Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) was one of the most influential authors of the nineteenth century, and his essays and historical biographies led to him being regarded for much of the Victorian period as a literary genius and eminent social philosopher. This two-volume work, published in 1881, is a collection of Carlyle's reminiscences, which were edited by his friend, the historian J. A. Froude (1818–94). In 1871, Carlyle had given Froude a collection of his own papers, including these sketches, and of those belonging to his deceased wife, Jane, to be edited and published after his death. Froude - who was simultaneously writing his two-part biography of Carlyle (also reissued in this series) - had them ready for publication a month after Carlyle's death on 5 February 1881. Volume 1 contains Carlyle's reminiscences of his father, James, and of Edward Irving, a close friend from his early years.
