The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1888–1891

Volume 1

by Henry James

Edited by Michael Anesko, Greg W. Zacharias and Katie Sommer

Introduction by Dee MacCormack

Published by: Nebraska

Series: The Complete Letters of Henry James

432 Pages

Hardcover
9781496240965
Published: January 2025

$95.00

Pre-Order

Description
AUTHOR BIO
Praise
TABLE OF CONTENTS

“Beautiful editions.”—Louis B. Jones, Threepenny Review

“[These volumes have] meticulously researched notes. . . . The glimpses that the letters offer of James’s conflictedness as a writer are among the volumes’ most valuable features—contributing, as [Sarah] Wadsworth suggests, to a more humanizing portrait than ‘the master’ image propagated by twentieth-century critics. . . . Michael Anesko and Gregory W. Zacharias’s achievement amounts to a culmination; they have given us authoritative editions comprising all James’s extant letters, complete with helpful contextual information.”—Rafael Walker, Edith Wharton Review

“The series is exemplary in its meticulous attention to details of what James wrote. . . . Despite the unconventional look of this text, the edition is highly readable, and the letters are supplemented by ample explanatory notes, as well as illustrations. . . . It is the distinctively modern status of James’s work and his self-conception that is particularly interesting for contemporary scholarship, and this modernity is amply attested to in this collection of letters, many of which, of course, have never previously been published.”—Guy Davidson, Australasian Journal of American Studies

“At long last we now have a complete edition, which reproduces James’s own corrections as he was writing the letters and gives scrupulous annotations, ending with a biographical register of all correspondence. . . . Even at this early stage we can see how James used his letters to family and friends to strike stances relevant to his planned career. . . . [These volumes] set a very high standard for subsequent volumes to follow.”—David Seed, Journal of American Studies

“James is one of the few writers who could not have written a boring or imprecise word even if just writing a little letter to a friend. . . . This is a great addition to libraries of all sorts, and it should be inspiration for writers to browse through some of these letters to find another writer’s input on topics we all have to ponder.”—Anna Faktorovich, Pennsylvania Literary Journal

The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1888-1891, volume 1, contains 173 letters, of which 121 are published for the first time. Each letter is followed by previous publication information or a note that there is no previous publication.

Acknowledgments
Introduction, “Yours most theatrically, Henry James,” by Dee MacCormack
Symbols and Abbreviations
Chronology
Errata

1888
24 November         To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
5 December          To Joseph Pennell
8 December          To Joseph Pennell
15 December         To Edward Compton Mackenzie
19 December         To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
23 December         To Edmund Gosse

1889
1889                To George Du Maurier
3 January           To Sirs
7 January           To Catharine Walsh
11 January          To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
18 January          To Francis Boott
19 January          To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
19 January          To William James
19 January          To Beatrix du Maurier Millar
22 January          To Macmillan and Company
22 January          To Frederick Macmillan
25 January          To Richard Watson Gilder
28 January          To Richard Watson Gilder
29 January          To Edmund Gosse
31 January          To Richard Watson Gilder
13 February 1889 or 1895 To Lady Isabella Augusta Persse Gregory
14 February         To William James
16 February         To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
16 February 1889-1910         To Eugénie Phillips
18 February         To James McNeill Whistler
20 February         To Louisa Putnam Loring
1 March             To Alice Howe Gibbens James
1 March             To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
5 March             To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
8 March             To William James
9 March             To Urbain Mengin
9 March             To Richard Watson Gilder
16 March            To Harry Quilter
20 March            To Ariana Randolph Wormeley Curtis
20 March            To Daniel Chester French
20 March            To Isabella Stewart Gardner
20 March            To Olivia Brown Walsh
20 March            To William Dean Howells
22 March            To Lady Grace Baring
22 March            To William James
23 March            To Henrietta Reubell
25 March            To Charles Eliot Norton
27 March            To Rhoda Broughton
15 April 1889 or 1895    To Lady Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
23 April            To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
25 April            To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
26 April            To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
27 April            To Charles Eliot Norton
29 April            To Grace Norton
29 April            To Robert Louis Stevenson
4 May               To Mary Smith Mundella
13 May              To Sidney Woollett
17 May              To Dr. William Wilberforce Baldwin
17 May              To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
18 May              To Grace Norton
20 May              To Francis Boott
21 May              To Charles Stanley Reinhart
22 May              To Sidney Woollett
25 May              To William James
28 May              To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
31 May              To Sir Thomas Wemyss Reid
June 1889 to January 1890 To Edmund Gosse
1 June              To James Bryce
13 June             To William James
16 June             To Frederick Macmillan
16 June             To Laura Alma-Tadema
21 June             To Margaret Oliphant
23 June             To Ellen “Nellie” Epps Gosse
24 June             To George Henry Boughton
25 June             To Lady Louisa Erskine Wolseley
July                To Deerfield Summer School of History and Romance
1 July              To Mary Theresa Mundella
6 July              To Lady Cecilia Wyndham Paget
9 July              To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
10 July             To Alice Stopford Green
10 July             To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
13 July             To Thomas Hardy
15 July             To Maud Broadwood Story
19 July             To Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
20 July             To Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
27 July             To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
29 July             To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
1 August            To Arthur Stedman
9 August            To Jean Jules Jusserand
23 August           To William James
28 August           To Katharine Peabody Loring
31 August           To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
31 August           To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
6 September         To Lady Florence Eveleen Olliffe Bell
6 September         To James Russell Lowell
11 September        To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
12 September        To Elizabeth “Lily” Gaskell Norton
13 September        To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
20 September        To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
21 September        To William James
21 September        To Urbain Mengin
21 September        To Henrietta Reubell
22 September        To Ariana Randolph Wormeley Curtis
22 September        To Grace Norton
27 September        To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
2 October           To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
7 October           To Sir
15 October          To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
20 October          To William James
24 October          To James Russell Lowell
2 November          To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
6 November          To Jean Jules Jusserand
8 November          To Rhoda Broughton
12 November         To Laura Alma-Tadema
13 November         To Frederick Macmillan
15 November         To Alphonse Daudet
17 November         To Leonard Huxley
18 November         To Edmund Gosse
26 November         To Lady Florence Eveleen Olliffe Bell
28 November         To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
28 November         To Leonard Huxley
28 November         To William James
29 November         To Lady Florence Eveleen Olliffe Bell
29 November         To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
2 December          To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
2 December          To Lady Florence Eveleen Olliffe Bell
21 December         To Editor of the Weekly Comedy
26 December         To Lady Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
30 December; probably misdated     To Sir Thomas Wemyss Reid
1890
11 January          To Francis Boott
12 January          To Katharine de Kay Bronson
12 January          To Edwin Lawrence Godkin
20 January          To William Morton Fullerton
24 January          To Katharine de Kay Bronson
24 January          To Edmund Gosse
30 January          To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
1 February          To James Ripley Osgood
4 February          To William Morton Fullerton
5 February          To Lady Florence Eveleen Olliffe Bell
7 February          To Lady Florence Eveleen Olliffe Bell
12 February         To Lawrence Barrett
18 February         To Harper and Brothers
19 February         To James Russell Lowell
20 February         To Lady Butt
25 February         To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
25 February         To Henry Quilter
4 March             To Anthony John and Mary Smith Mundella
6 March             To Rhoda Broughton
9 March             To William Morton Fullerton
9 March             To Sarah Butler Wister
9 March             To William James
11 March            To William Morton Fullerton
12 March            To Grace Norton
13 March            To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
18 March            To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
20 March            To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
21 March            To Robert Louis and Frances “Fanny” van de Grift Stevenson
24 March            To Louisa and Mary Wilhelmina Lawrence
24 March            To Frederick Macmillan
24 March            To Frederick Macmillan
24 March            To Lady Georgina Harriett Deffell Pollock
25 March            To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
26 March            To Frederick Macmillan
27 March            To James Russell Lowell
28 March            To Frederick Macmillan
31 March            To William Morton Fullerton
2 April             To Alexander Pollock “A. P.” Watt
4 April             To Ellen “Nelly” Epps Gosse
6 April             To Lorettus Sutton Metcalf
9 April           To Alexander Pollock “A. P.” Watt
9 April             To Alexander Pollock “A. P.” Watt
17 April            To Ariana Randolph Wormeley Curtis
18 April            To James Russell Lowell
19 April            To Grace Norton
20 April            To Sara “Sally” Norton
20 April            To Henrietta Reubell

Biographical Register
General Editors’ Note
Works Cited
Index