"A wide-ranging study of letter-writing in the Eighteenth-century, this important new book explores epistolary forms and practices in relation to important areas of British culture. Organized around a series of characters, each chapter explores with depth and breadth the patterns of letter-writing and letter-reading in the period. Familiar ideas about epistolary fiction and personal correspondence, and public and private, are re-examined in the light of alternative paradigms, showing how the letter is a genre at the centre of Eighteenth-century life. Using an extraordinary range of original research, this volume will be of immense value to literary scholars and historians alike. "--Jacket.