The Oxford book of Italian verse : xiiith century - xixth century /
St John Lucas (1879-1934)
Category
Books
Date
1910
Materials
Place of origin
Oxford
Order this imageCollection
Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent
NT 3186657
Caption
Vita Sackville-West and her mother, Victoria, Lady Sackville, spent the early months of 1911 in a villa on the outskirts of Monte Carlo. Their temporary home, Château Malet, was intended as the site for a convalescent sojourn in warmer winter climes but it soon became the location for a procession of admirers, male and female, vying for Vita’s attention and affection. This anthology of Italian poetry, with an ornate leather binding by the London firm, Ramage, dates from this period and was given by Lady Sackville to Vita on her nineteenth birthday (9 March 1911). Beautifully-bound books from her mother, presented on her two preceding birthdays (French verse in 1909, English poems in 1910), are also preserved in the extensive book collection at Sissinghurst, but this is the most striking of the three. The extensive heart decorations, intricately tooled in gilt, are a simple expression of motherly love; however, they take on a greater significance with the knowledge that this was a period of Vita’s life in which she developed intense romantic bonds with Rosamund Grosvenor (later Lynch), Violet Keppel (later Trefusis) and Harold Nicolson, whom she would marry two years later.
Summary
The Oxford Book of Italian Verse : XIIIth century - XIXth century (Oxford, 1910), compiled by St. John Lucas. Bound by Ramage (London) in red morocco leather with extensive gilt decoration. Inside the upper board is a heart-shaped leather label fixed to a silk lining. Both are lettered in gilt to read, ‘Vita March 9th 1911 / From Mother’.
Bibliographic description
575, [1] p. ; 17 cm. (8vo). Provenance: gold lettered on red leather heart shaped overlay on doublure: "Vita March 9th 1911"; gold lettered underneath on watered silk doublure: "From Mother" [i.e. Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962) from Lady Victoria Sackville (1862-1936)]. Binding: twentieth century red morocco; gold tooled heart centrepiece; gold tooled hearts on spine and turn-ins; five false bands; gold lettered spine; all edges gold; watered silk doublure and fly-leaves. Gold lettered on upper turn-in: Bound by Ramage London.
Makers and roles
St John Lucas (1879-1934)