The Swinburne Letters 1854–1909 (Complete in Six Volumes)

Algernon C Swinburne's correspondence, edited by Cecil Y Lang

Author

Publisher

Printing Details

1959–1962. First editions, first printings. Hardback in dustwrapper. Each 24 × 15.5cm, l + 315pp, vi + 378pp, vii + 335pp, vi +325pp, vii + 290pp, vii + 446pp.

The definitive collection of correspondence by the Victorian poet, critic, and provocateur Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909). Containing nearly 2,000 letters, the collection serves as an unedited window into 19th-century British literary culture, tracking Swinburne’s transformation from an iconoclastic, scandalous young aesthetician into a sheltered, elder Victorian figure.

Volumes 1 & 2 (1854–1875): Swinburne’s time at Oxford, his immersion in the Pre-Raphaelite circle (Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones), and his rise to notoriety.

Volumes 3 & 4 (1875–1883): Documents Swinburne's declining health in London due to severe alcoholism and physical breakdowns, culminating in the critical turning point of his life in 1879.

Volumes 5 & 6 (1883–1909): Covers the last three decades of Swinburne's life spent under the watchful care of Watts-Dunton.

Condition

All six books remain in good, strong readable condition, with clean pages and secure binding. There is some light spotted foxing to the page edges, and a slight mustiness to the books. The dustwrappers are present, with fading and tanning to the spines, and some wear and slight loss to the spine ends. Volume 3 with a small closed tear to the fore-edge (only about 2cm).