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encouragement which "," now including the chefs-d'œuvre of almost everymodern master of fiction, has received from the public, has induced the Proprietor of that popular Series to undertake the present Collection, the purpose of which is to present, at the same very moderate price, a Library of rare entertainment in the departments of Historical Memoirs, popular Biography, Voyages and Travels, and works of a miscellaneous character, all of which have, been stamped by public approbation.

Modern literature is very rich in Historical Memoirs and general Biography. By them the reader acquires experience in that which "comes home to the business and bosom" of every one: his curiosity will be aroused and gratified by remarkable instances of adventure; he may trace to their source the secret motives which, either for good or for evil, have impelled his fellow-creatures in their career; and may thus form some acquaintance with that intricate mystery, the human heart.

The present age abounds in accounts of Voyages and Travels. They are works to which we bid welcome at all seasons, and to which we recur again and again with never-ending delight. Voyages and Travels, even when penned by inferior spirits, and avowedly fictitious, have always been popular reading; nay, the very form is popular; hence, of all the wild and wonderful traditions recorded in the Arabian Nights, the voyages of Sinbad the Sailor are those to which we refer with the greatest delight.