This biography of Ludwig van Beethoven is the first scholarly biography of Ludwig van Beethoven, covering Beethoven's life to 1816. Thayer became aware of many discrepancies in the already existing biographies of Beethoven, so in 1849 he sailed for Europe to undertake his own researches, learning German and collecting information. Still after many updates Thayer's biography of Beethoven is regarded as a standard work of reference on the composer.

These volumes bring to a close the only comprehensive edition of the surviving correspondence of William Morris (1834-1896), a protean figure who exerted a major influence as poet, craftsman, master printer, and designer. Volumes III and IV, taken together, give in detail the comments and observations that articulate his problematic political and artistic stands and equally problematic position within the aesthetic movement as it developed in the 1890s. Most eloquently voiced also are the complexities of his troubled marriage and his devotion to his epileptic daughter, Jenny, and his other daughter, May. But dominating all these themes, organizing and structuring them, are the Kelmscott Press and the building of Morris's important library of medieval manuscripts and early printed books. The letters record the way in which the Press becomes not only the center of Morris's aesthetic ambitions and achievements but also the site for his closest human relations and for much of his connecting with the makers of early modernism. The letters in Volumes III and IV are thoroughly annotated, and through texts and notes provide a new assessment of Morris's career. Included also, as appendices to Volume IV, are two important documents: the first, never before published, is F. S. Ellis's Valuation List of Morris's library, made after Morris's death, and the second, never before reprinted, is the text of what was to be Morris's final essay on socialism, published in April 1896. Originally published in 1995. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Geographers is an annual collection of studies on individuals who have made major contributions to the development of geography and geographical thought. Subjects are drawn from all periods and from all parts of the world, and include famous names as well as those less well known, including explorers, independent thinkers and scholars. Each paper describes the geographer's education, life and work and discusses their influence and spread of academic ideas. Each study includes a select bibliography and a brief chronology. The work includes a general index, and a cumulative index of geographers listed in volumes published to date. Published under the auspices of the International Geographical Union.

It is well known that Richard Wagner, the renowned and controversial 19th century composer, exhibited intense anti-Semitism. The evidence is everywhere in his writings as well as in conversations his second wife recorded in her diaries. In his infamous essay "Judaism in Music," Wagner forever cemented his unpleasant reputation with his assertion that Jews were incapable of either creating or appreciating great art. Wagner's close ties with many talented Jews, then, are surprising. Most writers have dismissed these connections as cynical manipulations and rank hypocrisy. Examination of the original sources, however, reveals something different: unmistakeable, undeniable empathy and friendship between Wagner and the Jews in his life. Indeed, the composer had warm relationships with numerous individual Jews. Two of them resided frequently over extended periods in his home. One of these, the rabbi's son Hermann Levi, conducted Wagner's final opera--Parsifal, based on Christian legend--at Wagner's request; no one, Wagner declared, understood his work so well. Even in death his Jewish friends were by his side; two were among his twelve pallbearers. The contradictions between Wagner's antipathy toward the amorphous entity "The Jews" and his genuine friendships with individual Jews are the subject of this book. Drawing on extensive sources in both German and English, including Wagner's autobiography and diary and the diaries of his second wife, this comprehensive treatment of Wagner's anti-Semitism is the first to place it in perspective with his life and work. Included in the text are portions of unpublished letters exchanged between Wagner and Hermann Levi. Altogether, the book reveals astonishing complexities in a man long known as much for his prejudice as for his epic contributions to opera.

These volumes present approximately 430 letters and documents written to Beethoven (1770–1827) as well as those written by others (relatives, students, and secretaries) on his behalf. Along with over 70 of Beethoven’s own letters discovered since Emily Anderson’s three-volume Letters of Beethoven, these documents provide new insights into the composer’s personal life. They illuminate his dealings with publishers, other musicians, poets, patrons, relatives, friends, and a wide variety of acquaintances. The documents provide important details about the composition of many works, Beethoven’s performance practices, his criticisms of other composers and performers, and his role in the Napoleonic era. Gleaned from more than one hundred publications and collected from autograph sources in libraries and archives in Europe and the United States, these materials have never before appeared between two covers. At least sixty of the letters have never previously been published. Letters to Beethoven and Other Correspondence vastly enlarges accessibility to Beethoven’s busy life and the music he made. All documents are translated into English and annotated with identifications of persons and works.