Call Number:

C0223

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 box
• 0.4 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); William Michael Rossetti Collection, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1868-1907 (inclusive)

Creator:

Princeton University. Library. Special Collections and Rossetti, William Michael, 1829-1919

Form:

Correspondence., Essays., Manuscripts., and Sketches.

Abstract:

The William Michael Rossetti Collection consists of manuscripts, sketches, correspondence, and miscellanea of the English art critic and essayist William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919).

William Rossetti, brother to Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Christina Rossetti, as well as art critic and literary editor, was born on September 25, 1829. When he was sixteen years old, Rossetti started working in the Excise Office. In 1850 he started working for The Spectator as an art critic, and between the two jobs helped support the entire Rossetti family. In 1894, Rossetti stopped working at the Excise Office, by then known as the Inland Revenue Office. He was the diarist for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and editor of the associated journal The Germ. He also edited volumes of poetry by his siblings, and put together D.G. Rossetti: A Memoir with Family Letters in 1895. In addition to these editorial accomplishments, Rossetti also a sharp critic, generating early support and praise for Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and William Blake. He passed away on February 5, 1919.

The collection consists primarily of original letters and manuscripts of William Michael Rossetti, one of the Pre-Raphaelite "brothers." Rossetti's correspondents include Charles Aldrich, William M. Colles, E. H. Leggatt, Everard Meynell, David M. Main, Frederick Locker, Ford Madox Ford, Theodore Watts-Dunton, Walter Severn, Octavia Susman, and others. The manuscripts include an introduction to Miscellaneous Essays, Sketches, and Reviews, a volume of William Makepeace Thackeray's works; two undated essays attributed to Rossetti entitled "Flowers in Ancient Egypt" and "The Gardens of Ancient Egypt;" a prefatory note to Charles Dicken's Pictures from Italy; and a biographical sketch of Ford Madox Brown. Also present are several drawings and three photographs of Rossetti and family members, and a small selection of miscellanea, including an article on Italian history and the politics of the Papacy by Rossetti's father, Gabriele Rossetti.

The following standard abbreviations, or their variations, are used to identify materials in this collection: ALS = autograph letter signed, ACS = autograph card signed, ANS = autograph note signed, AMs = autograph manuscript, and TMs = typed manuscript.

Organized into four series: Writings and Artwork, Correspondence, Unidentified Correspondence, and Documents and Miscellaneous Material.