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Rossetti, Christina.
Goblin Market.
Publisher: Macmillan & Co., London;
Date of Publication: 1893
Stock Code: 12410
First edition thus. 12 mo, printed in sixes; pp., [4], 63, [1], paginated to include plates. With vignette to half-title, pictorial title-page, 12 full page plates and numerous illustrations throughout the text by Laurence Housman. Publishers’ olive green cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper board, and extensive stylised flower design in gilt to both boards (also by Housman); all edges gilt. Head and tail of spine and corners slightly rubbed. A little scattered light foxing, almost exclusively to endpapers, otherwise contents clean with no annotation or inscriptions. A near fine copy. Rossetti’s first volume of poetry, notably illustrated by Housman. The poem has been variously and controversially interpreted by critics, with some seeing themes of feminist and homosexual politics, female sexuality or a criticism of the marriage market. One of the most beautifully illustrated books of the 19th c. £500.00