Autograph letter : [London], to George Goodin Moulton-Barrett, 1887 November 5.

Assuring George that he will never sanction a biography of EBB; discussing the repeated attempts by various people to write short or long biographies of EBB and his continued refusal to give consent; writing that he once corrected an inaccuracy in a short biographical notice in the Times; mentioning that publishers are bringing out editions of those of EBB's poems that are no longer in copyright, "and as subsequent corrections continue to be protected, these are left out, and the passages given precisely as their author wished them no longer to be"; writing that George Smith, the publisher of RB and EBB, may make an announcement about the inaccurate biographical information provided in these volumes; discussing the idea of a complete edition of EBB's work, in order to renew the copyright and provide correct information; reiterating his concerns that, when he dies, EBB's correspondence will be used in ways that he does not approve of (see MA 2148.82); writing that he will tell Pen to "hinder this by every possible means"; commenting that EBB's letters to her sisters are full of "all the imaginary spiritualistic experiences by which the unsuspecting and utterly truthful nature of Ba was abused"; accusing Sophia May Eckley of duping EBB in this realm; sending news of Pen's honeymoon with his new wife, Frances (usually called "Fannie") Coddington Browning, their future plans, and his feelings about the marriage: "I am more and more satisfied with the match,--indeed no one least drawback to my satisfaction is discoverable. Fannie is thoroughly good, affectionate, full of ambition for Pen, to whom she is devoted--and he is fully aware of his good fortune in obtaining such a wife."