Introductory Note

The purpose of the Correspondence Archive is to offer researchers scholarly transcripts of difficult-to-access primary resource material.

The Archive contains annotated transcripts of previously unpublished letters, mainly of William Gifford, the editor, to various contributors to the Quarterly Review, namely Edward Copleston (1776-1849), Bishop of Llandaff. About 37 letters. Devon Record Office 1149. ff. 74-110.

In future the Archive will contain additional letters of John Murray, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Southey, John Taylor Coleridge, Sir John Barrow, and John Wilson Croker.

Readers will note that the individuals Gifford mentioned most often in his letters, members of the journal's inner circle, are, for the sake of economy, not as fully identified in the annotations as persons mentioned in passing. The inner circle consisted of George Canning, Walter Scott, George Ellis, John Murray, John Wilson Croker, John Barrow, and Richard Heber. Robert Southey is also often mentioned by Gifford in his letters.