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Excerpt from A Descriptive Guide to the Best Fiction: British and American; Including Translations From Foreign Languages Containing About 4, 500 References; With Copious Indexes and a Historical Appendix The object of this book is to supply a fairly complete list of the best prose fiction in English, including, not all that interests students, but all that the ordinary reader is likely to care about, with as much description of matter and style, for the guidance of readers, as can be condensed into a few lines of print for each book. It does not claim to be a bibliography. This would have involved reference to the actual title-pages of first editions; such bibliographical accuracy is not necessary in a mere guide for readers. Long titles are usually abbreviated; sub-titles, when they are descriptive, often appear in the note. The entries are arranged first in main divisions according to nationalities of writers, and then in the chronological order of publication, so far as consists with easy reference. Consequently this should be a useful work of reference for students of literary history. It may be thought that the recent periods are numerically over-represented as compared with the earlier, even if we have regard to the immensity of the modern "output" of fiction. No doubt this is so, if we pay strict attention to literary merit; but every age is naturally most interested in contemporary writers. In a future edition, doubtless, a large proportion of these recent authors will drop out, and their places will be occupied by others quite as ephemeral. In the notes, the aim has been to subordinate criticism to description. The annotator has not sought to appraise the literary value of the books dealt with. Yet, in order to convey as dear an impression as he was able of the particular species, character and style of each Novel, he has not refrained, where he has thought it needful, from offering what may be considered as critical observations on books and authors. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
