It's just a very old-fashioned way of speaking. It's the same phenomenon that sees self-portraits sometimes titled "Portrait of the artist as a young man" - This one essentially means "From the author to his coy mistress": as you say, it's the author taking a step back :o)
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It's just a very old-fashioned way of speaking. It's the same phenomenon that sees self-portraits sometimes titled "Portrait of the artist as a young man" - This one essentially means "From the author to his coy mistress": as you say, it's the author taking a step back :o)