Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Sonnets from the Portuguese. London, England: The Riccardi Press Books, 1914. 27 pages; Number 184 of 350 bound in leather by Sangorski & Sutcliffe of London. Reprinted in the Riccardi Press fount, by Chas. T. Jacobi, and published for the Medici Society, Ltd. by Philip Lee Warner. Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861) British poet and writer: "...The conflicts (Robert) Browning's love aroused in EBB are eloquently expressed in the Sonnets from the Portuguese...Once EBB had chosen '“Not Death, but Love”', as she later wrote in the Sonnets from the Portuguese, she did everything in her power to live...in summer 1849 she finally revealed to Robert the sonnets she had written during their courtship, including them at his insistence in the expanded two-volume Poems of 1850…The title Sonnets from the Portuguese, meant to serve as a mask for the personal content, was suggested by the association of 'Catarina to Camoens', one of Browning's favourite poems...While EBB has earned unanimous praise for her letters, the poetry that was her primary achievement has provoked more controversy. This controversy was as vigorous in the late twentieth century as it was in the 1850s and 1860s, and intertwined as it was then with debates concerning the nature of women, political issues, and aesthetic preferences. Few can deny, however, that Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most influential poets of her time..." (Marjorie Stone in the ODNB) Approx. 6" x 8" size; bound in full polished blue calf leather covered boards; gilt spine titles & decorations, marbled endpapers, gilt roll-tool turn-ins, all edges gilt. Some edge, tips wear and rubbing to the covers, old tide-mark & a little warpage; text block clean and in good condition