Goblin Market & Other Poems

With a preface by Elizabeth Macneal and original illustrations by Laurence Housman.

Two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, are enticed by the smells, sounds and sights of the goblin market, tempted by the ripe figs, plump cherries and fragrant berries. Whilst Lizzie resists, Laura is slowly destroyed by her insatiable longing for the goblin’s forbidden fruit.

Complete & Unabridged. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover.

Here is Christina Rossetti’s first critically acclaimed collection of poetry. Published in 1862, as well as ‘Goblin Market’ it contains some of her most treasured work, such as ‘A Birthday’, ‘An Apple Gathering’ and ‘Remember’. It launched her career as the foremost female poet of her time and, more than a century later, modern readers are still seduced by its symbolism and sensual language.

About the Author

Christina Rossetti was born in 1830 in London. Rossetti and her siblings, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, were educated by their mother and each grew up to excel in their creative endeavors. Their father, a political exile from Italy, fell ill when Rossetti was a teenager and the family suffered financial difficulty. Rossetti was devoted to religion from a young age and it was a major influence on her writing. She published various poems in literary magazines but it was Goblin Market, published in 1862 to great acclaim, that foregrounded her position as a prominent female poet. She became ill towards the end of her life, first from Graves’ disease and then from breast cancer, but she continued to write until she died in 1894.