University of Virginia Library

The story, like that of ‘Forget me not,’ is doubtless of German origin; I cannot recall where I found it. My verses first appeared in 1855, with a design by Rossetti, far out-valuing the poem which, in more senses than one, it illustrated. To his extreme fastidiousness it seemed inadequately engraved (it was drawn direct on the wood, after the custom of those days), but in the opinion of good judges, some of whom saw the original drawing, it remains a very characteristic and beautiful work. I possess a copy touched by the artist's own hand, which has some lines darkened and others softened, but is not materially altered in effect. The woodcut has long been unattainable by the general public. The limited number of copies now published are in no respect inferior to those which appeared in the first edition.