$25.00 CAD
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1910 First Edition of Scottish printing of Robert Browning's poem Rabbi Ben Ezra. Four superb colour illustrations by master W. Russell Flint. Nice illustration on soft cover. Printed on thick paper
Published by T. N. Foulis Edinburgh & London. Publisher's catalogue at back. #VI of their Friendship Booklets.
Fair condition. Cover detached from pages. Some foxing spots on first few pages.
52 pages
7 ¼” 3 ¾”
Sir William Russell Flint (1880–1969) was a Scottish-born British illustrator, painter, and master watercolourist,
Sir William Russell Flint was one of the most recognizable illustrators and painters in the UK during the early–mid 20th century. Though Scottish by birth, he built his career in London and is widely grouped with major British illustrators of the period.
Robert Browning’s “Rabbi Ben Ezra” is a dramatic monologue published in 1864, spoken in the imagined voice of the medieval Jewish scholar Abraham ibn Ezra (1092–1167). Browning wasn’t trying to write a biography; instead, he used ibn Ezra as a symbolic figure to explore faith, aging, purpose, and the meaning of human struggle.
The poem opens with one of the most quoted lines in Victorian literature:
“Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,”
