Recipient of the Approved Edition seal from the Modern Language Association’s Committee on Scholarly Editions
This second volume of The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1884–1886 contains 156 letters, of which 111 are published for the first time, written from December 24, 1885, to December 31, 1886. These letters mark Henry James’s ongoing efforts to care for his sister, develop his work, strengthen his professional status, build friendships, engage timely political and economic issues, and maximize his income. James details work on his midcareer novel The Princess Casamassima and announces plans for The Tragic Muse. This volume opens with James’s engagement with friends in Britain and France and concludes with his arrival in Italy for a six-month visit.
Acknowledgments
Symbols and Abbreviations
Chronology
Errata
1885
December 24 To Theodore E. Child
December 29 To Henrietta Reubell
1886
January 1 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
January 5 To Archibald Philip Primrose, Lord Rosebery
January 7 To Elizabeth Boott
January 11 To Mrs. Pfeiffer
January 13 To Mrs. Pfeiffer
January 21 To Edward Tyas Cook
January 23 To Edward Tyas Cook
January 25 To Frederick Macmillan
January 28 To Edmund Gosse
January 31 To Mr. Pfeiffer
February 2 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
February 4 To Robert Louis Stevenson
February 6 To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
February 7 To Grace Norton
February 11 To Maria Theresa Villiers Earle
February 12 To Mary Smith Mundella
February 22 To Elizabeth Boott
February 22 To Francis Boott
February 25 To Lady Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
February 26 To Lady Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
March 3 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
March 3 To Edward Lee Childe
March 8 To Edith Russell, Lady Playfair
March 9 To William James
March 11 To Henrietta Reubell
March 12 To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
<b>c. March 14 <n> August 28 </b> To Sir John Forbes Clark
<b>c. March 14 <n> August 28 </b> To Lady Constance Wilhelmina Frances Leslie
March 14 To George Du Maurier
March 17 To Elizabeth Boott
March 18 To Edmund Gosse
March 18 To Mary James Wilkinson Mathews
<b>March 19 <n> August 27 </b> To Louisa and Mary Wilhelmina Lawrence
March 19 To Laurence Alma-Tadema
March 26 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
<b>March 27 or April 3, 10, or 17 </b> To Robert Louis and Frances Van de Grift Stevenson
<b> March 29 or April 5 or 12 </b> To Sidney Colvin
<b> March 29 or April 5 or 12 </b> To Frances Van de Grift Stevenson
March 29 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
March 29 To Emma Wilkinson Pertz
April 2 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
April 7 To Ellen “Nellie” Epps Gosse
April 7 To William James
April 7 To Emma Wilkinson Pertz
April 8 To Margaret Oliphant
April 13 To Catharine Walsh
April 16 To William Jones Hoppin
April 18 To Frances Van de Grift Stevenson
April 21 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
April 22 To Margaret Oliphant
April 26 To Alfred Lyttelton
April 29 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
<b>May 1886</b> To Edmund Yates
May 3 To Anne Benson Skepper Procter
May 10 To Mary Morton Hartpence Sands
May 13 To Mrs. Phelps
May 16 To Lady Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
May 19 To James Bryce
May 19 To Henrietta Reubell
May 19 To Laurence Alma-Tadema
May 21 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
May 25 To Francis Boott
May 27 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
May 29 To Mary James Wilkinson Mathews
June 5 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
June 10 To Lady Isabella Augusta Persse Gregory
June 10 To Miss Townley
June 13 To Catharine Walsh
June 13 To William James
June 15 To Marion Langdon
<b>June 18 </b> To Frederick Macmillan
June 24 To Frederick Macmillan
June 26 To Lady Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
June 28 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
July 5 To Robert Underwood Johnson
July 7 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
July 12 To Robert Underwood Johnson
July 14 To Ariana Randolph Wormeley Curtis
July 16 To Robert Louis Stevenson
July 16 To Grace Norton
July 23 To Robert Underwood Johnson
July 25 To Robert Underwood Johnson
July 30 To Robert Louis Stevenson
<b>August 5 </b> To George Du Maurier
<b>August 7 </b> To Edmund Gosse
August 12 To Elizabeth Boott
<b>August 12 </b> To Edmund Gosse
August 15 To Francis Boott
August 28 To Edmund Gosse
August 28 To Frederick Locker-Lampson
September 4 To James Russell Lowell
<b>c. September 8 <n>c. October 1 1886</b> To Edmund Gosse
September 10, 11 To William James
September 12 To Lady Jane O’Meara Simon
September 14 To Julian Russell Sturgis
September 20 To Frederick Macmillan
September 20 To Julian Russell Sturgis
September 27 To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
September 28 To Robert Underwood Johnson
September 29 To Henry White
<b>October 1 </b> To Florence Eveleen Olliffe Bell
October 2 To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
October 8 To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
October 12 To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
<b>October 13 </b> To Margaret Oliphant
October 13 To Archibald Philip Primrose, Lord Rosebery
October 18 To Elizabeth Boott
October 19 To William Dean Howells
October 20 To Katharine de Kay Bronson
October 21 To Isabella Stewart Gardner
October 22 To Edmund Gosse
October 22 To Frederick Macmillan
October 25 To Edmund Gosse
October 25 To Robert Underwood Johnson
October 25 <b>1886<n>87 or 1890<n>94</b> To Elizabeth “Lily” Gaskell Norton
October 26 To Isabella Stewart Gardner
October 26 To Edmund Gosse
October 28 To Carlo Placci
October 29 To Edmund Gosse
October 30 To Catharine Walsh
<b>November 3 </b> To Edmund Gosse
<b>November 3 </b> To Elizabeth “Dolly” Yates Thompson
November 4 To Francis Boott
November 4 To Katharine de Kay Bronson
November 5 To Isabella Stewart Gardner
November 5 To Robert Louis Stevenson
<b>November 8 </b> To Edmund Gosse
November 9 To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
November 12 To Elizabeth “Lily” Millet
November 12 To Henrietta Reubell
November 12 To Robert Louis Stevenson
November 13 To William James
November 16 To Katharine de Mattos
November 16 To Katharine Peabody Loring
November 16 To James Russell Lowell
November 17 To Frederick Locker-Lampson
November 20 To Ellen “Nellie” Epps Gosse
November 25 To Mrs. Simpson
November 26 To Francis Boott
<b>November 27 </b> To Florence Eveleen Olliffe Bell
December 1 To Henry Alden
December 1 To Violet Paget
December 1 To Robert Louis Stevenson
December 6 To Katharine de Kay Bronson
December 6 To Lady Louisa Erskine Wolseley
December 6 To Charles Eliot Norton
December 7 To Grace Norton
December 7 To William Dean Howells
<b>December 11, 18, or 25 1886; April 9, 16, 23, or 30 1887; or May 7, 14, or 21 1887</b> To Emma Wilkinson Pertz
December 19 To William Archer
December 19 To Robert Louis Stevenson
December 23 To William James and Alice Howe Gibbens James
December 24 To John Milton Hay
December 31 To Linda White Mazini Villari
Biographical Register
General Editors’ Note
Works Cited
Index