The father of Virginia Woolf, Sir Leslie Stephen was a celebrated critic, historian, biographer and Ethical movement activist. His most enduring legacy is ‘The Dictionary of National Biography’, which he edited from 1882 to 1891, contributing over 370 biographies. Stephen’s prose is noted for its intellectual depth, “rigorous manual quality” and discerning critical observations. He often criticised the “monomania” of biographers that focused on minute genealogical details at the expense of vital historical problems. For Stephen, a biographer’s duty was to extract the essence of a person from the “clutter of their existence”. His pioneering works had a transformative impact on the art of biography writing, moving the genre away from idealised portraits toward a more rigorous, evidence-based and humanistic approach. This eBook presents Stephen’s collected works, with numerous illustrations, many rare texts, concise introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)

* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Stephen’s life and works


* Concise introductions to the major texts


* 18 books, with individual contents tables


* Includes Stephen’s rare first book ‘The “Times” on the American War’ – available in no other collection


* Features many rare non-fiction works appearing for the first time in digital publishing, including seminal studies of George Eliot and Thomas Hobbes


* Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts


* Excellent formatting of the texts


* Includes Stephen’s contributions to ‘The Dictionary of National Biography’


* Easily locate the essays you want to read


* Features three biographical works – discover Stephen’s literary life


* Ordering of texts into chronological order

CONTENTS:

The Books


The “Times” on the American War (1865)


Sketches from Cambridge (1865)


The Playground of Europe (1871)


Essays on Free Thinking and Plain Speaking (1873)


Hours in a Library (1874)


Samuel Johnson (1878)


Alexander Pope (1880)


Swift (1882)


An Agnostic’s Apology and Other Essays (1893)


The Life of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen (1895)


Social Rights and Duties (1896)


Contributions to ‘The Dictionary of National Biography’ (1885-1900)


Studies of a Biographer (1898-1902)


The English Utilitarians (1900)


George Eliot (1902)


English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century (1904)


Hobbes (1904)


Contributions to Other Periodicals

The Biographies


Sir Leslie Stephen (1911) by Thomas Seccombe


Principles of Biography (1911) by Sidney Lee


Leslie Stephen (1912) by Sidney Lee