Charles Lamb

<p>Charles Lamb (1775-1834) essayist poet humorist critic and letter-writer has an enduring reputation for his early Tales from Shakespeare (1807) written in collaboration with his sister Mary and his Essays of Elia first published in the London Magazine. This thematic selection of Lamb's writings - essays dramatic criticism verse and letters - not only demonstrates his literary achievements; it forms a self-portrait of the writer: generous amused and gregarious finding imaginative escape from grim circumstances in the teeming life of London and the theatre. The reader is drawn into the circle of Lamb's friends enjoying the company of the most personal of English essayists. J.E. Morpurgo's introduction and notes set Lamb's writings in their contemporary context. </p>