The text of this Second Edition of one of Henry James's most important novels is that of the New York Edition (1908).<br /><br />In a sense, there are two distinctly separate Portraits--the 1880-81 First Edition and the New York Edition, which James extensively revised. The editor has meticulously prepared a list of textual variants to facilitate comparative reading of the novel. Nina Baym, F. O. Matthiessen, and Anthony J. Mazzella provide differing interpretations of James's revision process.<br /><br />Henry James and the Novel culls autobiographical excerpts from James's other writings--his <em>Notebooks</em>, the intentionally autobiographical <em>A Small Boy and Others</em> and <em>Notes of a Son and Brother</em>, and the travel books <em>Italy Revisited</em>, <em>A Roman Holiday</em>, and <em>Roman Rides</em>.<br /><br />Contemporary Reviews and Criticism provides both chronological and critical perspective on <em>The Portrait of a Lady</em>. Four reviews from 1882 outline the novel's initial critical reception.<br /><br />Seven important essays from the period 1954-1991 provide a wide range of critical responses by Dorothy Van Ghent, William H. Gass, Laurence B. Holland, Charles Feidelson, Louis Auchincloss, William Veeder, and Millicent Bell.<br /><br />Bibliographical Aids includes judiciously selected secondary works on James from the wealth of material published yearly.