Wright's works were very popular at the time, although this was the only one to top the year-end bestsellers list.

Owen Wister’s comments are representative: “I doubt if the present hour furnishes any happier symbols [of the quack novel] than we have in Mr. Wright [and The Eyes of the World].

It is,” Wister says, “stale, distorted, a sham, a puddle of words,” and “a mess of mildewed pap.” This novel is set in "Fairlands", which is based on Redlands, California, and focuses on several artists and art patrons.

[1] The Eyes of the World was released in August 1914, with an advertising budget of $100,000 to promote it.

By Wright's own calculations in 1942, the novel had sold 925,000 total copies, the fifth-most among his output, all of which therefore would rank as "top bracket" best-sellers for their times.