her labour in writing the novel as one about which she could "swear by every sentence as having been written with my best blood, such as it is, and with the most ardent care for veracity of which my nature is capable". She reportedly spent eighteen months contemplating and researching the novel, including several excursions to Florence. The attention to detail exhibited in the novel was a focus of both praise and criticism. Anthony Trollope, having read the first instalment of Romola, expressed wonder at the toil Eliot must have "endured in getting up the work", but also cautioned her against excessive erudition, urging her not to "fire too much over the heads of her readers". Film adaptation In 1924, the novel was adapted for a silent film starring Lillian Gish, William Powell, Ronald Colman and Dorothy Gish. References Facsimile reprint of the New York: Harper & Brothers, 1863 edition (with illustrations by Sir Frederick Leighton) – Toronto, Ont.; Orchard Park, N.Y.: Broadview Press, 2005. . External links Romola free PDF of Blackwood's 1878 Cabinet Edition (the critical standard with Eliot's final corrections) at the George Eliot Archive Romola, F. F. Lovell & Co., 1889. Scanned illustrated book via Google Books 1863 British novels British historical novels British novels adapted into films Cultural depictions of Christopher Columbus Cultural depictions of Girolamo Savonarola Cultural depictions of Niccolò Machiavelli Fiction set in the 1490s Novels by George Eliot Novels first published in serial form Novels set in Florence Novels set in the Renaissance Works originally published in The Cornhill Magazine