HAKE, Thomas Gordon.
The Poems of Thomas Gordon Hake
The much less common binding variant – perhaps a trial binding. It is unclear who designed the binding, but it bears a resemblance to other designs by Rossetti (e.g. the binding for Thomas Hake’s ‘Parables and Tales’). The two men first met in 1869 and communicated by post for the next nine years, exchanging views and advice on the art of poetry. Hake became a great aid, companion and physician to Rossetti after his health rapidly deteriorated, even taking him into his own home in Roehampton in 1872.
Association copy, with the bookplate of Edmund Clarence Stedman, who edited A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895 featuring Hake’s work. With newspaper clipping, presumably added by Stedman, on rear pastedown titled ‘Personal Recollections: Dr. Gordon Hake and “The New Day”’, written posthumously by Theodore Watts and discussing Hake and Rossetti’s friendship.
Loose rear free endpaper, otherwise a fine copy.
