A delightfully American-slanted presentation copy of Arnold’s New York and Boston lectures which the writer inscribed to his London friend Lady Dorothy Nevill after he was unable to attend her Fourth of July party in 1885. Arnold has inscribed the book on the half title: ‘To Lady Dorothy Nevill with unaffected regard from Matthew Arnold - July 10th 1885’. The circumstances that preceded this inscription are explained by a letter from Arnold tipped onto the first flyleaf in which he addresses ‘Lady Dorothy’ ahead of ‘The Fourth Party [July 4th] are excellent company, but Sunday is impossible for me. Some other day fully hope to lunch with you, and to write in the book of which you speak so kindly’ - evidently the lunch date was rearranged for six days later when Arnold inscribed this copy of his American speeches.
In his memoir of his mother, The Life and Letters of Lady Dorothy Nevill, her son Ralph Nevill described her relationship with Matthew Arnold, how ‘My mother delighted in his essays, but scarcely appreciated his verse’ but says Arnold was a frequent lunch guest at her home in Charles Street, Mayfair.
Nevill, born Dorothy Walpole (1826-1913) was a writer, horticulturalist and plant collector whose activities are summarised eloquently by Virginia Woolf: ‘Now she illuminated leaves which had been macerated to skeletons; now she interested herself in improving the breed of donkeys; next she took up the cause of silkworms, almost threatened Australia with a plague of them’. Matthew Arnold, poet and writer, was known to tease her about her eccentricities but was happy to spend time with her and to provide the presentation copies of the books she widely pursued in her role as collector - an activity on show in this particular copy.
DESCRIPTION: deep green cloth, near fine; letter from Arnold tipped to front flyleaf, and newspaper clipping about his grave opposite. Laid in a printed ‘From the Author’ sheet. Arnold’s inscription to half title. Very occasional pencil annotation; one turned corner of a leaf, p31 re ‘American institutions’. Pages opened throughout; the book has certainly been read.
