CONSTABLE'S MISCELLANY OF FOREIGN LITERATURE.
For our supply of the comforts and luxuries of life, we lay the world under contribution: fresh from every quarter of the globe we draw a portion of its yearly produce. The field of literature is well-nigh as broad as that of commerce; as rich and varied in its annual fruits; and, if gleaned carefully, might furnish to our higher tastes as large an annual ministry of enjoyment. Believing that a sufficient demand exists to warrant the enterprise, Thomas Constable & Co. propose to present to the British public a Series of the most popular accessions which the literature of the globe is constantly receiving. Europe alone,—its more northern and eastern lands especially,—offers to the hand of the selector most inviting and abundant fruits; Asia may supply a few rarer exotics; whilst in America the fields are whitening to a harvest into which many a hasty sickle has been already thrust, and from which many a rich sheaf may be hereafter gathered.
Fully aware of the extent and difficulty of such an effort, the Publishers will spare no pains to make the execution of their undertaking commensurate with its high aim. They have already opened channels of communication with various countries, and secured the aid of those who are minutely acquainted with their current literature; and they take this opportunity of stating, that even where no legal copyright in this country can be claimed by the author or publisher of a work of which they may avail themselves, an equitable share of any profit which may arise from its sale will be set aside for his advantage.
The Series will be made as varied as possible, that there may be something in it to suit the tastes of all who seek instruction or healthful recreation for the mind,—and its range will therefore be as extensive as the field of Literature itself: while, at the same time, it shall be the endeavour of its editors to select, for the most part, works of general or universal interest.
The Publishers are unable to state the exact periods at which their Miscellany of Foreign Literature will appear, but they believe that the number of volumes issued during the first year will not exceed six; so that taking the average price per volume as Three Shillings and Sixpence, the cost to Subscribers would not exceed One Guinea; while, by the addition of a special title-page for each work issued, those persons who may wish to select an occasional publication will be saved the awkwardness of placing in their library a volume or volumes evidently detached from a continuous Series.
Edinburgh: THOMAS CONSTABLE & Co.
London: HAMILTON, ADAMS, & Co. Dublin: JAMES M'GLASHAN
And all Booksellers.
LIST OF WORKS
PUBLISHED BY
THOMAS CONSTABLE AND CO.
WORKS BY L. F. BUNGENER.—Authorized Translations.
In Two Vols., small 8vo, with Frontispieces, price 7s.,
FRANCE BEFORE THE REVOLUTION; or, Priests, Infidels, and Huguenots, in the Reign of Louis XV.
"A rich historical treat"—Bell's Weekly Messenger.
"Written throughout with earnestness and power; its principal scenes and incidents are described with great dramatic effect, and its characters are boldly and clearly drawn."—Morning Post.
"More interesting reading is very rarely met with."—Atlas.
"According to the opinion of a competent judge, there has been no historical fiction, the work of a French writer, within the last Fifty years, comparable to this most remarkable and instructive performance."—Tait's Magazine.
VOLTAIRE AND HIS TIMES. In One Volume, uniform with "France before the Revolution," price 5s.
"The Author's sentiments are of the right stamp, and the deductions he draws are forcible and clever; indeed there is no Continental writer of the present times more thoroughly acquainted with the phases of this epoch, or more capable of elucidating them than M. Bungener."—Bell's Weekly Messenger.
"Full of interest as a book to be read, full of matter as a book to be studied."—Edinburgh Guardian.
"M. Bungener dissects with a masterly and unsparing hand, the imposing pretensions of the French Philosophers, and lays bare the hollowness and corruption which were but imperfectly concealed under a mask of superior wisdom and virtue."—Morning Post.
By the Count Agénor de Gasparin.
THE SCHOOLS OF DOUBT AND THE SCHOOL OF FAITH. Translated by Authority. Crown 8vo, price 5s.
"A valuable contribution to the literature of the Christian Evidences, and a masterly defence of the canonicity and divine authority of the Sacred Scriptures."—Literary Gazette.
"An able plea for the strictly Protestant interpretation of the Scriptures."—Athenæum.
"We know no book which furnishes so convenient a manual of the class of topics to which it relates, and we shall be surprised if it does not become very extensively popular."—Dublin Daily Express.
"In respect of talent we can compare this book with 'The Eclipse of Faith,' which is one of the best polemical treatises of modern times, and which it very much resembles."—Bell's Weekly Messenger.
LOUISA VON PLETTENHAUS; or, The Journal of a Poor Young Lady. Translated from the German. With Woodcut Frontispiece, designed by J. B. Cloth, gilt edges, price 3s. 6d.
"A romantic and engaging story."—Nonconformist.
"If a fiction, it is certainly one of the most happily conceived and charmingly executed with which we have met for a considerable time."—Northern Warder.
"Written in a spirit of gentleness and Christianity that must commend it especially to the young."—Morning Post.
"A singularly interesting chapter in the heart's life of a young girl."—Edinburgh Advertiser.
"Beautifully true to nature, full of the most touching pathos, most lovely Christian sentiment, and what is not always found in the same companionship, most thorough sound practical good sense."—Youths' Magazine.
LORENZO BENONI; or, Passages in the Life of an Italian.
| Cheap Edition, Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. | |
| Handsome 8vo, Cloth, gilt, 12s. | —Illustrated by J. B. |
| Crown 8vo, Cloth, gilt, 5s. | " " |
"Worthy to be ranked among contemporary works whose season is the century in which their authors live."—Examiner.
"This work should be as extensively read as Uncle Tom's Cabin."—Bell's Messenger.
"On the score of style alone this volume is a remarkable curiosity."—Quarterly Review.
"Few works of the season will be read with greater pleasure than this; there is a great charm in the quiet, natural way in which the story is told."—Atlas.
"The Author's great forte is character painting. This portraiture is accomplished with remarkable skill, the traits both individual and national being marked with great nicety without obtrusiveness."—Spectator.
"Under the modest guise of a biography of an imaginary Lorenzo Benoni, we have here, in fact, the memoir of a man whose name could not be pronounced in certain parts of Northern Italy without calling up tragic yet noble historical recollections.... Its merits, simply as a work of literary art, are of a very high order. The style is really beautiful—easy, sprightly, graceful, and full of the happiest and most ingenious turns of phrase and of fancy."—North British Review.
"As lively in its tone as 'Gil Blas,' and full of those descriptions of contemporary manners among foreigners—those narratives of foreign contemporary events and sketches of foreign contemporary character that must always command the highest interest."—Standard.
"This is one of the most remarkable volumes that has of late come to our hands.... A lively Autobiography which bears the seal of fidelity in every sentence."—Morning Advertiser.
"Wise, virtuous, noble, cultivated, refined, matured by sorrows, is the mind which gave it birth. Let it go forth to amuse, to teach, to warn, to encourage, to comfort; in all ways to do good."—Eclectic Review.
Now Ready,
THE SHADY SIDE. By a Pastor's Wife. Price 1s.
"We remember nothing in fictitious narrative more pathetic,—we might say, so pathetic."—Standard.
Transcriber's Note: Three pages of material relating to "Constable's Miscellany of Foreign Literature" have been moved from the front of the book, and placed after the title page and at the end of the book. In addition, the following typographical errors present in the original book publication have been corrected for this electronic edition:
In the Preface, "The race of the Hunydis" was changed to "The race of the Hunyadis".
In "Dear Relations", a quotation mark was added after "Well, you rascal!", "linen drawers with ringes" was changed to "linen drawers with fringes", "explaining the pyschology" was changed to "explaining the psychology", and "fill his cap with sweatmeats" was changed to "fill his cap with sweetmeats".
In "The Bardy Family", a quotation mark was added after "the whole building may be protected", "but-end" was changed to "butt-end", and "hastened to meet m" was changed to "hastened to meet him".
In "Crazy Marcsa", a period was added after "cloak bordered with fur".
In "Comorn", a quotation mark was added after "as he does our enemies", and "sideling" was changed to "sidling".
In "Gergely Somoly", "Some said that this Mistress Deborah" was changed to "Some said that this Mistress Debora", a period was added after "I am an oculist, aunt", and quotation marks were added around "Esztike is not here".
In "The Unlucky Weathercock", a quotation mark was moved from after "sir" to after "ask" in the sentence "Where do you come from, sir? if I may presume to ask."
In "The Brewer", a period was added after "the peasants in some districts", and an exclamation mark after "Nagyuram".
In "The Szekely Women", quotation marks were added after "before and after his death!" and "then you may enter our town", quotation marks were removed after "My white dress" and before "I only wore it once", and "trangression of duty" was changed to "transgression of duty".
In "A Ball", "badness of confectionry" was changed to "badness of confectionary".
Several names are spelled inconsistently. Except as noted above, these have been left as they appeared in the original text.