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A Fine copy, inscribed on front blank "E.H. Polidori / from Christina Rossetti / July 1847." Small octavo (6 1/4 x 3 7/8 inches; 159 x 98 mm.). [iv], 66, [2, blank] pp. Page 55-56 are in the corrected state: dated 1847 at the end; stanza 5, line 1 reads "And now that thou art gone"; stanza 5, line 3 reads "And see the clouds"; stanza 6, line 1 reads '"Yes, oftentimes I sit beneath it now"; stanza 8, lines 1-2 have quotation marks; stanza 8, line 1 ends with a semi-colon. A superb exhibition binding by Zaehnsdorf ca. 1900. Full green morocco, covers with an elaborate floral decoration in gilt with red morocco inlays. Spine with five raised bands elaborately gilt with red morocco floral inlays and lettered in gilt in compartments, gilt-ruled board edges, decorative gilt turn-ins, tan morocco liners and endleaves, all edges gilt. Joints expertly and invisibly repaired. Publishers blue patterned cloth wrappers bound in. With the engraved bookplate of Charles Plumptre Johnson on verso of front endpaper and the armorial bookplate of Dr. Samuel L. Sieger on first blank leaf. Housed in a full dark green morocco clamshell case, spine with five raised bands decorated and lettered in gilt in compartments. A spectacular rare first edition in a beautiful 'Exhibition' binding of Christina Rossetti s first book. Printed by her grandfather Gaetano Polidori s private press in Park Village East near Regent s Park when the author was just sixteen years old, the delicate book contains 42 poems, two of which are in Italian. It includes the first poem Rossetti ever wrote a birthday present for her mother as well as the poems The Dead City and The Water Spirit s Song, and several centered around the rose, the author s personal emblem (Marsh, Hayward). A highly important and delightful example of a young poet s talent foreshadowing her creative career to come. This volume was presented to Eliza Harriet Polidori (1809-1893), Christina Rossetti s maternal aunt, a brave woman who worked as one of Florence Nightingale s nurses in the Crimean War and "managed the stores at the Barrack Hospital at Scutari" where injured soldiers were brought from battle to be treated (Bostridge). Christina wished to serve alongside her aunt at the barrack Hospital, but was rejected due to her young age. Dante Gabriel Rossetti took a less favorable view of Polidori, calling her his "maniac aunt" in a letter to William Bell Scott in 1854 (Fredeman). Following Polidori's death by cancer, Christina would inherit her aunt s fortune. Fredeman 44.2; Hayward 267; Ashley IV, p. 99; Tinker 1784; CBEL III, 497; CBEL (3) IV, 659; Marsh pp. 32-41, 72-76. Fine. Codice articolo 6415
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Dati bibliografici
Titolo: Verses (Presentation copy)
Casa editrice: G. Polidori's, London
Data di pubblicazione: 1847
Condizione: Fine
autografato: Autografato dall'autore
Edizione: First edition.
