New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-05-30
AMERICAN LITERATURE.
THE Observation-Disclosures LIBRARY.


TIME Complied aud Edited by Edmund oiarenc'
sicdman and Ellen Mackay Hutchinson New.
York: CHARLES l. webster q Co. Royal svo III IN
1en Volumes Vols i, II, ILL., Pages H. eoo'
s 6o2. 5oe
first Yotcel
The publication of the first instaimen' Oh '"',
work which has been in preparation 1or several
wars. has been awaited with much interest,". !"
comes to Gil vacant place The wan' OF 10 naS
often been felt not only by the scholar ana wriser'
but still more by the average reader an wnoSe ,i-
terest it has been, chiefly conceived. 10 10 us
t;nctlv intended for popular use, and the EDITORS
tate Mains 20 say so in their preface which says
.ryv co nucb ms is necessary to enable the book to
sneak for itself The plan is to present, in COM
,pact and convenient shape, comprehensive view
.os American literature from the outset to the
suresent time embracing within this designation
all classes Of writings that serve to illustrate the
successive stages Of the life OF this nation-the ex
norers report of his discoveries the preachers ser
mon, the statesman's speech, the works Of the poet
ana the novelist all grouped as to present COM
plete pictures of these periods OF development III
is obvious that the proposed treatment is mover
ne so far as the literature OF this country IS con-
cerned. The writings Of our poets have peen
brought together before, in different compilations
and there have been partial presentations OF our
prose writer's The field of all these works mas
been limited however, and the execution OF them'
Il must be said. left much to be desired. Inc pan
proposed in the Library Of American Llteraeuro
covers all fields. There will DO presented 10 'ne
reader characteristic selections from the whole
range of our literature, set forth as to tell tner
story without the aid of so much as a notc OF
rvord of comment from theeditors.
/ Such is the plan. 1t is obvious that If 1t Is
tad @ba of
inmes will have under his hand for ready reference
a store-house of the treasures Of American litera-
ture, OF, as the editors name it.
Library complete in itself. where the
reader may be saved all the labor
of research and Of selection. and will have placed
before him many curious and valuable things,
which in the ordinary course Of affairs even
scholars might never see inasmuch as they are hid
Den away in more or less inaccessible libraries,
public and private, and in historical collections
"a comprehensive and thorough knowledge Of the
vbosc field of our fteratufc is notthe only requl-
site in carrying out so large projectas this What
Is needed quite as much is keen and sure literary
taste combined with @ knack of choosing just
what will best serve the popular as well as the
literary need Even the most cursory examine
ton of the three volumes now issued will show
that the editors possess these qualities and that
this promises to be one of the.rare Instances of
really happy collaboration Both Mr.. Stedman
and Miss Hutchinson have the sympathetic spirit
essential to q proper execution OF such work
Both have large fund of literary erudition, es-
pecially regarding our early literature. which is
30 little known Mr.. Stcdman. as poet and critic,
has the larger literary fame, Miss
Hutchinson has had the greater experience
as practical and successful journalist. The
result of their cooperation is evidently to be q
work that will be standard. and will not only be
found in every library, college and reading-room,
but upon the bookshelves Of the intelligent farmer
,as well as of the man of letters-a book pre-emi-
lnently for tho household.
The division of the work by periods conveys in
itself the design of the editors Volume l. is de-
I voted to Early Colonial Literature Il 607-1675),
\ beginning with the accounts Of the voyagers who
first planted themselves here to stay-in Virginia
and ew-England. These are best presented in
the records of the settlements at jamestown and
Plymouth-with which the volume "opens, Ralelghs
earlier ventures and others being passed over as
abortive. The selections being confined TO the
English language, all translations from the French
Spanish and Dutch explorers, who sought the
shores of Canada, the South and the New-Nether-
hands are shut out But these stories Of discovery
and adventure, and the records of the slow work
of building I'D a state, which then began, as shown
An books letters, sermons are properly reckoned
AS q part of our literature. The mode of express
sion was English. and for many years even the
manual labor of making the volume was performed
in England; but the living book was American.
The second volume deals with the Later Colo
NAL Literature u676-1 764). The new common
wealth was well under way. The life Of the peo-
ple was in their religion, though there was much
earnest political discussion. The preachers ap-
pear in the front rank during this PERIOD ana
necessarily occupy much space. With the passage
of the Stamp Act the Revolutionary period began
,vbicb is covered in the third volume. Within
this brief period Of twenty-five years, beginning
IN 17c5 and ending in 1877, When the Constitu-
tion WAS adopted there was compressed an era OF
National development which, under less 1avorlng
circumstances, might have been prolonged through
conturjes. This extraordinary epoch, notable IN
tho worlds history, is described by means OF cop
ons extracts from the writings and speeches. OF
the Fathers of the Republic-Washlngton, FRANK
ain Jefferson. Hamilton, Adams. Madison, ana uhe
rest Now the satirist first set to WORK III earnes"
and many curious and interesting verses Will NC
Sorra preserved. The foregoing are the volumes
now before the public.
The first of the volumes to follow will cover inc
neriod from 1888 to 1920. 1t cannot De salo 'fia'
literature prospered greatly but 1t was theh 'haV
tho Constitution received its authoritative eXposl-
.ion at the hands OF the great John Marshall; the
new Republic cleared many shoals, escaping one
xUnr and emerging from another with 'undlmnshed
nresticc: and imaginative literature gave Its hrst
sign of life-and bright promise it wss-ln
Charles Brockden Brown. Then followed the
time of Webster, Clay Calhoun and the other
great orators whose eoquence is one of our familiar
fraditions-a period not likely to recur Immediately
by.the way, if we can Judge from the signs OF the
psssing day. Contemporary with these men were
driving, Cooper and Paulaing among prose writer's,
Bryant, Dana, Drake and Halleck among poets,
and Claiming among pulpit thinkers. This was
an interesting, if not a brilliant period, and one
volume is assigned to it.
This arrangement leaves one-haf the work, five
volumes to be occupied with the literature Of the