DGR’s illuminated sonnet was first published as the frontispiece to William Sharp’s biography of the poet-painter, brought out by Macmillan in the year of the poet’s death. In a letter to her brother William dated 26 July 1882, Christina Rossetti reported that their mother, Frances, had loaned “her cherished Main’s Sonnet book, giving him leave to have the ‘Sonnet’ drawing engraved for his book” (Letters of Christina Rossetti vol 3, p. 52).