ABSTRACT
During its time the 'Moxon Tennyson' represented a financial failure and an artistically uneven endeavour, but historically it has exemplified an aesthetic triumph and landmark in the history of book illustration'. In spite of the fact that Tennyson said very little about the Moxon Tennyson, the edition clearly points to a relationship between the early poems of Tennyson and the Pre-Raphaelites and what Margaret Lourie calls a 'pivotal position in the history of Romanticism'. The story begins with the collaboration of the publisher Edward Moxon and Tennyson, one that lasted more than twenty-six years and produced eight different poetry volumes, running into nearly thirty editions. Tennyson was a money-maker and was the principal support of Moxon's business. It was Moxon's idea to issue a deluxe illustrated edition of Tennyson's poetry. Moxon probably chose the artists from the academic tradition with which he had worked before.
