Though Dickinson sometimes noted the day of the week on which she began a draft, it was not her practice to date work: with the exception of four drafts in which internal evidence allows us to establish precise dates, the dating of these manuscripts is conjectural and open to revision. In A Revelation Bingham arranges the fair copy drafts in what she presumes to be their chronological order based on handwriting characteristics but assigns dates in only three cases, in which internal evidence allows for great precision. The rough copy drafts are not arranged in any particular order, belonging as Bingham imagines “to an incorporeal chronology” (Rev., 72). Jay Leyda, in addition to suggesting a sequence for the drafts (the numbers on the manuscripts at Amherst College are intended to be chronological within a given correspondence; the Lord letters correspond to Amherst College catalog numbers 734–61), assigns tentative dates to a significant number of the manuscripts. Likewise, Johnson advances his own distinct dating schema in Letters. His edition is also arranged in what Johnson presumes to be the drafts’ chronological order.

A. Millicent Todd Bingham, A Revelation (1954)

Fair Copies

            My lovely Salem smiles at me – (two drafts)

            Ned and I were talking . . .

            To beg for the Letter . . .

            Dont you know you are happiest . . .

            . . . to lie so near your longing –

            . . . I know you acutely weary, . . .

            The withdrawal of the Fuel of Rapture . . .

            His little “Playthings” were very sick . . . [30 April, 1 May 1882]

            To remind you of my own rapture . . .

            I wonder we ever leave the Improbable –

            You spoke of “Hope” surpassing “Home.”

            . . . The celestial Vacation of writing you . . .

            What if you are writing! [3 December 1882]

B. Emily Dickinson Collection, Amherst College (Leyda)

Manuscript nos. 734–61

            My lovely Salem smiles at me – [1878?] (two drafts)

            Ned and I were talking . . . [1878?]

            To beg for the Letter . . . [1878?]

            . . . remained what the Carpenter called the Door . . . [1878?]

            Dont you know you are happiest . . . [1878?]

            . . . To lie so near your longing – [1879?]

            . . . I know you acutely weary, . . . [1881?]

            . . . Door either, after you have entered, . . . [1882?]

            A group of students passed the House – [1882?]

            His little “Playthings” were very sick . . . [30 April, 1 May 1882]

            To remind you of my own rapture . . . [21? May 1882]

            I wonder we ever leave the Improbable – [1882?]

            You spoke of “Hope” surpassing “Home” – [1882?]

            The celestial Vacation of writing you . . . [1882?]

            What if you are writing! [3 December 1882]

            The withdrawal of the Fuel of Rapture . . . [1883?]

            But why did you distrust your little Simon . . . [1883?]

            I do . . . her Sister . . . [n.d.]*

            I kissed the little blank – [n.d.]

            I sometimes [have] almost feared Language . . . [n.d.]

            My little devices to live till Monday . . . [n.d.] (two drafts)

            Tuesday is a deeply depressed Day – [n.d.]

            Thank you know knowing I did not spurn it, . . . [n.d.]

            (verso) It is joy to be with you . . . [n.d.]

            This has been a beautiful Day – dear – [n.d.]

            Throngs who would not prize them, . . . [n.d.]*

            Common Sense is almost as omniscient . . . [n.d.]

*Leyda does not include “Emerging from an Abyss and entering it again –” (verso, “I do . . . her Sister . . .”) or “When it is necessary” (verso, “Throngs who would not prize them”) in the Otis Lord correspondence. He does, however, assign a tentative date of 1883 to “Emerging from an Abyss and entering it again –.”

C. Thomas H. Johnson, Letters (1958)

Letter nos. 559–63, 600, 645, 695, 750, 752, 780, 791, 842–43

            My lovely Salem smiles at me – [about 1878] (two drafts)

            Ned and I were talking . . . [about 1878]

            To beg for the Letter . . . [about 1878]

            Dont you know you are happiest . . . [about 1878]

            Tuesday is a deeply depressing Day – [about 1878]

            . . . You spoke of “Hope” surpassing “Home” – [about 1879]

            I never heard you call anything beautiful . . .* [about 1880]

            My little devices to live till Monday . . . [1881?] (two drafts)

            His little “Playthings” were very sick . . . [30 April, 1 May 1882]

            To remind you of my own rapture . . . [14 May 1882]

            The celestial Vacation of writing you . . . [November 1882?]

            What if you are writing! [3 December 1882]

            I know you [are] acutely weary . . . [about 1882]

            The withdrawal of the Fuel of Rapture . . . [about 1883]

            I feel like wasting my Cheek on your Hand . . . [about 1883]

*L 645 [about 1880] includes the following additional fragments: “Still (stern) as the Profile of a Tree,” “I kissed the little blank –,” “This has been a beautiful Day – dear –,” “But why did you distrust your little Simon,” “I sometimes [have] almost feared Language,” and “I wonder we ever leave the Improbable –.”