Denise Gigante is associate professor of English at Stanford University and the author of Taste: A Literary History, published by Yale University Press.

"This is a splendid project. No other collection of its scope and variety exists."—James Engell, Harvard University“This collection puts the reader into the warm, snug world of the periodical essay as it self-consciously develops over two centuries. I’m not sure when I’ve had so much pure reading pleasure.”—Cynthia Wall, University of Virginia“Denise Gigante’s volume of the major English familiar essayists is the best available. She covers the entire range from Addison and Steele through the greatness of Dr. Johnson onto the high Romantics Hazlitt, Lamb, and de Quincey. This book will be widely and gratefully read.”—Harold Bloom

Denise Gigante is associate professor of English at Stanford University and the author of Taste: A Literary History, published by Yale University Press.

"This is a splendid project. No other collection of its scope and variety exists."—James Engell, Harvard University“This collection puts the reader into the warm, snug world of the periodical essay as it self-consciously develops over two centuries. I’m not sure when I’ve had so much pure reading pleasure.”—Cynthia Wall, University of Virginia“Denise Gigante’s volume of the major English familiar essayists is the best available. She covers the entire range from Addison and Steele through the greatness of Dr. Johnson onto the high Romantics Hazlitt, Lamb, and de Quincey. This book will be widely and gratefully read.”—Harold Bloom

Denise Gigante is associate professor of English at Stanford University and the author of Taste: A Literary History, published by Yale University Press.

"This is a splendid project. No other collection of its scope and variety exists."—James Engell, Harvard University“This collection puts the reader into the warm, snug world of the periodical essay as it self-consciously develops over two centuries. I’m not sure when I’ve had so much pure reading pleasure.”—Cynthia Wall, University of Virginia“Denise Gigante’s volume of the major English familiar essayists is the best available. She covers the entire range from Addison and Steele through the greatness of Dr. Johnson onto the high Romantics Hazlitt, Lamb, and de Quincey. This book will be widely and gratefully read.”—Harold Bloom