THE MUSIC MASTER, A LOVE STORY, AND TWO SERIES OF DAY AND NIGHT SONGS

First edition, first printing. Containing the first published illustration by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Original blue cloth with gilt titles to the spine and decorations in blind to the upper and lower boards. Illustrated with nine woodcuts engraved by Dalziel; seven designed by Arthur Hughes, one designed by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and one designed by John Everett Millais. A better than very good copy, the binding square and firm, the spine tips and board corners lightly rubbed and bumped, the spine a touch faded. The contents, with some small marks to the front pastedown, a contemporary inscription to the half-title, a few light spots to the closed text-block edge, early pages and infrequently throughout, are otherwise clean and bright. The plate 'Under the Abbey Wall' retains its tissue guard. An attractive copy of a scarce title.

A book of poetry by the Irish writer, poet and diarist William Allingham, illustrated with woodcuts designed by an all-star Pre-Raphaelite trio, Allingham's friends Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais (both of whom were founding members of the Pre-Raphealite Brotherhood) and Arthur Hughes. Rossetti's design for the poem 'The Maids of Elfen-Mere' was his first to be published in a book. Rossetti and Allingham were already good friends when Allingham asked Rossetti to provide an illustration for his book in 1854, and Rossetti's letters to the writer document his feelings of uncertainty when putting his design onto the woodblock and his dread at relinquishing control and handing it over to the engravers, George and Edward Dalziel. When he finally saw the proof of the woodcut he was displeased and threatened to withdraw it from the project, but with Allingham's encouragement he eventually allowed it to be included. Despite Rossetti's misgivings, the book and its illustrations (Allingham noted that "some [readers] like Rossetti's best of all") were a great success and helped to shape the trajectory of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The young Edward Burne-Jones was struck by the illustration and wrote of it in the first issue of his and William Morris's publication, 'The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine', describing it as "the most beautiful drawing for an illustration I have ever seen". Burne-Jones and Morris soon sought out Rossetti and recruited him as a contributor to their magazine. He had a deep impact on the pair, particularly Burne-Jones, who decided to become an artist under Rossetti's influence. In light of this, Rossetti's illustration for this volume serves as a significant link between the initial Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their associates and the later artists that they influenced such as Burne-Jones, Morris, Evelyn de Morgan and William Waterhouse, who expanded and continued Pre-Raphealite concepts throughout the remainder of 19th century, to eventually be woven into later movements such as the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau. Allingham's poetry often employs mystical themes and references to medieval forms and concepts, naturally pairing beautifully with Pre-Raphealite artwork, and was a significant influence on Celtic Revivalist writers such as W. B. Yeats. 'The Maids of Elfen-Mere', a fairy maiden poem reminiscent of John Keats' 'La Belle Dame San Merci', tells the story of three ethereal, yarn-spinning women who appear each night and sing, disappearing at the strike of eleven. A love-struck youth tampers with the clocks to make them stay longer, which leads to the maids' mysterious deaths. Rossetti's illustration, dominated by the tall, light figures of the maids and the dark, hunched figure of the youth, captures the otherworldly and foreboding atmosphere of the poem.