Written by leading experts on the artist, the book treats Burne-Jones' entire career, not only the Pre-Raphaelite paintings for which he is most famous. Burne-Jones created a style of romantic symbolism that had wide-reaching influence on British and European art. An important force in the Arts and Crafts movement, he also produced, with his friend William Morris, decorative art ranging from ceramic tiles and stained glass to tapestries and illustrated books for Morris' renowned Kelmscott Press. Every aspect of his diverse and prodigious output is reproduced.

Commemorating the centenary of the artist's death, the related exhibition opens at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in June 1998 and travels to the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, England, in October, and then to the Musee d'Orsay, Paris, in March 1999.