Details
ARNOLD, Matthew (1822-1888). Friendship's Garland: being the conversations, letters, and opinions of the late Arminius, Baron von Thunder-Ten-Tronckh. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1871.
8° (182 x 113mm). (Browned, front free endpaper with 35mm tear at lower inner margin and short tear to top margin.) Original white ribbed cloth by Hanbury and Simpson with their ticket, covers with black mourning rule, front cover stamped with a gilt wreath, gilt-lettered spine, brown endpapers (spine darkened, covers spotted, inner hinges split). Provenance: presentation copy to Robert Browning (verso of front free endpaper inscribed 'To R. Browning -- with kindest regards. M.A.') -- George Mason (bookplate) -- purchased from James F. Drake, New York, 4 March 1940, $35. Exhibited: Grolier Club (1950s exhibition label loosely inserted).
FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM, INSCRIBED TO ROBERT BROWNING. These amusing satirical letters had previously been printed in the Pall Mall Gazette, 1866-1870; the essay 'My Countrymen' had first appeared in The Cornhill Magazine, February 1866. A mock editorial commentary was added for the book. While Arnold had his reservations about Browning's poetic talent ('a man with a moderate gift'), he frequently dined with Browning during the 1860s and found him 'a quite remarkably agreeable converser.' It was Browning who persuaded him to reprint 'Empedocles on Etna,' one of his best poems, in a collection of 1867 (see Nicholas Murray A Life of Matthew Arnold, 1996, pp. 142, 232, 234 and 324). Smart p. 27: 'Friendship's Garland, now very scarce, is highly prized by "collectors."'
8° (182 x 113mm). (Browned, front free endpaper with 35mm tear at lower inner margin and short tear to top margin.) Original white ribbed cloth by Hanbury and Simpson with their ticket, covers with black mourning rule, front cover stamped with a gilt wreath, gilt-lettered spine, brown endpapers (spine darkened, covers spotted, inner hinges split). Provenance: presentation copy to Robert Browning (verso of front free endpaper inscribed 'To R. Browning -- with kindest regards. M.A.') -- George Mason (bookplate) -- purchased from James F. Drake, New York, 4 March 1940, $35. Exhibited: Grolier Club (1950s exhibition label loosely inserted).
FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM, INSCRIBED TO ROBERT BROWNING. These amusing satirical letters had previously been printed in the Pall Mall Gazette, 1866-1870; the essay 'My Countrymen' had first appeared in The Cornhill Magazine, February 1866. A mock editorial commentary was added for the book. While Arnold had his reservations about Browning's poetic talent ('a man with a moderate gift'), he frequently dined with Browning during the 1860s and found him 'a quite remarkably agreeable converser.' It was Browning who persuaded him to reprint 'Empedocles on Etna,' one of his best poems, in a collection of 1867 (see Nicholas Murray A Life of Matthew Arnold, 1996, pp. 142, 232, 234 and 324). Smart p. 27: 'Friendship's Garland, now very scarce, is highly prized by "collectors."'
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