John Ruskin | Autograph letter signed, to "Dear Friends"

John Ruskin

Autograph letter signed, to "Dear Friends"

discussing a row that had been got up with Browning ("...I was put in great passion by Browning's quizzing the boy's verses..."), Swinburne ("...So when Milnes & Swinburne told me Chapman & Hall had refused on this ground I believed there was some foundations to the story...") and Carlyle ("...So I went and made a row about it at Carlyles. I'm so glad you did but, Carlyle was worse than either of you two...") and confessing himself afraid of the "satirical flash" in his eyes.... 3 pages, 8vo, no place or date, blind stamp "Delarue & Co London", slight yellowing, creased at folds

This letter addressed to "Friends" regards a dispute over a "boy's verses". The recipients had apparently said something unsavory about them, to which Ruskin took offence. The note is particularly exceptional for involving many of the most important and influential men of letters active in England at the time. Perhaps the "Friends" were the two brothers heading Chapman & Hall, Edward and Frederic, who appear to have refused to publish a work promoted by Ruskin. A fascinating, if somewhat mysterious, example of Ruskin's pugnacious character.