Complete Catalogue of Olive Custance’s Poetry (1888–1944)
This catalogue combines every verified poem: collected, uncollected, and manuscript. It is a work in progress.
Method: poems are identified by their texts (and, where useful, by incipits), not by title alone. Titles were sometimes reused, altered between periodical and book publication, or assigned inconsistently by later cataloguers. A newspaper appearance of a poem later collected in a volume is therefore recorded as a periodical witness or variant, not as a separate uncollected poem.
Layout: Title / textual identification | Source or first known publication | Location | Status.
I. Early Juvenilia and the “Wild Olive” Period (1888–1896)
| Title / identification | Source / first known publication | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voices of Nature | The Lady’s Pictorial (Children’s Page), 15 September 1888, p. 19 | London press | Uncollected |
| ’Tis an Age | The Lady’s Pictorial, c. 1888–89 | London press | Uncollected |
| Be Content | The Lady’s Pictorial, c. 1890 | London press | Uncollected |
| The Passing of the Old Year | The Lady’s Pictorial, late 1880s–early 1890s | London press | Uncollected |
| The Waking of Spring — “Spirit of Spring! Thy coverlet of snow…” | The Gentlewoman (“Children’s Salon”), 1892 | London press | Early text; later revised and collected in Opals (1897) |
| The Parting Hour — “The sunset fades, and twilight grows apace…” | The Pall Mall Magazine, May 1895 | London press | Uncollected |
| Joy — “This wonderful wild winged thing…” | The Pall Mall Gazette, 11 May 1895 | London press | Uncollected |
| At the Day’s End (“Oh, Lover!”) | The Kansas City Star, 7 March 1896; repr. Glen Innes Examiner, 4 December 1896; Riverina Times, 16 December 1896 | US and Australian press | Uncollected |
| A Love Lay | The Pall Mall Magazine, June 1896, pp. 240–41 | London press | Uncollected |
| The Prince of Dreams / Ideal (addressed to John Gray) | Periodical title The Prince of Dreams; collected as Ideal in Opals (1897) | Periodical / collected volume | Collected; verified title and dedication variant, not a separate poem |
II. The Opals Era and Turn of the Century (1897–1903)
| Title / identification | Source / first known publication | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safe in My Golden Room of Thought | Boston Evening Transcript, 12 June 1897 | US press | Uncollected |
| After the Dance | Periodical witnesses in the Sacramento and Boston press, 1898; later in Rainbows (1902); repr. Kansas City Star, 14 January 1905 | US press / collected volume | Collected in Rainbows; early periodical witnesses |
| Reminiscence / Reminiscences | The Pall Mall Magazine, February 1899, pp. 186–87; collected as Reminiscences in Rainbows (1902) | London press / collected volume | Collected; title variant |
| Dreamed Tryst | The Sketch, 1899; repr. New Zealand Herald, 29 March 1899 | London and New Zealand press | Collected in Opals (1897); later periodical reprint |
| A Dancing Girl | The Sketch, 1899; repr. Philadelphia / Chattanooga Daily Times, 7 June 1899 | London and US press | Collected in Rainbows (1902) |
| The Heart of a Child | The Sketch, 1899; repr. Daily Picayune (New Orleans), 30 July 1899, credited to London Sketch | London and US press | Collected in Rainbows (1902) |
| The Snow | The Kansas City Star, 3 February 1901 | US press | Collected in Rainbows (1902) |
| A Song of Welcome — “You know I love you…” | New-York Tribune, 8 March 1903 | US press | Uncollected; textually distinct from the similarly titled Rainbows poem |
| The Secret | Rainbows (1902); repr. Neodesha press, 10 April 1903 | Collected volume / US press | Collected in Rainbows |
| The Song | Rainbows (1902), p. 24; repr. Pittsburgh Post, 17 May 1903, “reprinted by permission of John Lane” | Collected volume / US press | Collected in Rainbows |
| Life | Rainbows (1902); Louisville and Indianapolis press witnesses, 1903 | Collected volume / US press | Collected in Rainbows |
| The Kiss | Rainbows (1902), p. 27; repr. Kansas City Star, 5 November 1903 | Collected volume / US press | Collected in Rainbows |
| Good-night | Rainbows (1902), p. 53; repr. Waco Times-Herald, 13 November 1903 | Collected volume / US press | Collected in Rainbows |
| The Masquerade | Rainbows (1902), p. 16; repr. Boston Globe, 13 December 1903 | Collected volume / US press | Collected in Rainbows |
| The White Witch | The Sunday Times (Sydney), 13 December 1903; later repr. Sewell, Selected Poems (1964) | Australian press / later edition | Collected in Rainbows (1902); later periodical and anthology witnesses |
III. Rainbows, The Blue Bird, and Later Periodical Witnesses (1902–1909)
| Title / identification | Source / first known publication | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbows | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| A Song to Beauty | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| Songs of a Fairy Princess (I–V) | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| A Girl’s Love | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| Mélissande | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| A Sea Song | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| Ritornello | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| Grey Eyes | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| The Dreamer | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| The Lingering Day | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| In Praise of Love | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| Antinous | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| The Silence of Love | Rainbows (1902) | Collected volume | Collected |
| A Song of Youth | The Kansas City Star, 18 June 1905 | US press | Uncollected |
| To a Playfellow | The Kansas City Star, 18 October 1905 | US press | Uncollected |
| Lament / The Victory of Love, Part I of Love and Death | Rainbows (1902), later newspaper witness under the title Lament, 1909 | Collected volume / US press | Collected; retitled reprint, not a separate poem |
| After Rain | Rainbows (1902); shortened newspaper variant in The Kingston Whig-Standard, 27 October 1909 | Collected volume / Canadian press | Collected; shortened 1909 variant, not a separate uncollected poem |
IV. The Inn of Dreams and Post-War Poems (1911–1931)
| Title / identification | Source / first known publication | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Inn of Dreams | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| The Kingdom of Heaven | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| A Dream | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| The Autumn Day | The Blue Bird (1905); repr. The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volumes | Collected; reprint |
| Angels | The Blue Bird (1905); repr. The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volumes | Collected; reprint |
| The Changeling | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| A Song Against Care | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| The Vision | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| The Dance | The Inn of Dreams (1911); reprinted in A Book of Verse by Living Women, ed. Lady Margaret Sackville (1910), with a textual variant (“the day”) | Anthology / collected volume | Collected; variant witness |
| The Prisoner of God | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| St. Anthony | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| Black Butterflies | The Blue Bird (1905); repr. The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volumes | Collected; reprint |
| In Praise of Youth | The Blue Bird (1905); repr. The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volumes | Collected; reprint |
| Opal Song | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| Gifts | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| Primrose Hill | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| A Morning Song | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| The Wings of Fortune | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| Shadow-Nets | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| Hyacinthus | The Blue Bird (1905); repr. The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volumes | Collected; reprint |
| Hylas | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| Blue Flowers | The Blue Bird (1905); repr. The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volumes | Collected; reprint |
| Endymion | The Blue Bird (1905); repr. The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volumes | Collected; reprint |
| Dance Song | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| A Memory | The Blue Bird (1905); repr. The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volumes | Collected; reprint |
| The Magic Mirrors | The Inn of Dreams (1911) | Collected volume | Collected |
| Mowing | Country Life, 30 August 1919 | London press | Uncollected |
| Escape | Country Life, 22 November 1919 | London press | Uncollected |
| The Storm (1919 text) | Country Life, 6 December 1919 | London press | Uncollected; textually distinct from the 1911 poem of the same title |
| To Byron | Autograph, 7 February 1924, Weston Hall, Norwich | Fonds Jacques Doucet, Paris | Manuscript; unpublished |
| To Bosie (after reading his Autobiography) | Border Standard, c. March 1929; holograph in Paris | British press / Fonds Jacques Doucet | Uncollected; manuscript also survives |
| The Shepherds | Border Standard, 26 December 1931; Magdalen College copy | British press | Uncollected |
V. Late Wartime and Devotional Poems (1940–1944)
| Title / identification | Source / first known publication | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| To the Wounded | Private printed card, c. 1940 | Hyde Collection; Magdalen College copy | Uncollected |
| Immortal Youth (I) | Private RAF card, c. 1940 | Magdalen College P 204 | Uncollected |
| Immortal Youth (II) | The Daily Telegraph, 31 July 1940 | London press | Uncollected; textually distinct from item I |
| For Our Lady — A Prayer of Peace — “Mary, whose eyes have looked on grief / Pray for us now in our unbelief” | Card described in Hyde notes, c. 1942 | Hyde Collection; Magdalen College | Manuscript fragment; unpublished |
VI. Manuscript-Only Poems and Fragments
| Title / identification | Source / description | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poems to John Gray (sequence) | Sixteen poems addressed to John Gray; several unique | Fonds Jacques Doucet, Paris | Manuscript only |
| Before a Portrait of Byron — “Oh, to have been a woman that he loved!” | Autograph poem | Fonds Jacques Doucet | Manuscript only |
| The Woman Remembers | Holograph concerning Bosie, 1920s | Fonds Jacques Doucet | Manuscript only |
| The Girl | Holograph, 1913–1930s | Fonds Jacques Doucet | Manuscript only |
| Untitled devotional scraps | Sewell (1975), p. 34: “short religious verses and prayers … written in a shaky hand” | Hyde Collection / Sewell correspondence | Untraced manuscripts reported |
Items still under collation
The Letter and For a Photograph / The Photograph remain under textual collation. They should not be declared separate or identical solely on the evidence of their titles.
Note on reprints and variants: several poems from The Blue Bird (1905) were reprinted in The Inn of Dreams (1911). Periodical appearances and anthology printings are recorded as witnesses to the same poem unless comparison of the full text or incipit establishes otherwise.
