To the Memory of

ANNIE WALLACE




PREFACE


These two volumes consist of a selection from several thousands of
letters entrusted to me by the Wallace family and dating from the dawn
of Darwinism to the second decade of the twentieth century, supplemented
by such biographical particulars and comments as are required for the
elucidation of the correspondence and for giving movement and continuity
to the whole.

The wealth and variety of Wallace's own correspondence, excluding the
large collection of letters which he received from many eminent men and
women, and the necessity for somewhat lengthy introductions and many
annotations, have expanded the work to two (there was, indeed, enough
good material to make four) volumes. The family has given me unstinted
confidence in using or rejecting letters and reminiscences, and although
I have consulted scientific and literary friends, I alone must be blamed
for sins of omission or commission. Nothing has been suppressed in the
unpublished letters, or in any of the letters which appear in these
volumes, because there was anything to hide. Everything Wallace wrote,
all his private letters, could be published to the world. His life was
an open book--"no weakness, no contempt, dispraise, or blame, nothing
but well and fair."