A Fable for Critics

ARIEL BOOKLETS.
———
A series of productions complete in small compass, which have been accepted as classics of their kind.
———

by James Russell Lowell
New York and London G. P. Putnam’s Sons The Knickerbocker Press Copyright, 1848 By GEORGE P. PUTNAM Copyright, 1890 By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
Note.—This edition is printed under the authorization of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., the publishers of the complete works of James Russell Lowell.
The Knickerbocker Press, New York Reader! walk up at once (it will soon be too late) and buy at a perfectly ruinous rate A FABLE FOR CRITICS; OR, BETTER , ( I like, as a thing that the reader’s first fancy may strike, an old-fashioned title-page, such as presents a tabular view of the volume’s contents ) A GLANCE AT A FEW OF OUR LITERARY PROGENIES ( Mrs Malaprop’s word ) FROM THE TUB OF DIOGENES: A VOCAL AND MUSICAL MEDLEY THAT IS, A SERIES OF JOKES B y A W o n d e rf u l Q u i z, who accompanies himself with a rub-a-dub-dub, full of spirit and grace, on the top of the tub . SET FORTH IN October, the 21st day, in the year ’48 G. P. PUTNAM, BROADWAY
This jeu d’esprit was extemporized, I may fairly say, so rapidly was it written, purely for my own amusement, and with no thought of publication. I sent daily instalments of it to a friend in New York, the late Chas F. Briggs. He urged me to let it be printed and I at last consented to its anonymous publication. The secret was kept till after several persons had laid claim to its authorship.
It being the commonest mode of procedure, I premise a few candid remarks
TO THE READER: