LucyFaulknerandtheghastlygrin-WilliamMorrisSociety.PDFVIP

Lucy Faulkner and the ‘ghastly grin’ Re-working the title page illustration to Goblin Market Emma Ferry Since its publication in 1862, Christina Rossetti’s poem Goblin Market has been the subject of extensive critical interpretation; consequently, the images illus- trating the text have also received a certain amount of attention. Perhaps best known are Lorraine Janzen Kooistra’s analyses of designs produced for successive editions of Goblin Market, which demonstrate the ways in which these images can both determine target audiences and inXuence interpretations of the text.1 Whilst Kooistra’s discussions cover the entire publishing history of Goblin Mar- ket, other scholars, notably the late W. E. Fredeman, have examined the produc- tion the original frontispiece and title page designed by D. G. Rossetti.2 Frede- man’s discussion of the changes to the titleillustration forms the focus of this article, which aims both to revise this piece of publishing history and recover the œuvre of a professional craftswoman from obscurity. D. G. Rossetti’s design for the title page (Figure 1), ‘Golden head by golden head’ illustrates ‘the unspeakably beautiful litanies praising the poem’s loving sisters’:3 Golden head by golden head, Like two pigeons in one nest Folded in each other’s wings, They lay down, in their curtained bed: Like two blossoms on one stem, Like two Xakes of new-fall’n snow, Like two wands of ivory Tipped with gold for awful kings. 65 . the journal of william morris studies winter 2008 Figure 1, Title Page to Goblin Market, London, Macmillan, 1865 edition, (author’s copy). Moon and stars gazed in at them, Wind sang to them lullaby, Lumbering owls forbore to Xy, Not a bat Xapped to and fro Round their rest: Cheek