author and poet (1818-1889). Autograph letter signed. [London], Great Ormond Street, Queens Square. 8vo. 3 pp. on bifolium.
$ 375 / 350 €
(92312/BN61358)
To "Thistle" (Robert Hume Middlemass), editor of "The Bouquet", a monthly miscellany "culled from Marylebone Gardens", with thanks for a recent issue: "Permit me to express my thanks my dear Madam for 'The Bouquet' which met my hand a few day since. It reflects great credit on the fingers that fashion it and I only wish that others would follow your [...] example and exercise busy brains instead of yawing lips. May I now and then extract a portion into my journal? I shall give it a notice very soon and shall watch its progress with interest [...]".
- From 1849 to 1854 Cook wrote, edited, and published "Eliza Cook's Journal", a weekly periodical she described as one of "utility and amusement". The "Bouquet" was a literary magazine run by aristocratic women based on the far side of Regent's Park. Only subscribers were allowed to contribute, and each had to choose the name of a flower to sign her work: Jean Middlemass was "Mignonette", Lady Hester Browne "Bluebell", and the Knatchbull sisters "Kingcups". The young Christina Rossetti contributed Italian verses under the name of "Calta". - With traces of old mounting on the verso and few light ink smudges..