The Romany Rye to an extent that much disconcerted his publisher, John Murray. The correspondence which passed between author and publisher is given at some length by Dr. Knapp, in whose pages the whole question is fully discussed.
Mr. Shorter presents the matter clearly and fairly in the paragraphs he devotes to the subject: