In July of 1979, I wrote to Professor Jaffé, whom I had known for many years, and suggested to him that the time had come for him to put together a collection of his essays on Walras. My reasoning was based on several considerations. There is, and will continue to be, a deep interest in Walras's work; Jaffé was the foremost authority on that work; and there consequently has been, and will continue to be, a deep interest in Jaffé's essays. The essays are individually of great value, displaying soundness of scholarship, perceptiveness of interpretation, wisdom in evaluation, and scrupulousness in bibliographical accuracy; and, taken as a collection, they form a well-rounded body of Walrasiana. Some of them were published in sources that are not easily accessible, three of them (Chapters 6, 7, and 10 in this book) were written in French, and one of them (Chapter 11) consists largely of quotations in French.

Jaffé responded to my letter by confessing that he had had the same thought and that he was gratified that my suggestion encouraged him in the belief that he was not merely becoming subject to “senile megalomania” in contemplating such a collection. He went further, and asked me if I would undertake the task of editing the volume. I responded that I would be honored to do so. Jaffé became ill shortly after I began the project, and when he died I temporarily abandoned it.