Laurence Housman's first book design for The Bodley Head was not a complete success. The commission got off to a rocky start when publisher John Lane rejected Housman's frontispiece for the book. Although the novice designer sent Lane a long and detailed explication of the spiritual symbolism of his composition in relation to the themes of Thompson's collection, which included the Catholic poet's famous "Hound of Heaven," Lane seems to have thought the image conveyed more sensuous meanings than religious ones. In the end, Housman had to produce a new frontispiece for Thompson's book, which came out in late 1893. Almost three years later, Lane was to include Housman's rejected frontispiece in the tenth volume of The Yellow Book, under the title "The Barren Life."