My first acquaintance with Allen Leeper's letters came during a visit to Balliol College Archives in search of material relating to Sir Lewis Namier. I am grateful to Anna Sander, the college archivist at that time, for bringing the Leeper material to my attention, and to her successor, Bethany Hamblen, for making my visits to St Cross enjoyable as well as rewarding. The invaluable assistance of Kevin Molloy of the State Library of Victoria enabled me to check against the originals in Melbourne items which Balliol holds as photocopies.

For permission to publish the letters I am grateful to the Master and Fellows of Balliol College and the State Library of Victoria. For access to other manuscript collections I must thank the Master and Fellows of Balliol, the British Library Board; the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Library; the Booth Family Center for Special Collections, Georgetown University Library; Special Collections, Southampton University Library; and the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Identification of some of Allen's Oxford contemporaries would have been impossible without the help of college and university archivists: in Oxford, Robin Darwall-Smith at University College, Emma Goodrum at Worcester, Oliver Mahony at Lady Margaret Hall, Julian Reid at Merton, Jennifer Thorp at New College, and Michael Riordan at St John's; and in Australia, Nyree Morrison at the University of Sydney. In addition, Fiona Colbert, Biographical Librarian at St John's College, Cambridge, did some fine detective work on my behalf, as did Luisa Moscato, archivist of Melbourne Grammar School. For assistance on other matters I am also indebted to Paul Auchterlonie, Stuart Ball, Darragh Gannon, Robert Gildea, the late Aaron Graham, Susan Hood, and Simon Williams. As always, I have drawn heavily on the generosity of relations and friends who have provided me with a base on research trips, especially Neil and Ella Barclay in Oxford, Linda Clark in Islington, and Kevin and Mary Ann Sexton in Washington DC.

My former colleague David Whitehead corrected my transcriptions and translations of Allen Leeper's Greek, and suggested emendations to the footnotes. This edition is greatly indebted to his expertise. Linda Clark also read the final draft, saving me from errors, inconsistencies, and infelicities. Responsibility for the remaining blemishes is mine alone.