Editorial

Editorial Stephen Jobe reports via e-mail news he picked up from Susan Gunter, who had the word from Alexander James, the son of William James's grandson Alexander James—the sad news that the elder Alexander James died in Portugal this past January 17." Considering the many kindnesses that Alexander James has shown to Jamesians," Professor Jobe writes, "I thought you might want to note his passing in the HJR." Mr. James was long the executor of his great-uncle Henry's literary estate, a post that occasioned those many kindnesses (and that he inherited from John James, Billy James's son, in 1969). It is my understanding that the executorship now passes to the Houghton Library at Harvard University. "We join the James family in mourning the passing of Alexander James. Jamesians may also be interested in a forthcoming conference at Rutherford College, University of Kent at Canterbury, May 6,1995: "A Celebration of Two Lives: William Kingdon Clifford (1845) and Lucy Clifford (1846-1929)." Lucy Clifford, a bestselling writer of novels, plays, and short stories, was (as Leon Edel puts the matter) one of Henry James's "oldest and most cherished London friends. " James's letters to Lucy Clifford are indeed memorable parts of the James epistolarium. Her husband William was recognized as a genius mathematician and outspoken atheist. Further information about the conference is available from Professor J. S. R. Chisholm, Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF, telephone 0227 764000; fax 0227 475453; e-mail j.s.r.chisholm@ukc.ac.uk. Let me add, too, a reminder about the James-Conrad Conference, also at the University of Kent this summer (July 5-9,1995), a joint project of the Henry James Society and the Joseph Conrad Society (U.K.). For additional information, please write to Professor Keith Carabine, 8 Ethelbert Road, Canterbury, England, e-mail K.Carabine@ukc.ac.uk.—DMF ...