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Biography & Autobiography Historical

Benjamin Disraeli Letters

1842-1847, Volume IV

by (author) Benjamin Disraeli

edited by J.B. Conacher & M.G. Wiebe

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Mar 1989
Category
Historical, History & Theory, Great Britain
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802099495
    Publish Date
    Oct 2009
    List Price
    $266.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802029270
    Publish Date
    Nov 1993
    List Price
    $155.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442671294
    Publish Date
    Dec 1997
    List Price
    $176.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442671270
    Publish Date
    Mar 1989
    List Price
    $108.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442671287
    Publish Date
    Nov 1993
    List Price
    $137.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442639508
    Publish Date
    Apr 1982
    List Price
    $79.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802057365
    Publish Date
    Mar 1987
    List Price
    $100.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802087287
    Publish Date
    Mar 2004
    List Price
    $295.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802058102
    Publish Date
    Mar 1989
    List Price
    $123.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802041371
    Publish Date
    Dec 1997
    List Price
    $198.00

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Description

The 435 letters in this volume cover the most dramatic period of Disraeli's middle life - one which is still subject to continuing debate and interpretation, but the one in which the potential of his diverse talents at last begins to be realized. In his second Parliamentary session (1842 to 1847) the member for Shrewsbury establishes himself as the most exciting speaker in the House of Commons. The letters also provoke reassessment of the political splinter group 'Young England,' whose aims are nothing less than the purge and reform of the Conservative party. In 1947, as a peader of the Protectionists, he achieves his political goal of fifteen before: election as a member in his home county of Buckinghamshire.

In this period, too, he becomes a best-selling novelist, with his three 'condition of England' novels. Finally, as 'knight of the shire' and with his debts more manageable through the help and thrift of his wife, Mary Anne, he is in a position to realize another ambition, that of becoming a country gentleman, and begins the purchase of Hughenden Manor.

Ten appendixes include Disraeli's 1847 election canvass lists, his commonplace books of this period, and a complete inventory of the contents of his London residence, the collateral for a desperate loan in 1842.

About the authors

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) was one of the most important figures in nineteenth-century Europe, spending three decades in British government and twice serving as prime minister, as well as being a well-known literary figure. A convert to Anglicanism, he was Britain's first and thus far only Prime Minister of Jewish heritage.

Benjamin Disraeli's profile page

J.B. Conacher's profile page

M.G. Wiebe is the general editor of the Disraeli Project and a professor emeritus in the Department of English at Queen's University.

M.G. Wiebe's profile page