The Small Library/Chapter 9
CHAPTER IX
BOOK SELECTION
The remarks and suggestions already made on the subject of book-selection throughout this little work render further comment on the theoretical side of the question unnecessary. What will be attempted in this chapter will take the form of a few practical hints, and a series of suggestions in class order of books which may be considered eminently desirable as the foundation stock of a small municipal library. For reasons of space and utility, it is not considered wise to give titles in the case of a large number of works suggested, because any one directed to a subject and an author associated with it can generally contrive to discover who and what is meant. Thus, if the works of Brown, Jones and Robinson are recommended as representative in the subject of costume, there will be little trouble in finding out who is meant, by reference to full catalogues or bibliographies. So with pure literature. It is not necessary to do more than specify the names of Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, Hugo or Dumas in fiction. It will be understood that sets of the works of these novelists are indicated. So with poets and essayists. It is desirable, but not always possible, to provide the principal texts of Greek, Latin, French and German classics, but for economical and other reasons, it is not thought advisable to deal with anything but translations in English of such literature. The same must be said as regards scientific, historical and sociological works. Although many representative books on all kinds of subjects exist in foreign languages, and have never been translated, it would be impossible within the limits of this little book to deal with them.
Assuming, then, that only English literature is contemplated in this survey, or works translated into the English language, the first piece of advice which presents itself is that every library should have its foundations laid on the works of the great writers of all times, whose books and lives are described in histories of literature. This is such a reasonable suggestion, that it might almost be thought to be universal in practice and unnecessary to mention, whereas, the reverse is too often the case. As has been already stated in Chapter VI, a tendency persists, in spite of all that can be said, to buy books in cheap lots, irrespective of their contents, or to what extent they strengthen any section of the library. The reasonableness of the proposal stands forth very prominently when it is considered what any student or reader would be entitled to expect to find in such a selection of books as a public library can provide. His expectations on this head may reasonably be stated as just such writers as those above mentioned, plus a fair proportion of the more ephemeral current literature which has not yet been accorded a settled place in literary history. Thus, a reader is surely entitled to demand some of the works of Homer, Virgil, Dante, Goethe, Shakespeare, Burns, Milton and Rousseau among great names; while he may also reasonably hope to find in the same company such lesser lights in all departments of literature as Gibbon, Sappho, Walt Whitman, Hume, Schopenhauer, Huxley, Longfellow, the Brontës, Boswell, Keats, Lingard, Macaulay, Gilbert White, Izaak Walton and Grant Allen.
If it is not a wise and proper policy to commence with the authors generally recognized and acclaimed as the best in the realms of pure literature, what principle can be adopted as a guide to such an immense labyrinth as the field of general literature? Certainly the individual tastes of librarians and committees are not to be accepted as irreproachable standards, nor can one depend absolutely upon the guidance of experts. It seems fair, therefore, to assume that the suggestion made above, as to depending upon what may be termed the selection of posterity, is not unreasonable, nor one difficult to follow if one or two of the best literary histories are compared and selections carefully made. In these days of good and cheap reprints, most of the world's great classics can now be had in modern editions. Many books can also be obtained second-hand, by circulating lists among booksellers, or by personal inspection of their stocks. It is not wise, as a rule, to buy fiction second-hand, unless sound copies in modern editions can be obtained; but this happens so rarely that no further attention need be bestowed on the question. Science in all its branches is another class which should never be sought in second-hand form, because, as a rule, textbooks and other works of authority are seldom to be picked up secondhand when current, and booksellers usually only report old and in many cases obsolete editions. The classes most likely to be secured advantageously at second-hand are History, Biography, Travel, Theology, Poetry, Philosophy and miscellaneous subjects. Like science, law and social science are constantly changing classes, and it is not often that current editions can be procured at second-hand prices. A list of guides and aids to book-selection is given in the Appendix, so that it is not necessary to do more than refer to them and the following condensed list of authors and titles. From this, any one can compile a brief catalogue of the best books by great authors and on the principal subjects, supplementing it from personal knowledge, and rejecting anything deemed unsuitable. The nucleus of a good small library should be found in this list of suggestions, and although no attempt has been made at completeness in every department, sufficient names have been included to form a good beginning for a representative library in English. As remarked in the Introduction, a title-anthology must from Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/123 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/124 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/125 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/126 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/127 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/128 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/129 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/130 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/131 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/132 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/133 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/134 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/135 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/136 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/137 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/138 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/139 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/140 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/141 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/142 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/143 Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/144 T5—Denmark
Otté.
Russell-Jeaffreson.
Weitemeyer.
T6—Norway.
Boyeson.
Carlyle.
Du Chaillu.
T8—Sweden.
Bain.
Voltaire.
Woods.
British Islands.
U0—Ireland.
Froude.
Gannon.
Joyce.
Lawless.
Lecky.
MacCarthy.
Maxwell (W. H.).
O'Curry.
O'Grady.
Thackeray.
Walpole.
Young.
U2—Wales.
Baring-Gould.
Borrow.
Bradley.
Edwards.
Rhys and Brynmor-Jones.
U3—England.
Bede.
Besant.
Bright.
Buckle.
Carlyle.
Clarendon.
Creighton.
Elton.
Freeman.
Froude.
Gairdner.
Gardiner.
Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Green.
(Mrs.).
Grevill.
Gross.
Hume.
Knight.
Lecky.
Lingard.
Low and Pulling.
MacCarthy.
Martineau.
Molesworth.
Ranke.
Stubbs.
Timbs.
Traill.
Walpole.
Wheatley.
Yonge.
Desrciption—
Baring-Gould.
Bell's Cathedral ser. besant.
Cobbett.
Ditchfield.
Geikie.
Harper.
Highways and Byways ser.
Hissey.
Howitt.
Loftie.
Meiklejohn.
Palmer.
Snell.
Suffling.
Sutcliffe.
Walford.
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