The gorgeous nothings

This exquisite reproduction of a collection of envelopes that Dickinson (1830-86) covered with scraps of poems and delightfully enigmatic phrases has not only literary value but also stunning pictorial presence. In a title originally published as an artist book by Steve Clay of Granary Books, editors Werner (The Dickinson Composites) and Bervin (Emily Dickinson's Open Folios: Scenes of Reading, Surfaces of Writing) introduce (on facing pages) scanned images and visual transcriptions of envelopes that Dickinson used to draft poems or to jot down some idiosyncratic phrase that may have haunted her thoughts. Each page presents a single envelope or (in some cases) a scrap of an envelope covered with the poet's sometimes gnomic script against a stark white background. On the facing page is an outline of the same piece of envelope and within it are transcribed the words penciled on the surface. Approximately 180 pages of these images and their transcriptions, along with an introduction by Bervin and a closing essay by Werner, fill this oversize volume. Also included are indexes by page shape (i.e., flaps, seals, arrows, pointless arrows), address, multidirectional text, and cancelled or erased text, among others. VERDICT Though this book will be of limited value in a public or school library, it is a scholarly and artistic gold mine for researchers and those obsessed with Dickinsonian minutiae. The scanned envelopes are also available online at the Emily Dickinson Archive.-Herman Sutter, St. Agnes Acad., Houston (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.