Edward Moxon and Co. Publishing Firm was a former British publishing company located in London, England, that was founded by Edward Moxon. The publishing company was particularly renowned for publishing lavishly illustrated books and illustrated versions of already notable Victorian literature. In particular, the work of Alfred Tennyson, with which the publishing company had built a working relationship that spanned close to thirty years. Previously, they had published several volumes of his work which spawned many editions, including Poems, The Princess, In Memoriam, and Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington. For the Moxon Tennyson, Moxon recruited several Royal Academician artists in order to bring a collaborative book of Tennyson’s poems to Victorian audiences. However, the idiosyncratic reinterpretations of Tennyson’s work in the Moxon Tennyson is believed to have led to the downfall of the professional relationship between the writer and publishing company. Unfortunately, Tennyson was not fond of many of the artists’ depiction and liberties that were taken with his work, most particularly Hunt’s and his depiction of symbolism and artistic expression in his The Lady of Shalott illustration.

Sources:

Hagen, June Steffensen. “Tennyson's Troubled Years with Moxon & Co.: A Publishing Relationship.” Browning Institute Studies, vol. 7, 1979, pp. 21-ii. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25057667.

Cooke, Simon. “The ‘Moxon Tennyson’ – An Analysis of the ‘Other’ Illustrators.” The Victorian Web, www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/moxon/cooke.html.

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