Nicolson's important history of the genre—commissioned by Leonard for the Lectures on Literature series—traces not only biography but also autobiography through literary history beginning with Classical literature. While the whole book is valuable for the study of the genre, the last chapter on contemporary forms, in which Nicolson distinguishes "pure" or truthful biography from "impure" modern hybrid forms is of particular theoretical interest.

Hogarth Lectures on Literature, First Series, No. 4