Ashley MS 1386

Letters from Christina Rossetti to various correspondents; [6?] March 1877-15 [Jan.] 1890. Ashley Library Catalogue, iv, p. 107. As follows:―

1. Letter to Dante Gabriel Rossetti discussing suggestions made by him on the subject of Christina's poem 'Mirrors of Life and Death', printed in the Athenæum for 17 March 1877; [6?] March 1877. This letter appears to be earlier than that printed in Family Letters of Christina Rossetti, 1908, pp. 66, 67. There is a note to W. T. Watts[-Dunton] from D. G. Rossetti on f. 1. Printed in part in L. M. Packer, Christina Rossetti, 1963, p. 316. ff. 1-2b.

2. Letter to William Bryant, who had pestered Christina with begging letters, informing him that she could help him no longer; 29 n.m. [1886-1888?]. Printed in L. M. Packer, The Rossetti-Macmillan Letters, 1963, p. 153. The letter from Christina in Add. MS. 41130, f. 192, is also probably to Bryant. ff. 3-4.

3. Letter to Harry Buxton Forman, declining to sign a petition for a Civil List pension to be granted to Mrs Cheltnam [the daughter of J. H. Leigh Hunt?]; 2 Aug. 1882. ff. 5-6.

4. Letter to A. C. Swinburne, in reply to one from him, enclosing a copy of his A Midsummer Holiday and other Poems, 1884, in which is a poem entitled 'A Ballad of Appeal, to Christina G. Rossetti'; 19 Nov. 1884. Portions of the letter are printed in Christina Rossetti, pp. 21 and 354. ff. 5-8b.

5. Nine letters to W. T. Watts[-Dunton], the second with envelope and enclosing a letter from Mrs C. E. Gringer; 25 Sept. 1877-15 Jan. 1890. Among the subjects of the letters are the health of D. G. Rossetti, and, after his death, the sale of his effects at Christie's and articles written about him by Watts[-Dunton], one Gringer, who attempted to solicit aid from Christina by claiming he had, as she put it, suffered 'hard usage at hands so dear to me', the deaths of her mother and her aunt Charlotte, a sonnet to be printed in the Athenæum ['Resurgam', printed in the number for 28 Jan. 1882, p. 124 ?], and her work 'reading and thinking over part of the New Testament' [printed as The Face of the Deep, 1892]. Letter 8 and part of 9 are printed in Christina Rossetti, pp. 373, 384. ff. 9-26b.

Octavo; ff. i+26.

includes:

• ff. 1-2b Christina Georgina Rossetti, poet: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, poet and painter: Letter to Dante Gabriel Rossetti from Christina Georgina Rossetti: 1877.
• ff. 3-4 Christina Georgina Rossetti, poet: William Bryant, poet: Letter to William Bryant from Christina Georgina Rossetti: [1886-1888?].
• ff. 5-6 Christina Georgina Rossetti, poet: Jacintha Cheltnam, née Hunt; daughter of J H Leigh Hunt: Harry Buxton Forman, CB; author: Letter to Harry Buxton Forman from Christina Georgina Rossetti rel. to Jacintha Cheltnam: 1882.
• ff. 7-8b Christina Georgina Rossetti, poet: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Letter to Algernon Charles Swinburne from Christina Georgina Rossetti: 1884.
• ff. 9-10, 15-26b Christina Georgina Rossetti, poet: Walter Theodore Watts-Dunton, formerly Watts; critic, novelist and poet: Letters to Walter Theodore Watts-Dunton from Christina Georgina Rossetti: 1877-1890.
• ff. 12, 13b Christina Georgina Rossetti, poet: Mrs C. E. Gringer: Letter to Christina Georgina Rossetti from Mrs C. E. Gringer: 1886.