This edition, prepared by the outstanding scholar in the field, supersedes previous collections from Julian D. Mason (1966; 1989), John C. Shields (1988) and Carretta himself (Penguin, 2001). It is the fullest in scope, with abundant bibliographical detail, and it takes advantage of the steady growth in secondary literature... the most generally informative and revealing edition that has ever appeared.
Vincent Carretta, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Maryland, specializes in eighteenth-century transatlantic historical and literary studies. In addition to more than one hundred articles and reviews on a range of eighteenth-century subjects, Carretta has published two books on verbal and visual Anglophone political satire between 1660 and 1820, as well as authoritative editions of the works of Olaudah Equiano, Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, and other eighteenth-century transatlantic authors of African descent. Carretta's most recent books are Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man (2005); The Life and Letters of Philip Quaque, The First African Anglican Missionary (2010), co-edited with Ty M. Reese; and Phillis Wheatley: Biography of a Genius in Bondage (2011). He is also the editor of Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African (2015).