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. Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis (1895–1979) was a collector and writer who devoted his life to amassing the largest single collection of Walpole's papers, prints, and books, which now resides at the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University. His books include Horace Walpole's Library and Collector's Progress. "It is Walpole the man who fascinates Mr. Lewis and who, when Mr. Lewis is done, fascinates us."
