“An Old Master” – verses 1, 2 and 3

October 31st, 2015 | C. J. Dennis, News, Poems for adults

Before proceeding to the manuscript, let us remind ourselves of the following.

There are three published versions of “An Old Master”.

The first was published in “The Bulletin” in 1910.

The second was published in “Back Block Ballads and Other Verses” by E.W. Cole in 1913.

The third, and final version, was published in “Back Block Ballads and Later Verses” by Angus & Robertson in 1918. This version, considerably shorter than the version published by “The Bulletin” in 1910, is the one best known and most often heard today.

The 1913 version is not widely accessible. It exists only in a couple of libraries. I have not seen it myself.

The pencil-written manuscript given to me by David Hume follows very closely the longer version in “The Bulletin”. It is dated 23.3.10.

Here are verses 1 and 2 of the pencil-written manuscript, together with the first two lines of verse 3.

There are not many corrections to note here, but they are as follows:

Verse 1
Line 2
“on” replaced by “near”

Verse 2
Line 2
“tucker bill” replaced by “tucker bag”