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William Michael Rossetti Collection
Notifications
Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
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.
This collection was formed as a result of the departmental practice of combining into one collection manuscript material of various accessions relating to a particular author.
Mostly purchased in 1977-2011, with some later additions. 1 Letter from Rosetti is a gift of Mark Samuels Lasner.
This collection was processed by Karla J. Vecchia in 2002. Finding aid written by Karla J. Vecchia in 2002.
Biography written by Alyxandra Cullen, '09.
No material was separated during processing.
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Karla J. Vecchia
- Finding Aid Date
- 2003
- Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
Collection Inventory
Contains miscellaneous manuscripts of Rossetti's writings, as well as a few sketches.
Arranged alphabetically.
Physical Description1 box
Biographical sketch begins "The circumstances under..."
Physical Description1 box
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Introduction to Miscellaneous Essays, Sketches and Reviews by William Makepeace Thackeray
Physical Description1 box
Preface to Pictures from Italy by Charles Dickens
Physical Description1 box
Consists of two sheets of paper containing eight pencil sketches by William Michael Rossetti. The sketches are of heads of various Rossetti family members and other friends in the Pre-Raphaelite circle. Those depicted include Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882, brother), Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori Rossetti (1800-1886, mother), William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), James Hannay (1827-1873), and William North (1825-1854). Identifications and other annotations added by William Michael Rossetti's daughter, Helen Rossetti Angeli (1879-1969).
Physical Description1 box
Contains miscellaneous correspondence of Rossetti.
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent name.
Physical Description1 box
Signed autograph card by William Michael Rossetti, commenting on two books he read in 1902.
Physical Description1 box
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Annotated by Rossetti in pencil at the top of the first page: "Biographer of Christina Rossetti-Relates to a proposed visit to Holmer Green (some 30 miles from London) where our grandfather Polidori lived in our childhood."
Physical Description1 box
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Consists of a three-page signed autograph letter from William Michael Rossetti (5 Endsleigh Gardens, N.W.) regarding sonnets.
Physical Description1 box
Correspondence with William Michael Rossetti, Montague Rhodes James, and Charles H. St. John Hornby about Dante Gabriel Rossetti's poem, "Sister Helen"
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re: W. T. Deverell & exhibition of D. G. R.
Physical Description1 box
re: death of D. G. R.
Physical Description1 box
1 box
re: "Mr. Tupper"
Physical Description1 box
To "William" [William Michael Rossetti]
Physical Description1 box
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(See also: Photographs)
Physical Description1 box
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re: W. M. R.'s book on Shelley
Physical Description1 box
1 box
re: F. M. Brown's gout
Physical Description1 box
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(See also: Hunt, W.H.)
Physical Description1 box
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(asking if he is right to send "this" to you, and in pencil footnote referring to Swinburne)
Physical Description1 box
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Contains unidentified correspondence of Rossetti.
Arranged chronologically.
Physical Description1 box
(quotes Shelley)
Physical Description1 box
(re: royalties of DGR)
Physical Description1 box
(re: photograph of WMR and W. B. Scott)
Physical Description1 box
(re: exhibition of DGR)
Physical Description1 box
(re: subscription for George Cruikshank)
Physical Description1 box
(re: Boer War)
Physical Description1 box
(re: poetic gift)
Physical Description1 box
(re: copyright of poems of CR)
Physical Description1 box
Contains miscellaneous material by or about Rossetti.
Arranged by format: photographs before printed matter.
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Subscription for funds to aid a poor French family signed by Ford Madox Brown, W. M. Rossetti, Francis Hueffer, A. Hake, M. Cavre, H. V., Mrs. Linton, and D. G. Rossetti.
Physical Description1 box
"Che squallore, che miseria, che inerzia, che pratiche superstiziose, che invincibili pregiudizi," on Italian history and politics of the Papacy, 1 p., with a separate autograph note by William Michael Rossetti
Physical Description1 box