The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1872–1876 – Volume 1

Recipient of the “Approved Edition” seal from the Modern Language Association’s Committee on Scholarly Editions

The Complete Letters of Henry James fills a crucial gap in modern literary studies by presenting in a scholarly edition the complete letters of one of the great novelists and letter writers of the English language. Comprising more than ten thousand letters reflecting on a remarkably wide range of topics—from James’s own life and literary projects to broader questions on art, literature, and criticism—this edition is an indispensable resource for students of James and of American and English literature, culture, and criticism as well as for research libraries throughout North America and Europe and for scholars who specialize in James, the European novel, and modern literature. This volume is the first of three to include James's letters from 1872 to 1876.

Henry James (1843–1916) wrote short stories, plays, literary criticism, 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 and editor of A Companion to Henry James.