The Essays of Anthony Trollope: The habit of reading is the only enjoyment in which there is no alloy; it lasts when all other pleasures fade.

Anthony Trollope was one the major English novelists and writers of the Victorian Age. He was also among the most prolific ones, having published forty-seven novels in addition to a number of short stories, Sketches, travelogues and biographies. Trollope succeeded in earning a good reputation as a serious writer during his lifetime and although this reputation seemed to wane during his twilight years and right after his death, the recognition of his genius and literary merits was posthumously revived by critics and academics towards the mid-twentieth century. In addition to being such a successful writer, Trollope had also made a long career as a post office clerk and is today remembered as the inventor of the Victorian post pillar box used to deposit mail before it is collected and forwarded to addressees by the Royal Mail.