Florence Harrison – Illustrations for Poems by Christina Rossetti 1910

Florence Susan Harrison (1877–1955) was an English Art Nouveau and Pre-Raphaelite illustrator of poetry and children’s books. She illustrated many books by the poet Christina Rossetti from 1910-1920 and has been reprinted many times thanks to the marvelous illustrations.

Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English poet who wrote various romantic, devotional, and children’s poems. “Goblin Market” and “Remember” remain famous. She wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in the UK: “In the Bleak Midwinter”, later set by Gustav Holst and by Harold Darke, and “Love Came Down at Christmas”, set by Harold Darke and by other composers.

Goblin Market and Other Poems is Christina Rossetti‘s first volume of poetry, published by Macmillan in 1862. It contains her famous poem “Goblin Market” and others such as “Up-hill”, “The Convent Threshold”, and “Maude Clare.” It also includes the poem ‘In the Round Tower at Jhansi, 8 June 1857’, in which a British army officer takes his wife’s life and his own so that they do not have to face a horrific and dishonourable death at the hands of the rebelling sepoys, commemorating the Jhokan Bagh massacre at Jhansi. Christina’s brother, founding Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood member Dante Gabriel Rossetti, designed the frontispiece and title page illustrations in the first edition, as well as the minimal blue binding. Christina was acknowledged that her brother’s “commercial savvy and artistic skill” helped make her first volume of poetry a success.

Presenting the First edition of Poems by Christina Rossetti, with illustrations by Florence Susan Harrison. Published by Blackie & Sons Ltd, London, 1910.

Art Gallery: Florence Harrison – Poems by Christina Rossetti 1910