This collection contains historical essays about letter-writing as a social practice and as a literary form, and extensive quotation from the writers on whom the volume focuses. There is a particular interest in the practices of female letter- writers. The writers in the volume include Walpole, Mme du Deffand, Mermee, Dorothy Osborne, Mme de Sevigne, Cowper, Lady Bessborough, Mrs.Carlyle, Swift and Lamb. This volume was included in the 1938 Catalogue under 'Biography, Memoirs, etc.' since there was no separate category for letters and diaries.