MASSEY'S EARLY POEMS.

    Massey christened his first published poetry collection, "Original Poems and Chansons".  Although no copy is known to survive, a review published in the Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News on 8th May, 1847, tells us something about it.  The book's publisher was Garlick (untraced in local trade directories of the time), it contained 72 pages and was offered for sale in Massey's home town of Tring in Hertfordshire; another source records that 250 copies were printed and sold at one shilling each.  It is not known if Massey had a financial backer or, as the newspaper article seems to suggest, it was a wholly private venture.  The newspaper's reviewer quotes extracts from the "Battle of Ferozepore" and two other poems, each of which is lost.  Nothing else is known of Massey's first published poetry collection.

    While researching local newspapers of the period, historian Wendy Austin, besides uncovering the review of "Original Poems and Chansons" referred to, discovered that during 1847 and for a number of years thereafter, Massey's poems were published occasionally in the Bucks Advertiser, being variously attributed to A TRING PEASANT BOY;  T. MASSEY, a peasant;  T. MASSEY;  T. G. MASSEY; and later, to GERALD MASSEY.  It is also known that Massey published poetry in various radical newspapers and periodicals with which he was associated during this period, sometimes using the pen names BANDIERA or ARMAND CARREL.   Thus, although no copy of "Original Poems and Chansons" has survived, the following poems taken from the Bucks Advertiser and from radical publications of this period serve to illustrate Massey's developing style prior to his earliest surviving published collection, "Voices of Freedom and Lyrics of Love" (1851).

    Within the following, which are listed in chronological order within publication, some titles appear twice.  Massey often revised his poems between publications, sometimes quite substantially, as is illustrated, for example, by comparing the first edition of his popular "There's No Dearth Of Kindness" (November, 1849) with editions published in 1850, 1851, and his final thoughts on the subject in 1889.

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