Over a thousand years of memoirs, reminiscences, and letters are represented in this collection of almost 500 literary anecdotes. Here we encounter those famous for their wit and eccentricity, such as Johnson, Scott, Wilde, Shaw, and Henry James, as well as a host of minor writers with revealing tales to tell of their celebrated contemporaries. This book is intended for collectors of anthologies and lovers of literature.

          "If literature can be described as journalism worth reading twice, then anecdotes can be described as gossip worth hearing twice," wrote Frank Muir in his London Times review of this book. The stories collected here—nearly 500 covering a span of 1300 years—have been heard and read many times over and have become almost a part of literature themselves. They add spice and dimension to literary works and illuminate the often shadowy characters of their authors. 

          For instance, would the works of Samuel Johnson be half as interesting if his wit hadn’t been recorded by his devoted biographer James Boswell? And would we understand T.S. Eliot’s poems quite so well if we didn’t know of his religious piety? James Sutherland has sifted through numerous memoirs and biographies to compile this rich and fascinating anthology of tall and short tales, moving portraits, and comic asides about the men and women of English letters.