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Ruth Abbott, A Wordsworth Family Notebook: Dove Cottage Manuscript 16 in Facsimile with Transcription and Commentary, 2 volumes boxed (Wordsworth Trust, 2026)
A Wordsworth Family Notebook is a faithful recreation of the original notebook used by William Wordsworth, his sister Dorothy and his wife Mary. All three wrote in it, and their hands run together on the page – Dorothy and Mary were collaborators in the work, not copyists.
Like the notebook, this publication is a collaboration. It was instigated by John Armitage, who also generously provided funding to the Wordsworth Trust; it was conceived and planned by Dr Ruth Abbott of St John’s College, Cambridge, an expert on the Wordsworth family notebooks, who has also edited, transcribed and introduced the work; and it is published by the Wordsworth Trust, owner of the notebook and custodian of the wider Wordsworth family archive.
The original manuscript is presented as a Hurtwood New Original™, a beautifully produced facsimile, accompanied by an edition by Dr Ruth Abbott, allowing readers to explore both the physical object and its remarkable contents.
Every surface of the original was photographed by Maciej Pawlikowski, Head of the Cultural Heritage Imaging Laboratory at Cambridge University Library. Working from scans of the original manuscript, the Hurtwood team sourced historically appropriate materials and brought the pages to life in print, combining the latest digital advances with fifteenth-century printing processes to recreate a late eighteenth-century handwritten text.
Working alongside us, our bookbinding partners replicated the original binding and gently aged the notebook to achieve the right texture of the paper, weight in the hand and look and character of each volume. Every detail has been carefully considered.
The edition was designed by Humphrey Stone and typeset in Bulmer, a typeface cut in the 1790s when the Wordsworths first began using the notebook. Each set carries a signed limitation sheet.
A Wordsworth Family Notebook is produced by Hurtwood and will be published by the Wordsworth Trust as a limited edition of 300 copies in Autumn 2026.
Details:
Size: 123 x 195mm
Pages: Notebook 192pp, transcription 172pp
Transcription: Dr Ruth Abbott of St John’s College, Cambridge
Design: Humphrey Stone
Transcription layout: Seb Lansdowne, Hurtwood
Reprography, pre-press and print production: Roger Jones, Hurtwood
Bookbinding: Ludlow Bookbinders
William Wordsworth is celebrated as one of Britain’s greatest poets, renowned for his writing on the Lake District, rural life and the natural world. Less well known is the way he worked: continually revising, refining and returning to earlier manuscripts.
Dorothy Wordsworth, William’s sister, wrote much of the notebook in her own hand. More than a copyist, she was an active collaborator, helping shape passages and working closely with her brother as poems evolved on the page.
Mary Wordsworth, William’s wife, also contributed to the notebook, adding poems, notes and annotations throughout. Together, William, Dorothy and Mary created a manuscript that reflects a genuinely collaborative way of writing, each contributing to its creation and development.
Fittingly, it is Dorothy’s initials, not William’s, that are stamped in gold on the notebook’s lower cover.
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UK: 1-2 weeks
Europe: 2-4 weeks
Rest of World: 2-4 weeks
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