Symonds and Italy
In the Key of Blue and Other Prose Essays
Cover page of In the Key of Blue and Other Prose Essays, by J. A. Symonds, London: Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1893. Cover design by Charles Ricketts.
Producing this work over the course of 30 years, Symonds explores both his sexuality and his Italian sojourn through a mix of poetry and ornate prose. The content varies between analysis, scenic description, poetry, and biography.
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Introduction to the Study of Dante
Frontispiece and title page for the Introduction to the Study of Dante, written by J. A. Symonds. London: A. and C. Black, 1893.
This book began as a series of lectures that Symonds taught at Clifton College. Dante was an important figure for him, both in his studies and also in his personal life. Symonds first turned to Dante for words to describe his suicidal thoughts in 1869 and he likens his own same sex attraction to Dante's chivalric, courtly love for Beatrice.
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Sketches in Italy
Cover page of Sketches in Italy, by J. A. Symonds, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1883.
Sketches in Italy selects the more picturesque passages from Symonds’ Studies in Italy and Greece and Studies and Sketches in Italy and omits the historical and literary essays to create a sketchbook more suitable for the traveler than the academic. During his Italian travels, the original owner of this 1883 edition would have obtained the unbound gathering of pages to later have them personally bound.
