The writings of Ruskin collected in this volume include all the early prose pieces which were published in his lifetime, together with some others which have not hitherto appeared. By “early” writings is meant such as were composed previously to the first volume of Modern Painters, issued in 1843, when Ruskin was in his twenty-fifth year. A few letters bearing a later date are, however, included, because they belong to a series of which the greater part was written during the early period.

The interest of the early pieces of a great writer is biographical, rather than literary. Ruskin's command of words, sense of rhythm, and powers of observation and analysis were, indeed, developed at an early age, and some of the writings given in this volume would be worthy of preservation even if their author had no other and better claims. But the best pieces acquire additional significance, and some derive their only interest, from the promise and potency which may be discerned in them of future performance, and from the light which they throw upon the development of the author's genius. It seems desirable, therefore, to introduce these juvenilia by the biographical data necessary for placing the several pieces in relation to the influences in Ruskin's environment and education which they reflect.