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[Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922)]
Robert BROWNING. The Robert Browning Birthday Book compiled by J.P. with an introduction by the Rev. Chas. W. Vick. London: Chiswick Press for George Routledge & Sons, Limited, 1898. 12° (15.4 x 12.4cm.). Printed in black with red decorative borders. Portrait frontispiece. Numerous manuscript entries in at least four different hands, including Ernest Shackleton (see 15 February). Original green cloth gilt, green-stained edges (spine chipped and slightly discoloured, small splits to upper joints, stitching broken with some leaves starting).
PROVENANCE:
Lady Shackleton (presentation inscription from Ernest Shackleton 'E.M. Dorman/from E./1898.')
Cecily Jane Swinford Shackleton.
Rina Dodds (pencilled inscription 'To Rina from Cecily/1940'), and thence by descent.
[With:] R. BROWNING. Moments with Browning. London: Truslove & Bray, Ltd. for Chapman & Hall Ltd., [no date but circa 1900]. Small 12° (10.9 x 8cm.). (Dampstained.) Original red limp sheep, upper cover blocked in gilt, gilt edges (affected by damp). Provenance: Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) (presentation inscription from Emily Shackleton 'To E.H.S./from E.M.S./15th. February 1908'), and thence by descent.
[And:] R. BROWNING. Selections from Robert Browning edited by Ada Ambler. New York, London & Toronto: E.P. Dutton & Co., J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1931. 16° (15 x 11cm.). Decorative surround to title and portrait frontispiece. Original green cloth, spine gilt (spine lightly soiled). Provenance: Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton of Burley (pencilled inscription 'E.A. Shackleton/from E.M.S.'), and thence by descent.
The Birthday Book marks the very beginning of Ernest Shackleton and Emily Dorman's romance. A friend of his sister Kathleen, Emily had been introduced to him first in the summer of 1897: 'He was back in England in February 1898... There was only a fortnight, but the fortnight was a dream of the new world. Miss Dorman opened up to him the poetry of Robert Browning -- he used to say formerly that he did not like Browning, but now the light had come. They visited the British Museum and National Gallery together, and the world of art was opening before him when the call of duty... brought him back to the sea... With midsummer he came back to the roses for a month, not so often at Sydenham now as at Mr. Dorman's country home at Tidebrook, Sussex, where the days sped happily, though still the poets and the painters were the intermediaries between a lover and a friend... At the end of July the Flintshire sailed with a second officer who had left his heart behind him... His anxious heart found rest, and torture, in the poets. He had Swinburne with him..., and he had now Browning also, the Selections, as well as a Browning Birthday Book, copies of which he and Miss Emily Dorman had exchanged and read in daily.' (H.R. Mill, The Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton, London, 1923, pp. 49-50.)
On the Discovery expedition, Shackleton, whose duties included charge of the expedition library, championed Browning in a ward-room debate, defeating Bernacchi's reading from Tennyson by one vote, although it would be Tennyson's 'Ulysses' that 'kept running through my head' (he wrote in his diary) on the southern journey with Scott and Wilson.
The pocket edition (Moments with Browning) given to him by Emily as a birthday present in 1908 may have been carried on the 'Farthest South' march at the end of the year. On the Endurance expedition, after the abandonment of the ship, Shackleton famously, in Hurley's account 'lifted from the dump, that represented the trimmings of civilisation, a pocket volume of Browning', remarking 'I throw away trash [gold sovereigns] and am rewarded with golden inspirations'. The present dampstained pocket volume from Shackleton's collection may then be a cherished veteran of both the Nimrod and Endurance expeditions. (3)
Robert BROWNING. The Robert Browning Birthday Book compiled by J.P. with an introduction by the Rev. Chas. W. Vick. London: Chiswick Press for George Routledge & Sons, Limited, 1898. 12° (15.4 x 12.4cm.). Printed in black with red decorative borders. Portrait frontispiece. Numerous manuscript entries in at least four different hands, including Ernest Shackleton (see 15 February). Original green cloth gilt, green-stained edges (spine chipped and slightly discoloured, small splits to upper joints, stitching broken with some leaves starting).
PROVENANCE:
Lady Shackleton (presentation inscription from Ernest Shackleton 'E.M. Dorman/from E./1898.')
Cecily Jane Swinford Shackleton.
Rina Dodds (pencilled inscription 'To Rina from Cecily/1940'), and thence by descent.
[With:] R. BROWNING. Moments with Browning. London: Truslove & Bray, Ltd. for Chapman & Hall Ltd., [no date but circa 1900]. Small 12° (10.9 x 8cm.). (Dampstained.) Original red limp sheep, upper cover blocked in gilt, gilt edges (affected by damp). Provenance: Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) (presentation inscription from Emily Shackleton 'To E.H.S./from E.M.S./15th. February 1908'), and thence by descent.
[And:] R. BROWNING. Selections from Robert Browning edited by Ada Ambler. New York, London & Toronto: E.P. Dutton & Co., J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1931. 16° (15 x 11cm.). Decorative surround to title and portrait frontispiece. Original green cloth, spine gilt (spine lightly soiled). Provenance: Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton of Burley (pencilled inscription 'E.A. Shackleton/from E.M.S.'), and thence by descent.
The Birthday Book marks the very beginning of Ernest Shackleton and Emily Dorman's romance. A friend of his sister Kathleen, Emily had been introduced to him first in the summer of 1897: 'He was back in England in February 1898... There was only a fortnight, but the fortnight was a dream of the new world. Miss Dorman opened up to him the poetry of Robert Browning -- he used to say formerly that he did not like Browning, but now the light had come. They visited the British Museum and National Gallery together, and the world of art was opening before him when the call of duty... brought him back to the sea... With midsummer he came back to the roses for a month, not so often at Sydenham now as at Mr. Dorman's country home at Tidebrook, Sussex, where the days sped happily, though still the poets and the painters were the intermediaries between a lover and a friend... At the end of July the Flintshire sailed with a second officer who had left his heart behind him... His anxious heart found rest, and torture, in the poets. He had Swinburne with him..., and he had now Browning also, the Selections, as well as a Browning Birthday Book, copies of which he and Miss Emily Dorman had exchanged and read in daily.' (H.R. Mill, The Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton, London, 1923, pp. 49-50.)
On the Discovery expedition, Shackleton, whose duties included charge of the expedition library, championed Browning in a ward-room debate, defeating Bernacchi's reading from Tennyson by one vote, although it would be Tennyson's 'Ulysses' that 'kept running through my head' (he wrote in his diary) on the southern journey with Scott and Wilson.
The pocket edition (Moments with Browning) given to him by Emily as a birthday present in 1908 may have been carried on the 'Farthest South' march at the end of the year. On the Endurance expedition, after the abandonment of the ship, Shackleton famously, in Hurley's account 'lifted from the dump, that represented the trimmings of civilisation, a pocket volume of Browning', remarking 'I throw away trash [gold sovereigns] and am rewarded with golden inspirations'. The present dampstained pocket volume from Shackleton's collection may then be a cherished veteran of both the Nimrod and Endurance expeditions. (3)
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