Notebooks of Henry James

The Notebooks of Henry James are private notes made by the American-British novelist and critic.

The Notebooks weren't published until 1947, when they appeared in a heavily annotated edition compiled by F. O. Matthiessen and Kenneth Murdock.

They show James thinking through various possibilities for character and plot development in his fictions, as well as their overall structure and length.

James himself seems to have referred to the Notebooks frequently when he wrote the prefaces to the New York Edition (1907-1909) of his fiction.

Though sometimes trivial, this additional material gives some insight into James' everyday schedule, his wide circle of friends and acquaintances, and even his financial affairs.