THE present edition of Addison's Works was announced to contain in four volumes of “Bohn's British Classics" the whole of what had been given in the six volumes edited by Bishop Hurd. And this would have been strictly performed, but it was found, unexpectedly, after the first volume had been issued, that so large a number of Addison's letters remained unpublished, as would render it advisable to extend the present edition, for the purpose of including them. Bishop Hurd had not given any of Addison's letters, neither had his precursor, Tickell, upon whom the duty, as Addison's literary executor, originally devolved. Miss Aikin, in her Memoir, had so far remedied this deficiency, by printing whatever letters she could meet with, (many of them from draughts or copies in the possession of a descendant of Mr. Tickell,) that any further publication or research at first seemed supererogatory; a diligent inquiry however, induced by circumstances, soon led to a different conclusion. By the help of literary friends, and his own appliances, the publisher has succeeded in obtaining such an amount of unpublished letters, (including the originals of some of those hitherto printed from copies,) that he feels it incumbent on him to include the whole in an additional volume. The public will therefore, for the first time, after the lapse of nearly a century and a half, have an edition of Addison's Works in accordance, as it should seem, with the author's own intentions.
But notwithstanding what has been collected, it is more than probable that there are still many unpublished letters in the possession of collectors: for the loan or for transcripts of any of these, the publisher would be very thankful.
York Street, Covent Garden,
March 1st, 1855.