[ROSSETTI, DANTE GABRIEL]. Hand and Soul. [London: Strangeways and Walden, printers, 1869].

first edition. (7 1/8 x 4 3/4 in.): unsigned. Pp. [1-3] 4-21 [22-24]. [1] half-title Hand and Soul.; [2] blank; [3] drop title, with beginning of text; 4-21 [22] text, signed at end Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1850. on p. [22] with imprint (below rule) of Strangeways and Walden below; [23-24] blank.

Orig. tan paper wrappers, edges trimmed. Front cover printed Hand and Soul. within single rules. Small old tape repair inside front cover along fore-edge where paper clip (holding card, see below) was removed, back cover slightly discolored at corner, traces of glue on spine, slightly marked, in fact a very nice and attractive copy of a fragile pamphlet.

Written—it is said—in one sitting, in December 1849, The tale may be regarded as the key work of Pre-Raphaelite prose fiction. Published in the January 1850 inaugural number of The Germ no. 1 (pages 23-33) and, later, in the The Fortnightly Review (December 1870), the story received the honor of being reprinted by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press in 1895. Rossetti at first intended to incorporate the work in his Poems (1870) and had included it in various sets of proofs for the book prepared during the Summer of 1869. In the end it was dropped from the published volume—in part because the exhumation of the manuscript notebook buried in his wife's grave gave Rossetti more than enough poetical material. This pamphlet might be best described as a privately printed offprint from the proofs, the same typesetting with a complete repagination. As W. M. Rossetti explained in his Bibliography of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1905), his brother “caused various copies of Hand and Soul to be done up in drab wrappers; and he gave some of them away but never sold them.” How many were produced is unclear. Thomas J. Wise states, citing no authority, that 100 were printed, and this seems a likely, if perhaps optimistic number. What is known is that only two copies actually inscribed by the author can be located with certainty, one (now in a private collection) presented to Thomas Dixon, Ruskin's workingman of England, the Sunderland cork-cutter to whom he addressed the letters published in Time and Tide (1867), and one (now in the library of the Delaware Art Museum) presented to John B. Schott, the husband of Rossetti's housekeeper, Fanny Cornforth. Evidence in Rossetti's letters suggests that others, notably William Davies and James Smetham, may have been given copies, but these have not surfaced. Most of the 25-30 distinct examples known—all but a handful in institutional collections—derive from a remainder found by William Rossetti after his brother's death in 1882. These came onto the book market at the turn of the century when William sold and distributed copies (some bearing the inscription W. M. Rossetti from Gabriel's books 1882) to Wise, H. Buxton Forman, Sydney Cockerell, and a number of booksellers. (Interestingly, the format and contents of the pamphlet make it a prime candidate for a Wise forgery, and indeed a sole survivingchimera or hybrid exists, now in the British Library, with photogravure frontispiece and title-page leaves supplied after 1890 by Wise and/or Buxton Forman.)

This copy has the added appeal of an interesting association and provenance, having been presented by Rossetti's friend of later years, the future novelist Hall Caine. The front cover bears Caine's inscription“To D. Barron Brightwell Esqre from Hall Caine'” and, below the printed title, the words “by D. G. Rossetti”. Inserted is an autograph correspondence card from Caine dated 29 March /86 which reads:“Dear Mr Brightwell, I have just hit on this rather rare pamphlet & think you would like to have it. Of course you know it is Rossetti's. I believe bibliographers aset some store by it. Yours very truly T.H.C.” Daniel Barron Brightwell, a Manx schoolteacher and minor critic, the author of A Concordance to the Works of Alfred Tennyson (1869), was Caine's first literary mentor. The book later passed into the collection of the Philadelphia bibliophile Harold Peirce, a specialist in William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites. Much of Peirce's library was sold in a series of auctions held by Stan V. Henkels, Philadelphia. Hand and Soul was prominently featured—one of the very few items illustrated in the catalogue—as lot 496 in the portion offered on 27-28 March 1903. The purchaser was F. Holland Day, the Boston publisher and photographer, whose firm, Copeland and Day, had issued the first separate American edition of Rossettti's The House of Life in 1894. Day's extensive library was dispersed beginning in the late 1920s and the further history of the pamphlet is unknown until it resurfaced in the hands of the San Francisco bookseller Bernard Rosenthal, from whom it was purchased, through Princeton Rare Books, by Mark Samuels Lasner in 1980.

For further information see: Ashley 1396; Nicolas Barker and John Collins, A Sequel into An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain XIXth Century Pamphlets (1983) pp. 131-2, 214 (for the 'chimera' prepared by Wise and Forman); Fredeman 23.6; Peterson A36 (for Kelmscott Press edition, this pamphlet version mentioned on p. 90)Rossetti p. 17; Tinker 1813.

Checklist of copies of Hand and Soul

1. With inscription from Hall Caine to D. Barron Brightwell. Autograph correspondence card from Caine to Brightwell inserted. Orig. wrappers. provenance: D. Barron Brightwell; Harold Peirce, Philadelphia (his sale, Henkels, Philadelphia, 27-28 March 1903, lot 496, $56.00); F. Holland Day; ?Caroline and Hudson Poole; Bernard Rosenthal (bookseller); Princeton Rare Books (bookseller); Mark Samuels Lasner (1980); Thomas A. Goldwasser Rare Books. owner: Linda Merinoff.

2. Inscribed by D. G. Rossetti to Thomas Dixon. Orig. wrappers. MS correction by Rossetti on p. 16. provenance: Blackwell's Rare Books (1971); private collection, England; Blackwells Rare Books (1978); Swann Galleries, New York, sale 9 March 1995; Glenn Horowitz (bookseller). owner: Mark Samuels Lasner.

3. Inscribed by D. G. Rossetti to John B. Schott. Orig. wrappers. MS correction by Rossetti on p. 16. provenance: John B. Schott; his wife, Fanny Cornforth; their son, Fred Schott, who sold it in 1892? to Samuel Bancroft, Jr. owner: Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington.

4. With autograph letters inserted from W. M. and Christina Rossetti. Orig. wrappers, in leather binding. provenance: Ximenes Rare Books (bookseller). owner: Jerry Wachs, New York.

5. Chimera produced by Thomas J. Wise and/or H. Buxton Forman, with photogravure frontispiece and added title-page (ca. 1890). InscriptionH. Buxton Forman from W M Rossetti 1886. Orig. wrappers. provenance: W. M. Rossetti; H. Buxton Forman; Buxton Forman sale, Anderson Galleries sale, 1920, lot 589; Rosenbach; John F. Fleming (bookseller); Bromer Booksellers, Boston (1976). owner: British Library.

6. Bound with other pamphlets. No wrappers. Early ownership signature dated 1879. owner: Boston Athenaeum Library.

7. Inscription Privately printed in 1869. W. M. Rossetti. Orig. wrappers. provenance: W. M. Rossetti; Thomas J. Wise. owner: British Library ( Ashley 1396).

8. Bound by Riviere, orig. wrappers preserved. provenance: Thomas J. Wise?; Harry Elkins Widener. owner: Harvard University Library, Widener Collection.

9. Orig. wrappers. In blue leather box. provenance: Ian Hodgkins (bookseller); Colin Franklin (April 1979).owner: Colin Franklin[?].

10. Orig. wrappers. provenance: Stonehill (bookseller)?; Chauncey B. Tinker. owner: Yale University Library (Tinker 1813).

11. Inscription 'W M Rossetti from Gabriel's books 1882'. Orig. wrappers. provenance: W. M. Rossetti. owner: Yale University Library.

12. Inscription “W M Rossetti from Gabriel's books 1882”. Bound by Riviere, orig. wrappers preserved. provenance: W. M. Rossetti; Thomas J. Wise[?]; John A. Spoor; Spoor sale, Parke-Bernet, 1939, part II, lot 716; Robert H. Taylor. owner: Princeton University Library ( Taylor collection ).

13. Inscription “From D.G.R. to W.S.” in hand of William Sharp. Further inscription by W. M. Rossetti identifying the handwriting (August 1904). MS correction by D. G. Rossetti on p. 16. Orig. wrappers. provenance: William Sharp; Thomas J. Wise; John H. Wrenn. owner: University of Texas.

14. Inscription “W. M. Rossetti from Gabriel's books 1882”. Bound by Root, orig. wrappers preserved. provenance: W. M. Rossetti; H. Buxton Forman; Buxton Forman sale, Anderson Galleries, 1920, lot 880; Stark. owner: University of Texas.

15. Orig. wrappers. provenance: Bookplate of A. C. Swinburne, but no other indication that this was actually his copy; Maggs; Janet Camp Troxell. owner: Princeton University Library (Troxell collection).

16. Rebound. No wrappers. provenance: Ellen Terry (ownership signature on binder's leaf and bookplate); Janet Camp Troxell. owner: Princeton University Library (Troxell collection).

17. Signed “W. M. Rossetti” on front cover. Orig. wrappers. provenance: W. M. Rossetti; offered for sale by Howard S. Mott. This may have been sold by Quaritch at one time.

18. Inscription “W. M. Rossetti (Privately Printed, 1869)”. Orig. wrappers. provenance: W. M. Rossetti; Sotheran cat. of books form the library of W. M. Rossetti, 1920, no. 1633. May be the same as preceding entry.

19. Orig. wrappers. owner: W. E. Fredeman.

20. Orig. wrappers. owner: University of California-Davis Library. (Listed in RLIN database).

21. Orig. wrappers. owner: Duke University Library.

22. Orig. wrappers. owner: University of Chicago Library[?].

23. Orig. wrappers. provenance: Henry Yorke; Lord Esher; Esher sale, Sotheby's, 1947; Norman Colbeck. owner: University of British Columbia Library (Colbeck collection).

24. Orig. wrappers. owner: Syracuse University Library[?].

25. Orig. wrappers? Possibly bound with set of proofs for Poems (1870). provenance: Charles Fairfax Murray. owner: Fitzwilliam Museum.

26. Possibly inscribed by D. G. Rossetti to William Davies. Known from letter from Rossetti to Davies stating that he is sending copies.

27. Possibly inscribed by D. G. Rossetti to James Smetham. Known from letter from Rossetti to Davies stating that he is sending copies.

28. Rebound (original wrappers preserved) by Tout. With presentation inscription from W. M. Rossetti to Charles Augustus Howell in remembrance of Gabriel 21 June 1882. provenance: W. M. Rossetti; C. A. Howell; American Art Association sale, 7 January 1929; Ralph Isham. ownner: Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

29. Orig. wrappers. With inscriptions CAH andTHTB[?] date July 23/[18]72 on front cover and pen and ink drawing of a coat of arms on the verso of the title page. Inscription on verso of front cover states that this copy was purchased from Sotheran in 1882 for one guinea. Boxed in a brown half-calf binding by Richard Smart. provenance: Charles Augustus Howell. owner: Jerome McGann .