Henry James (1843 - 1916) was an iconic figure of nineteenth-century literature. Among his many masterpieces are The Portrait of a Lady, The Bostonians, The Europeans, The Golden Bowl and Washington Square.

As well as fiction, James produced several works of travel literature and biography and was one of the great letter-writers of any age. A contemporary and friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, Edith Wharton and Joseph Conrad, James continues to exert a major influence on generations of novelists and writers.