Condensed Novels/Preface

Preface

style and finish of the following sketches may make it sufficiently obvious to the reader, without further statement, that they are written with no higher ambition than that of filling the ephemeral pages of a weekly paper. But their publication in that form, has been the means of giving them a popularity which their author trusts justifies him in reproducing them in a collected and more permanent shape. The "Condensed Novels," to which this more particularly refers, claim no other originality in their general conception, than that shown by their title&mdash;a humorous condensation of the salient characteristics of certain writers, selected without reference to their standing or prominence in literature. In one or two instances the parody has been based upon some individual work&mdash;but in most cases the author has endeavored to show the general idiosyncrasies of each author.

For the other sketches, though comprising the greater part of the volume, their introduction here must rest solely upon the assumed popularity of the "Condensed Novels." They were selected from writings, scattered through the California press during a period of five or six years. Though based upon local scenery and local subjects, no one is better aware than their author, of their deficiency in local coloring, a deficiency which he nevertheless believes is made up by such general interest and abstract fidelity, as may make them applicable to any locality.

July, 1867.