Biography

“Following the remarkable success of A Shropshire Lad by his brother A. E. Housman in 1896, he laboured for the following four years as a poet, novelist, art critic and illustrator ‘under the shadow of that bright cloud.’” Then in 1900 he published An Englishwoman's Love letters, an epistolary novel that became a best-seller, “heralding the Edwardian sex novel” (Jonathan Wild).

"Laurence Housman, one of the most innovative or influential illustrators of the 1890s, in a brief career of less than ten years, created some of the most striking black and white illustrations of the period. His original meticulously drawn pen and ink drawings remain rare today. His first sucsess was his illustrated edition of Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market. (Fairy Folk).

Biographical material

Writings

Literary and artistic relations

Religion

Social history: themes and contexts

Related Material

Bibliography

Wild, Jonathan. “A loosening of silk ribbons: Laurence Housman, John Murray, and the publishing sensation of 1900.” Times Literary Supplement (November 2, 2012): 14-15.


Last modified 19 November 2012