How to Form a Library, 2nd ed

Archdeacon Farrar gives, perhaps, the best test for a favourite author, that is, the selection of his works in the event of all others being destroyed. He writes, "But if all the books in the world were in a blaze, the first twelve which I should snatch out of the flames would be the Bible, Imitatio Christi, Homer, Æschylus, Thucydides, Tacitus, Virgil, Marcus Aurelius, Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth. Of living authors I would save first the works of Tennyson, Browning and Ruskin."

Another excellent test is that set up by travellers and soldiers. A book must be good when one of either of these classes decides to place it among his restricted baggage. Mr. H.M. Stanley writes, "You ask me what books I carried with me to take across Africa. I carried a great many—three loads, or about 180 lbs. weight; but as my men lessened in numbers, stricken by famine, fighting and sickness, they were one by one reluctantly thrown away, until finally, when less than 300 miles from the Atlantic, I possessed only the Bible, Shakespeare, Carlyle's Sartor Resartus, Norie's Navigation, and Nautical Almanac for 1877. Poor Shakspeare was afterwards burned by demand of the foolish people of Zinga. At Bonea, Carlyle and Norie and Nautical Almanac were pitched away, and I had only the old Bible left." He then proceeds to give a list of books which he allowed himself when "setting out with a tidy battalion of men."

Lord Wolseley writes, "During the mutiny and China war I carried a Testament, two volumes of Shakespeare that contained his best plays, and since then, when in the field, I have always carried: Book of Common Prayer, Thomas à Kempis, Soldier's Pocket Book.... The book that I like reading at odd moments is 'The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.'" He then adds, for any distant expedition, a few books of History (Creasy's "Decisive Battles," Plutarch's "Lives," Voltaire's "Charles XII.," "Cæsar," by Froude, and Hume's "England"). His Fiction is confined to Macaulay's "History of England" and the "Essays."

Mr. Quaritch remarks that "Sir John's 'working man' is an ideal creature. I have known many working men, but none of them could have suggested such a feast as he has prepared for them." He adds, "In my younger days I had no books whatever beyond my school books. Arrived in London in 1842, I joined a literary institution, and read all their historical works. To read fiction I had no time. A friend of mine read novels all night long, and was one morning found dead in his bed." If Mr. Quaritch intends this as a warning, he should present the fact for the consideration of those readers who swell the numbers of novels in the statistics of the Free Libraries.

Looking at the Pall Mall Gazette's list, it naturally occurs to us that it would be a great error for an Englishman to arrange his reading so that he excluded Chaucer while he included Confucius. Among the names of modern novelists it is strange that Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë should have been omitted. In Sir John Lubbock's own list it will be seen that the names of Chaucer and Miss Austen occur. Among Essayists one would like to have seen at least the names of Charles Lamb, De Quincey, and Landor, and many will regret to find such delightful writers as Walton and Thomas Fuller omitted. We ought, however, to be grateful to Sir John Lubbock for raising a valuable discussion which is likely to draw the attention of many readers to books which might otherwise have been most unjustly neglected by them.69

The following is Sir John Lubbock's list. It will be seen that several of the books, whose absence is remarked on, do really form part of the list, and that the objections of the critics are so far met.

The Bible.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.

Epictetus.

Confucius, Analects.

Le Bouddha et sa Religion (St.-Hilaire).

Aristotle, Ethics.

Mahomet, Koran (parts of).

Apostolic Fathers, Wake's collection.

St. Augustine, Confessions.

Thomas à Kempis, Imitation.

Pascal, Pensées.

Spinoza, Tractatus Theologico-Politicus.

Comte, Cat. of Positive Philosophy (Congreve).

Butler, Analogy.

Jeremy Taylor, Holy Living and Holy Dying.

Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress.

Keble, Christian Year.

Aristotle, Politics.

Plato's Dialogues—at any rate the Phædo and Republic.

Demosthenes, De Coronâ.

Lucretius.

Plutarch.

Horace.

Cicero, De Officiis, De Amicitiâ, De Senectute.

Homer, Iliad and Odyssey.

Hesiod.

Virgil.

Niebelungenlied.

Malory, Morte d'Arthur.

Maha-Bharata, Ramayana, epitomized by Talboys

Wheeler in the first two vols. of his History of India.

Firdusi, Shah-nameh. Translated by Atkinson.

She-king (Chinese Odes).

Æschylus, Prometheus, House of Atreus, Trilogy, or Persæ.

Sophocles, Œdipus, Trilogy.

Euripides, Medea,

Aristophanes, The Knights.

Herodotus.

Xenophon, Anabasis.

Thucydides.

Tacitus, Germania.

Livy.

Gibbon, Decline and Fall.

Hume, England.

Grote, Greece.

Carlyle, French Revolution.

Green, Short History of England.

Bacon, Novum Organum.

Mill, Logic and Political Economy.

Darwin, Origin of Species.

Smith, Wealth of Nations (part of).

Berkeley, Human Knowledge.

Descartes, Discours sur la Méthode.

Locke, Conduct of the Understanding.

Lewes, History of Philosophy.

Cook, Voyages.

Humboldt, Travels.

Darwin, Naturalist in the Beagle.

Shakespeare.

Milton, Paradise Lost, and the shorter poems.

Dante, Divina Commedia.

Spenser, Faerie Queen.

Dryden's Poems.

Chaucer, Morris's (or, if expurgated, Clarke's or Mrs. Haweis's) edition.

Gray.

Burns.

Scott's Poems.

Wordsworth, Mr. Arnold's selection.

Heine.

Pope.

Southey.

Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield.

Swift, Gulliver's Travels.

Defoe, Robinson Crusoe.

The Arabian Nights.

Cervantes, Don Quixote.

Boswell, Johnson.

Burke, Select Works (Payne).

Essayists:—Bacon, Addison, Hume, Montaigne, Macaulay, Emerson.

Molière.

Sheridan.

Voltaire, Zadig.

Carlyle, Past and Present.

Goethe, Faust, Wilhelm Meister.

White, Natural History of Selborne.

Smiles, Self Help.

Miss Austen, either Emma or Pride and Prejudice.

Thackeray, Vanity Fair and Pendennis.

Dickens, Pickwick and David Copperfield.

George Eliot, Adam Bede.

Kingsley, Westward Ho!

Bulwer-Lytton, Last Days of Pompeii.

Scott's Novels.

1

"The Library Companion, or the Young Man's Guide and the Old Man's Comfort in the Choice of a Library. By the Rev. T.F. Dibdin, F.R.S., A.S., London, 1824."

2

The Best Reading: Hints on the Selection of Books; on the Formation of Libraries, Public and Private; on Courses of Reading, etc., with a Classified Bibliography for every reference. Fourth revised and enlarged edition, continued to August, 1876, with the addition of Select Lists of the best French, German, Spanish, and Italian Literature. Edited by Frederic Beecher Perkins; New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1881. Second Series, 1876 to 1882, by Lynds E. Jones.

3

Dr. Richard Garnett read an interesting paper on this book under the title of Librarianship in the Seventeenth Century, before the Library Association. See Library Chronicle, vol. i. p. 1 (1884).

4

Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Armagh, is said to have given £2500 for Bishop Stillingfleet's Library.

5

Reliquiæ Hearnianæ, by Bliss, 2nd edition, 1869, vol. ii. p. 14.

6

Edwards, Libraries and Founders of Libraries, p. 115.

7

Edwards, Libraries and Founders, p. 136.

8

Correspondance de Napoleon Ier, IV. pp. 37, 38, quoted by Edwards, Libraries and Founders, p. 130.

9

Edwards, Libraries and Founders, p. 133.

10

Edwards, Libraries and Founders, p. 135.

11

Edwards, Libraries and Founders, p. 142.

12

Libraries and Founders of Libraries, p. 95.

13

Libraries and Founders of Libraries, 1864, p. 404.

14

Reliquiæ Hearnianæ, 1869, vol. ii. p. 158.

15

Library Journal, vol. ii. p. 70.

16

The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language: a Complete Encyclopædic Lexicon, Literary, Scientific, and Technological. By John Ogilvie, LL.D. New edition. Carefully revised and greatly augmented, edited by Charles Annandale, M.A. London, 1882-83. 4 vols. Imp. 8vo.

17

A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, founded mainly on the materials collected by the Philological Society. Edited by James A.H. Murray, LL.D., with the assistance of many Scholars and Men of Science. Oxford, Clarendon Press. Royal 4to.

18

A second edition appeared in 1871-72.

19

A Catalogue of the Library of the London Institution, systematically classed. [London] 1835. 5 vols. royal 8vo. Vol. 1 (1835), General Library; vol. 2 (1840), Tracts and Pamphlets arranged in alphabetical order as far as the letter F. (never completed); vol. 3 (1843), General Library, Additions; vol. 4 (1852), Additions from 1843 to 1852.

20

Catalogue of the London Library, 12, St. James's Square, S.W. With Preface, Laws and Regulations, List of Members and Classified Index of Subjects. By Robert Harrison. Fourth edition. Sold at the Library, 1875, royal 8vo. pp. 1022.

–– Supplemental Volume, 1875-1880, sold at the Library, 1881, royal 8vo. pp. 219.

21

A New Classified Catalogue of the Library of the Royal Institution of Great Britain with Indexes of Authors and Subjects, and a list of Historical Pamphlets, Chronologically arranged. By Benjamin Vincent. London. Sold at the Royal Institution. 1857, 8vo. pp. xvii.-928.

–– Vol. II., including the Additions from 1857 to 1882. London. Sold at the Royal Institution. 1882. 8vo. pp. xvii.-388.

22

Catalogue of the Library of the Patent Office, arranged alphabetically. In two volumes: vol. 1, Authors; vol. 2, Subjects. London. Published and Sold at the Commissioners of Patents Sale Department. 1881-83. Royal 8vo.

23

A General Catalogue of Books, offered for sale to the public at the affixed prices. By Bernard Quaritch London, 15, Piccadilly, 1880. 8vo. pp. x.-2395.

24

1457-1500. Hain (L.). Repertorium Bibliographicum in quo libri omnes ab arte typographica inventa usque ad annum MD typis expressi, ordine alphabetico vel simpliciter enumerantur vel adcuratius recensentur. Stuttgartiæ, 1826-38. 2 vols. 8vo.

25

1457-1536. Panzer (G.W.). Annales Typographici ab artis inventæ origine ad annum 1536. Norimbergæ, 1793-1803. 11 vols. 4to.

26

1457-1664. Maittaire (M.). Annales Typographici ab artis inventæ origine ad annum 1664, cum Supplemento Michaelis Denisii. Hag. Com. et Viennæ, 1719-89. 7 vols in 11 parts.

27

Brunet (J.C.). Manuel du Libraire, cinquième édition. Paris, 1860-65. 6 vols. 8vo. Supplément par P. Deschamps et G. Brunet. Paris, 1878-80, 2 vols. Royal 8vo.

28

Graesse (J.G.T.). Trésor de Livres rares et précieux ou Nouveau Dictionnaire Bibliographique. Dresde, 1859-69. 7 vols. 4to.

29

Ebert (F.A.). Allgemeines bibliographisches Lexikon. Leipzig, 1821-30. 2 vols. 4to.

–– A General Bibliographical Dictionary, from the German [by A. Brown]. Oxford, 1837. 4 vols. 8vo.

30

Watt (R.). Bibliotheca Britannica: a General Index to British and Foreign Literature. In two parts, Authors and Subjects. Edinburgh, 1824. 4 vols. 4to.

31

Before 1595. Maunsell (A.). Catalogue of English printed Books. London, 1595. 4to. Part 1, Divinitie. Part 2, Sciences Mathematicall.

32

1626-1631. A Catalogue of certaine Bookes which have been published and (by authoritie) printed in England both in Latine and English, since the year 1626 until November, 1631. London, 1631. 4to.

33

Before 1658. London (William). A Catalogue of the most vendible Books in England, orderly and alphabetically digested. With a Supplement. 1658-60. 4to.

34

1666-1695. Clavell (R.). General Catalogue of Books printed in England since the dreadful Fire of London, 1666. Fourth edition. London, 1696. Folio.

35

1700-1786. A General Catalogue of Books in all Languages, Arts, and Sciences, printed in Great Britain and published in London. London (W. Bent), 1786. 8vo.

1811. London Catalogue of Books. London (W. Bent), 1811. 8vo.

1810-1831. London Catalogue of Books. London (W. Bent), 1831. 8vo.

1816-1851. London Catalogue of Books. London (Hodgson), 1851. 8vo. Classified Index. London (Hodgson), 1853.

1831-1855. London Catalogue of Books. London (Hodgson), 1855.

36

1837-52. The British Catalogue. Sampson Low, 1853. And Index. 2 vols. 8vo.

37

1835-1880. The English Catalogue of Books. Sampson Low. And Indexes. 8vo. Continued annually.

38

1471-1600. Ames (Joseph). Typographical Antiquities: being an Historical Account of Printing in England, with some Memoirs of our Antient Printers, and a Register of the Books printed by them … with an Appendix concerning Printing in Scotland, Ireland to the same time. London, 1749. 4to. 1 vol. Considerably augmented by W. Herbert. London, 1785-90. 3 vols. 4to. Enlarged by T.F. Dibdin. London, 1810-19. 4 vols. 4to.

39

Lowndes (W.T.), The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature. London, 1834. 4 vols. 8vo. New Edition, by H.G. Bohn. London, 1857-64. 6 vols. Sm. 8vo.

40

Allibone (S.A.). Dictionary of English Literature, and British and American Authors. Philadelphia, 1859-71. 3 vols. Royal 8vo.

41

Hazlitt (W. Carew). Handbook to the Popular, Poetical, and Dramatic Literature of Great Britain, from the Invention of Printing to the Restoration. London (J. Russell Smith), 1867. 8vo.

–– Collections and Notes, 1867-1876. London (Reeves & Turner), 1876. 8vo.

–– Second Series of Bibliographical Collections and Notes on Early English Literature, 1474-1700. London (Bernard Quaritch), 1882.

42

Collier (J.P.). A Bibliographical and Critical Account of the rarest books in the English language, alphabetically arranged. London, 1865. 2 vols. 8vo.

43

Corser (T.). Collectanea Anglo-Poetica; or a bibliographical and descriptive Catalogue of a portion of a Collection of Early English Poetry. Manchester (Chetham Society), 1860-79. 9 vols. Sm. 4to.

44

Gaelic. Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica; or, an account of all the books which have been published in the Gaelic Language. By John Reid. Glasgow, 1832. 8vo.

45

Welsh. Cambrian Bibliography: containing an account of the books printed in the Welsh Language; or relating to Wales, from the year 1546 to the end of the 18th century. By W. Rowlands. Llanidloes, 1869. 8vo.

46

Irish. Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic Society for 1820. Containing a chronological account of nearly four hundred Irish writers … carried down to the year 1750, with a descriptive Catalogue of such of their works as are still extant. By E. O'Reilly. Dublin, 1820. 4to.

47

Trübner's Bibliographical Guide to American Literature: a classed list of books published in the United States of America during the last forty years. London, 1859. 8vo.

48

Catalogue of the American Books in the Library of the British Museum. Christmas, 1856. By H. Stevens. London, 1866. 8vo.

49

The American Catalogue under the direction of F. Leypoldt. New York, 1880. 2 vols. 4to. Suppl. 1876-84. Compiled under the editorial direction of R.R. Bowker by Miss Appleton. New York, 1885.

50

Querard (J.M.). La France Littéraire, ou Dictionnaire Bibliographique des Savants qui ont écrit en français, plus particulièrement pendant les XVIIIe et XIXe siècles. Paris, 1827-64. 12 vols. 8vo.

–– Littérature Française contemporaine (1826-49). Continuation de la France Littéraire. Paris, 1842-57. 6 vols. 8vo.

51

Lorenz (O.). Catalogue de la Librairie Française 1840-1865. 4 vols. 1866-1875. 2 vols. 8vo. The Catalogue of Books from 1876 to 1885 is in preparation.

–– Tables des Matières, 1840-1875. Paris, 1879-80. 2 vols. 8vo.

52

[Heyse (C.W.).] Bücherschatz der deutschen National-Litteratur des XVI und XVII Jahrhunderts. Systematisch geordnetes Verzeichniss einer reichhaltigen Sammlung deutschen Büchen. Berlin, 1854. 8vo.

53

Maltzahn (W. VON). Deutschen Bücherschatz des sechszehnten, siebenzehnten und achtzehnten bis um die Mitte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Jena, 1875. 8vo.

54

Heinsius (W.). Allgemeines Bücher Lexicon, 1700-1815. Leipzig, 1812-56. 14 vols. 4to. 7th Supplement.

55

Kayser (C.G.). Index Librorum. Vollständiges Bücher-Lexicon, enthaltend alle von 1750 bis zu Ende des Jahres (-1876) in Deutschland … gedruckten Bücher. Leipzig, 1834-77. 4to.

56

Hinrichs (J.C.). Verzeichniss der Bücher … welche in Deutschland vom Januar, 1877, bis zum (December, 1885) neu erschienen oder neu aufgelegt worden sind. Leipzig, 1876-80. 12mo. In progress.

–– Repertorium über die nach den … Verzeichnissen, 1871-75, erschienenen Bücher. Von E. Baldamus. (1876-80.) Leipzig, 1877-82. 12mo.

57

Campbell (M.F.A.G.). Annales de la Typographie Néerlandaise au XVe Siècle. La Haye, 1874. 8vo.

–– 1er Supplément. La Haye, 1878. 8vo.

58

Abkoude (J. VAN). Naamregister van de bekendste … Nederduitsche Boeken … 1600 tot 1761. Nu overzien en tot het jaar 1787 vermeerderd door R. Arrenberg. Rotterdam, 1788. 4to.

–– Alphabetische Naamlijst van Boeken 1790 tot 1832, Amsterdam, 1835. 4to. 1833-1875. Amsterdam, 1858-78. 3 vols. 4to.

–– Wetenschappelijk Register behoorende bij Brinkman's Alphabetische Naamlijsten van Boeken … 1850-75 … bewerkt door R. van der Meulen. Amsterdam, 1878. 4to.

59

Bibliographie de Belgique. Journal Officiel de la Librairie. Année 1. Bruxelles, 1876. 8vo.

60

Gamba (B.). Serie dei testi di Lingua Italiana e di altri opere importanti nella Italiana letteratura nel Secolo XV al XIX. Quarta edizione. Venezia, 1839. 8vo.

61

Bertocci (D.G.). Repertorio bibliografico delle opere stampate in Italia nel Secolo XIX. Vol. I. Roma, 1876. 8vo.

62

Bibliografia Italiana: Giornale compilato sui documenti communicati dal Ministero dell'Istruzione Pubblica. Anno 1-14. 1867-80. Firenze, 1868-81. 8vo. In progress.

63

Antonio (N.). Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus sive Hispani Scriptores … ad annum Christi 1500 floruerunt. Matriti, 1788. 2 vols. Folia.

–– Bibliotheca Hispana Nova sive Hispanorum Scriptorum qui ab anno 1500 ad 1684 floruere notitia. Matriti, 1783-1788. 2 vols. Folio.

64

Hidalgo (D.). Diccionario general de Bibliografia Española. Madrid, 1862-79. 6 vols. 8vo.

65

Boletin de la Libreria. Año 1. 1873. Madrid, 1874. 8vo. In progress.

66

Barbosa Machado (D.). Bibliotheca Lusitana, historica, critica e cronologica. Na qual se comprehende a noticia dos authores Portuguezes, e das obras que compuserão. Lisboa, 1741-59. 4 vols. Folio.

67

Silva (J.F. da). Diccionario bibliographico Portuguez. Lisboa, 1858-70. Tom. 1-9. 8vo.

68

A Dictionary of the Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain, including the works of Foreigners written in or translated into the English Language. By the late Samuel Halkett, and the late Rev. John Laing. Edinburgh (William Paterson), 1882-85. Vols. 1, 2, 3 (to 'Tis).

69

The whole of the correspondence has been reissued as a Pall Mall "Extra" No. 24, and threepence will be well laid out by the purchaser of this very interesting pamphlet.