Call Number:

C0773

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 4 boxes
• 1.45 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Rossetti Family Letters to the Heimann Family, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

circa 1843-1896 (inclusive)

Creator:

Rossetti, Christina Georgina, 1830-1894

Form:

Correspondence

Abstract:

The Rossetti Family Letters to the Heimann Family collection consists primarily of letters written over a period of almost five decades by Christina Georgina Rossetti to Mrs. Adolf Heimann, the wife of a professor of German at University College, London, who was a colleague of her father, Gabriele Rossetti, a professor of Italian at King's College, London. It also contains letters by her mother, Frances, and her three siblings, Dante Gabriel, Maria Francesca, and William Michael, to various members of the Heimann family.

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) achieved fame in her lifetime as a poet, based primarily upon the publication in 1862 of the volume Goblin Market and Other Poems. She published The Prince's Progress in 1866 and A Pageant in 1881, as well as devotional manuals and works of religious edification, which reflect her profoundly religious temperament. Although her father's anti-establishment influence prevented her from being a Roman Catholic, she was High Church Anglican.

Her older sister Maria Francesca Rossetti (1827-1876) followed her equally strong religious inclinations by entering an Anglican sisterhood at All Saints' Home in 1874, after her brother William's marriage freed her from domestic responsibilities. Up until that time she had also occupied herself in teaching Italian and in religious educational work. Her commentary on Dante, A Shadow of Dante, was published in 1871.

Their older brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) achieved fame as both a painter and a poet. He studied drawing at King's College, London, and painting at the Royal Academy. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite School of Painting and enjoyed the patronage of John Ruskin, the Pre-Raphaelites' champion in the press. His poetic gift is reflected both in his translations of Italian poetry, published in 1861, and in his original poems, published in volumes which appeared in 1870 and in 1881.

The fourth Rossetti sibling, William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919), served in the Excise Office, later the Inland Revenue Board, from 1845 until his retirement in 1894. As well as being an active reviewer and art critic, he edited the poetic works of his brother Dante Gabriel and his sister Christina.

The Rossetti and Heimann families met because the Rossetti's father Gabriele was professor of Italian at King's College, London, an appointment he held starting in 1831, and Adolf Heimann was professor of German at University College. Their acquaintance began when the families agreed to exchange Italian lessons for German lessons. It grew into a friendship which lasted through the century.

The Rossetti Family Letters to the Heimann Family collection consists almost entirely of letters written by the four Rossetti siblings, Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894), Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), Maria Francesca Rossetti (1827-1876), and William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919), as well as by their mother, Frances Polydori Rossetti, to members of the German-Jewish emigré family of Dr. Adolf Heimann. The bulk of the letters, 293, are from Christina Rossetti, primarily to Mrs. Heimann. The next largest series is 46 letters from Maria Francesca Rossetti, primarily also to Mrs. Heimann. There are 14 letters from William Michael Rossetti to the Heimanns and 14 from Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The collection also contains six letters from Frances Rossetti to the Heimann family. The last series, Letters of Other People, includes three letters from Jane Morris to Mrs. Heimann, as well as a letter from Cathy Hueffer to Christina Rossetti. Cathy Hueffer was the younger sister of William Michael Rossetti's wife, Lucy Madox Brown, and daughter of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting teacher, Ford Madox Brown. Also included is a first edition of Maria 's book on Dante, A Shadow of Dante (1871), that has three additional letters by Maria to Mrs. Heimann tipped in.

The letters for the most part do not bear exact dates, but were dated according to the envelopes that were kept with them; hence, the actual date of the letter may be as much as a day before the date on the envelope. A letter which was dated this way has "/ env." indicated with it in the collection outline. In the early 1870s Christina Rossetti was afflicted with Graves' disease. Analysis of her handwriting has helped us to estimate the dates of letters from this period.