Widely recognised as one of the greatest female letter writers in English, Jane Welsh Carlyle (1801-1866) possessed a famous sense of wit and irony, which, together with her keen observational skills, made her an important literary figure in her own right. This three-volume set of her letters, published in 1883 and annotated throughout by her husband Thomas Carlyle, represents a fine example of the letter-writing genre. The publication of the letters made a significant contribution to a growing acceptance and critical recognition of this often dismissed literary form. Volume 3 covers the years between 1859 and 1866: Jane died just a few days after her last letter, and the volume ends with a letter received by Thomas informing him of his wife's death. Jane's letters were praised by Virginia Woolf for their 'incomparable brilliancy', and the reader will be entertained and amused by her satirical observations of everyday life.
