Two Autograph Letters, signed ("Marian E. Lewes") to Frederic, 1st Baron Leighton, 1862 [WITH] Romola

Includes first "De Luxe Edition", number 971 of 1000 numbered copies: the first book edition with complete Leighton illustrations. First letter: 6 pages, comprised of a bifolio and a single sheet, handwritten in black ink on 5 pages, printed header "16 Blandford Square, N.W." struck through, "Beach Hotel, Little Hampton, Sussex, Sep. 10. 62" added by hand. Second letter: bifolio, handwritten in black ink on 4 pages, printed header "16 Blandford Square, N.W.", dated "Tuesday", pencil annotation by later hand to verso of final leaf dating "?10 June 1862". Two detailed letters from Eliot to her illustrator, Frederic Leighton, demonstrating her extensive research into Italian history for her novel Romola, her anxiety over its factual minutiae, and her satisfaction with Leighton's interpretation of her work. Romola was first published in Cornhill Magazine from July 1862 to August 1863, and each of the fourteen parts included two illustrations by Leighton. The story takes place in fifteenth-century Florence, and Eliot was anxious to be as accurate as possible in her depiction of historical characters and events. She visited Florence with her partner George Lewes on multiple occasions from 1860, where she spent days in libraries researching the fine points of Renaissance Italy, "grubbing through collections of Tuscan proverbs to cull archaic colloquial phrases and to discover precisely what kind of cloth 'the sajo, or tunic' was made of, how 'the purse, or scarcella' was worn" (Haight, p. 353). Leighton, who had lived in Florence as a child and knew Italy well, was chosen to draw the illustrations at £20 each. On meeting Eliot, Leighton wrote to his father, describing her with an artist's eye. She had "a very striking countenance. Her face is large, her eyes deep set, her nose aquiline, her mouth large, the under jaw projecting, rather like Charles Quint; her voice and manner are grave, simple, and gentle . her I shall like much" (quoted in ibid., p. 356). Eliot, in turn, was pleased with Leighton and delighted by his designs. "He is an invaluable man to have", she wrote elsewhere, "because he knows Florence by heart" (ibid., p. 360). The first letter, dated 10 June 1862 in pencil by a later hand, is concerned with the dress of Florentine women. Leighton was shortly to visit Florence, and Eliot entreats him to research: "If you are going to see Ghirlandajo's frescoes. I wish you would especially notice if the women in his groups have not that plain piece of opaque drapery over the head which haunts my memory. We were only allowed to see those frescoes once, because of repairs going on". She compares the dress of the "peasant" and the "city woman", wrestles with the difference between a gamurra and gamurrina, and expresses "anxiety" at her potential inaccuracies: "Approximative truth is the only truth attainable, but at least one must strive for that, and not wade off into arbitrary falsehood". In the second, dated 10 September 1862, Eliot discusses the difficulties of finding good models for Piero di Cosimo and Niccolo Caparra and reflects on Leighton changing his model for Romola, noting that "If you feel any doubt about the new Romola, I think it will be better for you to keep the original representation. which some accomplished people told me they thought very charming. It will be much better to continue what is intrinsically pretty than to fail in an effort after something indistinctly seen". She expresses further apprehension about the accuracy of her work, noting "I have a tremulous sense of my liability to error in such things" and expressing gratitude for Leighton's honest opinions: "I am really comforted by the thought that you will mention doubts to me when they occur to you. My misery is the certainty that I must be often in error". These letters were published in Emilie Barrington's The Life, Letters, and Work of Frederic Leighton, 1906. [WITH]: Eliot, George. Romola. London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1880. Large 8vo, 2 vols.…