The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1876–1878: Volume 1(The Complete Letters of Henry James)

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