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Purchase Books by Society Members
William Bell Scott's Screen: A Pre-Raphaelite Romance
by Emily Learmont
The intriguing story behind a beautiful and rarely seen work by a major Scottish Victorian artist, closely connected to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Split into three parts, this book first reveals the history of the screen’s commission. It then details and interprets the remarkable imagery of the screen itself. Finally, the screen is situated in its historical context by explaining the fascinating personal relationships that were the backdrop to each stage of its creation, including Scott’s relationship with the artist and wealthy heiress Alice Boyd.
The Late Pre-Raphaelites and where to find them
by Patricia O'Connor and David Elliott
David Elliott is the grandson of Pre‑Raphaelite artist, connoisseur and art collector Charles Fairfax Murray. David now writes and lectures in Pre‑Raphaelite studies. Among his notable books are Charles Fairfax Murray: The Unknown Pre-Raphaelite and A Pre-Raphaelite Marriage: The Lives and Works of Marie Spartali Stillman & William James Stillman.
Patricia O’Connor was Chair of the Pre‑Raphaelite Society for the past twenty years. She is interested in all things Victorian, particularly art pottery and Arts and Crafts furniture. Her one abiding passion is the artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Patricia writes “I very much enjoyed working with David Elliott on the gazetteer The Late Pre‑Raphaelites and where to find them. The project promised to be an adventure and did not disappoint. Here is an opportunity for the reader to participate in the same adventure”.
Paperback : 45 pages : 59 illustrations : Price £9 incl. P&P for UK (overseas purchasers please email patriciao_connor@yahoo.co.uk for price details) : ISBN 978‑1‑5272‑0219‑1
To order a copy of The Late Pre‑Raphaelites please email patriciao_connor@yahoo.co.uk – cheques are payable to The Pre-Raphaelite Society
Barely Clare: The Little-Known Life of Clare Mackail by Tim McGee (2020)
A short biography of Clare Mackail, granddaughter of Edward Burne-Jones. Margaret Burne-Jones married Oxford professor JW Mackail, and had three children: One grew up to be the novelist Angela Thirkell, and her brother Denis Mackail also became a writer. But there was another child, the youngest, who many biographies pass quickly over: Clare. Not a professional artist, though she did love drawing. Not a writer, though her letters are charming and revealing.
It was the lack of references to her that made Tim curious, so he embarked on a quest to learn more. Clare was a volunteer in one war and a victim of the next, a member of a curious spiritual group that had a retreat away from London, and her life - though not celebrated - was an interesting one, and this is her story. Available at Amazon.com
www.amazon.com/Barely-Clare-Little-Known-Life-Mackail/dp/B089M1F2LL
James Collinson (aka “The Dormouse”)
by Helen D Newman (2016)
As one of the original members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, James Collinson has been largely dismissed, and if he is mentioned at all it is always in relation to his broken engagement to Christina Rossetti following his re-conversion to Roman Catholicism. Recognition, both as a man and an artist is long overdue, and it is hoped that this book goes some way to restoring his reputation. Helen Newman is a long standing member of the Pre-Raphaelite Society.
Paperback / 199 pages / 42 illustrations / Price: £10 plus P&P (in the UK) // ISBN: 978‑0‑9562828‑8‑0 Published by Reuben Books, Foulsham (October 2016)
To order a copy of James Collinson (aka “The Dormouse”) please email: helennew6746@gmail.com or call Helen on 0121 423 2100
My Ladys Soul: The Poetry of Elizabeth Siddall
by Serena Trowbridge
Elizabeth Siddall is best known as the muse and model for many Pre-Raphaelite artists and as the wife of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. However, she was also an artist and a poet. This book publishes all her extant poetry in a single volume for the first time. Serena Trowbridge has undertaken extensive archival research to restore Siddall’s better-known poems – often heavily edited in previous publications – to their original form, and to identify and reproduce poems and fragments not previously included in anthologies. Elizabeth Siddall’s own voice emerges fully from these pages, supporting her rediscovery as a creative artist in her own right.
My Ladys Soul: The Poems of Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall: Amazon.co.uk: Siddall, Elizabeth Eleanor, Trowbridge, Serena: 9781906469627: Books
Christina Rossetti’s Gothic
by Serena Trowbridge
The poetry of Christina Rossetti is often described as 'gothic' and yet this term has rarely been examined in the specific case of Rossetti's work. Based on new readings of the full range of her writings, from 'Goblin Market' to the devotional poems and prose works, this book explores Rossetti's use of Gothic forms and images to consider her as a Gothic writer. Christina Rossetti's Gothic analyses the poet's use of the grotesque and the spectral and the Christian roots and Pre-Raphaelite influences of Rossetti's deployment of Gothic tropes.
Christina Rossetti's Gothic: : Serena Trowbridge: Bloomsbury Academic
Pre-Raphaelite Girl Gang: Fifty Makers, Shakers and Heartbreakers from the Victorian Era
by Kirsty Stonell Walker
Pre-Raphaelite Girl Gang will introduce readers of all ages to the remarkable women of the
Pre-Raphaelite art movement which began in the second half of the nineteenth century and continued through the early part of the twentieth. From models to artists, these women all contributed something personal and incredible towards the most beautiful and imaginative art movement in the world. From duchesses to poor laundresses, each woman has a story to tell and a unique viewpoint on art no matter their age, status or background. Rich or poor, black or white, these women redefined what it meant to be beautiful and influential in a male-dominated world and broke new ground in art, business and women’s rights to pursue the life they loved. Spanning almost a century and uncovering the truth behind some familiar and less familiar faces, this collection will offer new information to readers already interested in Pre-Raphaelite art and open the doors on an enchanting and revolutionary band of women who are unlikely and compelling role models. Artists, sculptors, inventors, models, wives, sisters and muses, all provide inspiration for ground-breakers
and trouble-makers today.
https://www.unicornpublishing.org/page/detail/PreRaphaelite-Girl-Gang/?k=9781911604631
Light and Love:
The Extraordinary Developments of Julia Margaret Cameron and Mary Hillier by Kirsty Walker
Beginning as Julia's parlour maid, Mary went on to become the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron's leading model and the focus of the artist's creative passion. For Julia, Mary personified the heavenly qualities of her quiet corner of England. For Mary, Julia's influence would echo throughout her life. This is a biography of two women who experienced beauty, love, loss and fame, and created photographs that, in Julia's own words, 'should electrify you with delight and startle the world'. Spanning the French Revolution to the 1930s, Light and Love tells the story of a rare partnership of a pioneer and her muse, and how their relationship would change the course of both of their lives.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/light-and-love/kirsty-stonell-walker/9781913491062
Stunner: The Fall and Rise of Fanny Cornforth
by Kirsty Stonell Walker
Fanny Cornforth was a Victorian supermodel whose face epitomised the vision and life of the
Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In their twenty-five years together, she played many parts from muse, medium and lover to housekeeper and nurse. Due to her care of the artist, he was able to create some of the best known and celebrated art works of the nineteenth century, however at his death Fanny became an outcast, accused of stealing, lying and even murder. Her journey from rural poverty to celebrated beauty gave her a life she could never have dreamed of, but her choice of love above security saw her end her days in an asylum. Her afterlife, in the imagination of those who knew her and those that followed saw her cast as a villainess; Rossetti’s folly, an illiterate prostitute who could crack walnut shells in her teeth. It’s finally time that the truth is separated from the swirl of lies and that the life of one of the most infamous women of Bohemian London is told, from canvas to asylum.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/light-and-love/kirsty-stonell-walker/9781913491062
The Presence and the Dream:
An anthology celebrating a decade of the Pre-Raphaelite Society Poetry Prize and the Society’s Poet-in-Residence
It was wonderful to revisit the poems of so many talented writers, and I am privileged to be anthologised alongside them, as all of these poems find a new and wider readership. It is an honour and a joy to be the Pre-Raphaelite Society’s Poet-in-Residence, and I extend my sincere thanks to Serena, to the Committee, and to the Society’s membership for your continued encouragement and support.
— Sarah Doyle, Pre-Raphaelite Society Poet-in-Residence, May 2022
