Cambridge and Charles Lamb

Although the early nineteenth-century essayist Charles Lamb never studied in Cambridge, he knew the city well and had many friends connected with the University, most notably Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Between 1909 and 1914, at a time when Lamb was widely read and admired, a series of dinners were held in Cambridge to commemorate Lamb’s birthday and his connections with the city. Edited by one of the original organisers, George Wherry, in 1925, this little volume collects his reminiscences of eminent guests at the events, along with two informative essays on Lamb’s Cambridge connections by Lamb’s biographer and editor E. V. Lucas. Another contribution is Edmund Gosse’s account of how his friendship with Algernon Swinburne was enriched by their shared admiration of Lamb. The volume remains of interest both as a record of Edwardian academic conviviality, remembered after the Great War, and of the enthusiasm Lamb inspired at the time.