Although today William Blake (1757 1827) is recognised as a visionary poet and artist, at the time of his death he was unknown except for his presumed insanity. This highly influential two-volume biography by the barrister Alexander Gilchrist, first published in 1863 and reissued here in its second edition (1880), rescued William Blake from almost complete obscurity. The accepted interpretation of his madness was challenged and his creative talents were brought to the attention of Victorian society by the inclusion of selected writings and artistic works, nearly all previously unpublished....

The Rossettis were one of the most remarkable and talented families in Victorian Britain. Of the two parents and three siblings, Dante Gabriel (1828 82) and Christina (1830 94) stood out, but throughout their lives they remained a tightly-knit unit. William Michael (1829 1919), who published this two-volume work in 1895, was the family record keeper and in the memoir of his brother we have an unmatched account of the family dynamic. He was not always candid about his brother's affairs but his biography is unparalleled for its fresh directness. Unlike all subsequent biographers, William wrote...

The Rossettis were one of the most remarkable and talented families in Victorian Britain. Of the two parents and three siblings, Dante Gabriel (1828 82) and Christina (1830 94) stood out, but throughout their lives they remained a tightly-knit unit. William Michael (1829 1919), who published this two-volume work in 1895, was the family record keeper and in the memoir of his brother we have an unmatched account of the family dynamic. He was not always candid about his brother's affairs but his biography is unparalleled for its fresh directness. Unlike all subsequent biographers, William wrote...

Frank Laurence Lucas (1894 1967) was a renowned English author, poet and classicist, often remembered for his polemical attacks on key modernist figures such as T. S. Eliot, as well as his meticulous scholarship in the production of texts such as the four-volume Complete Works of John Webster. First published in 1933, this book presents an accessible selection of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's poetry edited by Lucas. The text is divided into two parts, with the first part containing translated works by other poets and the second original works by Rossetti. This book will be of value to anyone with...

The New Life is the masterpiece of Dante s youth, an account of his love for Beatrice, the girl who was to become his lifelong muse, and of her tragic early death. An allegory of the soul s crisis and growth, combining prose and poetry, narrative and meditation, dreams and songs and prayers, The New Life is a work of crystalline beauty and fascinating complexity that has long taken its place as one of the supreme revelations in the literature of love.
The New Life is published here in the beautiful translation by the English poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, an inspired...