The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning
London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1889-1890.
Six Royal octavo volumes (233 x 158 mm overall, the pages 225 x 152 mm). One of 125 unnumbered large-paper sets on thick hand-made laid paper watermarked John Dickinson & Co and with its cipher. Six frontispiece and three other engravings (seven signed G. Cook, T.O. Barlow and J. Brown and tissue-guarded) on chine laid on heavy wove, and one manuscript facsimile leaf. Contemporary full olive crushed morocco (overall uniformly faded to rich brown), spines in six compartments with raised bands and gilt lettering, top edges gilt, others uncut, gilt-ruled dentelles, green and lavender Spanish-patterned marbled endpapers, ivory silk marker ribbons. Collates (vol. 1) [3 ll.], 1 l. (half-title), 1 l. (frontispiece engraved portrait verso, tissue-guarded), 1 l. (title, colophon verso), pp. [v]-vii (prefatory note by Robert Browning, dated 1887), 1 l. (engraving of Coxhoe Hall recto), 1 l. (author’s dedication to her father, dated 1844), pp. [xi]-xviii (author’s preface, dated 1844), 1 l. (author’s advertisement recto, dated 1856, contents verso), 1 l. (fly-title), pp. [3]-306, [3 ll.]; (vol. 2) [3 ll.], 1 l. (half-title), 1 l. (frontispiece engraved portrait verso, tissue-guarded), 1 l. (title, colophon verso), 1 l. (contents), 1 l. (fly-title), pp. [3]-287, [1 p.], [3 ll.]; (vol. 3) [3 ll.], 1 l. (half-title), 1 l. (frontispiece engraved portrait verso, tissue-guarded), 1 l. (title, colophon verso), pp. [v]-viii (contents), 1 l. (engraving of Hope End verso), 1 l. (fly-title), pp. [3]-293, [1 p.], [3 ll.]; (vol. 4) [3 ll.], 1 l. (half-title), 1 l. (frontispiece engraving of Casa Guidi, tissue-guarded),1 l. (title, colophon verso), pp. [v]-vi (contents), 1 l. (fly-title), pp. [3]-294, [3 ll.], plus 1 l. manuscript facsimile verso facing p. 279; (vol. 5) [3 ll.], 1 l. (half-title), 1 l. (frontispiece engraved portrait verso, tissue-guarded), 1 l. (title, colophon verso), pp. [v]-vi (contents), 1 l. (fly-title), pp. [3]-290, [3 ll.]; (vol. 6) [3 ll.], 1 l. (half-title), 1 l. (frontispiece engraved portrait verso, tissue-guarded), 1 l. (title, colophon verso), 1 l. (contents), 1 l. (fly-title), 1 l. (author’s dedication to John Kenyon, dated 1856), pp. [5]-377, [1 p.], pp. [379-393 (index), [394] (directions to binder), [3 ll.], plus 1 l. (engraving of author’s tomb verso, tissue-guarded, facing p. 377). Spines and exposed covers overall uniformly faded to rich brown, negligible edgewear, offsetting of dentelles onto margins of free endpapers, book blocks lightly toned at extreme uncut edges, negligible scattered paper stains (e.g., offsetting from plates or marker ribbons, edge soiling), one marker ribbon detached, overall fine, the book blocks bright and immaculate, a superlative set.
After her death in 1861 Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Poems were collected in the five-volume set published 1864-6 by Chapman & Hall. Warner Barnes, op. cit., considered that edition the sixth, albeit the first striving toward comprehensiveness, following four similarly-titled lifetime editions in 1844, 1850, 1853 and 1856 and a three-volume set in 1862. The present set, considered the most complete, follows eight reprintings by Smith, Elder of the 1864-6 five-volume compilation (as Poetical Works) and expands that compilation by an additional volume. In addition to the poems, the new set includes as well the two long prose pieces, “The Greek Christian Poets” and “The Book of the Poets.” It opens with the author’s preface and dedication to her father from her 1844 Poems, which first intrigued her to Robert Browning, and includes the first printing of the latter’s four-page prefatory note, dated December 10, 1887, correcting several misstatements in a recent memoir of his wife. This limited large-paper production on fine hand-made paper, a good 5 cm taller than the trade issue of the same dates (Barnes E169) on regular paper, is one of several notable collaborations of John Dickinson, master papermakers, toward the end of the century (e.g., Fielding’s Works, 1882, another Royal octavo set with Smith, Elder).
This first appearance of a deluxe, limited collection of Barrett Browning has become rare. Only seven North American institutions hold this set, as listed by WorldCat-OCLC. Notably, no sets are in Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Harvard, Yale, Morgan Library or Harry Ransom Center, notwithstanding that at least the last three have significant archives of Barrett Browning material.
Reference:
Barnes, Warner, A Bibliography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Austin:
University of Texas Humanities Research Center, 1967, E181.1.
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