The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle: October 1856-July 1857

Volume 32 covers the period from October 1856 to July 1857. During this time, Jane is beset with a succession of illnesses, while Thomas prepares the first two books of his massive History of Frederick the Great for publication and labors on his publisher's proposed new "cheap" edition of his works. The "Indian mutiny," the bombardment of Canton, and a dissolution of the British Parliament also feature in this volume. In addition to its 168 richly annotated letters, many published here for the first time, volume 32 includes two appendixes: (1) advertisements in the Athenaeum for the "cheap edition" from December 1856 to December 1858 and (2) a transcription of Thomas Carlyle's marginal comments on a borrowed copy of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh.