Why Friendship Matters

Some friendships need celebrating, some are hard to navigate, and some need a bit of tender love and care. Delve into this anthology for a tour of all aspects of friendship by your favourite classic authors.

Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold-foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by Michèle Mendelssohn.

"Why Friendship Matters" is an inspiring collection that spans three centuries of writing and includes many favourite authors such as Michel de Montaigne, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Jane Austen. Readers will also discover lesser-known delights such as American writer Audre Lorde on her high school friendships and playwright Alice E. Ives writing about friendship between women. Contributors from across the globe celebrate and investigate all aspects of friendship; the strength of its bonds, how it can hurt and how it runs deep.

Introduction
Jane Austen - Love and Frienship
Francis Bacon - Of Friendship
James Boswell - from The Life of Samuel Johnson
Ralph Waldo Emerson - Friendship
Allice Emma Ives - Friendship Among Women, from What Can a Woman Do? Or, Her Position in the Business and Literary World
Harriet Jacobs - from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Sarah Orne Jewett - from The Country of the Pointed Firs
Samuel Johnson - The Decay of Friendship
Audre Lorde - from Zami: a New Spelling of My Name
Michael de Montaigne - Of Friendship
Lucy Maud Montgomery - from Anne of Green Gables
Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie - In Friendship
Oscar Wilde - The Devolted Firend