ELIOT, George.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Two autograph letters signed "Marian E. Lewes", to Frederic Leighton. 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 14 parts included two illustrations by Leighton. The story takes place in 15th-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 Haight, p. 356). Eliot, in turn, wa

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