Dramatis Personae.
"The swallow has set her six young on the rail, and looks sea-ward: The waters stripes like a snake, olive-pale to the leeward": First edition of Robert Browning's Dramatis Personae
Dramatis Personae.
BROWNING, Robert.
$600.00
Item Number: 124109
London: Chapman and Hall, 1864.
First edition of Browning’s popular poetry collection. Octavo, original cloth. In very good condition. Ownership inscription. Small chip to the front free endpaper. With a note from H. Sotheran & Co. laid in.
Browning wrote Dramatis Personae in London, where he had returned with his son after the death of his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It was his first publication after a nine-year hiatus. During this time, Browning's reputation was fluctuating, and Dramatis Personae along with The Ring and the Book, which is widely considered his greatest work, were enough to begin a critical re-evaluation of the writer. This new style was appreciated, as Dramatis Personae sold enough copies for a second edition to be published, which was a first in Browning's career.
