The letters that passed between a young unknown provincial journalist and a famous Pre-Raphaelite painter and poet over a period of two years give a fascinating sidelight on 1880s literary life. They illuminate the last years of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the start of a career that was to make Hall Caine the most popular and best-selling romantic novelist of his time. The value and interest of this book lie in the fact that both sides of a correspondence are printed here together for the first time. It should appeal both to specialists and the general reader. The book contains sixteen plates.