literature was integrated into the pre-raphaelite brotherhood's artistic practice from the beginning (including that of rossetti), with many paintings making direct literary references. for example, john everett millais' early work, "isabella" (1849), depicts an episode from john keats' "isabella, or, the pot of basil" (1818). rossetti was particularly critical of the gaudy ornamentation of victorian gift books and sought to refine bindings and illustrations to align with the principles of the aesthetic movement. rossetti's key bindings were designed between 1861 and 1871. he collaborated as a designer/illustrator with his sister, poet christina rossetti, on the first edition of "goblin market" (1862) and "the prince's progress" (1866). one of rossetti's most prominent contributions to illustration was the collaborative book, "poems" by alfred, lord tennyson (published by edward moxon in 1857 and known colloquially as the 'moxon tennyson'). moxon envisioned royal academicians as the illustrators for the ambitious project, but this vision was quickly disrupted once millais, a founding member of the pre-raphaelite brotherhood, became involved in the project. millais recruited william holman hunt and rossetti for the project, and the involvement of these artists reshaped the entire production of the book. in reference to the pre-raphaelite illustrations, laurence housman wrote "[...] the illustrations of the pre-raphaelites were personal and intellectual readings of the poems to which they belonged, not merely echoes in line of the words of the text." the pre-raphaelites’ visualization of tennyson’s poems indicated the range of possibilities in interpreting written works, as did their unique approach to visualizing narrative on the canvas.