I dwell in Possibility--or at least facsimiles thereof

September 8, 2009 5:20 PM

I'm looking for a manuscript version of Emily Dickinson's "I dwell in Possibility," or alternatively, 657. It's possible that it is available in R.W. Franklin's The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson A Facsimile Edition. However, I can't get my hands on that book through Amazon, my library, or any of the standard means. Help?

Google gods have failed me. I'm willing to purchase the volumes, or a similar work that contains that particular poem, but can't find any for sale. The reason for my quest? Besides the fact that I heart Emily Dickinson and would love having this in my library, I am looking to have a tattoo of the first two lines of that poem done, and it occurs to me that having it reproduced the way she wrote it would be...really great.

Alternatively, if you actually HAD the book and wanted to sell it or something, that would be great.

posted by bloggerwench to Writing & Language (8 answers total)

No suggestions of how to own a copy, but more than 600 libraries in the country have it -- it should be pretty easy to Interlibrary Loan the thing and make a copy of the page you want (your library should be able to help you with this). Portland State University and the University of Portland both seem to have copies, which seem to be in your neck of the woods, so you might be able to just walk in and look at it. University of Portland is a private school, but they might still let you in to make a copy (Holy Cross schools are usually pretty friendly, in my experience).

Alternatively, my school seems to have a copy. MeMail me, and I will look on Friday and mail or fax you a photocopy. (assuming the book is on the shelf, and the poem is in the book).
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:53 PM on September 8, 2009

Best answer: If all you need is to look at the facsimiles and maybe get a good photocopy, all of these libraries have a copy of the book

- Portland State University
- Lewis & Clark College
- Reed College Library
- University of Portland
- Washington State University, Vancouver Campus Library
- Oregon State University Libraries

I suspect if you asked nicely one of the librarians might even be able to fax you. Oh wait, here it is (page 95 if that link doesn't work).
posted by jessamyn at 5:54 PM on September 8, 2009

Response by poster: Ahhh. Internet research fail on my part. Sigh. Thanks! Still, if anyone comes across the book for sale, I'm interested.
posted by bloggerwench at 5:59 PM on September 8, 2009

In case you're interested, I dug around in Google books for a while with the keywords possibility, dickinson, manuscript, fascicle and then had to click around to find one with handwriting. Not one of those things findable with a quick Google.
posted by jessamyn at 6:17 PM on September 8, 2009

You might try this, but it's pretty pricey.
posted by Red Loop at 6:58 PM on September 8, 2009

Why not go to the horse's mouth? I imagine they would be more likely to either have something out of print but willing to sell or know where to find it in print.
posted by plinth at 7:07 PM on September 8, 2009

Even pricier.
posted by bookmammal at 7:10 PM on September 8, 2009

Harvard has that book (actually two volume set) for sale -- for the price of $225, though.
posted by fings at 7:19 PM on September 8, 2009