An American reprint of “_The Reader’s Handbook of allusions, references,
plots and stories, by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D., of Trinity Hall,
Cambridge_,” has been for several years in the hands of cis-Atlantic
students.
Too much praise cannot be awarded to the erudition and patient diligence
displayed in the compilation of this volume of nearly twelve hundred
pages. The breadth of range contemplated by the learned editor is best
indicated in his own words:
“The object of this _Handbook_ is to supply readers and speakers with a
lucid, but very brief account of such names as are used in allusions and
references, whether by poets or prose writers;—to furnish those who
consult it with the plot of popular dramas, the story of epic poems, and
the outline of well-known tales. The number of dramatic plots sketched
out is many hundreds. Another striking and interesting feature of the
book is the revelation of the source from which dramatists and romancers
have derived their stories, and the strange repetitions of historic
incidents. It has been borne in mind throughout that it is not enough to
state a fact. It must be stated attractively, and the character
described must be drawn characteristically if the reader is to
appreciate it, and feel an interest in what he reads.”
All that Dr. Brewer claims for his book is sustained by examination of
it. It is nevertheless true that there is in it a mass of matter
comparatively unattractive to the American student and to the general
reader. Many of his “allusions” are to localities and neighborhood
traditions that, however interesting to English people, seem to us
trivial, verbose and inopportune, while he, whose chief object in the
purchase of the work is to possess a popular encyclopædia of literature,
is rather annoyed than edified by even an erudite author when his “talk
is of oxen,” fish, flesh and fowl.
Furthermore, the _Handbook_ was prepared so long ago that the popular
literature of the last dozen years is unrecorded; writers who now occupy
the foremost places in the public eye not being so much as named.
In view of these and other drawbacks to the extended usefulness of the
manual, the publishing-house whose imprint is upon the title-page of the
present work, taking the stanch foundation laid by Dr. Brewer, have
caused to be constructed upon it a work that, while retaining all of the
original material that can interest and aid the English-speaking
student, gives also “characters and sketches found in _American_ novels,
poetry and drama.”
It goes without saying that in the attempt to do this, it was necessary
to leave out a greater bulk of entertaining matter than could be wrought
in upon the original design. The imagination of the compiler, to whose
reverent hands the task was entrusted, recurred continually, while it
was in progress, to the magnificent hyperbole of the sacred
narrator—“The which, if they should be written, every one, I suppose
that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be
written.” Appreciation of the honor put upon her by the commission
deepened into delight as the work went on—prideful delight in the
richness and variety of our national literature. To do ample justice to
every writer and book would have been impossible, but the leading works
of every author of note have the honorable place. It is hoped that the
company of “characters” introduced among _dramatis personæ_ of English
and foreign classics, ancient and modern, will enliven pages that are
already fascinating. Many names of English authors omitted from the
_Handbook_ for the reason stated awhile ago, will also be found in their
proper positions.
The compiler and editor of this volume would be ungrateful did she not
express her sense of obligation for assistance received in the work of
collecting lists of writers and books from “_The Library of American
Literature_,” prepared by Mr. Edmund Clarence Stedman and Miss Ellen
Hutchinson.
Besides this, and a tolerable degree of personal familiarity with the
leading literature of her own land, her resort has been to the public
libraries in New York City—notably, to _The Astor_ and _The Mercantile_.
For the uniform courtesy she has received from those in charge of these
institutions she herewith makes acknowledgement in the publisher’s name
and in her own.