This series contains letters written by and sent to Herman W Liebert. It has been re-ordered, so that the letters are now arranged chronologically. In two cases, dates have either not been supplied, or are contentious. For these two items, the first and last of the series, located at ALR.B.1.12.1 and ALR.B.1.12.11, an estimate, or a range of dates has been given, with an accompanying note explaining them. The original call numbers for all the letters in the series are recorded here, so that the original order is still preserved.

This series contains six letters written by Liebert, and four written to him by Reade. It also contains an article written by Liebert, originally published in The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. XLVII, No. 1, January 1948, which encouraged the majority of the correspondence recorded here. This article is located at ALR.B.1.12.2.

Dr Herman W Liebert was a former student of Professor Tinker of Yale University, whose correspondence is located at ALR.B.1.32, and an acquaintance of Professor Pottle, also of Yale, whose correspondence is located at ALR.B.1.25. Liebert, who worked as a lecturer at Yale, had an increasing interest in Johnsoniana, and had planned to study the early life of Johnson, and the material which formulated the way he thought. He first contacted Reade in order to obtain information relating to Johnson whilst researching in Lichfield in 1937 or 1948-- this query concerning the date is discussed in a note accompanying this letter, located at ALR.B.1.12.1.

In 1948, Liebert's article discussing biographical works of Johnson was published in the Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol XLVII, No 1. The article discussed Ursa Major(1946) by C E Vulliamy and the tenth volume of Reade's Johnsonian Gleanings. This article, a copy of which is located at ALR.B.1.12.2, led to much correspondence between Liebert and Reade. During the late 1940s Liebert provides Reade with a number of biographies for various individuals including Oliver Rogers Barrett and Elbridge Colby.

In 1949 Liebert planned to pursue scholarly research on Johnson, but by this stage his plans did not extend to a full biography, but rather a series of essays and pamphlets, and editions of Johnson's works as a man of letters. In the early 1950s he hosted a number of annual dinner parties marking the birthday of Samuel Johnson, with his wife, Mr and Mrs Donald F Hyde and Mr and Mrs Alfred G Kay.