University of Virginia Library

LIBRARY
OF
SELECT NOVELS.

There is scarcely any question connected with
the interests of literature which has been more thoroughly
discussed and investigated than that of the
utility or evil of novel reading. In its favour much
may be and has been said, and it must be admitted
that the reasomings of those who believe novels to
be injurious, or at least useless, are not without force
and plausibility. Yet, if the arguments against novels
are closely examined, it will be found that they are
more applicable in general to excessive indulgence
in the pleasures afforded by the perusal of fictitious
adventures than to the works themselves, and that
the evils which can be justly ascribed to them arise
almost exclusively, not from any peculiar noxious
qualities that can be fairly attributed to novels as a
species, but from those individual works which in their
class must be pronounced bad or indifferent. It has
been said, that from good novels and romances
as much may be learned as from direct works of
history and grave morality. In them the customs
of countries, the transitions and shades of character,
and even the very peculiarities of costume and dialect,
are curiously preserved; and the imperishable spirit
that surrounds and keeps them for the use of successive
generations, renders the rarities for ever fresh
and green. Fictitious composition is now admitted
to form an extensive and important portion of literature.

Well-wrought novels take their rank by the
side of real narratives, and are appealed to as evidence
in all questions concerning man. In them
human life is laid down as in a map. The vivid
exhibitions of passion and of character which they
furnish, acquire and maintain the strongest hold
upon the curiosity and, it may be added, the affections
of every class of readers; for not only is
entertainment in all the various moods of tragedy
and comedy provided in their pages, but he who
reads them attentively may often obtain, without the
bitterness and danger of experience, that knowledge
of his fellow-creatures which but for such aid could,
in the majority of cases, be only acquired at a period
of life when it would be too late to turn it to account.

But even were it otherwise—were novels of every
kind, the good as well as the bad, the striking and
animated not less than the puerile, indeed liable to
the charge of enfeebling or perverting the mind; and
were there no qualities in any which might render
them instructive as well as amusing—the universal
acceptation which they have ever received, and still
continue to receive, from all ages and classes of men,
would prove an irresistible incentive to their production.
The remonstrances of moralists and the reasonings
of philosophy have ever been, and will still
be found, unavailing against the desire to partake of
an enjoyment so attractive. Men will read novels;
and therefore the utmost that wisdom and philanthropy
can do is to cater prudently for the public
appetite, and, as it is hopeless to attempt the exclusion
of fictitious writings from the shelves of the
library, to see that they are encumbered with the
least possible number of such as have no other merit
than that of novelty.

It is with this view that the publication of “The
Library of Select Novels” is undertaken. The

collection will embrace none but such as have received
the impress of general approbation, or have
been written by authors of established character;
and the publishers hope to receive such encouragement
from the public patronage as will enable them
in the course of time to produce a series of works
of uniform appearance, and including most of the
really valuable novels and romances that have been
or shall be issued from the modern English and
American press. The store from which they are at
liberty to choose is already sufficiently great to ensure
them against any want of good material; and
it is their intention to make such arrangements as
shall warrant the public confidence in the judgment
with which the selection will be made. The price,
too, will be so moderate as to make the work accessible
to almost any income; and the style in which
it is to be performed will render it a neat and convenient
addition to every library.