Part of the "Character Sketches" series, this title looks at Elizabethan writers. The series features compact guides devoted to literary, artistic and historic personalities, circles and themes. They contain portaits in a variety of media, all selected from the National Portrait Gallery's diverse collection. The illustrations are accompanied by substantial and relevant quotations from the works of the people featured, as well as contemporary descriptions and anecdotes from unpublished as well as published source. The books should be of interest to general readers and students alike. Richard Holmes is the author of "Shelley: The Pursuit" (which on the Somerset Maugham Award, "Coleridge: Early Visions" (which won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award) and "Dr Johnson & Mr Savage".