Goblin Market by: Christina Rossetti with Illustrations by Laurence Housman

The edition of Christina G. Rossetti's Goblin Market that includes illustrations by Laurence Housman was published originally in 1893, about thirty years after the edition that included Dante Rossetti's illustrations. It was known that Housman closely studied the illustrations of Dante Rossetti before creating his twelve full page images and several textual decorations. This is extremely noteworthy because of the direct comparisons that can be made between both Gabriel Rossetti and Laurence Housman’s editions. Dante Rossetti's edition only contained two full page images, whilst Laurence Houseman's contained twelve. Housman was the one to create a fully illustrated version of the poem, notably, thirty years later. Christina Rossetti had actually requested Housman to refer to her brothers’ illustrations of the goblins. With that being said, it presents to us that Dante Rossetti’s illustrations were the illustrations that Christina herself resonated with the most and what she felt reflected her poem the best. Thus, leading Housman to study Dante’s work in the original publication and illustrations to then create a new edition, fully illustrated, in Christina’s lifetime in which fit her vision.

Source: Kooistra, Lorraine Janzen. Christina Rossetti and Illustration : A Publishing History, Ohio University Press, 2002. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/lib/ryerson/det....