£950
ALS BY THE AUTHOR TIPPED IN, 8vo, pp. 236. Printed on wove paper, ruled in red throughout. Slightly later cream vellum, red morocco label, boards gently bevelled, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. A little spotting to edges and endpapers. Gift inscription to ‘Mother from Stuart & Freda’ dated 1899 to title-page, bookseller’s label of Edward Howell, Liverpool, to pastedown, autograph letter by Christina Rossetti tipped to corner of title-page.
A prettily-produced compilation of Rossetti's religious verse, first published the previous year and reprinting poems from several collections of the previous decade. This copy has been nicely rebound in plain but quality vellum, and features a letter from Rossetti herself, evidently taken from an album (with small mounting strips at corners) and now tipped in to the title-page here.
The letter is undated (beyond 'Friday') but written from 30 Torrington Square, where Rossetti lived from the 1870s until her death. Addressed to a 'Miss Deffell', Rossetti answers the question of her birthdate ('I respond very willingly:- December 5, 1830') and elaborates on her situation: 'We are quite a little hospital at present, both my poor old Aunts being laid up'. This suggests the letter dates from around 1891/2: Rossetti's two elderly maternal aunts joined her in the house in 1890 following her brother William and his family's move out to Primrose Hill, and in 1892 Rossetti herself underwent surgery for the breast cancer that would kill her in December 1894.
