This volume is divided into two parts of unequal length but of equal interest. The main part consists of over 500 pages of the transcribed letters of Henry Martyn (1781—1812) beginning in late 1799, when he was setting out as a chaplain and missionary from England to India, until 1812, the year of his death in Torkat, Turkey. These complete letters have been meticulously collected, researched, and annotated. They are grouped into five chronologically ordered sections based on Martyn's geographic location as he navigated his missionary vocation. The editor gives each letter's source and current location along with any of its unique characteristics; he supplies information about all the persons mentioned in it; and explanatory notes about places, events, persons, and foreign words allow the reader to understand its purpose and contents. Ample cross-referencing makes it easy to pick up the numerous threads in Martyn's life and thought as these weave themselves through the various letters. A helpful list of recipients of the letters, with all the letters addressed to each one of them, is placed at the beginning of the book.

The much shorter, fifty-eight-page introduction provides the historical background that makes possible an intelligible and intelligent reading of the letters themselves. The introduction contains a fine biographical sketch of Martyn's life along with a fair assessment of his personality, character, thought, and work. It also offers insight into the various social, religious, and intellectual milieux in which Martyn dwelt during his brief life. In addition, the introduction provides some sense of the ways in which Martyn has been viewed and received among historians and ordinary church folk. All in all, the volume is an excellent historical compendium and would be of much usefulness to researchers in the fields of mission and British colonial history.