Abstract This is by far the most comprehensive, ambitious and well-organized collection of the active and passive correspondence of Machado de Assis. Sponsored by the Brazilian Academy of Letters and organized by Paulo Sergio Rouanet with the high-level technical collaboration of Sílvia Eleutério and Irene Moutinho, the complete set of letters is arranged in five volumes and includes 1,200 pieces of correspondence that span nearly five decades, from 1860 to 1908.