1 / Saturday night / Back in this little room & somehow / happier than I have been for many & / many a day - when you had / gone & taken all the light / away with you R? went too / & I excused myself to the Jew / and came here & lay down & slept, a long deep / refreshing sleep - I am sure the Jew came / because you were here - they must all love you / but - at least this is a very learned one & we play / at books together, books in Arabic chiefly / and grow stronger every hour - & I shall / lie & think of you & wake & think of you. / And of the sweet comfort we shall be to / each other all over life days - you are not to / mind if I have been hurt - it is such sweet pain / & its all for you - & you are not to mind one / bit - I dont say to you "dont tire of me" / if such a miserable end could come I know it / would be through my fault - & as I am sure / never to hurt you it can't come at all - so, / unless you do it for fun, dont talk as if I could / ever change - for in what words can I protest? / dear I shall love you to the end - & I shall / never ask how much you give me in return - / never - but somehow I shall know - and a little / will be very happy for one - all that you can you / will do for me I know - & it will be a sweet / life - a life dear to wake up to - did you / hate that nasty room - you called it a / nasty room / does it tire you to read when I write in / pencil? / you see I have broken my promise, when I said / I would keep fire far from my letters - & this / isnt the kind of letter I should have written / if your words had not been so gentle - but you / said or I thought you did that I need make / no change - indeed have written in ? / every time & hidden from you how deeply I / love you - and you wont hurt me, will you / by doubting me & wondering if it will last - / because that is for you to suffer so very / needlessly (if you mind a little, if you mind / even a little what my f? ?") / but what a two months of circumspection it will / have to be!!! practice me a little this week / by sudden questions - such questions as "why / do you like May better than the others?" or / "What do you & May talk of"? or "do you / write to May?" / "Well, you know I hate writing letters, I write no / more than I can help. - (& thats true) / "But what do you talk about to her?" / Oh about the usual things - about people a little / and Egypt & friends" / "does she care about your pictures?" / 2 / " I cant quite tell, you know I never / expect that, its only a happy surprise when / it happens, & is she does I can't talk of / my work - not at least of what I have / done, only of what I am going to do, I never / thought of what we talk about - its like / other talk" / "do you think her lovely?" / "I could imagine a man thinks her very / lovely & desirable" / "Yes, but do you?" / I do like her face very much - indeed I / like her very much / "Charty says you are always there"her mother / told her you were there five hours - you / never paid me a visit of five hours" / "no, my visits to her have been seldom / & very brief - but why do you ask me all / this? / "You are not to get fond of her" / "What nonsense" / "I sometimes think there is someone who is" / "probably several - I think men would find / her very loveable" / "Whom she likes I mean" / "Oh, I never know whether to be glad or sorry / When I hear of that - at the best it is bitter / happiness - at the worst it is delicious / misery - its life is short" / "dear May, I love her but know very little / of her inner life" / "ah but you have I think a false measure / of these things - you like so much with / women who offer you these sensations on the / end of a fork, & to whom nothing is / secret or sacred - forgive me for saying this - / most women I have met are reticent - & / I confess I like it - except that these / ladies I hinted at are above reproach / I should have called reticence an essential / part of good breeding" / "well come & dine tomorrow, May is coming" / "The promise of May! - I ought not to come / I have so many things to do" / "But you will come nevertheless / - / Thence but really I should not get through it / so well as that - it will be more sudden / but you must put me through examinations / & this week too, for there is no time to / ive - & destiny every scrap I write - if I / ever say anything you like darling the backlash / is overflowing & will never stop
The archive, which has remained with May Gaskell’s descendants, consists of more than 200 letters dating from 1892 up to the year of Burne-Jones’s death: three albums of intimate letters from the artist to Mrs Gaskell; two albums of illustrated letters to Mrs Gaskell and her daughter, Daphne; and other ephemera such as the artist’s brushes which he used when painting his famous portrait of Amy Gaskell. The letters are one of the most endearing records of all Burne-Jones’s friendships. They recount both his innermost thoughts and feelings and feature a cast of humorous characters, fictitious and real. They have been acquired for £200,000 with major support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF); the Art Fund; the Arts Council England/Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund; the Friends of the National Libraries; and numerous private donations. Two of the albums are on display in the Museum for its Great British Drawings exhibition where they can be seen until 31 August. They will now enter the Ashmolean’s permanent collection. Following conservation, they will be made available as an invaluable resource to students and scholars of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and they will be published online. The letters will add to the collection of drawings by Burne-Jones bequeathed to the Ashmolean in 1939 by Mrs Gaskell, forming one of the richest Pre-Raphaelite archives in the country. Many of the letters were published by Josceline Dimbleby, May Gaskell’s great-granddaughter, in her acclaimed book, A Profound Secret (2004), which recounts the author’s research into her family’s history. On the occasion of this major acquisition, Josceline Dimbleby will give a Saturday Talk on 8 August at the Ashmolean, in conversation with the curator of Great British Drawings, Colin Harrison. Josceline Dimbleby says: "My discovery of so many intimate and often witty letters from Burne-Jones to my great grandmother May Gaskell, forgotten for decades in an old chest of drawers, was one of the most exciting moments in my life, together with finding, wrapped in old paper and string at the back of one drawer, the paintbrushes he used for his famous portrait of my doomed great aunt Amy Gaskell, still with paint sticking to them. The letters revealed a passion that made it hard to think of this friendship as platonic and I spent a fascinating and happy three years piecing together and writing the story of what was A Profound Secret, feeling that I was getting to know my ancestors, and a very private side of Burne- Jones." Burne- Jones met May Gaskell in 1892, and she became the last in the succession of women with whom he enjoyed especially close, but platonic, friendships. She was the wife of a dull cavalry officer, and, in an unfulfilling marriage, she corresponded with Burne- Jones up to five times a day. The letters include a series of cartoon-like tales featuring characters such as the ‘fat lady’ and the artist himself, caught in mishap and misadventure. Beneath the surface lies the black humour endemic to Burne-Jones’s frequent moods of depression and insecurity. There is, for example, a superb sequence of caricatures of the artist suffering from flu. In the course of their friendship, Burne-Jones became dependent on May, confessing to her that she ‘reached the well of loneliness that is in me’. He also sent whimsical letters to the infant Daphne Gaskell (1887–1966). She was only six when she met Burne-Jones and he took an affectionate and fatherly interest in her, his own children having grown up. His letters to Daphne, written in phonetic spelling, include birds and animals familiar from his other letters to children, and several fantastic inventions such as the ‘Phlumbudge’ and ‘Flapdabble’. The archive also includes some letters to May’s elder daughter, Amy (1874–1910), whom Burne-Jones painted in 1893 in one of the greatest Pre-Raphaelite portraits (collection of Lord Lloyd-Webber). Colin Harrison, Senior Curator of European Art, Ashmolean Museum, says: "May Gaskell was Burne- Jones’s closest friend in his last years. He gave her a selection of his finest drawings, which she in turn gave to the Ashmolean in 1939. The opportunity to acquire the albums of intimate and humorous letters that he sent to May and to her daughter, Daphne, was unmissable; and we are most grateful for the support from the NHMF, the Art Fund, and other bodies, as well as numerous private donors. Their generosity has ensured that the letters have ended up in their rightful home, and that the Ashmolean now has one of the most representative, as well as distinguished, collections of Burne-Jones’s work in the world." Sir Peter Luff, Chair of NHMF, says: “Sir Edward Burne-Jones was the most prominent of the second generation Pre-Raphaelites and his work had an enormous influence. This exceptional collection of letters, which throws light on the last years of his life, was the most important part of his collection in private hands. I'm delighted that National Heritage Memorial Fund investment will mean they can be available for everyone to explore and enjoy.” Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, says: "The Ashmolean owns one of the finest collections of works by Burne-Jones in the world, which will be greatly enriched by this important and delightful collection of letters."