RARE \"Ouida\" Maria Louise Ramé Hand Signed 2.25X4 Card For Sale

Up for sale a RARE! "Ouida" Maria Louise Ramé Signed 2.25X4 Card.  

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Ouida (/ˈwiːdə/; 1 January 1839 –

25 January 1908) was the pseudonym of the English novelist Maria Louise Ramé (although

she preferred to be known as Marie Louise de la Ramée). During her

career, Ouida wrote more than 40 novels, as well as short stories, children's

books and essays. Moderately successful, she lived a life of luxury,

entertaining many of the literary figures of the day. Under Two Flags, one

of her most famous novels, described the British in Algeria. It expressed sympathy for the French colonists—with

whom Ouida deeply identified—and, to some extent, the Arabs.

The novel was adapted for the stage, and was filmed six times. Her novel A Dog of Flanders is considered a children's classic

in much of Asia. The American author Jack London cited her novel Signa as one

of the reasons for his literary success. Her lavish lifestyle eventually led

her to penury, and her works were put up for sale to pay her debts. She died

in Italy from pneumonia. Soon after her death, her friends organized a public

subscription in Bury St Edmunds, where they had a fountain for horses and dogs

installed in her name. Maria Louise Ramé was born at Bury St Edmunds, England. Her mother, Susan Sutton, was a

wine merchant's daughter; her

father was from France. She derived her pen name from her own childish

pronunciation of her given name "Louise".Her opinion of her

birthplace fluctuated; she wrote:— "That clean, quiet antiquated town,

that always puts me in the mind of an old maid dressed for a party; that lowest

and dreariest of Boroughs, where the streets are as full of grass as an acre of

pasture land. Why, the inhabitants are driven to ringing their own doorbells

lest they rust from lack of use. She moved into the Langham Hotel, London, in

1867. There, according to the hotel promotional materials, she wrote in bed, by

candlelight, with the curtains drawn to keep out daylight and surrounded by

purple flowers. She ran up huge hotel and florists bills of up to 200 pounds

per week and commanded soirees that included soldiers, politicians, literary

lights (including Oscar  Wilde, Algernon Swinburne, Robert Browning and Wilkie Collins), and artists (including John Millais). Many of her stories and characters were based

upon people she invited to her salons at The Langham.[8] Ouida was described by William Allingham in his diary of 1872 as of short

stature, with a "sinister, clever face" and with a "voice like a

carving knife." For many years Ouida lived in London, but about

1871 she moved to Italy. In 1874, she settled permanently with her mother in

Florence, and there long pursued her work as a novelist. At first she rented an

apartment at the Palazzo Vagnonville. Later she removed to the Villa Farinola

at Scandicci, south of Bellosguardo, three miles from Florence, where she lived in great style, entertained largely,

collected objets d'art, dressed expensively but not tastefully, drove good

horses, and kept many dogs, to which she was deeply attached She

lived in Bagni di Lucca for a period, where there is a commemorative plaque on

the outside wall. She declared that she never received from her publishers more

than £1600 for any one novel, but that she found America "a mine of

wealth". In The Massarenes (1897) she gave a lurid

picture of the parvenu millionaire in smart London society. This book was

greatly prized by Ouida, and was very successful in terms of sales. Thenceforth

she chiefly wrote for the leading magazines essays on social questions or literary

criticisms, which were not remunerative. As before, she used her locations as

inspiration for the setting and characters in her novels. The British and

American colony in Florence was satirised in her novel, Friendship (1878).

Ouida considered herself a serious artist. She was inspired by Byron in

particular, and was interested in other artists of all kinds. Sympathetic

descriptions of tragic painters and singers occurred in her later novels. Her

work often combines romanticism with social criticism. In her novel, Puck,

a talking dog narrates his views on society. Views and Opinions includes

essays in her own voice on a variety of social topics. She was an animal lover

and rescuer, and at times owned as many as thirty dogs. Although successful,

she did not manage her money well. A civil list pension of £150 a year was

offered to her by the prime minister, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, on the

application of Alfred Austin, George Wyndham, and Walburga, Lady Paget,

which she reluctantly accepted after request by her friend, Lady Howard of

Glossop, on 16 July 1906.She continued to live in Italy until her death on 25

January 1908, at 70 Via Zanardelli, Viareggio, of pneumonia. She is buried

in the English Cemetery in Bagni di Lucca, Italy