The Rhyme of the Duchess May. Illustrated by Charlotte M. B. Morrell. BROWNING, Elizabeth Barrett.

First edition thus, inscribed by Robert Browning, who selected his late wife's "especially pictorial" (p. v) narrative poem as a gift: "Lily Benzon from her affectionate friend, Robert Browning. Christmas Eve '73". The Rhyme of the Duchess May was first published in Barrett's Poems in 1844; this was the first individual and the first illustrated edition. Elizabeth Marie Rudolpha "Lily" Benzon (c. 1857-1912) was the adoptive daughter of Ernst and Elisabeth Benzon. The couple were philanthropists of the arts who counted Browning, Wilkie Collins, Felix Mendelssohn, and George Eliot amongst their friends. Lily Benzon later presented the book to one J. H. Owens, as shown by a late 19th-century gift bookplate using her married name, Forster. Charlotte Mount Brock Morrell (1834-1922) studied at Carey's School of Art 1850-5, and exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts between 1855 and 1874. She emigrated to Canada in 1875 and became the first female member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Her work was known for its "compelling narrative scenes", which put her at "the forefront of conventional Victorian aesthetics" (DCB). Quarto, pp. vi, 24. With 8 black and white mounted and tissue-guarded plates. Original blue pebble-grained cloth, elaborate black and gilt frames surrounding gilt title to front cover, frames in blind to rear cover. Spine toned, repaired at head, shallow chip to foot, spots of wear to extremities, light soiling to rear cover, rear inner hinge partially split, contents clean: a very good copy.