Originally published in 1958, and based on The Sandars Lectures for 1957, this volume provides a historical study of the library belonging to eighteenth-century man of letters Horace Walpole (1717-1797). The book is divided into three chapters: the first focuses on the library itself; the second on Walpole's reading; the third on the dispersal of the library following Walpole's death. This is a highly informative text, containing numerous illustrative examples, that will be of value to anyone with an interest in bibliography and eighteenth-century British history.

An illuminating biographical study of the eighteenth-century English man of letters and patron of the arts Horace Walpole (1717–1797) was a collector, printer, novelist, arbiter of taste, and renowned writer of letters. In this book, eminent scholar Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis provides an unprecedented look at the life and work of one of England’s greatest men of letters. Lewis sheds light on Walpole’s relationships with his family and friends, his politics, his writings and printmaking activities, and his correspondence. Featuring portraits of Walpole, his relatives, and friends; images of Walpole's sketches and manuscripts; pages from books printed at Walpole’s Strawberry Hill Press; and views and plans of Strawberry Hill, the house, its rooms and furnishings, and its grounds, and accompanied by Lewis’s extensive annotations, this book provides an invaluable history of an extraordinary man.

A collection of correspondence written to Horace Walpole from Sir Horace Mann and Sir Horace Mann, The Younger in 1780-1789.