“The World,” Shorter Poems by Christina Rossetti, 1923

Florence Harrison

Active 1887–1937

Florence Harrison is best known for her work for the Scottish publishing firm of Blackie and Sons for whom she illustrated some fifty books. When she began her association with the firm, she incorporated elements of the Glasgow decorative style into her own Pre-Raphaelite work.

Harrison was the first woman to illustrate a commercial edition of Christina Rossetti’s work. Living in Chelsea in London when she received the commission, she was commissioned to produce twenty-four full-page color plates, forty-eight full-page black-and-white plates, 120 headpieces and incidental pieces, and a cover. After two years of work, she produced thirty-six color plates and thirty-six black-and-white plates.

Little is known about her personal life, although she is known to have exhibited at the Royal Gallery in London from 1887–1891. Until recently, she was believed to be Emma Florence Harrison, who studied painting at the Glasgow School of Art, but recent evidence discovered by Mary Rosalind Jacobs of England suggests that she was an Australian artist named Florence Susan Harrison.