"THE MOST PRECIOUS AND PROFOUND SPIRITUAL TREASURE THAT ENGLAND HAS PRODUCED SINCE THE DAYS OF SHAKESPEARE"

BROWNING, Robert. The Ring and the Book. London: Smith, Elder, 1868-69. Four volumes. Octavo, original green cloth. $1850.

First edition of Browning's great masterpiece, based on an Italian murder trial of 1698.

In 1860, Browning bought a manuscript compendium he found while browsing the open-air market at Piazza San Lorenzo in Florence. The "Old Yellow Book" (as called by Browning) detailed the testimony in the case of Guido Franceschini, an Italian nobleman convicted of murdering his 17-year old wife and her parents. Franceschini argued that his actions were justified because of his wife's supposed infidelity with a young cleric, Giuseppe Caponsacchi; the case made its way to the ultimate arbiter, Pope Innocent, who found him guilty and allowed him and his accomplices to be executed. "Apart from Browning's own account of the poem at its opening and conclusion, the voices are those of participants and observers, each revealing the story of the murder and the trial from a fresh point of view. Hence it is foremost an analysis of motive and character, prejudice and compassion. Both in this and in the direct self-revelation of the participants to the reader, as if through genuine documentary reporting, The Ring and the Book achieved a realism and a depth of psychological perception which English literature had not seen since Samuel Richardson's Clarissa in 1747-48" (Thomas, Robert Browning: A Life Within a Life, 222). The work was a critical and popular success. The Edinburgh Review opined that "Scattered throughout these volumes are passages of rare spiritual and ethical value; but the sublime morality of the work is embodied in the magnificent monologue of Pope Innocent." The Athenaeum was even more enthusiastic, "describing Browning's Roman murder case as 'the most precious and profound spiritual treasure that England has produced since the days of Shakespeare'" (Thomas, 233). Carter's binding variant A, priority assumed, with spines labeled I, 2, III and 4. Furnivall 126. Carter, Binding Variants, 98-99. Contemporary owner signatures.

Interiors generally fine, inner hinges and text blocks expertly reinforced, original cloth with light expert restoration, primarily to spine ends. An attractive copy.