THE SISTERS [inscribed by Swinburne] by Swinburne, Algernon Charles - 1892

1892. [from Swinburne to Meredith] A Tragedy. London: Chatto & Windus, 1892. 1 preliminary page ads plus 32 pp ads dated Oct 1891. Original dark blue-green cloth. First Edition, which consisted of only 1250 copies, of Swinburne's only verse play in contemporary speech. This copy is inscribed by Swinburne on the half-title, simply "From the author." The book bears the Box Hill bookplate of the famous Victorian author George Meredith. Meredith and Swinburne had been friends for several decades; during the early 1860s Swinburne lived for awhile at the center of Pre-Raphaelitism, the Cheyne Walk abode of Dante Gabriel Rossetti -- where Meredith lived as well. It turned out to be a difficult arrangement... ...Things grew worse. Meredith was revolted by Rossetti's gargantuan breakfasts, bacon surrounded by a circle of eggs. Swinburne knocked [William] Morris into a cupboard and smashed Rossetti's china. With a new acquaintance, Simeon Solomon, he [Swinburne] romped naked about the house, sliding down the banisters and shrilly waking the echoes. Rossetti planned to accommodate his new mistress, Fanny Cornforth, whom Swinburne out of loyalty to Lizzie [Siddal, Rossetti's now-deceased former mistress and wife] always referred to as "The Bitch." Meredith, driven to distraction by the row, swore that "he would certainly have kicked Swinburne downstairs had he not foreseen what a clatter his horrid little bottom would have made as it bounced from step to step." Within a few months, Meredith left... [Thomas] At about the same time, Swinburne wrote a letter to The Spectator protesting the paper's unkind review of Meredith's MODERN LOVE. Sometime later Swinburne wrote the novella LOVE'S CROSS-CURRENTS, which is regarded as highly influenced by the style of his friend George Meredith. In short, this volume brings together two of the giants of Victorian literature. The volume, which came from the renowned collection of Halsted Vander Poel, is in near-fine condition. Wise (Swinburne) 96.