HALL (THOMAS HENRY HALL) CAINE - AUTOGRAPH - HFSID 22357

HALL CAINE. Signature: "Hall Caine", 4½x1¾, affixed to 5x3¾ card (two surfaces). 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. Signature sheet is lightly creased, vertical fold at the "Ca" of Caine. Slightly soiled. Mounting sheet is irregularly cut. Pencil note (unknown hand) at lower margin. Fine condition.