Hugh Walker 
The English Essay and Essayists (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) 

By employing chapters focusing on individual essayists, Walker tells the history of the English essay in its entirety, while staying detailed. Among the chapters of this 1915 volume are “Anticipations of the Essay, ” “The Aphoristic Essayists, ” and “The Historian-Essayists.” Essayists treated include Addison, Arnold, Carlyle, Goldsmith, and Hazlitt.

About the author

Hugh Walker (1855–1939) was a British educator, who published prolifically. His works include Three Centuries of Scottish Literature (1893), The Literature of the Victorian Era (1910), and The English Satire and Satirists (1925). He was also a frequent contributor to journals such as the Yale Review, Hibbert Journal, and Chambers’ Journal.