HALL (THOMAS HENRY HALL) CAINE - AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED - HFSID 146508

HALL CAINE. ANS: "Hall Caine" on verso of British postal card, 4¼x3. Imprinted half penny postage, postmark obscured except for "92" of 1892. Addressed by Caine to: "Fred Turner, Esq., Sec of Labor:, Free Library, Brentford." Begins: "My dear Sir". In full: "With the utmost pleasure. Yours very truly". English novelist Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine (1853-1931) was one of Great Britain's most read authors between 1893-1930. Caine, who had begun his literary career by writing articles for trade journals, magazines and newspapers, was further inspired when he became Secretary to and friend of poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, whom he remembered in his 1882 work, Recollections of Rossetti. Caine published his first novel, The Shadow of a Crime, in 1885, and this was quickly followed by A Son of Hagar (1886) and The Deemster (1887). Caine's other works, many of which featured Biblical themes, include The Bondman and The Scapegoat (both 1890), Cap'n Davey's Honeymoon (1893), The Manxman (1894, his first big commercial success), The Christian (1897, which sold 650,000 copies), The Eternal City (1901, over a million copies sold worldwide) and The Prodigal Son (1904, novel and play). Caine, who edited King Albert's Book during WWI (the proceeds went to help Belgian refugees), published his last full-length novel in 1921 to devote himself to his life's work, a Life of Christ, which he had researched during several visits to Palestine and Transjordania. The book was published posthumously by his sons in 1938, twenty years after Caine had been knighted on the recommendation of Prime Minister Lloyd George. Lightly creased at blank areas. Foxed. Paper remnant over postmark.