The Portland daily press., 1890-06-28
Springfield Union.l
CoNCENiNC BOOKS.
BY e. CAvAzzA.


Appleton's Cyclopadia of American Bog-
raphy. Edited by James Grant Wilson and
John Fiske. To the general reader, the
study OF history Is of interest and value in
proportion as it expresses and explains man
kind. Personality, national or individual, is
the soul Of history; the date of the battle and
the number of troops engaged may easily
pass into vague Undergraduates, while the
plume Of Henry of Navarro remains, flash.
ing white before the eyes of the memory.
Hence it appears that the lessons of history
may be most clealy read by the illumination
of biography. Events group themselves into
background for figures. and the entire pc
riod becomes ineligible
Appleton's Cyclop@dia offers an important
aid to the student, in presenting in well-pro-
portioned and compact form, the biography
of nearly every man and woman who has a
claim to remembrance in the past or present
history OF the western continent By means
of the notably good index, any special topic
relative to the civilization of the two Ameri-
cas- may be viewed in the record of the lives
OF those persons concerned in it. For exam
pie. at this.time so near to the fourth centena
ry of the discovery of America, one turns in
stinctiyely to the name of Christopher Co
lumbus, and finds also a hint which leads to
the biographical note upon Alonzo Sanchez
de Huelva, probably the precursor of Colum-
bus IN the sight Of the desired lands of the
west, But De Huelva, evidently, did not
possess the enviable tact of Columbus In
causing the egg of circumstance to stand
upon end; and the discovery remains of
rightto him who knows how to make use of
it.
Other biographies combine to supply the
histCry of the Revolution, of the constitution
and government Of the. United States, of the
Civil War; of the founding, the early Ian
guages, the conquest by Spain, and the fed
Grafton of Central America; while eminent
French and British names represent the his
tory of Canada. and the development of the
arts and sciences may be observed by means
of their personnel. Although the Cyclope-
dia is distinctively American, the editors, by
a commercially liberal construction, have
included In 1t many biographies of foreigners
who have taken part in the history of Ameri-
ca, and by whose means its relations with
other countries have been formed or con-
firmed.
The educational value of the Cyclopedia
is immense. 1t ought to be placed in every
public library. In every school. in avery
newspaper Office and it should be among
the first books upon the purchasing list of
every man who plans to form useful library
for himself and his family. The youth of
this decade, who will be the citizen of the
next, will find in its pages inspiration to ad-
mire and emulate the men whose thought
and action have been for the strength and
profit of their country. 1t is book which
fires the imagination by which the heart is
warmed. What an innumerable company of
men and women, living and dead, are in
voked in its pages, who, each in his own
way, have aided to make the laws, the be-
liefs. the art, the literature, the science. the
discoveries, the victories of the eastern CONT
nentl They, as a multitude, seem to call
upon the youth of today, bid him join the
ranks of the we'll deserving of their nation,
and encourage him to worthy aims.
Naturally so democratic roll-c of fame
includes many names which will be seldom
sought; yet this copious hospitality to the
greater and the less will prove advantageous,
especially to newspaper writers, who,
obliged to know and tell the record of sud
denly prominent man of politics, letters or
science, will be able-thanks 20 the Cycle
p@dia-to maintain a little longer their pres
tige of eroficio omniscience And to intel
| ligent readers, as we'll as chroniclers of the
| news, these volumes will be found invalu-
able for daily reference.
The editors, General James G. Wilson,
President of the New York Genealogical
and Biographical Society, and Professor
John Fiske, formerly of Harvard University,
are eminently fitted for their tasks, and
have enjoyed the cooperation of many COM
| petent writers upon special topics. The
| illustrations comprise 60 full-pag portraits
engraved upon steel, and 1000 woodcuts,
sensitively rendered from drawings by M.
Jacques Reich, and which are likenesses,
not caricatures of the persons represented.
The Cyclop@dia is in six volumes, we'll
printed, and substantially bound in cloth or
leather, in various degrees of elegance to
suit different libraries and pocketbooks.
| published by Messrs. d. Appleton & Co..
1 New York. Sold only by subscription)