This first ever collection of his personal letters has been meticulously curated, transcribed and annotated by Jamesian scholar Jane Mainley-Piddock to offer an unprecedented and overdue insight into a great and singular mind. Through notoriously illegible handwriting, we learn of James's fear of spiders and his love of cats; his musings on the work of other contemporary authors; and a whole life's thoughts on a host of subjects - which shed light on the man himself: his family, his work, his relationships and preoccupations.

Essential reading for any fan, *Casting the Runes *brings at last to the fore a writer adored for his fiction who himself has long remained in the shadows.