The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Her Sister Arabella

In September 1846 after Elizabeth Barrett Browning departed England for Italy with her poet husband, Robert Browning, she wrote first to her youngest and favorite sister, Arabella Moulton-Barrett. The 239 letters that follow contain Elizabeth’s most private thoughts and opinions on a vast range of subjects, including her husband, their poetical works, their son Pen, the unification of Italy, Napoleon III, and spiritualism. During the period in which these letters are written, the Brownings produce some of their most significant work: RB’s Men and Women and EBB’s Casa Guidi Windows and Aurora Leigh. The editor has provided a helpful introduction, meticulous annotations, biographical sketches of Barrett and Browning family members, a chronology, and a provenance of the manuscripts from which these letters are transcribed.

“A magnificent, definitive edition lovingly prepared by a scrupulous editor who has graced his two large volumes not only with careful notes but with an array of illustrations.” — The Times