Ashley MS 1448, A1852, B4060, B5587

Letters (91) and a postcard from W. M. Rossetti to T. J. Wise; 8 Jan. 1886-27 March 1913. The greater part of the letters concerns the Shelley Society (1886-1892), of which Wise was Secretary from 1887 and Rossetti Chairman. One of the factors contributing to the downfall of the Society was Wise's extravagant policy of issuing facsimile reprints, and the letters reveal Rossetti's patience and generosity contrasted with Wise's incompetence and duplicity. Another subject which features largely in the letters is the acquisition and attempted acquisition by Wise of items, printed and manuscript, for his collection, both from Rossetti and from others (1448, ff. 8-9, 21, 32-34b, 40, 68-70b, 73b, 74, 76b-80b, 91, 116b-119, 124 127b, 133, 134, 136, 136b, 138, 138b; B4060), and in particular his efforts to buy the correspondence of Shelley and Elizabeth Hitchener (now Add. MS. 37496) owned by H. J. Slack (1448, ff. 40b-44, 47b-48b, 50, 79b, 138b), of which Wise had produced a pirated edition, apparently printed in 1887 and 1888 (see Wilfred Partington, Thomas J. Wise in the Original Cloth, 1946, pp. 72-73), but bearing the date 1890. Among other matters discussed is the withdrawal from sale by Moxon and Co. of Swinburne's Poems and Ballads in 1866 (A1852). There are receipts from W. M. Rossetti to Wise for various sums of money in 1448, ff. 47, 76, 133, and in B4060, and there are notes by Wise on the letters in 1448, ff. 40, 72b, and B4060, f. 13b. Many are printed in Roger W. Peattie, Selected Letters of William Michael Rossetti, 1990, passim. Ashley Library Catalogue, iv, p. 173; [v, p. 74]; vi, p. 60.

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