New Emily Dickinson Poem Discovered

The discovery of the manuscript of a previously unknown and unpublished poem by Emily Dickinson bought last week by the public library in Amherst, where she lived is expected to set off a flurry of academic interest.

The untitled two-stanza, 15-line poem is believed to be the first new piece of Dickinson’s poetry to come to light in 40 years.

The Jones Library bought the manuscript, in Dickinson’s rounded, sloping hand, at a Sotheby’s auction last week for $24,150.

“I think this will be a very busy summer for us,” said town library director Bonnie Isman. “I believe academics will be very interested.” The poem is not dated, and was written in pencil on 5-by-8-inch blue-lined paper and signed “Emily.”

In the upper right-hand corner there is an inscription - in red ink by an unidentified hand - “Aunt Emily.” That, Isman says, could refer to a young relative of Dickinson’s or was just a term of endearment.

Following its practice, Isman said, Sotheby’s has not revealed how it received the manuscript or where it was found.

Sotheby’s put an estimated price of $10,000 to $15,000 on the manuscript with the notation that “unpublished manuscripts of Dickinson are of the utmost rarity.” Funds to buy the manuscript came from members of the Emily Dickinson International Society during their annual meeting in Amherst last month.

Daniel Lombardo, the curator of the Dickinson collection at the Jones Library, a member of the society’s board, told the society about the impending auction.

“To our amazement, people started donating money,” said society president Cristanne Miller, a professor at Pomona College and author of several works on Dickinson. Before the end of the board meeting, about $8,000 had been raised, and the rest was raised from the society’s members the next day.

“It was the most extraordinary thing I’ve ever seen,” Isman said. The society was moved to buy the manuscript, Isman said, because a growing number of private collectors are interested in acquiring Dickinson manuscripts. “If the society hadn’t purchased it so that it could be brought to the public,” Isman said, “it would probably have been purchased by a private collector and lost to the public for another 40 years.”