Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence Editorial Project Records

Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis was born in Alameda, California, on November 14, 1895, the son of Miranda Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis and Azro Nathaniel Lewis. He attended the Thacher School in Ojai, California, and Yale University (Class of 1918). He met Annie Burr Auchincloss (1902-1959) in Farmington, Connecticut, in 1923, and the couple were married in 1928. Together they spent three decades building a collection of books, prints, paintings, manuscripts, and decorative arts related to Horace Walpole, his circle, and his time, and formed a research library at their home in Farmington. Wilmarth Lewis died in Hartford on October 7, 1979; he left his home and collections to Yale University by bequest.

Wilmarth Lewis served as editor for forty-two of the forty-eight volumes of the Yale Edition, but most of the work was accomplished by the editorial staff in "The Walpole Factory" at Sterling Memorial Library on the campus of Yale University in New Haven.

The volumes, Walpole correspondents, editorial staff, and publication dates were: Volumes 1–2: William Cole (A. Dayle Wallace, 1937); Volumes 3–8: Madame du Deffand (Warren Hunting Smith, 1939); Volumes 9–10: George Montagu (Ralph S. Brown Jr., 1941); Volumes 11–12: Mary and Agnes Berry and Barbara Cecilia Seton (A. Dayle Wallace, 1944); Volumes 13–14: Thomas Gray, Richard West and Thomas Ashton (George L. Lam and Charles H. Bennett, 1948); Volume 15: David Dalrymple and others (Charles H. Bennett and Andrew G. Hoover, 1951); Volume 16: Thomas Chatterton and others (A. Dayle Wallace, 1951); Volumes 17–27: Sir Horace Mann (Warren Hunting Smith and George L. Lam, 1954–1971); Volumes 28–29: William Mason (Grover Cronin Jr. and Charles H. Bennett, 1955); Volume 30: George Selwyn and others (Robert A. Smith, 1961); Volume 31: Hannah More and others (Robert A. Smith and Charles H. Bennett, 1961); Volumes 32–34: Countess of Upper Ossory (A. Dayle Wallace, 1965); Volume 35: John Chute and others (A. Dayle Wallace and Robert A. Smith, 1973); Volume 36: the Walpole family (Joseph W. Reed Jr., 1973); Volumes 37–39: Henry Seymour Conway and others (Lars E. Troide, Edwine M. Martz, and Robert A. Smith, 1974); Volumes 40–42: miscellaneous correspondence (John C. Riely, 1980); Volume 43: additions and corrections, subject index to illustrations, index of Horace Walpole's correspondents, chronological list of letters (compilied by Edwine M. Martz, 1983); and Volumes 44–48: complete index (compiled by Warren Hunting Smith, 1983). Assistant editors during the project were Edwine Martz, Ruth K. McClure, and William T. LaMoy.