Charles Lamb

a.k.a. Elia *

Author Code: ECLX

Lamb was educated at Christ's Hospital in London until 1789 when he left school at the age of 15. He took a job as a clerk at India House in 1792 and remained there until his retirement in 1825. Lamb's first literary works were poems and his first work of prose was A Tale of Rosamund Gray (1798). He followed this with a poetic tragedy, John Woodvil, in 1802. He collaborated with his sister Mary in the publication of Tales From Shakespeare in 1807, which retold the plays for children, The Adventures of Ulysses (1808) and Mrs. Leicester's School in 1809. Lamb's greatest success came with the Essays of Elia, which were serialized in the London Magazine beginning in 1820. In 1823 the essays were published as a collected work and another series, The Last Essays of Elia, were published in 1833. Lamb was one of the greatest letter writers and a gifted literary critic and established life-long friendships with many literary figures of the day, including Coleridge, Godwin and Lloyd.