The years after the publication of "The Unclassed" brought great literary activity. "Isabel Clarendon" and "Demos" appeared in 1886; "Demos" began a relationship with Smith, Elder & Co., which published him until "New Grub Street" in 1891. The novels he wrote in this period depict a conservative view of the working class. Gissing used £150 earned from the rights to "The Nether World" in 1889 to fund a long-awaited trip to Italy to pursue his interest in the classics. His experiences there formed a basis for the 1890 work "The Emancipated".