Library (Macmillan), edited by Canon Ainger. The standard edition of
Lamb's _Works_ is that edited by Mr. E. V. Lucas, in 7 volumes, for
Methuen. Mr. Lucas's biography of Lamb has superseded all others.
{272e} Thomas de Quincey's _Opium Eater_ may be obtained as a volume of
Newnes's Thin Paper Classics, in the World's Classics, or in Dent's
Everyman's Library. But the _Complete Works_ of De Quincey, in 16
volumes, edited by David Mason and published by A. & C. Black, should be
in every library.
{273a} William Hazlitt never received the treatment he deserved until
Mr. J. M. Dent issued in 1903 his _Collected Works_, in 13 volumes,
edited by A. R. Waller and Arnold Glover. Of cheap reprints of Hazlitt I
commend _The Spirit of the Age_, _Winterslow_ and _Sketches and Essays_,
three separate volumes of the World's Classics (Frowde).
{273b} George Borrow's _Lavengro_ should only be read in Mr. John
Murray's edition, as it there contains certain additional and valuable
matter gathered from the original manuscript by William I. Knapp. The
Library Edition of Borrow, in 6 volumes (Murray), may be particularly
commended.
{273c} Emerson's _Complete Works_ are published by the Routledges in 4
volumes, in which _Representative Men_ may be found in Vol. II. Some may
prefer the Eversley Library _Emerson_, which has an Introduction by John
Morley. There are many cheap editions of about equal value.
{273d} Lander's _Imaginary Conversations_ form six volumes of the
complete _Landor_, edited by Charles G. Crump, and published in 10
volumes by J. M. Dent.
{273e} Matthew Arnold's _Essays in Criticism_ is published by Macmillan.
It also forms Vol. III of the Library Edition of his _Works_ in 15
volumes. A "Second Series" has less significance.
{273f} _The Works of Herodotus_, published by the Macmillans, translated
by George C. Macaulay, is the best edition for the general reader. Canon
Rawlinson's _Herodotus_, published by John Murray, has had a longer life,
but is now only published in an abridged form.
{274a} James Howell's _Familiar Letters_, or _Epistolae Ho Elianae_,
should be read in the edition published in 2 volumes by David Nutt, with
an Introduction by Joseph Jacobs.
{274b} _The History of Civilization_, by Henry Thomas Buckle, is in my
library in the original 2 volumes published by Parker in 1857. It is now
issued in 3 volumes in Longman's Silver Library, and in 3 volumes in the
World's Classics.
{274c} _The History of Tacitus_ should be read in the translation by
Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodripp. It is published by the
Macmillans.
{274d} _Our Village_, by Mary Russell Mitford, is a collection of essays
which in their completest form may be obtained in two volumes of Bohn's
Library (Bell). The essential essays should be possessed in the edition
published by the Macmillans--_Our Village_, by Mary Russell Mitford, with
an Introduction by Anne Thackeray Ritchie, and one hundred illustrations
by Hugh Thomson.
{274e} Green's _Short History of the English People_ is published by the
Macmillans in 1 volume, or illustrated in 4 volumes. The book was
enlarged, but disimproved, under the title of _A History of the English
People_, in 4 volumes, uniform with the _Conquest of England_ and the
_Making of England_ by the same author.
{275a} Taine's _Ancient Regime_ is a good introduction to the conditions
which made the French Revolution. It forms the first volume of _Les
Origines de la France Contemporaine_, and may be read in a translation by
John Durand, published by Dalby, Isbister & Co. in 1877.
{275b} _The Life of Napoleon_ has been written by many pens, in our own
day most competently by Dr. Holland Rose (2 vols. Bell); but a good
account of the Emperor, indispensable for some particulars and an
undoubted classic, is that by de Bourrienne, Napoleon's private
secretary, published in an English translation, in 4 volumes, by Bentley
in 1836.
{275c} _Democracy in America_, by Alexis de Tocqueville, may be had in a
translation by Henry Reeve, published in 2 volumes by the Longmans. Read
also _A History of the United States_ by C. Benjamin Andrews, 2 volumes
(Smith, Elder), and above all the _American Commonwealth_, by James
Bryce, 2 volumes (Macmillan).
{275d} _The Compleat Angler_ of Isaac Walton may be purchased in many
forms. I have a fine library edition edited by that prince of living
anglers, Mr. R. B. Marston, called The Lea and Dove Edition, this being
the 100th edition of the book (Sampson Low, 1888). I have also an
edition edited by George A. B. Dewar, with an Introduction by Sir Edward
Grey and Etchings by William Strang and D. Y. Cameron, 2 volumes
(Freemantle), and a 1 volume edition published by Ingram & Cooke in the
Illustrated Library.
{276a} There are many editions of Gilbert White's _Natural History of
Selbourne_ to be commended. Three that are in my library are (1) edited
with an Introduction and Notes by L. C. Miall and W. Warde Fowler
(Methuen); (2) edited with Notes by Grant Allen, illustrated by Edmund H.
New (John Lane); (3) rearranged and classified under subjects by Charles
Mosley (Elliot Stock).
{276b} Of _Boswell's Life of Johnson_ there are innumerable editions.
The special enthusiast will not be happy until he possesses Dr. Birkbeck
Hill's edition in 6 volumes (Clarendon Press). The most satisfactory 1
volume edition is that published on thin paper by Henry Frowde. I have
in my library also a copy of the first edition of _Boswell_ in 2 volumes.
It was published by Henry Baldwin in 1791.
{276c} The best edition of Lockhart's _Life of Scott_ is that published
in 10 volumes by Jack of Edinburgh. Readers should beware of
abridgments, although one of these was made by Lockhart himself. The
whole eighty-five chapters are worth reading, even in the 1 volume
edition published by A. & C. Black.
{276d} _Pepys's Diary_ can be obtained in Bohn's Library or in Newnes'
Thin Paper Classics, but Pepys should only be read under Mr. H. B.
Wheatley's guidance. A cheap edition of his book, in 8 volumes, has
recently been published by George Bell & Sons. I have No. 2 of the large
paper edition of this book, No. 1 having gone to Pepys's own college of
Brazenose, where the Pepys cypher is preserved.
{277a} Until recently one knew Walpole's _Letters_ only through Peter
Cunningham's edition, in 9 volumes (Bentley), and this has still
exclusive matter for the enthusiast, Cunningham's Introduction to wit;
but the Clarendon Press has now published Walpole's _Letters_, edited by
Mrs. Paget Toynbee, in 16 volumes, or in 8. Here are to be found more
letters than in any previous edition.
{277b} _The Memoirs of Count de Gramont_, by Anthony, Count Hamilton,
can be obtained in splendid type, unannotated, in an edition published by
Arthur L. Humphreys. A well-illustrated and well-edited edition is that
published by Bickers of London and Scribner of New York, edited by Allan
Fea.
{277c} Gray's _Letters_, with poems and life, form 4 volumes in
Macmillan's Eversley Library, edited by Edmund Gosse.
{277d} You can obtain Southey's _Nelson_, originally written for
Murray's Pocket Library as a publisher's commission, in one well-printed
volume, with Introduction by David Hannay, published by William
Heinemann. It should, however, be supplemented in the _Life_ by Captain
Mahan (2 volumes, Sampson Low & Co.), or by Professor Laughton's _Nelson
and His Companion in Arms_ (George Allen).
{277e} Moore's _Life and Letters of Byron_ is published by John Murray
in 6 volumes. It is best purchased second-hand in an old set. Moore's
book must be supplemented by the 6 volumes of _Correspondence_ edited by
Rowland Prothero for Mr. Murray.
{278a} Sir George Trevelyan says in his _Early History of Charles James
Fox_ that Hogg's _Life of Shelley_ is "perhaps the most interesting book
in our language that has never been republished." The reproach has been
in some slight measure removed by a cheap reprint in small type issued by
the Routledges in 1906. The reader should, however, secure a copy of the
first edition, 2 volumes, 1857. Professor Dowden, in his _Life of
Shelley_, 1886, uses the book freely.
{278b} "What is the best book you have ever read?" Emerson is said to
have asked George Eliot when she was about twenty-two years of age and
residing, unknown, near Coventry. "Rousseau's _Confessions_," was the
reply. "I agree with you," Emerson answered. But the book should not be
read in a translation. The completest translation is one in 2 volumes
published by Nicholls. There is a more abridged translation by Gibbons
in 4 volumes.
{278c} _The Life of Carlyle_, by James Anthony Froude, which created so
much controversy upon its publication, is worthy of a cheap edition,
which does not, however, seem to be forthcoming. The book appeared in 4
volumes, _The First Forty Years_ in 1882 and _Life in London_ in 1884. It
had been preceded by _Reminiscences_ in 1881. Every one should read the
_Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle_, 3 volumes, 1883. All the
9 volumes are published by the Longmans.
{279a} Samuel Rogers' _Table Talk_ has been given us in two forms, first
as _Recollections of the Table Talk of Samuel Rogers_, edited by
Alexander Dyce, 1856, and second as _Reminiscences of Samuel Rogers_,
1859. The _Recollections_ were reprinted in handsome form by H. A.
Rogers, of New Southgate, in 1887, and the material was combined in a
single volume in 1903 by G. H. Powell (R. Brimley Johnson). I have the
four books, and delight in the many good stories they contain.
{279b} _The Confessions of St. Augustine_ may be commended in many small
and handy editions. One, with an Introduction by Alice Meynell, was
published in 1900. The most beautifully printed modern edition is that
issued by Arthur Humphreys in his Classical Series.
{279c} Amiel's _Journal_ is a fine piece of introspection. A
translation by Mrs. Humphry Ward is published in 2 volumes by the
Macmillans. De Senancour's _Obermann_, translated by A. E. Waite
(Wellby), should be read in this connexion.
{279d} _The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius_, translated by George Long,
appears as a volume of Bohn's Library, and more beautifully printed in
the Library of Arthur Humphreys. There are many other good
translations--one by John Jackson, issued in 1906 by the Clarendon Press,
has great merit.
{279e} George Henry Lewes's _Life of Goethe_ has gone through many
editions and remains a fascinating book, although it may be supplemented
by the translation of Duntzer's _Life of Goethe_, 2 volumes, Macmillan,
and Bielschowsky's _Life of Goethe_, Vols. I and II (Putnams).
{280a} _The Life of Lessing_, by James Sime, is not a great biography,
but it is an interesting and most profitable study of a noble man.
Lessing will be an inspiration greater almost than any other of the
moderns for those who are brought in contact with his fine personality.
The book is in 2 volumes, published by the Trubners.
{280b} You can read Benjamin Franklin's _Autobiography_ in 1 volume
(Dent), or in his Collected Works--_Memoirs of the Life and Writings of
Benjamin Franklin_, edited by his grandson, William Temple Franklin, 6
volumes (Colburn), 1819. There have been at least two expensive reprints
of his _Works_ of late years.
{280c} _The Greville Memoirs_ were published in large octavo form in the
first place. Much scandal was omitted from the second edition. They are
now obtainable in 8 volumes of Longmans' Silver Library. They form an
interesting glimpse into the Court life of the later Guelphs.
{280d} It has been complained of John Forster's _Life of Charles
Dickens_ that there is too much Forster and not enough Dickens. Yet it
is the only guide to the life-story of the greatest of the Victorian
novelists. Is most pleasant to read in the 2 volumes of the Gadshill
Edition, published by Chapman & Hall.
{280e} _The Early Diary of Frances Burney_, afterwards Madame D'Arblay,
edited by Annie Raine Ellis, has just been reprinted in two volumes of
Bohn's Library (Bell). We owe also to Mr. Austen Dobson a fine reprint
of the later and more important _Diaries_, which he has edited in 6
volumes for the Macmillans.
{281a} The _Apologia pro Vita Sua_ of John Henry Newman is one of the
volumes of Cardinal Newman's _Collected Works_ issued by the Longmans. It
is the most interesting, and is perhaps the most destined to survive, of
all the books of theological controversy of the nineteenth century.
{281b} There is practically but one edition of the _Paston Letters_,
that edited by James Gairdner, of the Public Record Office, and published
by the firm of Archibald Constable. The luxurious Library Edition issued
by Chatto & Windus in 6 volumes should be acquired if possible.
{281c} _The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini_ is best known in the
translation of Thomas Roscoe in Bohn's Library. Mr. J. Addington
Symonds, however, made a new translation, issued in two fine volumes by
Nimmo.
{281d} The _Religio Medici_ of Sir Thomas Browne can be obtained in many
forms, although the well-to-do collector will be satisfied only with the
edition edited by Simon Wilkin. The book is admirably edited by W. A.
Greenhill for the "Golden Treasury Series."