[Draft Introduction to the Boston Edition]

The manuscript is in the Wordsworth Library, Dove Cottage, as MS 1989:161.31. The lack of continuity between 1 verso and 2 recto suggests that at least one other leaf formerly came between the two which remain. The manuscript is dated internally to late 1852 (September at earliest) by references to newspaper reports and speculations about future centuries. On De Quincey’s attempts to furnish the Boston edition with a Preface, see headnote to previous item, p. 3 above. This manuscript represents work towards fulfilling that undertaking.