Letters of Junius

Letters of Junius (or Junius: Stat nominis umbra) is a collection of private and open letters from an anonymous polemicist Junius, as well as other letters in-reply from people to whom Junius had written between 1769 and 1772. The collection was published in two volumes in 1772 by Henry Sampson Woodfall, the owner and editor of a London newspaper, the Public Advertiser.

The collection includes 69 letters, 29 to the Printer of the Public Advertiser originally intended for public readership, with the remaining 40 to individuals, then made public. It included letters written by Philo Junius, who, some say, was Junius himself.

Several unauthorised editions were published before 1772, and many others afterwards. The 1772 Woodfall edition, however, was believed to have been arranged by Junius, and includes the opening "Dedication to the English Nation" in which Junius expresses his desire to educate the public and thanks them for their support. In the "Preface" he grants ownership and copyright of the letters to Woodfall.

Famous quotes containing the word letters:

    A hunger seized my heart; I read
    Of that glad year which once had been,
    In those fallen leaves which kept their green,
    The noble letters of the dead.
    Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)