UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME.
Tom Brown's Schooldays. THOMAS HUGHES.
Since its publication more than half a century ago, this book has been the only school story which a boy recognizes as true to life.
Henry Esmond. W. M. THACKERAY.
If the merit of a historical novel be the exact reproduction of the life of another age, then Esmond is the greatest of its class. No other book has caught more perfectly the flavour of the later Stuart times.
Kenilworth. Sir WALTER SCOTT.
Like all Sir Walter Scott's books, Kenilworth is a great picture of a historical epoch, and it is also a very great and wonderful drama.
Quentin Durward. Sir WALTER SCOTT.
One of the most brilliant of Scott's romances. It presents a wonderfully powerful and moving picture of the times of Louis the Eleventh.
Ivanhoe. Sir WALTER SCOTT.
The most popular novel of Sir Walter Scott, and the first which every boy reads. It has given a living interest to an age which, in other hands, becomes a mere catalogue of conventional antiquities.
Adam Bede. GEORGE ELIOT.
The book which made Mrs. Carlyle feel "in charity with the whole human race" could be no ordinary one. Adam Bede contains all George Eliot's broad and catholic knowledge of life, and the characters are all drawn by the hand of a master.
The Mill on the Floss. GEORGE ELIOT.
This is perhaps the best beloved of modern novels. It is the book in which George Eliot put most of her early life, and of all her heroines Maggie Tulliver is the one on whom she has expended most care and tenderness.
Oliver Twist. CHARLES DICKENS.
In this book Dickens achieved the dual purpose which he had always before him. He wrote a great story, and he laboured also to redress a great social scandal. In no other, perhaps, except A Tale of Two Cities, is the tragic power which lay behind all his humour apparent in so wonderful a degree.
The Old Curiosity Shop. CHARLES DICKENS.
This book, largely biographical, has always been one of the most popular of the author's works. Humour and pathos are mingled in it, for if we have on the one hand Little Nell, on the other we have "The Marchioness," Mrs. Jarley, and the immortal Codlin and Short.
A Tale of Two Cities. CHARLES DICKENS.
Sidney Carton is almost the only case in which Dickens has drawn a hero on the true heroic scale, and his famous act of self-sacrifice is unmatched in fiction. The book must be ranked very high among the great tragedies in literature.
A Child's History of England. CHARLES DICKENS.
Amongst histories for children this is easily first. It possesses all Dickens's wonderful force, vivacity, and keen insight into human nature, and his characteristic enthusiasm for all that is loyal, manly, and true.
Hard Times. CHARLES DICKENS.
A bitter and scathing satire on the belief in "Facts, nothing but Facts" in education, the results developed in a tale of deep and pathetic interest.
Westward Ho! CHARLES KINGSLEY.
This is the best novel ever written on the greatest age of English adventure. It is a saga of the Devonshire sailors who, like Drake, sailed to the unknown to found an empire for their queen, "as good as any which his Majesty of Spain had." The story swings from start to close at a breathless pace.
Hypatia. CHARLES KINGSLEY.
This book is a remarkable instance of the range of Kingsley's powers. No difference could be greater than that between the stirring age of Elizabeth and that of Alexandria in the fifth century, when the world was occupied with barren ecclesiastical strife. Hypatia, the last defender of the pagan faith, is a wonderful study, and the whole book is a brilliant picture of the passing of the old faiths of Greece and Rome.
The Last Days of Pompeii. Lord LYTTON.
A classical romance is always a difficult form of art, but Lord Lytton's is easily the most successful. He does not overload his narrative with antiquarian details, and the story moves rapidly to its great climax. It is a brilliant and imaginative picture of the later Roman civilization.
The Cloister and the Hearth. CHARLES READE.
There are many who think this the greatest of all historical novels, and it is certain that there are few better. It is not a story so much as a vast and varied transcript of life. It is also a delightful romance, and Gerard and Margaret are among the immortals of fiction.
John Halifax, Gentleman. Mrs. CRAIK.
This simple and candid study of one who lived up to the standard of truth and honour and courtesy which an earlier age defined by the word "gentleman" is one of the most popular novels of last century, and there is no sign that its attraction is waning.
Cranford. Mrs. GASKELL.
To praise Cranford at this time of day is an idle task. After being overshadowed for a little, it has taken its place finally among the masterpieces of English fiction, along with Jane Austen and the Vicar of Wakefield. There has never been a more delightful and tender study of English village life, or one in which insight is so joined with kindliness.
East Lynne, Mrs. HENRY WOOD.
The Channings.
Mrs. Wood has long been the most popular of writers, and the publishers are glad to be able to add her two chief novels to their series. The whole world is familiar with her characters.
The Deerslayer, FENIMORE COOPER.
The Last of the Mohicans, "
The Pathfinder. "
Fenimore Cooper was the Scott of America, the man who, by turning his own history into great romance, gave it immortality. Many years have passed since the first publication of these books, and there have been many imitators, but their merits still remain unsurpassed.
The Three Musketeers. ALEXANDRE DUMAS.
Dumas is, after Scott, the foremost of historical novelists, and The Three Musketeers is, by universal consent, his masterpiece. It tells of a great companionship in arms, and the names of Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan are among the most familiar to all lovers of good fiction. No man had so generous an imagination, so great a sense of drama, so boyish a love of high enterprises, or so masterly a power of narrative.
Villette. CHARLOTTE BRONTË.
From an artistic point of view, the most perfect of Charlotte Brontë's stories. Practically an autobiography, it abounds with rich humour and keen analysis of character.
Pride and Prejudice, JANE AUSTEN.
Sense and Sensibility. "
Jane Austen's novels were Sir Walter Scott's especial favourites, and of recent years their charm has won for them a great revival of popularity.
Uncle Tom's Cabin. Mrs. H. B. STOWE.
This is one of the books which have made history. It was the chief instrument in the abolition of slavery in America, and it has touched the conscience of mankind; but it is not only a great propagandist work, it is also a brilliant story.
The Bible in Spain. GEORGE BORROW.
One of the most brilliant and entertaining of books of travel.
The Pilgrim's Progress. JOHN BUNYAN.
Robinson Crusoe. DANIEL DEFOE.
Gulliver's Travels. DEAN SWIFT.
Three immortal works, of which nothing remains to be said that has not been said over and over again.
In Preparation.
Silas Marner. GEORGE ELIOT.
Notre Dame. VICTOR HUGO.
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