Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/48

 humanity, idea of beauty, or desire for special knowledge. Most popular books must have merits of a very substantial or peculiar kind to ensure their longevity, otherwise it would be impossible to account for the appearance of edition after edition of certain works. Enterprising booming is not the only reason for the success of any book, especially when it is an old one published before puffing journalism became a force. For these reasons, a list of titles is here offered, on lines which differ materially from those adopted by most previous selectors. It is not an attempt to guide the book-collector, nor an effort to dictate to the gatherer of a Household Library what is best in all literature to select; but simply a series of suggestions which may aid the ordinary citizen, not specially skilled in book-knowledge, to make up his mind to form a library of reasonable quality and utility. The list is frankly a Philistine one, which will probably meet with the disapprobation of those devotees of the written word who regard fine writing as the beginning and end of all literature. Nevertheless, it is a very practical one, covering the popular side of most subjects, and including a body of imaginative literature which no household need be ashamed to possess. The bulk of the works are those which enjoy great and continuous popularity in Public Libraries, many of them are classics, a few are included because of their historical value, and every book is interesting. From this series of suggestions, any householder can gradually build up his Home Library, varying the