By using the 1882 edition of The Portrait of a Lady, the text reflects more clearly the culture from and to which it was written. A significant number of fairly contemporary materials deal with etiquette/behavior, conceptions of the American girl and the American woman, discussions of Americans (especially girls/women) living abroad, and international marriages. Magazine and newspapers articles of the period also help to place Isabel Archer in a historical context. The volume includes reprints of contemporary reviews, emphasizing those that found the ending of the novel perplexing.