The comprehensiveness of the work renders it a valuable addition to the library.—London Ladies' Companion.
A Female Biographical Dictionary, which this volume really is, will often be consulted as an authority; and the great extent of Mrs. Hale's information as to the distinguished women of modern times, supplies us with a number of facts which we knew not where to procure elsewhere. It is clearly and simply written.—London Guardian.
HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.
Each Number of the Magazine will contain 144 octavo pages, in double columns, each year thus comprising nearly two thousand pages of the choicest Miscellaneous Literature of the day. Every number will contain numerous Pictorial Illustrations, accurate Plates of the Fashions, a copious Chronicle of Current Events, and impartial Notices of the important Books of the Month. The Volumes commence with the Numbers for June and December; but Subscriptions may commence with any number.
Terms.—The Magazine may be obtained of Booksellers, Periodical Agents, or from the Publishers, at Three Dollars a year, or Twenty-five Cents a Number. The Semi-Annual Volumes, as completed, neatly bound in Cloth, are sold at Two Dollars each, and Muslin Covers are furnished to those who wish to have their back Numbers uniformly bound, at Twenty-five Cents each. Eleven Volumes are now ready, bound.
The Publishers will supply Specimen Numbers gratuitously to Agents and Postmasters, and will make liberal arrangements with them for circulating the Magazine. They will also supply Clubs, of two persons at Five Dollars a year, or five persons at Ten Dollars. Clergymen supplied at Two Dollars a year. Numbers from the commencement can now be supplied.
The Magazine weighs over seven and not over eight ounces. The Postage upon each Number, which must be paid quarterly in advance, is Three Cents.
The Publishers would give notice that they have no Agents for whose contracts they are responsible. Those ordering the Magazine from Agents or Dealers must look to them for the supply of the Work.
Each month it gladdens us and our household, to say nothing of the neighbors who enjoy it with us. Twenty-five cents buys it—the cheapest, richest, and most lasting luxury for the money that we know. Three dollars secures it for one year: and what three dollars ever went so far? Put the same amount in clothes, eating, drinking, furniture, and how much of a substantial thing is obtained? If ideas, facts, and sentiments, have a monetary value—above all, if the humor that refreshes, the pleasantries that bring a gentle smile, and brighten the passage of a truth to your brain, and the happy combination of the real and the imaginative, without which no one can live a life above the animal, are to be put in the scale opposite to dollars and cents, then you may be certain, that if Harper were three or four times as dear, it would amply repay its price. It is a Magazine proper, with the idea and purpose of a Magazine—not a book, not a scientific periodical, nor yet a supplier of light gossip and chatty anecdotes—but a Magazine that takes every form of interesting, dignified, and attractive literature in its grasp.—Southern Times.
Its success was rapid, and has continued till the monthly issue has reached the unprecedented number of 150,000. The volumes bound constitute of themselves a library of miscellaneous reading, such as can not be found in the same compass in any other publication that has come under our notice. The contents of the Magazine are as "various as the mind of man." In the immense amount of matter which it contains, it would be strange, indeed, if there was not something to gratify every taste. The articles illustrating the natural history and resources of our country are enough to entitle the Magazine to a place in every family where there are children to be taught to love their native land. The Editor's Table presents every month an elaborately prepared essay on some topic intimately connected with our politics, our morals, or our patriotism, while the Easy Chair and the Drawer of the same responsible personage—doubtless a plural unit—display gems of wit, humor, and fancy, in any quantity to suit the temper of any reader.—Boston Courier.