PREFACE


Du Maurier worked for periodicals which buried in a back number each
phase of his work as it came to an end. Thus it is that he is,
unfortunately, chiefly now remembered by the last--the most accessible,
but not by any means the finest--period of his work.

The present book is an attempt to correct this and to bring forward du
Maurier's name again in the light of his earlier achievement.

No book on the artist, however, would be complete which omitted all
reference to his literary attainment; nor would it be in order in an
essay of this extent not to seek to demonstrate that connection which
always exists between the life and the work of an artist of distinctive
temperament. The author has endeavoured, in the chapter devoted to
outlining the main incidents of du Maurier's career, to regard the
feeling of his representatives that the autobiography of the novels is
itself so complete and sensitive as scarcely to call at present for
anything supplemental. He wishes to acknowledge the kindness of the
artist's family in lending him portraits, sketch-books, and manuscript
with the permission for reproduction; also of Mr. W. Lawrence Bradbury,
so zealous a guardian of all that redounds to the fame of his great
journal, for every kind of assistance; and of Sir Francis Burnand, du
Maurier's Editor and comrade, for letters assisting him to form an
impression of du Maurier in the flesh. Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. have
also been generous in allowing the reproduction of the four drawings
included here, which appeared originally in the _Cornhill Magazine_. The
author only wishes that he felt that what he has written more justified