James Gillman's Life of Coleridge may be called the first and the official biography. Allsop's and Cottle's volumes, which preceded it, were fragmentary and miscellaneous; and although Gillman's death in 1839 left the work incomplete, bringing the story of Coleridge down only to about 1817, it was not superseded for fifty years. It was necessarily a main source for Traill, Brandl, and Caine, who wrote their accounts in the 1880's; for Leslie Stephen in his sketch for the D.N.B., written in 1887; and for Campbell in his “Biographical Introduction,” of 1893, which still remains the fullest and best treatment. Gillman's Life is now little read, but it has had important influence on our conception of Coleridge. It is therefore worth while to consider what Gillman did—and what he did not do.