Breaking new ground in the study of British literary culture during an important transitional period, this new work by Mary Ann Gillies focuses on the professional literary agent, whose emergence in Britain around 1880 coincided with, and accelerated, the transformation of both publishing and authorship.Like other recent studies in book and print culture, The Professional Literary Agent in Britain operates from the central premise that the business of authorship is inextricably tied to the aesthetics of literary praxis. Rather than providing a broad overview of the period, however, it focuses on a specific figure, the professional literary agent. Gillies traces the influence of two prominent agents – A. P. Watt (generally acknowledged as the first professional literary agent) and J. B. Pinker (the leading figure in the second wave of agenting) – focusing on their relationships with two key clients each. These case studies not only provide insight into the business dynamics operating in the literary world at this time, but also illustrate the shifting definition of literature itself that characterized this period.