This is a fantastic collection of the oft-overlooked poet, Christina Rossetti. I had ordered it at a bookstore, at first thinking I had ordered another book. When it came I was pleasantly surprised. It was much better than the one I thought I had ordered! The timeline and biography that editor Jan Marsh provides at the beginning of the book are invaluable. The book, as the title suggests, is divided into two sections--poetry and prose. What is not indicated is that included in Rossetti's short fiction are some of her letters which grant a bit of insight into her character. As for the fiction, it is evident that if Rossetti had turned her focus in that direction, she could have established a fine writing career. "Commonplace" rivals any of Jane Austen's work, with its wit and insightful charactersation. The poetry section provides a variety of poems that prove Christina Rossetti one of the finest Victorian poets. Ranging from more well-known pieces like "Goblin Market", "Pilgrim's Progress" and the Monna Innominata sonnet sequence; to her less-read poems for children, this edition brings a wide variety of Rossetti's best work together. I highly recommend it.

I would like to say read Christina Rossetti! She's very underappreciated. Her poetry is lyrical and musical with a kind of magic about it. Simple yet elegant. And her themes are on the surface "Victorian" but her sincerity and honesty are refreshing.

Most books on the Pre-Raphaelites only touch briefly on the women artists. This book looks at these women, the barriers that made it difficult for them to paint and the tragic lives that some of them had. no Pre-Raphaelite collection is complete without this book.

I am an avid fan of Pre-Raphaelite painting, and was very pleased to find this book. It is very thorough and wonderfully done. It contains more than 230 lush illustrations, many in color. Featured are 20 artists, some of whom I wasn't familiar with before. Very nice!

Next to the glory of his paintings, it's easy to forget that Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a talented poet as well. It's easy to overlook his written work, even such classics as "Jenny" and "The Blessed Damozel", and the sonnets.

In this lovely anthology, Jan Marsh -- the foremost authority on the Pre-Raphaelite circle -- has collected and arranged Rossetti's writings. Buy this book, and sample the elegance of Victorian literature, and the genius of Rossetti.

I found Jan Marsh's book very interesting. She takes the time to try and give a ful account of the women attached to the Pre-Rapaelite Brotherhood. Her research seems thorough, but she also seems to fall into the trap of Victorian notions of the tragic woman. Some of the women did lead tragic lives, but I wish she had down-played this one dimensional aspect to the Pre-Raphaelite Sistrhood.

For any reader who just can't get enough info about that astounding 19th-century art movement, here's another entertaining, accurate, and informative book by Pre-Raphaelite expert Jan Marsh.

This book is replete with interesting tidbits about about the greatest artists of the movement, including William Holman Hunt, Edward Burne-Jones, and of course, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. It provides just enough historical information to give some insight into the artists' inspiration, but steers clear of unnecessary biographical information and opinionated fluff.

Criticism? Well, yes. This book is not as thoroughly researched as the author's biographies of Elizabeth Siddal and Christina Rossetti, nor is it as lush with paintings and photographs as Marsh's "Pre-Raphaelite Women". It probably a bit too in-depth to be of much interest to those readers with no familiarity with the works of the Pre-Raphaelites. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this, and the other books of Jan Marsh, to anyone wishing to find out more about the Pre-Raphaelites.

Pat Marsh makes an admirable attempt at dispelling the myths about Dante Gabriel Rossetti's legendary wife. By examining different accounts of Siddal and comparing them to what we know is the truth, she attempts to create a kind of biography. That being said, I'm not convinced that there is enough material to warrant a whole book. Most of what we know about Siddal is a mystery. The book unfortunately reads like another book about the Pre-Raphaelite art movement. Nevertheless, if you're interested in the Pre-Raphaelites, this is worth reading.