(BLUNT, Wilfrid Scawen) Sonnets and Songs. By Proteus. John Murray. 1875
Half title. Dark blue endpapers. Orig. yellow cloth, bevelled boards, blocked, lettered & panelled in gilt; sl. rubbed & dulled, some gatherings a bit proud. Bookseller ticket of W. Whiteley on leading pastedown.
¶Blunt, 1840-1922, poet, essayist, political activist and Arabian horse breeder. He was married to Lady Anne Noel, who was the daughter of Ada Lovelace and the great-granddaughter of Lord Byron, though their relationship was fraught due to Blunt's various mistresses including Pre-Raphaelite muse and William Morris' wife Jane Morris. He was openly against British imperialism and supported Irish Home Rule, for which he was imprisoned first in Galway Prison and then in Kilmainham Gaol in 1888. This collection of poems, published under his pseudonym Proteus, was his first book.