Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-04

Everyman's Library, time-tried coll
lection OF books known to every high
school and college in the United States
has taken on new lease OF life re-
Gently, a fact which will please millions
of readers.
1t is true that this oldest of standard
libraries" might give wider margins
and larger types, but these two lacks
are common to cheaply printed BOOKS.
AS far as we know the young men and
women who buy them are not offended
because they do not approach SIS edl-
tons in appearance.
Wherefore the words of j. Ramsay
Macdonald. proudly printed on the
cover of the new catalogue, are emil
nently just: 81 cannot imagine a bet
ter set of books for young men to pos
sess. They meet all the tastes and
requirements, and bring culture-in the
very best sense of the word-to the
humblest of flresides.''
The world of book printing and buy
ing has made great splurge during the
past decade on7@large, luxurious and
expensive editions, particularly in the
fields of fiction, biography and travel.
They are handsomely printed on ex-
pensive paper, with the proper margins
all around. according to the best stand
ards of william Morris.
Yet there is now, and there always
has been, legitimate field for what,
for want of better term, is called a
cheap book. The Everyman edition
filled the bill for many. many years,
appealing especially to boys and girls
who did not have great deal Of money,
yet loved books enough to want to have
their own.
During the past 10 years, vaguely
constituting what may be called an era
Of sophistication, several other "libra-
rieS" appeared upon the market, each
notable for some one feature. One of
them was ultra modern, and probably
hit the Everyman Library severe blow
in sales.
Merit, however, deserves to win, and
often does, strange to say. So those
who see the new life which the Every
man has taken on during the past year
or so will be glad of it.
x X y X
The Is most popular books in the
library, after a sale of millions of
copies over long term Of years, are
given as follows:
Jane AuSten's Pride and Prejudice;
Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre: Samuel
Buffers 1.-THE Way of All Flesh; the
autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini;
Dante's. Divine Comedy; Charles
Dickens David Copperield" and "Oli-
yer Twist; George Eliot's Adam
Bede" and Mill on the Floss; Henry
Fielding's Joseph Andrews" and Tom
Jones'; w. H. Hudson's 1.-THE Purple
Land; Henrik Ibsen's "A Dolls House"
Marco Polo's Travels; Herman Mel
ville's "Moby Dick; Poe's Tales OF
Mystery and Imagination; Charles
Reade'S "Cloister and the Hearth:
Shakespeare's Comedies" HISTORIES
and Tragedies; SCOTS "Kenilworth7
William Smiths "a Smaller Classical
Dictionary; Stevenson's Treasure Is
land" Thackeray's Henry Esmond" and
Vanity Fair"
Since this library always has had the
support OF educators, it is probable that
teachers have been able to influence
sales to a large extent, so that the
average reader will not be able to Judge
with precision as to how far the above
list represents the free choice of the
people. In the main, however, 1t is a
representative selection, containing Miss
Austen, Dickens, Thackeray, Scott
Shakespeare, Poe, Fielding. Stevenson,
The 100 most popular books in the
library include the above and the fol-
lowing:
"Aucassin and Nicolette"; Jane Aus
tens Emma" and Persuasion; Henri
Barbusses Under Fire; Blackmore's
lorna Doone": William Blake's
Poems: Boswell's Life of Johnson:
Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights"::
Robert Browning's Poems; Thomas
Bulf1nch,s Age of Fable; John Bum
vans Pilgrims Progress; Fanny Bur-