Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
CRITICAL NOTICES OF THE LITERATURE OF THE LAST THREE MONTHS ,
ON MATTEES CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE AND ART . " Why should not divers studies , at divers hours , delight , when the variety is alone able to refresh and repair us V—Ben Jonson ' s Discoveries . AMONGST the many delights and attractions Avith whichnotwithstanding
, the constant labour and continual drudgery incident to the calling , the path of the critic and reviewer is strewn / the pleasure of marking the rapid increase of literary tastes in the masses of the people , ought undoubtedly to hold a foremost rank . It is true that the judgment may he , not unfrequently , startled by the nature and character of the nourishment offered to this species of intellectual growth ; but still , the contemplation of the vast means and resources of self-instruction and amusement now dail y
opening up to all classes and conditions of the people , is , to us at least , a source of congratulation . Out of this profusion of books , works of art , and scientific appliances , good must come , although , may be , not wholly unmixed with evil . We confess ourselves sanguine as to the result , and the perusal of Mr . Knig ht ' s " Old Printer and Modern Press , " * confirms us in our already preconceived opinion . The latter part of this work is a clever historical sketch of the numbers , prices , and circulation of hooks from the first invention of printing to the present time , showing how they have gradually passed from the exclusive grasp of one class and from high prices , into the cosmopolitan hold of
every other at low prices , which , m numerous instances , we fear must have proved wholly nnremunerative . The great error , however , that this rage for cheap books has engendered , appears to us to spring from the undue prominence and importance which is attached to the issue , at a ridiculously low price , of new copyright works . This has an undoubted tendency to depreciate the labours of the author by underpaying him , and thus a mass of hastily written and undigested works , by inferior men , are forced upon
the market , which , though they may , from their mere numbers and cheapness , stimulate the popular " taste for reading , " cannot fail to lower the standard of popular " literary taste . " We believe it impossible to publish at too low a figure , consistent , of course , with fair trade dealing , reprints of standard Avorks ; and we cannot too highly approve , or too sincerely desire the success of such valuable selections from the current literature of bygone clays as are to be found in Messrs . Longman ' s " Travellers '
Library , " and Messrs . Chapman and Hall ' s "Beading for Travellers . " This is the class , of cheap reading which will alone stand the test of criticism , as well as furnish more wholesome food for the mind of every class of readers , than all the American novels and low-priced romances of the last or present century . Perhaps no work that has appeared during the last trimestre , will be read by military men , and indeed by the great mass of readers who are
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
CRITICAL NOTICES OF THE LITERATURE OF THE LAST THREE MONTHS ,
ON MATTEES CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE AND ART . " Why should not divers studies , at divers hours , delight , when the variety is alone able to refresh and repair us V—Ben Jonson ' s Discoveries . AMONGST the many delights and attractions Avith whichnotwithstanding
, the constant labour and continual drudgery incident to the calling , the path of the critic and reviewer is strewn / the pleasure of marking the rapid increase of literary tastes in the masses of the people , ought undoubtedly to hold a foremost rank . It is true that the judgment may he , not unfrequently , startled by the nature and character of the nourishment offered to this species of intellectual growth ; but still , the contemplation of the vast means and resources of self-instruction and amusement now dail y
opening up to all classes and conditions of the people , is , to us at least , a source of congratulation . Out of this profusion of books , works of art , and scientific appliances , good must come , although , may be , not wholly unmixed with evil . We confess ourselves sanguine as to the result , and the perusal of Mr . Knig ht ' s " Old Printer and Modern Press , " * confirms us in our already preconceived opinion . The latter part of this work is a clever historical sketch of the numbers , prices , and circulation of hooks from the first invention of printing to the present time , showing how they have gradually passed from the exclusive grasp of one class and from high prices , into the cosmopolitan hold of
every other at low prices , which , m numerous instances , we fear must have proved wholly nnremunerative . The great error , however , that this rage for cheap books has engendered , appears to us to spring from the undue prominence and importance which is attached to the issue , at a ridiculously low price , of new copyright works . This has an undoubted tendency to depreciate the labours of the author by underpaying him , and thus a mass of hastily written and undigested works , by inferior men , are forced upon
the market , which , though they may , from their mere numbers and cheapness , stimulate the popular " taste for reading , " cannot fail to lower the standard of popular " literary taste . " We believe it impossible to publish at too low a figure , consistent , of course , with fair trade dealing , reprints of standard Avorks ; and we cannot too highly approve , or too sincerely desire the success of such valuable selections from the current literature of bygone clays as are to be found in Messrs . Longman ' s " Travellers '
Library , " and Messrs . Chapman and Hall ' s "Beading for Travellers . " This is the class , of cheap reading which will alone stand the test of criticism , as well as furnish more wholesome food for the mind of every class of readers , than all the American novels and low-priced romances of the last or present century . Perhaps no work that has appeared during the last trimestre , will be read by military men , and indeed by the great mass of readers who are