"In his letters to Mrs Fanny Talbot Ruskin emerges as a warm, human, impelling character. The correspondence begins in 1873, when Ruskin ws concerned with the establishment of his Guild of St George and the founding of his St George's Museum for working men in Sheffield. This attempt to put his ideas into practice proved, as the correspondence shows, one of the most exacting tasks of his life. Mrs. Talbot gave him the practical help that he looked for but never found elsewhere. She treasured his friendship and was able to resign herself--after he had made the position clear--to the role he gave her in his life of 'Dearest Mama Talbot'. The correspondence mirrors the crowded difficult years of Ruskin's later life"--Jacket.