This critical and scholarly edition presents the complete letters of Henry James, one of the great novelists and letter writers of the English language. Comprising more than ten thousand letters and addressing a remarkably wide range of topics, this edition is an indispensable resource for students and scholars of James, of the European novel and modern literature, and of American and English literature, culture, and criticism.
Written between December 1876 and December 1877, the letters in this volume trace James's departure from Paris and his arrival and domestication in London, where he would live at least part of each year for most of the rest of his life. In London, James quickly becomes immersed in the social and literary life of the city and of the nation. He is invited as an honorary guest to the Athenaeum Club; dines with Lord Houghton, William Gladstone, Alfred Tennyson, Heinrich Schliemann, and "half a dozen other men of 'high culture'"; and continues his friendship with Turgenev, who lives in Paris. In addition to his regular production of critical and travel essays, he completes The American, contracts with Macmillan to publish French Poets and Novelists, revises Watch and Ward for book publication, and travels to France and Italy.
Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction by Martha Banta
Symbols and Abbreviations
Chronology
Errata
1876
13 December To Alice James
13 December To Thomas Sergeant Perry
17 December To H. O. Houghton and Co.
18 December To William Dean Howells
21 December To Whitelaw Reid
[24 December] To Mary Walsh James
26 December To Elizabeth Boott
1877
1 January To James Ripley Osgood
6 January To Katharine Hillard
6 January To Mary Clarke Mohl
12 January To William James
12 January To Thomas Sergeant Perry
13 January To Henry Adams
17 January To H. O. Houghton and Co.
31 January To Mary Walsh James
2 February To William Dean Howells
2 February To William James
2 February To Whitelaw Reid
7 February To H. O. Houghton and Co.
8 February To James Ripley Osgood
9 February To William James
11 February To Elizabeth Boott
13 February To James Ripley Osgood
13 February To Henry James Sr.
17 February To Frederick Locker-Lampson
28 February To William James
28 February To Thomas Sergeant Perry
2 March To Alice James
7 March To James Ripley Osgood
22 March To Mary Walsh James
27 March To Henrietta Heathorn Huxley
29 March To William James
30 March To William Dean Howells
8 April To Alice James
18 April To Thomas Sergeant Perry
19 April To William James
23 April To William Henry Huntington
4 May To Mary Walsh James
5 May To Henry Adams
11 May To Theodore E. Child
20, 22 May To Henry James Sr. and Alice James
22 May To Grace Norton
26 May To Elizabeth Boott
26 May To William Conant Church
31 May To Henry Adams
5 June To Henry Adams
7 June To Grace Norton
9, 11 June To Henry James Sr.
[12 June] To Katharine Hillard
[14 June] To Katharine Hillard
23 June To James Ripley Osgood
25 June To Thomas Sergeant Perry
28 June To William James
30 June To Francis Pharcellus Church or William Conant Church
7 July To Richard Watson Gilder
10 July To William James
14 July To Frederick Locker-Lampson
15 July To Henry Adams
25 July To Theodore E. Child
5 August To Elizabeth Boott
6 August To Mary Walsh James
7 August To Macmillan and Company
9 August To Grace Norton
22 August To Elizabeth Boott
26 August To Mary Walsh James
27 August To Francis Pharcellus Church or William Conant Church
27 August To Frederick Macmillan
4 September To Francis Pharcellus Church or William Conant Church
4 September To Mary Walsh James
[4 September] To Alice James
7 September To Elizabeth Boott
8 September To James Ripley Osgood
19 September To Henry James Sr.
28 September To Elizabeth Boott
2 October To Francis Pharcellus Church or William Conant Church
2 October To Mary Walsh James
7 October To James Ripley Osgood
7 October To Henry James Sr.
25 October To Gertrude Bloede
2 November To Alice James
10 November To Henry James Sr.
22 November To Alexander Robertson Walsh
8 [December]; misdated November To Frederick Macmillan
9 December To Henry James Sr.
12 December To Frederick Macmillan
15 December To Grace Norton
15 December To Thomas Sergeant Perry
17 December To Frederick Macmillan
Biographical Register
Genealogies
General Editors’ Note
Works Cited
Index
About the Author :
Pierre A. Walker is a professor of English at Salem State University. He is the editor of Henry James on Culture: Collected Essays on Politics and the American Social Scene (Nebraska, 1999).
Greg W. Zacharias is a professor of English at Creighton University, where he coordinates the Humanities Research Group and directs the Center for Henry James Studies. He is the editor of A Companion to Henry James and coeditor of Tracing Henry James.
Martha Banta is a distinguished professor of English emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of Henry James and the Occult: The Great Extension.
Review :
"This volume is only one installment in an ambitious series, The Complete Letters of Henry James, which the University of Nebraska Press is bringing out in beautiful editions."-Louis B. Jones, Threepenny Review "These volumes are beautifully and generously designed, and achieve an aesthetic standard rare in modern book production."-Dieter Mehl, Archiv
