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SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE
by BARRETT BROWNING, Elizabeth
- Used
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
[London: Riccardi Press for the Medici Society, Ltd., 1914. Limited edition. Slim octavo. Publisher's linen-backed paper boards, lettered in gilt. T.e.g. First edition, thus. Edition limited to 1000 copies printed on handmade Riccardi paper; the copies were numbered yet this copy is unnumbered (writer's fatigue?). Initial page of the sonnets is printed within a highly decorative border, ribbon place marker at Sonnet XLIII, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." Neat ink name and date on front free endpaper, some little offsetting to endpapers, light sunning to edges, else internally about fine, without dust wrapper.
This limited edition from the Riccardi Press Booklets series reprints forty-four of Barrett Browning's most beloved, and oft-quoted sonnets originally published in 1850. This particular copy belonged to the poet Franklin McDuffee, a 1921 graduate of Dartmouth College who wrote the verses for "Dartmouth Undying" and who won poetic renown when his Michelangelo took the Newdigate Poetry Prize at Oxford in 1924. McDuffee had been a member of the Dartmouth English department from that year, rising to a full professorship by 1936. The poet took his life in 1940 after having been in ill health for several years.
This limited edition from the Riccardi Press Booklets series reprints forty-four of Barrett Browning's most beloved, and oft-quoted sonnets originally published in 1850. This particular copy belonged to the poet Franklin McDuffee, a 1921 graduate of Dartmouth College who wrote the verses for "Dartmouth Undying" and who won poetic renown when his Michelangelo took the Newdigate Poetry Prize at Oxford in 1924. McDuffee had been a member of the Dartmouth English department from that year, rising to a full professorship by 1936. The poet took his life in 1940 after having been in ill health for several years.
Synopsis
Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets to the Portuguese are widely considered among the greatest cycle of sonnets in the English language. This collection of love poems was written between 1845-46 to fellow poet and her soon-to-be husband, Robert Browning . Originally, Browning had no intention of publishing the poetry owing to its deeply personal subject matter, but her husband convinced her to publish them in the 1850 edition of her Poems . Originally, however, she was reportedly to have called the collection Sonnets from the Bosnian but was convinced to change the title to Sonnets from the Portuguese , also on her husband's suggestion. The Sonnets (as they are often called) are interesting as far as their collectibility is concerned. They were not originally published as a standalone work, but in Barrett's first compilation of poetry, Poems . First published in 1844, it did not contain the Sonnets initially. This distinction was to belong in fact to the second edition of 1850, published in 2 octavo volumes by Chapman and Hall in dark blue gilt cloth, making the second edition of Poems more valuable and collectible than the first edition. This is, of course, a rarity in the world of book collecting. The first state contains the address for the publisher on the title page as 186, Strand, rather than 193, Piccaddilly. The second edition of Poems (containing Sonnets from the Portuguese) is rather uncommon, but will typically fetch $5,000 or more, depending on condition.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Second Wind Books LLC
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 449
- Title
- SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE
- Author
- BARRETT BROWNING, Elizabeth
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- Limited edition
- Publisher
- Riccardi Press for the Medici Society, Ltd.
- Place of Publication
- [London
- Date Published
- 1914
- Keywords
- Love poetry, sonnets, dead poets,
Terms of Sale
Second Wind Books LLC
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Second Wind Books LLC
Biblio member since 2022
New Haven, Connecticut
About Second Wind Books LLC
Second Wind Books is committed to offering important British and American first editions in the Modernist vein, with an emphasis on books about books, books by and about women and adjacent admirers. Literature, poetry, small and fine press, letters and manuscripts, original artwork, photographs, are what interests us most. Our founder began bookselling under the tutelage of a truly great bookman in 2006, and is now offering that learned expertise in her own shop. Interested in offers of literature from 1900 to 1950, either for sale or to evaluate.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
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