Maudsley acquired a reputation as an outstanding essayist on medical and literary topics. An early hit was a spectacular essay on Edgar Allan Poe. He made numerous contributions to the "Journal of Mental Science". His position as Britain's foremost mental specialist was sealed by his acquaintance with Charles Darwin and other leading Victorian intellectuals and by his magisterial textbooks "The Physiology and Pathology of Mind" (1867), "Body and Mind" (1870) and "Mental Responsibility in Health and Disease" (1874). His popularity was exemplified by his influence on many novels by Rosa Nouchette Carey.