3. The Studies and Helps
As has been said, the chief factors in making Journeys Through Bookland unique and of greatest value are the many helps that are given the readers, young and old. These helps are varied in character and are widely distributed through the volumes. They must be considered one at a time by the person who would assist others to use them to the best purpose. These helps consist of what are technically known as studies, notes, introductory notes, biographies, pronouncing vocabularies, pictures, tables of contents and index. The following comments will make clear the purpose of each.
Graphic Classification of Masterpieces
| Analysis | I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X |
| Fables | Volume X is a Guide for Parents, Teachers and Students | |||||||||
| Fairy Stories Folk Lore | ||||||||||
| Stories Old and New | ||||||||||
| Myths and Classic Literature | ||||||||||
| Legendary Heroes | ||||||||||
| Biography | ||||||||||
| Travel and Adventure | ||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||
| Biblical, Moral, Religious | ||||||||||
| Patriotism | ||||||||||
| Nature | ||||||||||
| Humor | ||||||||||
| Poetry | ||||||||||
| Drama | ||||||||||
| Studies |
Read across to learn in which volumes the subjects are treated; read down to find what each volume contains.
a. Studies. Every volume contains a large number of helps of different kinds for young people. Usually these are in connection with some selection and are adapted to the age of the boy or girl most likely to read the piece. As each study is presented in an interesting and informal manner and does not cover many points, it is felt that young people will enjoy them only less than the masterpieces themselves.
The studies are arranged as systematically as the selections, and are graded even more carefully. Their scope and method will be more fully explained in subsequent sections of this volume.
b. Notes. These consist of explanatory notes, that are placed wherever they seem to be needed. They explain words not usually found readily in the dictionaries, foreign phrases, and such historical or other allusions as are necessary to an understanding of the text by youthful readers. These notes are placed at the bottom of the page that needs explanation, and so are immediately available. In such a position they are more liable to be read than if gathered together at the end of the volume. They are neither formal nor pedantic, and are as brief as is consistent with clearness. Their purpose is to help the reader, not to show the writer’s knowledge.
c. Introductory Notes. At the heads of selections from longer masterpieces are introductory notes which give some little account of the larger work and enough of the context so that the selection may not seem a fragment. In some instances this note gives the historical setting of a masterpiece or tells something of the circumstances under which it was written, when those facts help to an appreciation of the selection. Sometimes an acquaintance with the personality of an author is so necessary to a clear understanding of what he writes that a brief sketch of his life or a few anecdotes that show his character are given in the note preceding what he has written. These notes are printed in the same type as the text, especially in the first four volumes, for they are felt to be worthy of equal consideration.