Beschreibung:

BROWNING, Elizabeth Barrett (1806-1861). Last Poems . London: Chapman and Hall, 1862. 8° (182 x 125mm). (Without the final advertisement leaf.) Contemporary calf, marbled endpapers. Provenance : presentation copy from Robert Browning to Julia Frances Wedgwood (inscribed 'Miss Wedgwood -- from RB. July 7 '64' on inserted slip, apparently cut from free endpaper of the original binding), gifted to: -- Hope Wedgwood (front free endpaper inscribed 'Hope Wedgwood from J.F.W.') -- by descent to Mary Mosley, sold Parke-Bernet, New York, 21 November 1938, part lot 37. FIRST EDITION. Barnes A13. BROWNING, E.B. The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets . London: Chapman and Hall, 1863. 8° (171 x 106mm). Original green grained cloth, brown endpapers (front inner hinges split). Provenance : presentation copy from Robert Browning to Julia Frances Wedgwood (front free endpaper inscribed 'Miss Wedgwood -- from RB./July 13-'64 -' and with later Wedgwood family inscriptions) -- by descent to Mary Mosley, sold Parke-Bernet, New York, 21 November 1938, part lot 37. FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM. Elizabeth had published these essays in the Athenaeum in 1842, and made certain revisions to the text intending to republish them before her death. Barnes A14. BROWNING, E.B. Poems ... sixth edition . London: Chapman and Hall, 1864. 8° (172 x 110mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait by Barlow. (Contents leaf detached, quire H in vol. I loose, quires E-H in vol. II loose, vol. III with block broken.) Uncut in original green grained cloth (spines frayed, inner hinges split, stitching weak). Provenance : presentation copy from Robert Browning to Julia Frances Wedgwood (half-title to vol. I inscribed: 'Miss Wedgwood -- from RB. July 13.'64') -- occasional pencil notes in an unidentified hand -- by descent to Mary Mosley, sold Parke-Bernet, New York, 21 November 1938, part lot 37. THREE PRESENTATION COPIES BY ROBERT BROWNING TO JULIA WEDGWOOD (1833-1913) OF POSTHUMOUSLY PUBLISHED WORKS BY ELIZABETH, dated July 7 and July 13, 1864. After Elizabeth's death, RB formed several key friendships with other women, but it is probably Julia Wedgwood who came closest to being the second Mrs. Browning. Great grand-daughter of Josiah Wedgwood and niece of Darwin, she initiated a correspondence full of gossip and literary allusion. However, she did not possess Elizabeth's ability to free herself from a conventional background, and seems to have regretted the impropriety of writing to Browning first. In March 1865 she wrote to say that their friendship had been wrongly interpreted and that they should no longer meet, at least not in her house. He then decided to stop seeing her altogether, only admitting in a letter of 17 March 1867 that he 'underwent great pain from the sudden interruption of our intercourse' (see Garrett A Browning Chronology p. 135). The books were included in a lot of 77 letters between Julia and Robert, sold by Mary Mosley, Julia's niece, in 1938 ( see lot 156 ). (3)