A careful selection from thousands of short fictions, this is the first anthology of 18th-century British stories in more than 200 years. It includes well-known and frequently studied stories like "Fantomina" and forgotten gems like "The Adventures of Ambrose Gwinett," famous writers from Defoe and Swift to Henry Fielding and Robert Burns, as well as authors still in need of recognition, such as Thomas Gordon and Leonard McNally. The text of the stories is accompanied by 439 explanatory notes. Each story is introduced by a biographical outline, a brief editorial history of the text, and suggestions for further reading. A 32-page chronology covering both the short fiction and the events of the century is placed at the end of the volume.