The primary aim of this book is to give as much information about English
authors, including under this designation American and Colonial writers,
as the prescribed limits will admit of. At the same time an attempt has
been made, where materials exist for it, to enhance the interest by
introducing such details as tend to illustrate the characters and
circumstances of the respective writers and the manner in which they
passed through the world; and in the case of the more important, to give
some indication of the relative place which they hold and the leading
features of their work.
Including the Appendix of Living Writers, the work contains upwards of
1600 names; but large as this number is, the number of those who have
contributed something of interest and value to the vast store of English
Literature is larger still, and any attempt to make a book of this kind
absolutely exhaustive would be futile.
The word "literature" is here used in a very wide sense, and this gives
rise to considerable difficulty in drawing the line of exclusion. There
are very many writers whose claim to admission may reasonably be
considered as good as that of some who have been included; but even had
it been possible to discover all these, their inclusion would have
swelled the work beyond its limits. A line had to be drawn somewhere, and
the writer has used his best judgment in making that line as consistent
as possible. It may probably, however, be safely claimed that every
department of the subject of any importance is well represented.
Wherever practicable (and this includes all but a very few articles),
various authorities have been collated, and pains have been taken to
secure accuracy; but where so large a collection of facts and dates is
involved, it would be too sanguine to expect that success has invariably
been attained.