ENGEN (Rodney): LAURENCE HOUSMAN.
Stroud: Catalpa Press, 1983.ISBN# 0 904995 04 6. Illustrated with numerous black and white pictures.Tall 8vo., 164 pp. ; plain cloth, pictorial dust-jacket.

The spirited prolific career of Laurence Housman (1865-1959) was that of one of the most enigmatic, talented, skillful polymaths of the late Victorian period. He was a draughtsman and book designer who turned to writing verse, fantasy stories, novels, essays and scandalous plays on the royals. Housman, the pioneer feminist, pacifist and socialist, was as outspoken as he was enchanting. His life and work is an invaluable reflection of the taste and popular opinions of an early twentieth century anxious to shrug off the mantle of the Victorians. Yet Housman himself remained a true Victorian to the end. He was the prophet of fantasy: the pure, simple guide through a rapidly confused and complicated world. This important reference work contains a biography, a complete annotated bibliography and reprints of critical essays on Housman. Published as the second volume in the series: Artist and the Critic, it is the only published study of Housman the artist.