Ruskin's diaries and letters have been drawn upon for purposes of illustrating passages in his published Works, or of adding matter of biographical and literary interest. Ruskin was the most personal of writers. It is the one of the secrets of his charm. Behind every book he ever wrote one catches the personality of the man. "The more I see of writing," he once said, "the less I care for it; one may do more with a man by getting ten words spoken with him face to face, than by the black lettering of a whole life's thoughts."[1] Increasingly, as he went on writing, he aimed at speaking to his readers face to face. His personality was very marked; he was a man of many moods. It is impossible to understand aright the works of this author without following also the moods of the man. But again, Ruskin's life is contained in his writings. He lisped in numbers, and he never ceased writing while strength and health remained. Thus, as one reads him through, one gets his biography—the facts of his life, the history of the development of his mind. We have his pen-work from the age of seven or eight to the age of seventy. In him, more perhaps than in any other writer, the style is the man, the Works are the Life. For these reasons, each volume in this edition is prefaced by an introduction which is at once bibliographical and biographical. In the compilation of these prefaces, Ruskin's diaries, letters, and conversations have been largely used. A list of minor Ruskiniana thus incorporated is given at the beginning of each volume. Bibliographical notes in more detail are added to each book, volume, or section of a volume, as the case may be.
The biographical considerations above adduced have governed the arrangement of this edition. The basis of arrangement is
- ↑ "Fors Clavigers," 1872, Letter xvii.
