ONLY three years after Lamb's death his friend Thomas Noon
Talfourd made a first selection of about one hundred and seventy
of his letters. These he edited, omitting many portions with
personal references "too sacred for public exposure," weaving a
thread of narrative to link them, and explaining allusions not
clear to the reader. Mary was still living and every effort was
made to keep from her occasions that would cause her to be
more depressed or bring on attacks of her illness, now more fre-
quent since the death of her brother.

In 1848, almost twelve years after the first edition, Talfourd
made another selection including a few more than one hundred
additional letters. The recent death of Mary and the publication
in the British Quarterly Review of the details of the family trag-
edy had removed any doubts as to the propriety of publishing
the new letters and of inserting passages omitted from the first
edition.

From that time to the present, additions have been made until
we come to the collections by Canon Ainger and E. V. Lucas.
What these two devoted students have contributed in their re-
spective editions can be appreciated only by one who makes a
careful examination and comparison of the various publications
that preceded them.

Not until 1935 did Lucas have sufficient confidence in the
completeness of the collection to publish the three handsome vol-
umes with the title The Letters of Charles Lamb, to which are

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