The Works of Robert Browning (Centenary Edition) [COMPLETE IN TEN VOLUMES - WITH THE AUTHOR'S SIGNED AUTOGRAPH LETTER TIPPED IN]

London: Smith, Elder & Co, 1912. Centenary Edition. Hardcover. Fine. 484/500. Ten volumes, octavo (21.3 by 14.3 cm). Title pages in red and black preceded by half titles. Each volume with frontispiece portrait of the author protected by tissue guard. Three quarter maroon morocco over matching silk moire boards; spine with raised bands, lettered and ruled in gilt; top edge gilt, remaining edges untrimmed as issued; silk ribbon marker. A fine set.

Finely bound set of the Centenary Edition of the works of Victorian poet and master of the dramatic monologue, Robert Browning (1812-1899). The frontispiece portraits of Browning depict the author progressively between the ages of 43 and 77. Edition limited to 526 copies, this being no. 484 of 500 printed on antique laid paper.

ALS: Tipped in at the two blank leaves following the half title in the first volume are the envelope and autograph letter signed by Robert Browning, dated Dec 8. [18]63. Addressed to Miss Hensleigh Wedgewood, Browning here apologizes for being unable to accept her invitation to a family dinner. The novelist and writer (Frances) Julia Wedgwood (1833-1913) was the great grand-daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, founder of the Etruria pottery works; her extended family included Sir James Mackintosh and Charles Darwin. "At the height of her reputation, in the 1870s and 1880s, Julia Wedgwood was seen as one of the great female intellects of Victorian England, second only to George Eliot in her ability to handle difficult, ‘masculine’ subjects and ‘modern’ themes. Her intellectual powers were greatly admired, not just by Browning but by such men as Darwin and F. D. Maurice. She wrote with great precision and clarity about many of the religious, ethical, and scientific issues that vexed the leading minds of her age" (ODNB). Browning first met Wedgwood in 1863. "Their surviving correspondence, covering the period 1863 to 1870, seems to indicate that Browning fell at least temporarily in love with Julia. Certainly he was enchanted with her tremendous powers of one-to-one intellectual conversation, and it was he who pursued their friendship most warmly in its early days" (ODNB). References: J. Harris, "Wedgwood, (Frances) Julia" [in:] ODNB online. (Inventory #: 54760)