Henry James (1843–1916) wrote short stories, plays, literary criticism, and travel essays and is most famous for his many novels, which include The Portrait of a Lady, The Bostonians, The Ambassadors, and The Golden Bowl. American born, he spent considerable time in England and eventually became a British subject. When he died, he left behind more than ten thousand letters. Pierre A. Walker is a professor of English at Salem State College. He is the editor of Henry James on Culture: Collected Essays on Politics and the American Social Scene, available in a Bison Books edition, and the author of Reading Henry James in French Cultural Contexts. Greg W. Zacharias is a professor of English and the founder and director of the Center for Henry James Studies at Creighton University. He is the author of Henry James and the Morality of Fiction, editor of A Companion to Henry James, and coeditor of Tracing Henry James.

"Like earlier releases in the ambitious "Complete Letters of Henry James" series, this richly rewarding compilation is well annotated and scrupulously edited: in addition to the letters, it includes a brief chronology of the years covered, genealogies of principal named families, and a "biographical register" of "relatively obscure" persons mentioned."—J. J. Benardete, Choice

• Contents List of Illustrations   Acknowledgments   Symbols and Abbreviations     Chronology  Errata       1873July 15     To Mary Walsh James     July 17     To Grace Norton   July 23     To Mary Walsh James     August 1    To Catharine Walsh      August 4    To Henry James Sr. and Mary Walsh James   August 5    To William James  August 10   To Sarah Butler Wister  August 14   To Henry James Sr. and Mary Walsh James   August 15   To Elizabeth Boott      September 3 To Alice James    September 9 To William Dean Howells September 15      To William James  September 22      To Mary Walsh James     September 26      To William James  October 18  To William Dean Howells October 26  To Henry James Sr.      November 2  To Henry James Sr.      November 16, 17  To Henry James Sr. and Mary Walsh James   December 3  To Henry James Sr.      December 10 To Elizabeth Boott      December 22 To Henry James Sr.       1874January 4   To Samuel Gray Ward     January 9   To William Dean Howells January 13  To Alice James    January 14  To Grace Norton   February 5  To Henry James Sr. and Mary Walsh James   February 11 To Anna Hallowell February 15 To Henry James Sr. and Mary Walsh James   February 27 To Henry James Sr. and Mary Walsh James   February 28      To William James  March 1     To Editor of the Independent March 9     To Henry James Sr. and Mary Walsh James   March 10    To William Dean Howells March 22    To William James  April 4     To Mary Walsh James     April 7, 8  To Elizabeth Boott      April 18, 19     To Alice James    May 3 To William Dean Howells May 3 To William James  May 10      To Sarah Butler Wister  May 17      To Mary Walsh James     June 3      To Mary Walsh James     June 13     To William James  June 23     To Henry James Sr.      July 6      To William James  July 28     To Mary Walsh James     July 29     To Elizabeth Boott      July 29     To Sarah Butler Wister  October 13  To Robertson James      November 18 or 25, December 2 or 9, 1874 To H. O. Houghton and Co.     late December 1874January 1875  To Welch and Bigelow    December 22, 29, 1874, or January 5, 12, 19, or 26, or February 2, 1875      To Elizabeth Boott    1875January 13  To William Dean Howells January 23  To Sarah Butler Wister  January 29  To Welch and Bigelow    February   To Wendell Phillips Garrison  March 8     To Elizabeth Boott      March 19 or 26   To William Dean Howells spring     To Anna Hazard Barker Ward    April 16    To Caroline Dall  April 27    To H. O. Houghton and Co.     May 27      To Mary Lucinda Holton James  late spring      To James Ripley Osgood  June 7      To George William CurtisJune 7      To Caroline Dall  June 23 or 30    To William Dean Howells July 21     To John Milton Hay      August 5    To John Milton Hay      August 18   To John Milton Hay      August 18   To J. R. Osgood and Co. August 24   To H. O. Houghton and Co.     August 30   To H. O. Houghton and Co.     August 31   To James Ripley Osgood  September 1 To Edmund Clarence Stedman    October 7   To H. O. Houghton and Co.     October 13 To H. O. Houghton and Co.     October 13  To George Abbot James   October 15  To H. O. Houghton and Co.      Biographical Register   Genealogies General Editors' Note   Works Cited Index