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On the Cover are four ornamental Victorian wedding cakes (clockwise from top left): Ornamental Wedding Cake, The Crystal Palace Exhibition: Illustrated Catalogue [1851; 1970]: 81; "Marriage of the Princess Royal and Prince Frederick William of Prussia: The Wedding Cake," Illustrated London News 6 February 1858: 129; "The Royal Wedding Cake," Illustrated London News 1 April 1871: 308; "Royal Wedding Cake," Illustrated London News 25 March 1871: 281.

VS Staff: With this issue VS welcomes Emily Salmins and Rebekah Hunt. Emily is receiving her undergraduate degree in French and English from Indiana University. Having decided not to be an international spy, she will work as a legal assistant for Skank and Flem, LLP, the largest, most filthy rich corporate law firm in the world (yes, they represented Enron). When she's not busy helping the rich get richer, Emily likes to take long walks on the beach and hang out with her "Freedom" boyfriend François.

Huddled under her winter coat in the corner of our frigid office, Rebekah lends the place a certain Dickensian air, although she has never asked us for more gruel, or more coal for the fire. Cheerfully entering data as fast as her gloved fingers allow, she insists that it really isn't so bad, while we hope that her double major in English and Tourism will eventually allow her to escape to warmer climes.

INCS Essay Prize for 2003: In 2004, the Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies Association will award its first annual prize for the best essay published by a member of the Association in 2003. The $500 prize will recognize excellence in interdisciplinary scholarship. All nominated essays, whether journal articles or book chapters, must have a publication date of 2003. We encourage self-nominations as well as ones made by other members of INCS. Send three hard copies of the nominated essay to Christine Krueger, Department of English, Marquette University, P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881, by no later than 1 February 2004. The prizewinner will be announced at the nineteenth annual INCS conference, 1-4 April 2004, hosted by the University of Iowa. For more information about INCS, visit our website at http://www.nd.edu/~incshp/.

Henry James Forum on "Senses of the Past": Submissions are invited for a Fall 2004 Forum on "Senses of the Past." Contributions may address any aspect of the topic, including: spectres, ghosts, graveyards, graves, monuments, memorials, ruins, relics, fragments, traces, memory, nostalgia, repetition, time-travel, age, aging, childhood, history, the past, excavating the past, historical events, fiction as history, fiction vs. history, historical fiction, theories, uses of history in James, James as an historical figure, history of James criticism, history of James's writings, texts, literary history, historical influences on James, James as historical influence, and James family legacies. Contributions should be submitted in duplicate and produced according to MLA style. Please enclose return postage with your manuscript. One-page proposals or short (10-12 pages) essays should be sent by 1 March, 2004 to: Susan M. Griffin, Editor, Henry James Review, Department of English, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292 USA. E-mail: hjamesr@louisville.edu; FAX: 502-852-4182.