London: MacMillan & Co. 1862. First edition.
 
First edition of Rossetti’s first major publication. Though the collection includes devotional and other verses, “The Goblin Market” remains her most famous poem today. A rich poem open to a multiplicity of readings, including ones highlighting sisterhood, anti-capitalism, same-sex attraction, lesbianism, rape, substance abuse or addiction, or themes of Christianity, Rossetti both publicly stated “The Goblin Market” should be read as poem for children as well as privately acknowledged its lack of suitability for children’s ears (the poem was in fact featured in Playboy magazine in the 1970s with illustrations by Kinuko Craft). Subsequent reprints and adaptations of “The Goblin Market” have occurred regularly until the present day, attesting to the poem’s enduring popularity and importance.
 
Octavo. Original blue gilt cloth boards designed by Rossetti’s brother, the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Rossetti, as well as frontispiece and title page woodcut engravings by him. Brown endpapers, tissue guard, and publisher’s advertisements present. Cover lightly rubbed and corners lightly bumped. Slight fading to gilt spine title. Spine lightly scuffed. FFE, title page, and frontispiece foxed; interior pages with occasional foxing. Binding somewhat fragile. Scattered faint modern pencil (pictured) on title page, rear endpaper, page 192, and upper corner of RFE. Small contemporary owner’s signature on upper corner of RFE.
 
Lovely example of Victorian female writing featuring Pre-Raphaelite artistry.