A Book for All Readers | Page 5

or wrung from the far-off worlds in the
shining heavens.
A word only can be spared to the wide and attractive realm of fiction.
In this field, those are the best books which have longest kept their hold
upon the public mind. It is a wise plan to neglect the novels of the year,
and to read (or to re-read in many cases) the master-pieces which have

stood the test of time, and criticism, and changing fashions, by the sure
verdict of a call for continually new editions. Ouida and Trilby may
endure for a day, but Thackeray and Walter Scott are perennial. It is
better to read a fine old book through three times, than to read three
new books through once.
Of books more especially devoted to the history of literature, in times
ancient and modern, and in various nations, the name is legion. I count
up, of histories of English literature alone (leaving out the American)
no less than one hundred and thirty authors on this great field or some
portion of it. To know what ones of these to study, and what to leave
alone, would require critical judgment and time not at my command. I
can only suggest a few known by me to be good. For a succinct yet
most skilfully written summary of English writers, there is no book that
can compare with Stopford A. Brooke's Primer of English Literature.
For more full and detailed treatment, Taine's History of English
Literature, or Chambers' Cyclopaedia of English Literature, two
volumes, with specimens of the writers of every period, are the best. E.
C. Stedman's Victorian Poets is admirable, as is also his Poets of
America. For a bird's eye view of American authors and their works, C.
F. Richardson's Primer of American Literature can be studied to
advantage, while for more full reference to our authors, with specimens
of each, Stedman's Library of American Literature in eleven volumes,
should be consulted. M. C. Tyler's very interesting critical History of
the Early American Literature, so little known, comes down in its
fourth volume only to the close of the revolution in 1783.
For classical literature, the importance of a good general knowledge of
which can hardly be overrated, J. P. Mahaffy's History of Greek
Literature, two volumes, and G. A. Simcox's Latin Literature, two
volumes, may be commended. On the literature of modern languages,
to refer only to works written in English, Saintsbury's Primer of French
Literature is good, and R. Garnett's History of Italian Literature is
admirable (by the former Keeper of Printed Books in the British
Museum Library). Lublin's Primer of German Literature is excellent for
a condensed survey of the writers of Germany, while W. Scherer's
History of German Literature, two volumes, covers a far wider field.

For Spanish Literature in its full extent, there is no work at all equal to
George Ticknor's three volumes, but for a briefer history, H. B. Clark's
Hand-book of Spanish Literature, London, 1893, may be used.
I make no allusion here to the many works of reference in the form of
catalogues and bibliographical works, which may be hereafter noted.
My aim has been only to indicate the best and latest treatises covering
the leading literatures of the world, having no space for the
Scandinavian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, or any of the Slavonic or
oriental tongues.
Those who find no time for studying the more extended works named,
will find much profit in devoting their hours to the articles in the
Encyclopaedia Britannica upon the literatures of the various countries.
These are within reach of everyone.
The select list of books named in this chapter does not by any means
aim to cover those which are well worth reading; but only to indicate a
few, a very few, of the best. It is based on the supposition that
intelligent readers will give far less time to fiction than to the more
solid food of history, biography, essays, travels, literary history, and
applied science. The select list of books in the fields already named is
designed to include only the most improving and well-executed works.
Many will not find their favorites in the list, which is purposely kept
within narrow limits, as a suggestion only of a few of the best books for
a home library or for general reading. You will find it wise to own, as
early in life as possible, a few of the choicest productions of the great
writers of the world. Those who can afford only a selection from a
selection, can begin with never so few of the authors most desired, or
which they have not already, putting in practice the advice of
Shakespeare:
"In brief, sir, study what you most affect."
Says John Ruskin: "I would urge upon every young man