This is the first volume in a new series on the work of the poet W. H. Auden. The volume contains a large amount of Unpublished material by Auden, notably six poems written in German in the early 1930s, translated here by the poet and scholar David Constantine, as well as the complete version of the important early essay, `Writing', with a new foreword by its original editor Naomi Mitchison. There are substantial selections from Auden's letters to Stephen Spender and to E. R. Dodds and Mrs Dodds: these are the first Auden letters to receive a scholarly presentation with full annotation. Also in the volume are essays about Auden and his mentors and contemporaries, by leading scholars in the field such as Valentine Cunningham, John Fuller, Julian Symons, and Stan Smith, as well as by outstanding newcomers. For bibliophiles, there is advice on collecting Auden's works, and Edward Mendelson has contributed a Supplement to his comprehensive W. H. Auden: A Bibliography, 1924-1969.
