The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1878-1880: Volume 1

by Henry James, Greg W. Zacharias (Editor), Pierre A. Walker (Editor), Michael Anesko (Introduction)

Overview

Containing letters written between October 3, 1878, and August 30, 1879, this volume of The Complete Letters of Henry James reveals Henry James establishing control of his writing career and finding confidence in himself not only as a professional author on both sides of the Atlantic but also as an important social figure in London.

In this volume of 114 letters, of which 58 are published for the first time, we see James learning to negotiate, pitting one publisher against another, and working to secure simultaneous publication in the United States and England. He establishes a working relationship with Frederick Macmillan and with the Macmillan publishing house, cultivates reviewers, basks in the success—and notoriety—of his novella Daisy Miller, and visits Alfred Tennyson and George Eliot, among others. James also produces essays on political subjects and continues to publish reviews and travel essays. Perhaps most important, James negotiates terms for and begins planning The Portrait of a Lady.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803254244
Publisher:	Nebraska
Publication date:	10/15/2014
Series:	The Complete Letters of Henry James
Pages:	424
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

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.

Pierre A. Walker is a professor of English at Salem State University. He is the editor of Henry James on Culture: Collected Essays on Politics and the American Social Scene (Nebraska, 1999).
Greg W. Zacharias is a professor of English at Creighton University, where he directs the Center for Henry James Studies. He is the editor of A Companion to Henry James and coeditor of Tracing Henry James. Michael Anesko is a professor of English at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of Monopolizing the Master: Henry James and the Politics of Modern Literary Scholarship.

Date of Birth:

April 15, 1843

Date of Death:

February 28, 1916

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Place of Death:

London, England

Education:

Attended school in France and Switzerland; Harvard Law School, 1862-63

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Real Career, the Larger Success, by Michael Anesko
Symbols and Abbreviations
Chronology
Errata

1878
October 3To William Ernest Henley
October 4To Alice James
October 4To Thomas Sergeant Perry
October 6To William Ernest Henley
October 6To Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton
October 9To Elizabeth Boott
October 11To Frederick Macmillan
October 11, 18 or 25 To William Ernest Henley
October 18To Henry James Sr.
October 24To Henry James Sr.
October 27To Mary Walsh James
October 27To Frederick Macmillan
October 30To Elizabeth Boott
November 9To Richard von Hoffmann
November 14To William James
November 17To Charles Eliot Norton
November 17To Mary Walsh James
November 17To John Foster Kirk
November 17?To Frederick Macmillan
November 17To Whitelaw Reid
November 17To Elizabeth Boott
November 24To Henry James Sr.
December 8To Frederick Macmillan
December 9To Alice James
December 10To Henrietta Heathorn Huxley
December 21To Moncure Daniel Conway
December 25To Elizabeth Boott
December 29To William D. Hertz
December 29To William Dean Howells
December 31January 1To Alice James

1879
January 4, 5To Grace Norton
January 8To James Payn and Louisa Edlin Payn 
January 13To James Bryce
January 15To Julian Hawthorne
January 18To Mary Walsh James
January 19To Frederick Macmillan
January 20To Frederick Macmillan
January 21To Edward Smyth Pigott
January 22To Julian Hawthorne
January 22To Frederick Macmillan
January 31To Mary Walsh James
February 5To William Ernest Henley
February 11To Elizabeth Boott
February 16To George Grove
February 16, 17To Alice James
February 17To Frederick Macmillan
February18To Frederick Macmillan
February20To Katherine Fearing Strong Welman
February26To Elizabeth Boott
February26To Frederick Macmillan
March1To Sarah Perkins Cleveland
March4To Fanny Hertz
March4To William James
March5To Louisa Lawrence
March11To Moncure Daniel Conway and Ellen Davis Dana Conway
March 17To Elizabeth Boott
March 17To Fanny Hertz
March 17To Frederick Macmillan
March 21To Jane Dalzell Finlay Hill
March 23, 26To Alice James
March 27To Josiah Holland
April 7To William Dean Howells
April 8To Mary Walsh James
April 9To William Ernest Henley
April 14To Elizabeth Boott
April 16To Henry James Sr.
May 3To Josiah Holland
May 3To Henrietta Heathorn Huxley
May 4To Elizabeth Boott
May 4 ; misdated 14 MayTo Mary Walsh James
May 5To Henry Adams
May 6To Edward Smyth Pigott
May 10To Frederick Macmillan
May 16To Thomas Sergeant Perry
May 16To Elizabeth Smith
May 19, 20To Alice James
May 23To George Grove
May 26To Elizabeth Boott
May 26To Henry James Sr.
May 26To William Ernest Henley
May 26To Eliza Bella Fisher Leland
May 28To Scribner’s Monthly 
May 28To Henry Sidgwick
May 29To Louisa Lawrence
May 31To Mary Walsh James
June 6 or 13 To Isabella Stewart Gardner
June 7To Scribner’s Monthly
June 8To Grace Norton
June 15To William James
June 17To William Dean Howells
June 18To Frederick Macmillan
June 21To William Ernest Henley
June 28To Elizabeth Boott
July 5To Isabella Stewart Gardner
July 6To Mary Walsh James
July 13To Lady Louisa Erskine Wolseley
July 14To Frederick Macmillan
July 15To Isabella Stewart Gardner
July 15To Frederick Macmillan
c. July 18To William Dean Howells
July 19To Elizabeth Eberstadt Lewis
July 21To Elizabeth Boott
July 22To Isabella Stewart Gardner
July 22To William Dean Howells
July 22To Frederick Macmillan
July 26To Alexander Macmillan
July 28To Mary Walsh James
July 28To Frederic William Henry Myers
August 16To Wendell Phillips Garrison
August 19To William Dean Howells
August 19To Alice James
August 19To William James
August 23; misdated AprilTo William Dean Howells
August 30To William James

Biographical Register
Genealogies
General Editors’ Note
Works Cited
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This latest volume of the Complete Letters represents, no less than its forebears, an inestimable contribution to readers hitherto obliged to hunt down James's Letters in carious selections or scattered archives, and deserves to be greeted with the same jubilant chorus of praise and gratitude."—Alicia Rix, Times Literary Supplement

Times Literary Supplement - Alicia Rix

Praise for earlier volumes of The Complete Letters of Henry James

“The letters themselves are so vivid, funny, and revealing that [the edition] is already indispensable.”—Alan Hollinghurst, Guardian

“The letters collected in these elegant three volumes, edited by Pierre A. Walker and Greg W. Zacharias, cover the period in which Henry James became Henry James. . . . [An] extraordinary job of editing. . . . Both the footnotes and the biographical register at the back of each volume are at once succinct and full. They allow any reader to place and know the people in this busy social world.”—Michael Gorra, Times Literary Supplement

“Rippling through these letters are the first imaginative stirrings of one of the greatest fiction and travel writers in the language. [James] was also one of the most entertaining—and prolific—correspondents. . . . These are richly enthralling letters.”—Peter Kemp, Sunday Times (London)

Praise for earlier volumes in the series