Tennyson's correspondence during the last 20 years of his life is arranged in this volume. It describes his becoming a peer, and the publication of several of his dramas and letters to and from personalities of the day, such as Edward Fitzgerald, Gladstone and Browning.

This third and final volume of The Letters of Alfred Lord Tennyson, the first collected edition, is notable for the light it throws on Tennyson's efforts as a dramatist and on his interactions with the leading theatre managers, actresses, and actors of the day, especially Henry Irving. The letters reveal his relations with many fellow-authors and literary men, both British and American. An important thread in the volume is his close association with Gladstone; and an extensive correspondence with the Australian, Sir Henry Parkes, reflects his continuing interest in the Empire. The volume ends with his death in 1892. To complete the edition a comprehensive index has been prepared, covering all three volumes. Previous volumes have been warmly praised by critics:

'So what is it that has made their edition such fascinating reading since the first volume was published in 1982? The answer is the art and scholarship of the editors. The result is a silk purse richly ornamented by careful and witty annotation.' Susan Shatto, The Queen's University, Belast, Notes and Queries, Vol. 41, No. 1, March 1994