Archivist and historian James Gairdner, C.B. (1828–1912) began his career in the Public Record Office at 18 and retired as assistant keeper forty-seven years later. The author of numerous historical works, Gairdner is best-known for his archival and editorial work, which forms his most significant contributions to historical scholarship. He oversaw almost entirely the publication of Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. The Paston Letters represent a similarly important work. The Letters reveal the fortunes of the Norfolk Paston family and of their tumultuous times. Beginning in the reign of Henry V and continuing through the reigns of Edward IV, Richard III, and Henry VII, the Letters are of great interest to early modern historians and literary critics. Volume 1 includes a preface and the highly-praised Introduction, which provides a near-exhaustive and invaluable study of the letters' historical context.
