The present volume continues the edition of Alfred Marshall's correspondence, covering material for the years 1891 to 1902. The reader should turn to the introductory matters of Volume 1 for general information on Marshall's biographical background or on the editorial principles and procedures adopted in this work. It suffices to note here that when individuals mentioned in this volume are not explicitly identified or cross–referenced they will normally be listed in the Biographical Register, below. Cross–references take the form [432] for reference to letter number 432, [432.1] for reference to footnote 1 of letter number 432, and so on. Cross–reference to the other volumes is explicitly indicated as such.

The years 1891 to 1902 saw Marshall at the height of his professorial eminence, yet, rather than golden harvest, these were years of tension and strain. The intractable second volume of his Principles made little progress, while misunderstandings raised by the first volume seemed, hydra–headed, to multiply after each attempted restatement. Onerous service on the Labour Commission, and struggles to obtain more scope and resources for economics in Cambridge and to defend the University against feminist intrusions, all added to the stress. There was increasing personal isolation, especially estrangement from H. Sidgwick, H. S. Foxwell, and (more covertly) J. N. Keynes. The period ended in the closing stages of Marshall's exhausting campaign to establish a new Economics Tripos in Cambridge.