Virtually unpublished in her lifetime and unknown at her death in 1886, Emily Dickinson stands today in the front rank of American poets. Though she lived as a recluse in her father's house in Amherst, Massachusetts, her imagination knew no bounds, ranging with utter fearlessness through a vast landscape of love, immortality, nature, joy, faith, and despair. After Dickinson's death, her sister Vinnie was stunned to discover a locked box containing over nine hundred poems - an extraordinary body of work which the poet considered her "letter to the world." This edition gathers a rich harvest of the finest of these poems, carefully selected by the staff of The New York Public Library. Arranged chronologically, they chart the development of a poetic sensibility fired by immediacy of perception and a magnificent grasp of language. Emily Dickinson and her world are further evoked here with rare manuscripts and prints drawn from the Library's special collections, including a selection of the poet's handwritten letters.