Epistolae Ho-Elianae

Epistolae Ho-Elianae is a literary work by the 17th-century Anglo-Welsh historian and writer, James Howell. It was mainly written when Howell was in the Fleet Prison, during the 1640s; but its content reflects earlier travels he made from 1616 on behalf of a London glass factory. It appeared in three volumes from 1645 to 1650. A fourth volume was added in a collected edition of 1655.
The fourth edition was published by Thomas Guy, and profits went to founding Guy's Hospital in London.

Status as a letter collection and historicity

It is written in the form of a letter collection, but it has been suggested that some of the letters are fictional. The selection of the recipients has also been attributed to patronage relationships. A "Mrs. A. W." who occurs as a recipient has been fitted to another letter by Howell to provide a tentative deductive identification of the author of A Continuation of Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia as Anna Weamys, who is not otherwise traced as a writer.

Use as travel literature

As travel literature, Howell's work largely neglects scenic description. But some of the language used has been described as a possible source for the work of Joshua Poole on epithets.