The Letters of Emily Dickinson

"This collection is probably the closest thing we’ll ever have to an intimate autobiography of Emily Dickinson. Some 300 previously uncollected letters have been added to this volume, for a grand total of 1,304 letters. They detail a life filled with visitors, the poet’s loyal dog, Carlo, and recipes for doughnuts and coconut cakes. There’s mention of the racist minstrel stereotype Jim Crow, as well as of Florence Nightingale and Walt Whitman. Most likely, the last letter an ailing 55-year-old Dickinson wrote before falling unconscious on May 13, 1886, was to her cousins. It reads: Little Cousins, “Called back.” Emily."