The ninety-three letters—and the poems, over thirty in all, which she included in the letters or sent in place of them—written by Emily Dickinson to her dear friends the Hollands, are intimate, spontaneous, and at the same time as characteristically poetic as everything Emily ever wrote or said. They span the major portion of Emily's adult life, from her twenties to her death. A detailed study of handwriting and paper has made possible a new historical approach to her life, her prose, and her poetry.

This is the first of the books made possible by Harvard's acquisition of the Dickinson papers and the rights connected with them.

Approximately 100 letters are published here for the first time, including almost all of the letters to Jane Humphrey and to Mrs. J. Howard Sweetser. The new material is even more extensive than it might appear, for many of the letters previously published were censored when first made public. This volume, designed to accompany Mr. Johnson’s previously published work, the widely acclaimed Poems of Emily Dickinson, assembles all of Emily Dickinson’s letters (with the exception of letters presumably destroyed). The editors present the letters chronologically, with manuscript location, previous publication data, and notes for each letter, together with a general introduction, and biographical notes on recipients of letters.

The notes for each letter identify persons and events mentioned, and the source of literary allusions and quotations is given wherever known. Since Emily Dickinson rarely dated her letters after 1850, the dates for the most part must be conjectured from careful study of handwriting changes and from internal evidence of the letters. Of the 1,150 letters and prose fragments included in this outstanding edition, the text of about 800 derives from Dickinson autographs.