As the “library of record” of research materials relating to Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the Armstrong Browning Library is constantly seeking to acquire original letters, manuscripts, books from the poets’ library, personal affects, portraits, all of the first and many successive editions of their poetry, secondary works and criticisms, their poetry set to music, and memorabilia. Every piece of Browningiana we add to our collections has the potential to provide researchers greater understanding of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Over the course of 2020, we added the items listed below to our Browning Collections.
THE BROWNINGS’ LIBRARY
The Art Review. Volume I (1890). London: Walter Scott, 1890.
Browning Guide #A0111.
Hausted, Peter. Ten Sermons, Preached Upon Several Sundayes and Saints Days …. London: Printed by Miles Flesher, Bernard Alsop, and Thomas Fawcet for John Clark, 1636.
Browning Guide # A1145.5.
Heine, Heinrich. Buch der Lieder. Stuttgardt: Verlag von Karl Crabbe, 1889.
Browning Guide #A1163.5.
BROWNING LIBRARY COPIES
Cruden, Alexander. A Complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures. 4th Edition. London, 1785.
ASSOCIATION VOLUMES
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Aurora Leigh. London: Chapman and Hall, 1957.
Browning Guide # M0020.5.
Browning, Robert. Dramatis Personæ. London: Chapman and Hall, 1864.
Browning Guide # M0127.3.
BROWNING LETTERS (ALS, autographed letter signed)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Louis Cappel, 29 July 1843. ALS
Gift of the Baylor University English Department in Honor of Dr. Dianna Vitanza.
Robert Browning to Charles Hamilton Aidé, 14 May [18]86. Signed note on photograph print, framed.
Robert Browning to D.[aniel] S.[argent] Curtis, 21 October 1882. Envelope also, framed. ALS
Robert Browning to Emilie Schlesinger, [undated]. “Pray forgive the delay in answering your note….” ALS
Robert Browning to Julia Sturgis, 3 March [18]63. ALS
Robert Browning to Lady Goldsmid, [undated]. “How very happy I shall be to go to you….” ALS
Robert Browning to Lady Goldsmid, [undated]. “Pray forgive my stupidity….” ALS
Robert Browning to Lady Goldsmid, 20 February 1869. ALS
Alexander Gilchrist to Robert Browning, 19 January 1855.
MANUSCRIPTS OF ROBERT BROWNING
Browning, Robert. Vetturino Endorsements.
Browning Guide #E0578.5.
LIKENESSES OF ROBERT BROWNING
Frederick Jones’ photograph of Robert Browning. London, c. 1868.
Browning Guide #G0048.
WORKS OF ART, HOUSEHOLD AND PERSONAL EFFECTS
Hat Pins. Pair of silver pins with decorative filigree ball head, c. 1750. Accompanied with visiting card inscribed by Fannie Browning.
Browning Guide #H0578.5.
WORKS OF ROBERT BROWNING, SR.
Browning, Robert, Sr. Drawings of heads. Five heads, pencil, N.D.
Browning Guide #J0024.5.
Browning, Robert, Sr. Oddments. Collection of 30 sketches, N.D.
Browning Guide #J0028.8.
EPHEMERA
Staffordshire Elizabeth Barrett Browning Powder Bowl, circa 1850.
RARE BOOKS
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Sonnets from the Portuguese. London: George Bell & Sons, 1902.
Provided by the Jack and Daphne Herring Memorial Endowment Fund
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Sonnets from the Portuguese. Portland, Maine: Thomas B.Mosher, 1898. Second edition.
Browning, Robert. Italy My Italy: IV Lyrics. Portland, Maine: Thomas B. Mosher, 1910.
Browning, Robert. Selections from Robert Browning’s Poetical Works. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1892.
Provided by the Jack and Daphne Herring Memorial Endowment Fund
Browning, Robert. Selections from the Poetical Works of Robert Browning. First and second series. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1900.
Mitford, Mary R. Narrative Poems on the Female Character in various relations of human life, Including Blanch and the Rival Sisters. NewYork: Eastburn, Kirk & Co, 1813.
Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, firm. The Browning Collections. Catalogue of Oil Paintings, Drawings & Prints; Autograph Letters and Manuscripts; Books; Statuary, Furniture, Tapestries, and Works of Art; the Property of R. W. Barrett Browning, Esq….London: Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, [1913].
[Ruskin, John]. Stray Letters from Professor Ruskin to a London Bibliopole. London: Privately printed (T.J. Wise), 1892.
RARE PERIODICALS
The Browning Society’s Papers. London: The Browning Society, 1889-1891.
RARE PERIODICAL ARTICLES
“Robert Browning: Some Personal Gossip about the Great Poet,” in Saint John Globe, 29 May 1880, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE COLLECTION
Barrett Browning, Elizabeth. Poemes et Poesies. Traduitde l’anglaiset etude par Albert Savine.Paris: Biblioteque Cosmopolite, 1905.
Dimensione “D”: Atti del seminario Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Centro Studi Cultura e Progresso, Gabinetto G.P. Vieusseux, The British Institute. Firenze, Italia, Marzo 1992.
Fano, Centinarola, Rosciano, Cuccarano, Carrara, Bellocchi, zona artigianale, Madonna Ponte, Metaurilia, Torrette, Marotta, pianta della città. Map of the City. Bologna: Studio F.M.B., 1975[?].
MUSICAL SCORES COLLECTION
Heggie, Jake, music; Robert Browning, poetry. “Grow Old Along with Me.” For Baritone and Piano. Bill Holab Music, publisher, unknown date.
ABL LPs
Browning, Robert. “How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix: Robert Browning Reciting the First Four Lines of His Poem.” BBC, [1960].
Also known as “The Voice of the Master” or “The Master’s Voice” this is a recording of Robert Browning reciting the first four lines of “How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix” on a phonogram (old wax cylinder) in April, 1889.
NON-RARE
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Casa Guidi Windows. London: Collins’ Clear-Type Press, [between 1900 and 1910?].
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Casa Guidi Windows. With a prefatory note by William A. Sim. Drawings by Giulio Giannini, Jr. Florence: Giulio Giannini & Figlio, [192-?].
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Rhyme of the Duchess May. Illustrated by Katharine Cameron. London and Edinburgh: T. N. Foulis, [1907].
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Through the Year with Mrs. Browning. Boston: DeWolfe, Fiske & Co., [1912?].
Browning, Robert. Pippa Passes, & Men & Women. Illustrated by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1909.
Browning, Robert. Rabbi Ben Ezra and Saul. London: Siegle, Hill & Co., [1911].
Browning, Robert. Robert Browning. London: Robert Rivière & Son, 1916.
Browning, Robert. The Browning Birthday Book. Arranged by James Weston. London and New York: Frederick Warne & Co., [19–?].
Browning, Robert. The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Illustrated by Kate Greenaway. London: Bracken Books, 1986.
Carleton, Marjorie. The Barretts. A Comedy in Three Acts. Boston and Los Angeles: Baker’s Plays, 1940.
DeVane, William C. Browning’s Parleyings; the Autobiography of a Mind. Yale University Press, 1927.
Hutton, John A. Guidance from Robert Browning in Matters of Faith. Edinburgh and London: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1905. Second edition.
Ingram, John H. Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Famous Women Series. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1888.
Meynell, Alice. The Colour of Life and Other Essays on Things Seen and Heard. London and New York: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1904.
Orr, Mrs. Sutherland. Life and Letters of Robert Browning. In two volumes. Boston and New York, 1896.
The Voice of Robert Browning and “The Voices of Browning”. Waco, TX; Baylor University, [1960].
An essay on the recording of Robert Browning reciting the first four lines of “How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix” on a phonogram (old wax cylinder) in April, 1889 and descriptions of recent Browning acquisitions by the ABL.
Ward, T.H. The English Poets. 5 volumes. London: Macmillian, 1891.
Wedgwood, Barbara and Hensleigh. The Wedgwood Circle 1730-1897. Westfield, New Jersey: Eastview Editions, Inc., 1980.
NON-RARE PERIODICAL ARTICLES
Byatt, A.S. “A. S. Byatt on Robert Browning” in The Independent Magazine. Issue 12, 26 November 1988, p. 78.
Smith, Cornelia Marschall. “Proverb Lore in The Ring and the Book” in PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America. Vol. LVI, Num.1, March 1941. Pp. 219-227.