W.M. Rossetti Signature : Genuine?

Hello,

I recently picked up some books from local auction (mostly Victorian
trash) however one book appears to contain the signature of William
Michael Rossetti and a charming inscription to his daughter Olive?

The book is titled: 'La Poesie Napoleon III Paris 1853'

I wonder if there is anyone who can help me confirm that the signature
is indeed his? There is a book in the Rosetti archive that appears to
have a very similar signature (See first link) but although I have
sent them details of my book with pictures etc as yet I have not heard
back from them. I have also offered them the book so maybe that's the
reason!

To my eyes it looks genuine but I would appreciate other opinions.

Thanks for your time

Signature from the Rosetti archive:

http://www.rossettiarchive.org/img/1-1841.1.jpg

Signature from my book:

http://www.katyandjason.co.uk/Rosetti.jpg


Information on Rosetti:

http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/biog/Ross_WM.htm

http://www.rossettiarchive.org/

TIA wrote:

I recently picked up some books from local auction (mostly Victorian
trash) however one book appears to contain the signature of William
Michael Rossetti and a charming inscription to his daughter Olive?

The book is titled: 'La Poesie Napoleon III Paris 1853'

That fits. He was interested in both literature and history. I think you
will find the following reference germane:

"French Revolution Mélange de Litterature, Politique etc.
Manuscript written by a contemporary hand with list of contents written by
W.M. Rosetti, brother of Dante."
(Lion Feuchtwanger's Autograph Collection,
http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/arc/...utographs.html)

Signature from the Rosetti archive:

http://www.rossettiarchive.org/img/1-1841.1.jpg

Signature from my book:

http://www.katyandjason.co.uk/Rosetti.jpg

Looks genuine. The "ss" in Rossetti is very distinctive.

I would be surprised if this is a fake. W.M. Rossetti spent his life
modestly playing second fiddle to Dante and Christina, and I doubt anyone of
that period would particularly have thought his signature sufficiently worth
forging. The signature "looks old" (as the eBay sellers like to say), and it
seems unlikely a later forger would have found it worth going to the trouble
of artificially aging it so convincingly, especially with the time
difference between the signature and the inscription.

Looks like a nice find to me. Congratulations!

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.org