A Book for All Readers | Page 6

to obtain as
soon as he can, by the severest economy, a restricted and steadily
increasing series of books, for use through life; making his little library,
of all his furniture, the most studied and decorative piece." And Henry

Ward Beecher urged it as the most important early ambition for clerks,
working men and women, and all who are struggling up in life, to form
gradually a library of good books. "It is a man's duty," says he, "to have
books. A library is not a luxury, but one of the necessaries of life."
And says Bishop Hurst, urging the vital importance of wise selection in
choosing our reading: "If two-thirds of the shelves of the typical
domestic library were emptied of their burden, and choice books put in
their stead, there would be reformation in intelligence and thought
throughout the civilized world."
SELECTION OF BOOKS FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
Let us now consider the subject of books fitted for public libraries. At
the outset, it is most important that each selection should be made on a
well considered plan. No hap-hazard, or fitfully, or hastily made
collection can answer the two ends constantly to be aimed at--namely,
first, to select the best and most useful books, and, secondly, to
economize the funds of the library. No money should be wasted upon
whims and experiments, but every dollar should be devoted to the
acquisition of improving books.
As to the principles that should govern and the limitations to be laid
down, these will depend much upon the scope of the library, and the
amount of its funds. No library of the limited and moderate class
commonly found in our public town libraries can afford to aim at the
universal range of a national library, nor even at the broad selections
proper to a liberally endowed city library.
But its aims, while modest, should be comprehensive enough to
provide a complete selection of what may be termed standard literature,
for the reading public. If the funds are inadequate to do this in the
beginning, it should be kept constantly in view, as the months and years
go on. Every great and notable book should be in the library sooner or
later, and if possible at its foundation. Thus will its utility and
attractiveness both be well secured.
Taking first the case of a small public library about to be started, let us

see in a few leading outlines what it will need.
1. A selection of the best works of reference should be the corner-stone
of every library collection. In choosing these, regard must be had to
secure the latest as well as the best. Never buy the first edition of
Soule's Synonymes because it is cheap, but insist upon the revised and
enlarged edition of 1892. Never acquire an antiquated Lempriere's or
Anthon's Classical Dictionary, because some venerable library director,
who used it in his boyhood, suggests it, when you can get Professor H.
T. Peck's "Dictionary of Classical Antiquities," published in 1897.
Never be tempted to buy an old edition of an encyclopaedia at half or
quarter price, for it will be sure to lack the populations of the last
census, besides being a quarter of a century or more in arrears in its
other information. When consulting sale catalogues to select reference
books, look closely at the dates of publication, and make sure by your
American or English catalogues that no later edition has appeared. It
goes without saying that you will have these essential bibliographies, as
well as Lowndes' Manual of English Literature first of all, whether you
are able to buy Watt and Brunet or not.
2. Without here stopping to treat of books of reference in detail, which
will appear in another place, let me refer to some other great classes of
literature in which every library should be strong. History stands fairly
at the head, and while a newly established library cannot hope to
possess at once all the noted writers, it should begin by securing a fine
selection, embracing general history, ancient and modern, and the
history of each country, at least of the important nations. For
compendious short histories, the "Story of the Nations" series, by
various writers, should be secured, and the more extensive works of
Gibbon, Grote, Mommsen, Duruy, Fyffe, Green, Macaulay, Froude,
McCarthy, Carlyle, Thiers, Bancroft, Motley, Prescott, Fiske, Schouler,
McMaster, Buckle, Guizot, etc., should be acquired. The copious lists
of historical works appended to Larned's "History for Ready
Reference" will be useful here.
3. Biography stands close to history in interest and importance. For
general reference, or the biography of all nations, Lippincott's

Universal Pronouncing Dictionary of Biography is essential, as well as
Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography, for our own country.
For Great Britain, the "Dictionary of National Biography" is a