Goblin Market
London: Macmillan & Co., 1893. Hard Cover. Very Good+ binding. Item #10233
Tall 12mo. [4], 63, [1] pp., illus. First edition, thus. As issued, in decorative cloth binding designed by Housman; all edges gilt. An exceptionally nice copy with a few spots of foxing to the tissue guard fronting the title page; only touches of wear to the corners and softened spine ends.
This is the first stand-alone edition of Rossetti's 1862 poem; a poem that some scholars have argued partially inspired Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), In 1893, a representative of Macmillan approached Rossetti about a gift book edition for the Christmas season—this present edition was the result. A remarkable book designed inside and out by a young Laurence Housman. (Kooistra, p. 84). The outcome was a gorgeous treatment of Rossetti's poem with 12 full-page illustrations (some brought together as two-page spreads) as well as numerous in-text embellishments. While these latter are charming and grace every page of text, it is the full-page illustrations where Housman's talent is on full display. These pages and page spreads are dynamic, full of movement. Capturing both the spirit and urgency of the goblins' calls, but also, offering a sinister overtone in the way the goblins seem to overwhelm Laura and Lizzie in turn. The book is an undoubted triumph. Kooistra, Christina Rossetti and Illustration.
Price: $850.00