In the study of Italian, as in that of French, "doubtless the best
method of learning to read... is _to read_." Copious reading should
accompany and supplement the study of the essentials of grammar; and it
is to supply material for such early reading that the present book has
been prepared. The chief object has been, not to offer select specimens
that should be representative of Italian literature, but to furnish
easy, interesting stories and sketches for beginners.
Complete selections have in all cases been preferred to extracts; and
these selections have, as far as possible, been arranged according to
their degree of difficulty. In the interests of the class-room--as the
editor understands them--a special endeavor has been made to introduce
stories that are bright and animated in tone, and to avoid, for the most
part, the pathetic and melodramatic. It is, perhaps, not superfluous to
add that in this respect there has been much to avoid.
The first two stories, from the French of Perrault, have been chosen
because of the familiarity of their contents and because of their
readableness. At this day it is certainly not necessary to offer any
apology for the publication of translations in a reader of this scope.
Translations of this kind have done such excellent service in French and
German readers, that it is safe to say they can be equally useful in
Italian.
In conformity with the strictly elementary character of this book,
annotations of a literary or biographical nature have been almost
entirely dispensed with. The notes are purposely brief, it having seemed
preferable to render, under the proper word in the vocabulary, many
expressions which, in other circumstances, might find a place in the
notes. In constructing the vocabulary it has not been deemed necessary
to insert all the forms, of article and pronoun, which are commonly
listed in the first few pages of a grammar. Careful attention has been
given to the irregular verb-forms, especially those occurring in the
earlier selections.
The editor is indebted to Professor Joynes's _French Fairy Tales_ for
hints touching the annotation of the first two stories, and to Professor
Grandgent's _Italian Grammar_ and _Composition_ for the wording of two
or three statements in the notes and vocabulary; also to Professor
Matzke of Stanford University for suggestions as to various series of
_racconti_.