PREFACE TO THE BIOGRAPHICAL REGISTER OF HENRY JAMES'S CORRESPONDENTS

     This Register is intended as a supplement to Steven H. Jobe's "A Calendar of the Correspondence of Henry James," the only complete guide to the writer's more than 10,000 extant letters. Entries are arranged in alphabetical order by the correspondent's last name. I alphabetized women by their husband's last name, as this was how they were formally recognized during their era. If James used their maiden names, I included those appellations with a "see also" referring to entries under their married names. Birth and death dates of the correspondent, when known, follow immediately after each name. (In cases where I could not determine these vital statistics, I placed an "x" in place of the date.) Narrative material includes the correspondent's occupation (when known), the relationship between James and the individual (when known), and any other pertinent information. In some instances where I have not yet been able to conclusively name the correspondent, I include possible names and any information that I have, in the hopes that readers might have additional information that would help with identification. Selected titles of books published by correspondents follow the narrative, in cases where a correspondent was also a writer or editor. Next, entries mention a further source to consult for more information on correspondents, again, when such sources are available.

Entries are preliminary guides to these correspondents, giving readers a starting point for research, but they are not meant as authoritative biographies. Readers who wish to know more about certain individuals should first consult Robert L. Gale's A Henry James Encyclopedia (1989), which contains more complete information about some correspondents. However, as many of the individuals included in the Register cannot be found in James secondary sources, researchers might also consult the references included in individual entries. When the complete edition of James's letters, a monumental project headed by Greg Zacharias and Peter Walker under the auspices of the University of Nebraska Press, is finished, all the pieces of complex puzzle will be available, but until that time this reference guide provides a great deal of crucial information concerning James's labrynthian world.

I have benefited significantly from previous James scholarship in compiling this Register. While I did not footnote each of the almost one thousand entries contained herein for reasons of space, I include a bibliography at the end listing my sources.

Susan Elizabeth Gunter

Westminster College of Salt Lake City

July 20, 1997