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Robert Browning. Pauline; a Fragment of a Confession. London: Saunders and Otley, 1833....
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Description
Presentation copy of Browning's extremely rare first book
Robert Browning. Pauline; a Fragment of a Confession.
London: Saunders and Otley, 1833.8vo. Contemporary tree calf, boards with roll-tooled gilt borders, spines gilt in compartments and with gilt morocco lettering-pieces, marbled edges; cloth folding case.
FIRST EDITION OF BROWNING'S EXTREMELY RARE FIRST BOOK. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO HIS FRIEND [George Lillie Craik] on the front flyleaf: "One little grace goes to this book which so much needs it-the grace of its being possessed by and cared for by his friend. / Robert Browning. / Nov. 30, '75."
Browning's first book had little success, causing it to be withdrawn and the unbound sheets destroyed. EXTREMELY RARE: only 38 copies of this work are recorded. According to online records, the last copy to appear on the market prior to the present copy in the H. Bradley Martin sale, was sold by Scribner Rare Books in 1942 for $12,500.
George Craik was a partner in Macmillan and Co., who married the author Dinah Maria Mulock in 1864. Mullock was a friend and correspondent of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and dedicated her novel The Head of the Family (1852) to Elizabeth. The present volume appears to be part of a group of works by Browning inscribed to the Craiks on 30 November 1875. Copies of Browning's Balaustion's Adventure: including A Transcript from Euripides (1871), and Aristophanes' Apology including A Transcript from Euripides being the Last Adventure of Balaustion (1875), similarly bound and inscribed on the same date, were sold together at Christie's London, 19 November 2003, lot 42.
Condition: Spine ends and joints discreetly restored; some minor rubbing to extremities. Occasional minor stray foxmarks.
References: Kelley and Coley, The Browning Collections B19 (this copy); Texas/Barnes RB1; Tinker 413; Wise, A Browning Library 3.
Provenance: George Lillie Craik (bookplate); possibly the estate of T. L. Hood (according to Kelley and Coley); acquired by Seven Gables Bookshop, c. 1977; H. Bradley Martin (bookplate, his sale, Sotheby's New York, 30 April 1990, lot 2673). From the William A. Strutz Library.
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Auction Info
2024 June 27 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6295 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2024
27th
Thursday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 1
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25% on the first $1,000,000 (minimum $49), plus 20% of any amount between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000, plus 15% of any amount over $5,000,000 per lot.
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