The Works of Robert Browning.

BROWNING, Robert.

Item Number: 131212

New York: Fred De Fau, 1910.

Finely bound set of the works of Browning, one of only 100 sets of the Assisi edition, this is number 48. Octavo, 12 volumes, complete, bound in three quarters morocco, gilt titles and gilt decorations to the spine, raised bands, gilt topstain, illustrated with plates in two states: India proof paper and Japan vellum paper. In fine condition.

Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humor, social commentary, historical settings and challenging vocabulary and syntax. His career began well – the long poems Pauline (1833) and Paracelsus (1835) were acclaimed – but his reputation fell back for a time – his 1840 poem Sordello was seen as wilfully obscure – and took over a decade to recover, by which time he had moved from Shelleyan forms to a more personal style. In 1846 Browning married fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett and moved to Italy. By her death in 1861 he had published the collection Men and Women (1855). His Dramatis Personae (1864) and book-length epic poem The Ring and the Book made him a leading poet.