Robert's Men and Women is also a product of that time. Elizabeth had already produced a large amount of work, but Browning had a great influence on her subsequent writing, as did she on his: two of Barrett's most famous pieces were written after she met Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese and Aurora Leigh. He wrote, "I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett," praising their "fresh strange music, the affluent language, the exquisite pathos and true new brave thought." John Kenyon, a wealthy friend of the family and patron of the arts, arranged for Browning to meet Elizabeth on in her rooms, and so began one of the most famous courtships in literature.
Her 1844 volume Poems had made her one of the most popular writers in the country, and inspired Robert Browning to write to her.
The title is also a reference to Les Lettres Portugaises (1689). She initially planned to title the collection "Sonnets translated from the Bosnian", but Browning proposed that she claim their source was Portuguese, probably because of her admiration for Camões and Robert's nickname for her: "my little Portuguese". To offer the couple some privacy, she decided to publish them as if they were translations of foreign sonnets. However, her husband Robert Browning insisted they were the best sequence of English-language sonnets since Shakespeare's time and urged her to publish them. Barrett Browning was initially hesitant to publish the poems, believing they were too personal. RARE IN THIS CONDITION AND THE FIRST EDITION OF SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE, ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING S MOST CELEBRATED POETRY. The books are clean throughout with none of the foxing that is often present. The calf bindings strong and very well preserved, slight rubbing to the extremities, the spines with light rubbing to the gilt from handling, one label slightly chipped, the other a touch rubbed at the base. A handsome and pleasing and honest set in rare period binding, showing the small blind stamp to the verso of the front marbled free-fly of each volume, by Simms & Dinham Booksellers who were active in Manchester, England during the 1840's and 1850's. 8vo, handsomely bound in contemporary polished calf, the spines with raised bands gilt tooled, the compartments of the spines with richly gilt panels incorporating floral tools at their centers, two compartments with contrasting brown and maroon lettering labels gilt, board edges gilt tooled, tunovers fully roll tooled in gilt, marbled endleaves, all edges gilt. The FIRST EDITION of SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE.
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