poet (fl. 1850s). Autograph letter signed. [London], Burnside. 8vo. 3 pp. on bifolium. Mounted on backing paper.
$ 204 / 180 €
(92309/BN61355)
To "Thistle" (Robert Hume Middlemass), editor of "The Bouquet", a monthly miscellany "culled from Marylebone Gardens", with thanks and praise for a recent issue, criticizing other writers "whose pens are mere bread winners": "My dear Mr. Thistle - or Miss Mignonette [i. e. the novelist Jean Middlemass] - for I scarcely know to whom my warmest thanks are due - Thanks is too cold a word to express my grateful feelings to both, and all who have concurred in doing me such honor and kindness. I feel all the more too that such angel visits to me are indeed few and far between.
I have been diligently reading and am quite charmed with the kindly feelings that pervade the whole of the 'Bouquet': the graceful and elegant writing, the racy humour so free from all bitterness or illnature [...]". - 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 collector's note to backing paper. A fine, well-preserved letter..