The closely related worlds of art and literature in late 19th and early 20th-century Britain are brought alive by these extensive, original manuscripts. The work of John Ruskin--critic, theorist, painter, and essayist--is at the center of the collection. Nearly 2,000 items produced by or relating to Ruskin have been compiled by the John Rylands University Library.

More than 3,700 items comprise this outstanding archive, one of the finest collections in the world concerning Ruskin, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the artistic and literary culture that surrounded them.

In addition to Ruskin, there are many letters illuminating the lives of the Rossettis and a substantial body of material relating to Oliver Madox Brown. The Holman Hunt Manuscripts provide crucial information on the life and work of this distinguished artist and on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, of which he was a founding member. Hunt's diaries are essential sources for any biographical study of him or the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

The collections of renowned art collector Charles Fairfax Murray and noted art critic M. H. Spielmann complement the material by supplying letters and papers of many of Hunt's contemporaries and further resources relating to Ruskin and Rossetti.

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