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John Ruskin and Francesca Alexander

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Title: Archive of books and letters by or about John Ruskin and Francesca Alexander
Author: **
Description: Includes: Ruskin, John. The Ethics of the Dust. (8vo) original gilt stamped maroon cloth. Second Edition. New York: Wiley, 1879. * Ruskin, John. "Our Fathers Have Told Us." Part I. The Bible of Amiens. (8vo) original green cloth. Kent: George Allen, 1884. * Ruskin, Joh. Praeterita: Outlines of Scenes and Thoughts, Perhaps Worthy of Memory, In My Past Life. (8vo) original green cloth. Boston: Dana Estes, No Date (c. 1900). * [Alexander], Francesca. The Story of Ida. Edited and with a preface by John Ruskin. (8vo) original gray cloth. Boston: Cupples, Upham and Company, 1883. * Another Copy. (8vo) original printed wrappers. New York: George Munro, No Date (c. 1885). * Alexander, Francesca. Roadside Songs of Tuscany. Edited by John Ruskin. (4to) original brown cloth. Kent: George Allen, 1885. * Alexander, Francesca. The Hidden Servants. (8vo) original brown cloth. Boston: Little, Brown, 1901. * Alexander, Constance Grosvenor. Francesca Alexander: A "Hidden Servant". (4to) original cloth backed boards. Letter from the author laid in. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927. Together 8 volumes.Mounted and laid into 'Roadside Songs' is an autograph letter from Ruskin, on his Brantwood letterhead, to his publisher regarding final revisions of his lectures. Also included are 2 letters from Ruskin to Francesca Alexander, both on Brantwood letterhead. The Correspondence between Ruskin and Alexander continued regularly from their meeting in 1882 until Ruskin's death in 1900. Even during the last 11 years of Ruskin's life, when illness closed in upon the mind of the great man, Francesca continued to write him and send flowers from Italy. Their influence upon each other is apparent and the companionship it brought Francesca in her secluded, almost nun-like life was a joy and inspiration to her. Ruskin always addressed Francesca as Dearest "Sorella", or sister, and she spoke of him as, "Mio Caro Sorello", my dear brother. The majority of Ruskin's letters to Alexander were destroyed in Italy. In one of the letters included here, dated March 20, 1889, Ruskin thanks Francesca for the gift of flowers "Your flowers have all come safely and they are a joy to her and to many friends and seem not to mind staying with me in my study, where I now pass tranquil, but alas, too useless days". In the other, dated August 29, 1886, he recounts a celebration at his home and offers a verse to his cousin's daughter, Violet, the birthday girl: "Dear Violet, for you birthday's good / I graft a moral on my wood. / That life with all its 'Ifs' and 'Buts' / Is first like almonds, then like nuts. / In early spring we can't but think / Its blossoms will be always pink. / Then - when the dainty colour's lacking / Its lessons need sagacious cracking. / Wise Violets, from their rough externals / Educe, with care, the sweetest kernels." The original envelope, addressed to Miss Alexander in Tuscany, is included.
Place Published: (Ruskin, John and Francesca Alexander)
Date Published: Various Places

Books showing some wear but overall good or better; letters fine.

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