The Oxford Book of Letters

The husband-and-wife editors (he is a former professor of English literature at Cambridge and editor of The Oxford Anthology of English Literature; she is a retired professor of English who has taught at various U.S. and British universities), have compiled a wonderful collection of some 300 letters written by Britons and Americans from 1535 to 1985. According to the Kermodes, the golden age of letter writing was from 1700 to 1918, and they therefore emphasize this period in their collection. There are selections from many well-known personages such as philosopher Edmund Burke, feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and writers Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickens and Henry James, as well as selections from a number of lesser-known immigrants to Australia and South Africa who vividly describe their experiences. Included is a heartrending account of the death of the poet Shelley in a letter written by Mary Shelley to a friend. The majority of letters are from the writers' private correspondence and testify to the importance of letters in maintaining love affairs, friendships and family ties. An interesting and important record of a dying art. (Aug.)