The Cambridge Edition of the Complete Fiction of Henry James provides, for the first time, a scholarly edition of a major writer whose work continues to be read, quoted, adapted and studied. James wrote the eighteen Prefaces included in this volume to accompany the revised, selective New York Edition of his novels and tales (1907–9). They are unique and various writings: at once a digest of James's critical principles, an unsystematic treatise on fiction theory, an account of his rereading and revision of his own work, an oblique autobiography of the writing life and a public performance of authorial identity. This is the first scholarly edition of the Prefaces, and includes a detailed contextual introduction, a full textual history and extensive explanatory notes. It will be of value to researchers, scholars and advanced students of Henry James, and of 19th- and 20th-century British and American literature and book history.

‘These unexpectedly moving prefaces offer us a chance to salute his strange and lonely genius.’

Paul Dean Source: New Criterion

‘formidable’

Source: The Times Literary Supplement

‘Herford’s explanatory notes are … as long and very nearly as intricate as the prefaces themselves. They track allusions and references, provide bits of biography, along with a great deal of history and even some late-Victorian gossip, and above all catch the way a given phrase echoes off other moments in James’s work. They showed me things about these old friends that I did not know and represent not only an enormous amount of research, but also a feel for the novelist’s prose and sensibility that goes deeper than bone.’

Michael Gorra Source: The Times Literary Supplement

‘All of this history is meticulously set out by Oliver Herford in the excellent introduction to this hefty volume of collected prefaces, which is part of the never-to-be-too-much-praised Cambridge Edition of the Complete Fiction of Henry James … the notes that connect the themes and images of the prefaces to the fiction, the notebooks and (especially) to James’s reading in French drama and prose will be of immense use to all but the most completely indoctrinated readers of James. As a work of scholarship it is entirely admirable.’

Colin Burrow Source: London Review of Books

‘part of the never-to-be-too-much-praised Cambridge Edition of the Complete Fiction of Henry James … the notes that connect the themes and images of the prefaces to the fiction, the notebooks and (especially) to James’s reading in French drama and prose will be of immense use to all but the most completely indoctrinated readers of James. As a work of scholarship it is entirely admirable.’

Colin Burrow Source: London Review of Books

‘… for me, the experience of re-reading these Prefaces with their elaborate notes, has been better than good; it has been transformative. … If you already think you know the Prefaces reasonably well, I recommend beginning with Herford’s annotations. They are concisely essayistic and critical, packed with multiple citations of sources - found in James’s works and others. Herford casts a very wide net - full of surprises and new connections. You will want to turn back to James’s text - and see it with new eyes, perhaps - before going ahead with the richly informative Notes. There is more Jamesian exuberance in them, more colloquial wit and subtle poetry than you would ever expect.’

Dean Flower Source: The Hudson Review