AN ENGLISH LIBRARY: PERIOD III
The catalogue of necessary authors of this third and last period being
so long, it is convenient to divide the prose writers into Imaginative
and Non-imaginative.
In the latter half of the period the question of copyright affects our
scheme to a certain extent, because it affects prices. Fortunately
it is the fact that no single book of recognised first-rate general
importance is conspicuously dear. Nevertheless, I have encountered
difficulties in the second rank; I have dealt with them in a spirit
of compromise. I think I may say that, though I should have included
a few more authors had their books been obtainable at a reasonable
price, I have omitted none that I consider indispensable to a
thoroughly representative collection. No living author is included.
Where I do not specify the edition of a book the original copyright
edition is meant.
PROSE WRITERS: IMAGINATIVE. £ s. d.
SIR WALTER SCOTT, _Waverley, Heart of
Midlothian, Quentin Durward, Red-gauntlet,
Ivanhoe_: Everyman's
Library (5 vols.) 0 5 0
SIR WALTER SCOTT, _Marmion_, etc.:
Canterbury Poets 0 1 0
Charles Lamb, _Works in Prose and Verse_:
Clarendon Press (2 vols.) 0 4 0
Charles Lamb, _Letters_: Newnes's Thin
Paper Classics 0 2 0
Walter Savage Landor, _Imaginary Conversations_:
Scott Library 0 1 0
Walter Savage Landor, _Poems_: Canterbury
Poets 0 1 0
Leigh Hunt, _Essays and Sketches_: World's
Classics 0 1 0
Thomas Love Peacock, _Principal Novels_:
New Universal Library (2 vols.) 0 2 0
Mary Russell Mitford, _Our Village_:
Scott Library 0 1 0
Michael Scott, _Tom Cringle's Log_: Macmillan's
Illustrated Novels 0 2 6
Frederick Marryat, _Mr. Midshipman
Easy_: Everyman's Library 0 1 0
John Galt, _Annals of the Parish_: Everyman's
Library 0 1 0
Susan Ferrier, _Marriage_: Routledge's
edition 0 2 0
Douglas Jerrold, _Mrs. Caudle's Curtain
Lectures_: World's Classics 0 1 0
Lord Lytton, _Last Days of Pompeii_:
Everyman's Library 0 1 0
William Carleton, _Stories_: Scott Library 0 1 0
Charles James Lever, _Harry Lorrequer_:
Everyman's Library 0 1 0
Harrison Ainsworth, _The Tower of London_:
New Universal Library 0 1 0
George Henry Borrow, _Bible in Spain,
Lavengro_: New Universal Library (2 vols.) 0 2 0
Lord Beaconsfield, _Sybil, Coningsby_:
Lane's New Pocket Library (2 vols.) 0 2 0
W.M. THACKERAY, _Vanity Fair, Esmond_:
Everyman's Library (2 vols.) 0 2 0
W.M. THACKERAY, _Barry Lyndon_, and
_Roundabout Papers_, etc.:
Nelson's New Century Library 0 2 0
CHARLES DICKENS, _Works_: Everyman's
Library (18 vols.) 0 18 0
Charles Reade, _The Cloister and the Hearth_:
Everyman's Library 0 1 0
Anthony Trollope, _Barchester Towers,
Framley Parsonage_: Lane's New
Pocket Library (2 vols.) 0 2 0
Charles Kingsley, _Westward Ho!_: Everyman's
Library 0 1 0
Henry Kingsley, _Ravenshoe_: Everyman's
Library 0 1 0
Charlotte Brontë, _Jane Eyre, Shirley,
Villette, Professor, and Poems_:
World's Classics (4 vols.) 0 4 0
Emily Brontë, _Wuthering Heights_: World's
Classics 0 1 0
Elizabeth Gaskell, _Cranford_: World's
Classics 0 1 0
Elizabeth Gaskell, _Life of Charlotte Brontë_ 0 2 6
George Eliot, _Adam Bede, Silas Marner,
The Mill on the Floss_: Everyman's
Library (3 vols.) 0 3 0
G.J. Whyte-Melville, _The Gladiators_:
New Universal Library 0 1 0
Alexander Smith, _Dreamthorpe_: New
Universal Library 0 1 0
George Macdonald, _Malcolm_ 0 1 6
Walter Pater, _Imaginary Portraits_ 0 6 0
Wilkie Collins, _The Woman in White_ 0 1 0
R.D. Blackmore, _Lorna Doone_: Everyman's
Library 0 1 0
Samuel Butler, _Erewhon_: Fifield's
Edition 0 2 6
Laurence Oliphant, _Altiora Peto_ 0 3 6
Margaret Oliphant, _Salem Chapel_: Everyman's
Library 0 1 0
Richard Jefferies, _Story of My Heart_ 0 2 0
Lewis Carroll, _Alice in Wonderland_: Macmillan's
Cheap Edition 0 1 0
John Henry Shorthouse, _John Inglesant_:
Macmillan's Pocket Classics 0 2 0
R.L. Stevenson, _Master of Ballantrae,
Virginibus Puerisque_: Pocket Edition
(2 vols.) 0 4 0
George Gissing, _The Odd Women_: Popular
Edition (bound) 0 0 7
__________
£5 0 1
Names such as those of Charlotte Yonge and Dinah Craik are omitted
intentionally.
PROSE WRITERS: NON-IMAGINATIVE. £ s. d.
William Hazlitt, _Spirit of the Age_: World's
Classics 0 1 0
William Hazlitt, _English Poets and Comic
Writers_: Bohn's Library 0 3 6
Francis Jeffrey, _Essays from Edinburgh
Review_: New Universal Library 0 1 0
Thomas de Quincey, _Confessions of an
English Opium-eater_, etc.: Scott
Library 0 1 0
Sydney Smith, _Selected Papers_: Scott
Library 0 1 0
George Finlay, _Byzantine Empire_:
Everyman's Library 0 1 0
John G. Lockhart, _Life of Scott_: Everyman's
Library 0 1 0
Agnes Strickland, _Life of Queen Elizabeth_:
Everyman's Library 0 1 0
Hugh Miller, _Old Red Sandstone_: Everyman's
Library 0 1 0
J.H. Newman, _Apologia pro vita sua_:
New Universal Library 0 1 0
Lord Macaulay, _History of England_, (3),
_Essays_ (2): Everyman's Library (5 vols.) 0 5 0
A.P. Stanley, _Memorials of Canterbury_:
Everyman's Library 0 1 0
THOMAS CARLYLE, _French Revolution_ (2),
_Cromwell_ (3), _Sartor Resartus and
Heroes and Hero-Worship_ (1): Everyman's
Library (6 vols.) 0 6 0
THOMAS CARLYLE, _Latter-day Pamphlets_:
Chapman and Hall's Edition 0 1 0
CHARLES DARWIN, _Origin of Species_:
Murray's Edition 0 1 0
CHARLES DARWIN, _Voyage of the Beagle_:
Everyman's Library 0 1 0
A.W. Kinglake, _Eothen_: New Universal
Library 0 1 0
John Stuart Mill, _Auguste Comte and
Positivism_: New Universal Library 0 1 0
John Brown, _Horæ Subsecivæ_: World's
Classics 0 1 0
John Brown, _Rab and His Friends_:
Everyman's Library 0 1 0
Sir Arthur Helps, _Friends in Council_:
New Universal Library 0 1 0
Mark Pattison, _Life of Milton_: English
Men of Letters Series 0 1 0
F.W. Robertson, _On Religion and Life_:
Everyman's Library 0 1 0
Benjamin Jowett, _Interpretation of Scripture_:
Routledge's London Library 0 2 6
George Henry Lewes, _Principles of Success
in Literature_: Scott Library 0 1 0
Alexander Bain, _Mind and Body_ 0 4 0
James Anthony Froude, _Dissolution of the
Monasteries_, etc.: New Universal
Library 0 1 0
Mary Wollstonecraft, _Vindication of the
Rights of Women_: Scott Library 0 1 0
John Tyndall, _Glaciers of the Alps_:
Everyman's Library 0 1 0
Sir Henry Maine, _Ancient Law_: New
Universal Library 0 1 0
JOHN RUSKIN, _Seven Lamps_ (1), _Sesame
and Lilies_ (1), _Stones of Venice_ (3):
George Allen's Cheap Edition (5 vols.) 0 5 0
HERBERT SPENCER, _First Principles_ (2 vols.) 0 2 0
HERBERT SPENCER, _Education_ 0 1 0
Sir Richard Burton, _Narrative of a
Pilgrimage to Mecca_: Bohn's Edition
(2 vols.) 0 7 0
J.S. Speke, _Sources of the Nile_: Everyman's
Library 0 1 0
Thomas Henry Huxley, _Essays_: Everyman's
Library 0 1 0
E.A. Freeman, _Europe_: Macmillan's
Primers 0 1 0
WILLIAM STUBBS, _Early Plantagenets_ 0 2 0
Walter Bagehot, _Lombard Street_ 0 3 6
Richard Holt Hutton, _Cardinal Newman_ 0 3 6
Sir John Seeley, _Ecce Homo_:
New Universal Library 0 1 0
David Masson, _Thomas de Quincey_:
English Men of Letters Series 0 1 0
John Richard Green, _Short History of the
English People_ 0 8 6
Sir Leslie Stephen, _Pope_: English Men
of Letters Series 0 1 0
Lord Acton, _On the Study of History_ 0 2 6
Mandell Creighton, _The Age of Elizabeth_ 0 2 6
F.W.H. Myers, _Wordsworth_: English
Men of Letters Series 0 1 0
__________
£4 10 6
The following authors are omitted, I think justifiably:--Hallam,
Whewell, Grote, Faraday, Herschell, Hamilton, John Wilson, Richard
Owen, Stirling Maxwell, Buckle, Oscar Wilde, P.G. Hamerton, F.D.
Maurice, Henry Sidgwick, and Richard Jebb.
Lastly, here is the list of poets. In the matter of price per volume
it is the most expensive of all the lists. This is due to the fact
that it contains a larger proportion of copyright works. Where I do
not specify the edition of a book, the original copyright edition is
meant:
POETS. £ s. d.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, _Poetical Works_:
Oxford Edition 0 3 6
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, _Literary Criticism_:
Nowell Smith's Edition 0 2 6
Robert Southey, _Poems_: Canterbury
Poets 0 1 0
Robert Southey, _Life of Nelson_: Everyman's
Library 0 1 0
S.T. COLERIDGE, _Poetical Works_:
Newnes's Thin Paper Classics 0 2 0
S.T. COLERIDGE, _Biographia Literaria_:
Everyman's Library 0 1 0
S.T. COLERIDGE, _Lectures on Shakspere_:
Everyman's Library 0 1 0
JOHN KEATS, _Poetical Works_: Oxford
Edition 0 3 6
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, _Poetical Works_:
Oxford Edition 0 3 6
LORD BYRON, _Poems_: E. Hartley Coleridge's
Edition 0 6 0
LORD BYRON, _Letters_: Scott Library 0 1 0
Thomas Hood, _Poems_: World's Classics 0 1 0
James and Horace Smith, _Rejected Addresses_:
New Universal Library 0 1 0
John Keble, _The Christian Year_: Canterbury
Poets 0 1 0
George Darley, _Poems_: Muses' Library 0 1 0
T.L. Beddoes, _Poems_: Muses' Library 0 1 0
Thomas Moore, _Selected Poems_: Canterbury
Poets 0 1 0
James Clarence Mangan, _Poems_: D.J.
O'Donoghue's Edition 0 3 6
W. Mackworth Praed, _Poems_: Canterbury
Poets 0 1 0
R.S. Hawker, _Cornish Ballads_: C.E.
Byles's Edition 0 5 0
Edward FitzGerald, _Omar Khayyam_:
Golden Treasury Series 0 2 6
P.J. Bailey, _Festus_: Routledge's Edition 0 3 6
Arthur Hugh Clough, _Poems_: Muses'
Library 0 1 0
LORD TENNYSON, _Poetical Works_: Globe
Edition 0 3 6
ROBERT BROWNING, _Poetical Works_:
World's Classics (2 vols.) 0 2 0
Elizabeth Browning, _Aurora Leigh_:
Temple Classics 0 1 6
Elizabeth Browning, _Shorter Poems_:
Canterbury Poets 0 1 0
P.B. Marston, _Song-tide_: Canterbury
Poets 0 1 0
Aubrey de Vere, _Legends of St. Patrick_:
Cassell's National Library 0 0 6
MATTHEW ARNOLD, _Poems_: Golden Treasury
Series 0 2 6
MATTHEW ARNOLD, _Essays_: Everyman's
Library 0 1 0
Coventry Patmore, _Poems_: Muses'
Library 0 1 0
Sydney Dobell, _Poems_: Canterbury Poets 0 1 0
Eric Mackay, _Love-letters of a Violinist_:
Canterbury Poets 0 1 0
T.E. Brown, _Poems_ 0 7 6
C.S. Calverley, _Verses and Translations_ 0 1 6
D.G. ROSSETTI, _Poetical Works_ 0 3 6
Christina Rossetti, _Selected Poems_:
Golden Treasury Series 0 2 6
James Thomson, _City of Dreadful Night_ 0 3 6
Jean Ingelow, _Poems_: Red Letter Library 0 1 6
William Morris, _The Earthly Paradise_ 0 6 0
William Morris, _Early Romances_: Everyman's
Library 0 1 0
Augusta Webster, _Selected Poems_ 0 4 6
W.E. Henley, _Poetical Works_ 0 6 0
Francis Thompson, _Selected Poems_ 0 5 0
__________
£5 7 0
Poets whom I have omitted after hesitation are: Ebenezer Elliott,
Thomas Woolner, William Barnes, Gerald Massey, and Charles Jeremiah
Wells. On the other hand, I have had no hesitation about omitting
David Moir, Felicia Hemans, Aytoun, Sir Edwin Arnold, and Sir Lewis
Morris. I have included John Keble in deference to much enlightened
opinion, but against my inclination. There are two names in the list
which may be somewhat unfamiliar to many readers. James Clarence
Mangan is the author of _My Dark Rosaleen_, an acknowledged
masterpiece, which every library must contain. T.E. Brown is a great
poet, recognised as such by a few hundred people, and assuredly
destined to a far wider fame. I have included FitzGerald because _Omar
Khayyam_ is much less a translation than an original work.
SUMMARY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
83 prose-writers, in 141 volumes, costing £9 10 7
38 poets " 46 " " 5 7 0
__ ___ __________
121 187 £14 17 7
GRAND SUMMARY OF COMPLETE LIBRARY.
Authors. Volumes. Price.
1. To Dryden 48 72 £5 9 0
2. Eighteenth Century 57 78 6 8 0
3. Nineteenth Century 121 187 14 17 7
___ ___ ________
226 337 £26 14 7
I think it will be agreed that the total cost of this library is
surprisingly small. By laying out the sum of sixpence a day for three
years you may become the possessor of a collection of books which,
for range and completeness in all branches of literature, will bear
comparison with libraries far more imposing, more numerous, and more
expensive.
I have mentioned the question of discount. The discount which you
will obtain (even from a bookseller in a small town) will be more than
sufficient to pay for Chambers's _Cyclopædia of English Literature_,
three volumes, price 30s. net. This work is indispensable to a
bookman. Personally, I owe it much.
When you have read, wholly or in part, a majority of these three
hundred and thirty-five volumes, _with enjoyment_, you may begin to
whisper to yourself that your literary taste is formed; and you may
pronounce judgment on modern works which come before the bar of your
opinion in the calm assurance that, though to err is human, you do at
any rate know what you are talking about.