Bibliography
Notes on the Historical and Best Reading Editions of Great Authors
In this bibliography no attempt has been made to give complete guides to the various books. In fact, to give the Bible alone its due would require all the space that is allotted here to the thirteen great books discussed in this volume. All that has been attempted is to furnish the reader lists of the historical editions that are noteworthy, with others which are best adapted for use, as well as any commentaries that are especially helpful to the reader who has small leisure.
In securing cheap editions of good books the reader of today has a decided advantage over the reader of five years ago, for in these years have appeared two well-edited libraries of general literature that not only furnish accurate texts, well printed and substantially bound, but furnish these at merely nominal prices. The first is Everyman's Library, issued in this country by E. P. Dutton & Company of New York. It comprises the best works from all departments of literature selected by a committee of English scholars, headed by Ernest Rhys, the editor of the Library. Associated with him were Lord Avebury, George Saintsbury, Sir Oliver Lodge, Andrew Lang, Stopford Brooke, Hilaire Belloc, Gilbert K. Chesterton, A. C. Swinburne and Dr. Richard Garnett. The result is a collection of good literature, each volume prefaced with a short but scholarly introduction. The price is 35 cents in cloth and 70 cents in leather.
The other series is known as the People's Library, and is issued by the Cassell Company of London and New York. This Library is sold at the remarkably low price of 25 cents a volume, well printed and fairly bound in cloth.
THE BIBLE
The Bible is the one "best seller" throughout the world. Last year Bible societies printed and circulated 11,378,854 Bibles. The Bible is now printed in four hundred languages. Last year the British and Foreign Bible Society printed 6,620,024 copies, or an increase of 685,000 copies over the previous year. Even China last year bought 428,000 Bibles.
The first English translation of the Bible which had a great vogue was what is known as the Authorized Version issued in the reign of King James I. For centuries after the Christian Era the Bible appeared only in the Latin Version, called the Vulgate. As early as the seventh century English churchmen made translations of the Psalter, and the Venerable Bede made an Anglo-Saxon version of St. John's gospel. Toward the close of the fourteenth century appeared Wyclif's Bible, which gained such general circulation that there are still extant no less than one hundred and fifty manuscript copies of this version.
Then came Tyndale, whose ambition was to make a translation that any one could understand. He said: "If God spare me life, ere many years I will cause the boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scriptures than you priests do." His version of a few books of the Bible was published first at Cologne, but its acceptance in England was greatly hindered by the translator's polemical notes. Tyndale was burned at the stake in Belgium for the crime of having translated the Bible into the speech of the common people. He will always be remembered as the pioneer who prepared the way for the Authorized Version.
After Tyndale came Rogers, who carried on his work as far as Isaiah. He was followed by Coverdale who wrote fine sonorous English prose, but was weak in scholarship. His translation was superseded by the Geneva Version, made in 1568 by English refugees in the Swiss city. The Geneva translation is noteworthy as the first to appear in Roman type, all the others being in black letter.
The King James Bible was first proposed at the Hampden Conference in 1604. The Bishops opposed the scheme, but the King was greatly taken with it, and in his usual arbitrary way he appointed himself director of the work and issued instructions to the fifty-four scholars chosen. One-third of these were from Oxford, one-third from Cambridge and the remainder from Westminster. They worked three years at the task and produced what is known as the Authorized Version. There seems to be a strong prejudice against King James because of his eccentricities, and most writers on the Bible declare that this version was never authorized by King, Privy Council, Convocation or Parliament. This is wrong, for King James authorized the book, and it owed its existence directly to him. Anglicans and Puritans in this famous Conference were bitterly hostile to each other, and if they had had their way we should never have had this fine version of the Bible. The King was president of the Conference, but the two factions were ready to fly at each other's throats over such questions as the baptism of infants, the authority of the Bishop of Rome and others. The King, however, brushed all these questions aside. He said that the Geneva Bible taught sedition and disobedience, and by royal mandate he ordered Bishop Reynolds and his associates to make the best version in their power. So the credit which the King received by having his name joined to the Bible was well deserved.
The King James Bible or the Authorized Version has had greater influence on the style of English authors than any other work, and it remains today a model of the simplest and best English, with few obsolete words. Out of the small number of 6,000 words used in the Bible, as against 25,000 in Shakespeare, not more than 250 words are now out of every-day use.
The best short essay on the Authorized Version is by Albert S. Cook, Professor of the English Language and Literature in Yale University (N. Y., G. P. Putnam's, 1910). This was originally contributed to the Cambridge History of English Literature, but in book form it contains some matter not printed in the History. Professor Cook shows that the King James Bible today contains fewer obsolete or archaic words than Shakespeare, and that this version put into the speech of the common people a score of phrases that now are scarcely thought of as purely Biblical, so completely have they passed into every-day speech. Among these are "highways and hedges," "clear as crystal," "hip and thigh," "arose as one man," "lick the dust," "a thorn in the flesh," "a broken reed," "root of all evil," "sweat of his brow," "heap coals of fire," "a law unto themselves," "the fat of the land," "a soft answer," "a word in season," "weighed in the balance and found wanting," and so forth.
Between the Authorized Version and the New Revised Version a number of individual translations appeared. The Long Parliament made an order in 1653 for a new translation of the Bible, and three years later a committee was appointed, but as Parliament was dissolved shortly after, the project fell through. The individual versions for a hundred years are not noteworthy, but in 1851 the American Bible Society issued a "Standard" Bible which it circulated for five years. It was simply the King James Bible free from errors and discrepancies. Another important revision was made by the American Bible Union in 1860 and a second revision followed in 1866. Its salient feature was the adoption of the paragraph form.
In 1870 a new revised version of the Bible, which should receive the benefit of the labors of modern scholars, was decided on. The Upper House of Convocation of Canterbury appointed a committee to report on revision. A joint committee from both houses a few months later was elected and was empowered to begin the work. Two committees were established, one for the Old and one for the New Testament. Work was begun June 22, 1870, but in July it was decided to ask the coöperation of American divines. An American Committee of thirty members was organized, and began work October 4, 1872. The English Committees sent their revision to the American Committee, which returned it with suggestions and emendations. Five revisions were made in this way before the work was completed. Special care was taken in the translation of the Greek text of the New Testament.
In 1881 the Revised New Testament appeared. Orders for three million copies came from all parts of the English-speaking world. The Revised Old Testament appeared in 1885. The preferences of the American Committee were placed in a special appendix in both books. In 1901 the American Committee issued the American Standard Revised Version, which is in general circulation in this country.
The tercentenary of the King James Version was celebrated in March, 1911, and it brought out many interesting facts in regard to the book that has been one of the chief educational forces in England and in all English-speaking countries since it was issued.
Among the famous Bibles are the Gutenberg Bible, which was the first to be printed from movable types; the "Vinegar" Bible, because of the printer's misprint of vinegar for vineyard; the "Treacle" Bible, which owed its name to the phrase "treacle in Gilead" for "balm in Gilead"; the "Wicked" Bible, so called because the printers omitted the "not" in the Seventh Commandment.
Of famous manuscript Bibles may be named the Codex Alexandrinus, presented by the Sultan of Turkey to Charles II of England, and the Codex Sinaiticus, discovered in a monastery on Mount Sinai by the great Hebrew scholar, Tischendorf.
Dr. Grenfell, who has made an international reputation by his work among the fishermen of Labrador and by his books on the Bible, suggests that the Scriptures should not be brought out with any distinctive binding. He believes the Bible would gain many more readers if it were bound like an ordinary secular book, so that one could read it on trains or boats without exciting comment. His suggestion is a good one and it is to be hoped it will be acted on by Bible publishers. Anything that will help to make people read the Bible regularly deserves encouragement.
One of the best Bibles for ordinary use is The Modern Reader's Bible, edited with introduction and notes by Richard G. Moulton, Professor of Literary Theory and Interpretation in the University of Chicago. The editor has abolished the paragraph form and he has printed all the poetry in verse form, which is a great convenience to the reader. It makes a volume of 1733 pages, printed on thin but opaque paper. (New York: The Macmillan Company. Price, $2.00 net.)
The Soul of the Bible (Boston: American Unitarian Association) is the very best condensation of the Scriptures. It is arranged by Ulysses G. B. Pierce and consists of selections from the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha. The editor has brought together parts of the Bible which explain and supplement each other. The result is that in five hundred and twenty pages one gets the very soul of the Bible. Nothing could be better than this book as an introduction to the careful reading and systematic study of the Bible, which is the best means of culture of spirit and mind that the world affords.
SHAKESPEARE
The first folio edition of Shakespeare was published by J. Heminge and H. Condell in 1623. A copy of the first folio is now very valuable. A reprint of the first folio was issued in 1807 in folio. The first photolithographic reproduction was brought out in 1866. The first folio text is now being brought out, with a volume to each play, by the T. Y. Crowell Company of New York.
Four folio editions were brought out in all, the last in 1685.
Of the famous editions may be mentioned Rowe's, the first octavo, in 1709; Alexander Pope's in 1723; Theobald's in 1733; Warburton's in 1747; Dr. Johnson's in 1765; Malone's, the first variorum, in ten volumes, in 1790. The first American edition was issued at Philadelphia in 1795. Among modern editions may be mentioned Boydell's illustrated edition in 1802; Charles Knight's popular pictorial edition in eight volumes in 1838; Halliwell's edition in sixteen volumes from 1853 to 1865; Dyce's edition in 1857; Richard Grant White's edition in twelve volumes, published in Boston (1857-1860).
The most noteworthy edition issued in this country is Dr. H. H. Furness' variorum edition, begun in Philadelphia in 1873 and still continued by Dr. Furness' son. A volume is devoted to each play and the various texts as well as the notes and critical summaries make this the ideal edition for the scholar. The Cambridge Edition, edited by W. Aldis Wright in nine octavo volumes, is the standard modern text. This text is also given in the Temple Edition, so popular with present-day readers, issued in forty handy sized volumes with prefaces and glossaries by Israel Gollancz. The expurgated text edited by W. J. Rolfe has been used generally in schools, as also the Hudson Shakespeare, edited by Rev. H. N. Hudson.
The best concordance for many years was that of Mary Cowden Clarke, first issued in 1844. The concordance by John Bartlett was published more recently.
The best biography of Shakespeare is by Sydney Lee, in a single volume, A Life of Shakespeare. (New York: The Macmillan Company.)
Other interesting books that deal with the playwright and his plays are Shakespeare's London, by H. T. Stephenson; The Development of Shakespeare as a Dramatist, by George Pierce Baker; Shakespeare, by E. Dowden; Shakespeare Manual, by F. L. Fleay; The Text of Shakespeare, by Thomas R. Lounsbury; Shakespearean Tragedy, by A. C. Bradley, and An Introduction to Shakespeare, by H. N. McCracken, F. E. Pierce and W. H. Durham, of the Department of English Literature in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University. This is the most valuable book for a beginner in the study of Shakespeare.
A valuable book for the reader who cannot grasp readily the story of a Shakespeare play is Stories of Shakespeare's Comedies, by H. A. Guerber. (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1910.) The best book for the plots is Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare.
If you are interested in the subject look up these books in any good library and then decide on the volumes you wish to buy. Never buy a book without looking it over, unless you wish to court disappointment.
The Shakespeare-Bacon controversy was first touched upon by J. C. Hart in The Romance of Yachting, issued in New York in 1848. Seven years later W. H. Smith came out with a work, Was Bacon the Author of Shakespeare's Plays? In 1857 Delia Bacon wrote the Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded. She created a great furore for a time in England but interest soon declined. In recent years the principal defender of the theory that Bacon wrote the plays of Shakespeare was Ignatius Donnelly of Minneapolis, who wrote two huge books in which he developed at tedious length what he claimed was a cipher or cryptogram that he had found in Shakespeare's plays, but he died before he cleared up the mystery or gave any adequate proofs.
GREEK AND ROMAN CLASSICS
The versions of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey are numerous but most readers who do not know Greek prefer the prose rendering of the Iliad by Lang, Leaf and Myers and the prose version of the Odyssey by Butcher and Lang. In language that is almost Biblical in its force and simplicity these scholars give far more of the spirit of the original Greek than any of the translators in verse. Chapman's Homer is known today only through the noble sonnet by Keats. It has fine passages but it is unreadable. Cowper's Homer in blank verse is also intolerably dull. The best blank verse translations are by Lord Derby, William Cullen Bryant and Christopher P. Cranch.
For supplementary reading on Homer these works will be found valuable: Jebb, Introduction to Homer (Glasgow, 1887); Matthew Arnold, Lectures on Translating Homer; Andrew Lang, Homer and the Epic (London, 1893); Seymour, Introduction to the Language and Verse of Homer (Boston, 1889); Professor J. P. Mahaffy's books on ancient Greece and Greek life will be found helpful.
Virgil's Æneid has been translated by many hands. Dryden produced a fair version and William Morris, Cranch, Conington and others have written excellent translations. Conington furnished a good translation in prose.
Jowett's translation is the standard English version of Plato, while good sidelights on the author of the Republic and Phædo may be gained from Emerson's essay on Plato in Representative Men and from Walter Pater's Plato and Platonism.
Professor A. J. Church's The Story of the Iliad and The Story of the Æneid while intended for the young will appeal to many mature readers.
No translation of Horace has ever been perfectly satisfactory. The quality of the poet seems to elude translation. Some of the most successful versions are Conington, Odes and Epodes (London, 1865); Lord Lytton, Odes and Epodes (London, 1869), and Sargent, Odes (Boston, 1893); supplementary matter may be found in Sellar's Horace and the Elegiac Poets (Oxford, 1892).
Short sketches and critical estimates of all the great Greek and Latin writers may be found in The New International Encyclopedia (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1904.). These are written mainly by Harry Thurston Peck, for many years Professor of Latin in Columbia University and conceded to be one of the best Latin scholars in this country. They give all the facts that the general reader cares to know with an excellent bibliography of each writer.
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
The exact title is The Book of the Thousand and One Nights. It contains two hundred and sixty-two tales, although the original edition omits one of the most famous, the story of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp. Antoine Galland was the first translator into a European language. His French version was issued in 1717, in twelve volumes. Sir Richard Burton, who translated an unexpurgated edition of The Arabian Nights, with many notes and an essay on the sources of the tales, ascribed the fairy tales to Persian sources. Burton's edition gives all the obscene allusions but he treated the erotic element in the tales from the scholarly standpoint, holding that this feature showed the Oriental view of such matters, which was and is radically different from the Occidental attitude.
Burton's work was issued by subscription in 1885-1886 in ten volumes and is a monument to his Oriental scholarship. Burton left at his death the manuscript of another celebrated Oriental work, The Scented Garden, but Lady Burton, who was made his executrix, although offered £25,000 for the copyright, destroyed the manuscript. She declared that she did this to protect her husband's name, as the world would look upon his notes as betraying undue fondness for the erotic, whereas she knew and his close friends knew that this interest was purely scholarly. Scholars all over the world mourned over this destruction of Burton's work.
Another noteworthy unexpurgated translation was by John Payne, prepared for the Villon Society, and issued in 1882-1884.
The best English translation is by E. W. Lane, an English Orientalist, whose notes are valuable. The editions of The Arabian Nights are endless, and many famous artists have given the world their conception of the principal characters in these Arabian wonder stories.
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
The Nibelungenlied is the German Iliad and dates from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. No less than twenty-eight manuscripts of this great epic have come down through the ages. From the time of the Reformation down to the middle of the eighteenth century it seemed to be forgotten. Then a Swiss writer, Bodmer, issued parts of it in connection with a version of the Klage, a poem describing the mourning at King Etzel's Court over the famous heroes who fell to satisfy the vengeance of Kriemhild.
The real discoverer, who restored the epic to the world, was Dr. J. H. Oberiet, who found a later version of the poem in the Castle of Hohenems in the Tyrol, June 29, 1755.
C. H. Myller in 1782 published the first complete edition, using part of Bodmer's version. It was not until the opening of the nineteenth century and during the Romantic movement in Germany that The Nibelungenlied was seriously studied. Partsch, a German critic, developed the theory that The Nibelungenlied was written about 1140 and that rhyme was introduced by a later poet to take the place of the stronger assonances in the original version.
The legend of Siegfried's death, resulting from the quarrel of the two queens, and all the woes that followed, was the common property of all the German and Scandinavian people. From the banks of the Rhine to the northernmost parts of Norway and Sweden and the Shetland Isles and Iceland this legend of chivalry and revenge was sung around the camp-fires. William Morris' Sigurd the Volsung is derived from a prose paraphrase of the Edda songs.
Many English versions of The Nibelungenlied have been made but most of them are harsh. Carlyle's summary of the epic in his Miscellanies is the most satisfactory for the general reader. A good prose version of The Nibelungenlied is by Daniel Bussier Shumway, Professor of German Philology in the University of Pennsylvania. It contains an admirable essay on the history of the epic. (Boston, 1909.)
William Morris has made fine renderings in verse of portions of The Nibelungenlied but he has drawn much of his material from the kindred Norse legends. Two translations into English verse are those of W. N. Lettson, The Fall of the Nibelungen (London, 1874), and of Alice Harnton, The Lay of the Nibelungs (London, 1898).
A complete bibliography of works in English dealing with The Nibelungenlied may be found in F. E. Sandbach's The Nibelungenlied and Gudrun in England and America (London, 1904).
Other books dealing with The Nibelungenlied are F. H. Hedge, Hours With the German Classics (Boston, 1886); G. T. Dippold, The Great Epics of Mediæval Germany (Boston, 1882); G. H. Genung, The Nibelungenlied in Warner's Library of the World's Best Literature, Volume xviii (New York, 1897).
THE CONFESSIONS OF ST. AUGUSTINE
The first translation of the Confessions to gain general circulation was in Dr. Pusey's Library of the Fathers (Oxford, 1839-1855). Pusey admits his edition is merely a version of W. Watts' version, originally printed in London in 1650, but Pusey added many notes as well as a long preface. An American edition was issued by Dr. W. G. T. Shedd of Andover, Mass., in 1860; it consisted of this same translation by Watts with a comparison by Shedd between Augustine's Confessions and those of Rousseau.
An elaborate article on St. Augustine, dealing with his life, his theological work and his influence on the Church, may be found in the second volume of The Catholic Encyclopedia (Robert Appleton Company, New York, 1907). It is written by Eugene Portalie, S. J., Professor of Theology at the Catholic Institute of Toulouse, France.
CERVANTES' "DON QUIXOTE"
Don Quixote first appeared in Madrid in 1605 and the second part in 1615. Other noteworthy Spanish editions were by Pellicier (Madrid, 1797-1798) and by Diego Clemencia (Madrid, 1833-1839). The first English version of the great Spanish classic appeared in London in 1612. The translator was T. Skelton. Other later English editions were J. Philips, 1687; P. Motteux, 1700-1712; C. Jarvis, 1742; Tobias Smollett, 1755; A. J. Duffield, 1881; H. E. Watts, 1888, 1894. Watts' edition contains a full biography.
A noteworthy edition of Cervantes is the English version by Daniel Vierge in four volumes, with many fine illustrations, which give the reader a series of sketches of Spanish life as it is depicted in the pages of Don Quixote. Vierge's edition is the most satisfactory that has ever been issued. It is brought out in beautiful style by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
A standard Life of Cervantes is that by T. Roscoe, London, 1839. H. E. Watts has written a fine monograph in Great Writers' Series, 1891. Other lives are by J. F. Kelly, 1892, and A. F. Calvert, 1905. Lockhart's introduction is printed in the Everyman edition of Don Quixote, the translation by Motteux. This introduction makes thirty pages and gives enough facts for the general reader, with a good estimate of Don Quixote and Cervantes' other works.
THE IMITATION OF CHRIST
The early editions of Thomas à Kempis' great work were in manuscript, many of them beautifully illuminated. A noteworthy edition was brought out in 1600 at Antwerp by Henry Sommalius, S. J. The works of Thomas à Kempis in three volumes were issued by this same editor in 1615.
The first English version of the Imitation was made by Willyam Atkynson and was printed by Wykyns de Worde in 1502. In 1567 Edward Hake issued a fine edition. Among the best English editions are those of Canon Benham, Sir Francis Cruise, Bishop Challoner and the Oxford edition of 1841. The best edition for the beginner is that edited by Brother Leo, F. S. C., Professor of English Literature in St. Mary's College, Oakland, California. It is in the Macmillan's Pocket Classics and has an admirable introduction of fifty-three pages. The notes are brief but very helpful.
Some of the best articles on Thomas à Kempis are to be found in The Catholic Encyclopedia and The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Thought.
There has been much controversy over the authorship of The Imitation of Christ, but the weight of evidence is conclusive that Thomas à Kempis was the writer of this book, which has preserved his name for five hundred years. The book was issued anonymously and some manuscript copies of it bore the name of St. Bernard and others that of John Gerson. As Thomas à Kempis spent most of his life copying sacred books it was assumed that he had merely copied the text of another monk's work.
A Spanish student in 1604 found a sentence from the Imitation quoted in a sermon attributed to Bonaventura, who died in 1273, two hundred years before the death of Thomas. This caused a great literary sensation and it was some time before it was established that the sermon was not by Bonaventura but belonged to the fifteenth century. In casting about for the real author of the Imitation the Superior of the Jesuit College at Arona, Father Rossignoli, found an undated copy of the Imitation in the college library with the signature of Johannis Gerson. The college had been formerly conducted by the Benedictines, so it was assumed that Gerson was the real author. It was only after much research that it was proved that this manuscript copy of the Imitation was brought to Arona from Genoa in 1579. Constantine Cajetan, a fanatic in his devotion to the order of St. Benedict, found in a copy of the Imitation printed in Venice in 1501 a note saying, "this book was not written by John Gerson but by John, Abbot of Vercelli." A manuscript copy was also found by him bearing the name of John of Carabuco. Out of these facts Cajetan built up his theory that John Gerson of Carabuco, Benedictine Abbot of Vercelli, was the real author of the Imitation.
Thus began the most famous controversy in the annals of literature, which raged for several hundred years. Among the claimants to the honor of having written this book were Bernard of Clairvaux, Giovanni Gerso, an Italian monk of the twelfth century; Walter Hilton, an English monk; John Gerson, Chancellor of Paris; John Gerson, Abbot of Vercelli, and Thomas à Kempis.
What would seem to be conclusive evidence that Thomas à Kempis was the author is the fact that the Imitation was written for chanting. Carl Hirsche compared the manuscript copy of the Imitation of 1441 which he found in the Bourgogne Library in Brussels with other writings of Thomas à Kempis, also marked for chanting, and found great similarity between the Imitation and the works admitted to have been written by Thomas à Kempis.
The Imitation has been a favorite book with many persons. Mrs. Jane L. Stanford, who showed such remarkable faith in the university which Leland Stanford founded and who made many sacrifices to save it in critical periods, always carried a fine copy of Thomas à Kempis with her. Miss Berger, who was Mrs. Stanford's secretary and constant companion for over fifteen years, told me that whenever Mrs. Stanford was in doubt or trouble she took up the Imitation, opened it at random and always found something which settled her doubts and gave her comfort.
THE RUBÁ'IYÁT
Edward FitzGerald's version of the Rubá'iyát was the first to appeal to the western world. It has been reproduced in countless editions since it was first issued in London in 1859. Dole in the Rubá'iyát of Omar Khayyám (Boston, 1896) gives a fairly complete bibliography of manuscripts, editions, translations and imitations of the Quatrains.
Five hundred quatrains from the original Persian, translated metrically by E. H. Whinfield, were issued in London, 1883, while Payne made a poetical translation, reproducing all the metrical eccentricities of the original Persian, which he called "The Quatrains of Omar Khayyám, now first completely done into English Verse from the Persian, with a Biographical and Critical Introduction" (London, 1898). Heron Allen has added a valuable book in The Rubá'iyát of Omar Khayyám: A Facsimile of the Manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Translated and Edited (Boston, 1898).
One of the best editions of the Rubá'iyát is a reprint of FitzGerald's various editions, showing the many changes, some of which were not improvements, and the quatrains that were dropped out of the final version, with a commentary by Batson and an introduction by Ross (New York, 1900).
Another excellent edition of FitzGerald's final version, issued by Paul Elder & Company, is edited by Arthur Guiterman and contains The Literal Omar, that lovers of the astronomer-poet may see, stanza for stanza, how the old Persian originally phrased the verses that the Irish recluse so musically echoed in English.
DANTE'S "DIVINE COMEDY"
The best known English translation of the Divine Comedy is that of Cary, first published in 1806. Other English versions are by Dayman, Pollock and J. A. Carlyle. Longfellow made a translation in verse which is musical and cast in the terza rima of the original.
A mass of commentary on Dante has been issued of which only a few noteworthy books can be mentioned here. Among these are Botta, Introduction to the Study of Dante (London, 1887); Maria Francesca Rossetti, A Shadow of Dante (London, 1884); Butler, Dante: His Times and His Work (London, 1895); Symonds, Introduction to the Study of Dante (Edinburgh, 1890); Lowell, Among My Books, one of the finest essays on the great poet and his work (Boston, 1880); Macaulay, Essays, Vol. I; Carlyle in Heroes and Hero Worship.
One of the largest Dante libraries in the world was collected by the late Professor Willard Fiske of Cornell University. At his death this splendid library was given to the university which Professor Fiske served for over twenty years as head of the department of Northern European languages. Professor Melville B. Anderson, recently retired from the chair of English Literature at Stanford University, is now completing a translation of Dante, which has been a labor of love for many years.
MILTON'S "PARADISE LOST," AND OTHER POEMS
The first edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, in ten books, bears date of August 10, 1667. Seven years later, with many changes and enlarged by two books, it appeared in a second edition. All that Milton received for this poem was £10. Paradise Regained was first printed with Samson Agonistes in 1671.
The standard biography of Milton is by Masson in six volumes (London, 1859-1894). The best short sketch is Mark Pattison's in John Morley's English Men of Letters Series (New York, 1880). Another good short sketch is in Richard Garnett's volume in Great Writers' Series (London, 1890).
One of the best editions of Milton's Prose Works is in the Bohn Library, five volumes, edited by St. John.
The Poetical Works, edited by Masson, appeared in 1890 in three volumes. Buching of Oxford issued in 1900 reprints of the first editions under the title, Poetical Works After the Original Texts.
Among famous essays on Milton may be named those by Dr. Johnson, Macaulay, Lowell and Trent. Dr. Hiram Corson's Introduction to Milton's Works will be found valuable, as will also Osgood's The Classical Mythology of Milton's English Poems. In Hale's Longer English Poems there are chapters on Milton which are full of good suggestions.
BUNYAN'S "PILGRIM'S PROGRESS"
The Pilgrim's Progress, which has been translated into seventy-one languages and has passed through more editions than any other book except the Bible, originally appeared in 1678, a second edition came out in the same year and a third edition in 1679. Bunyan made numerous additions to the second and third editions. The second part of Pilgrim's Progress appeared in 1684.
Bunyan's literary activity was phenomenal when it is remembered that he had little early education. In all he produced sixty books and pamphlets, all devoted to spreading the faith to which he devoted his life. Among the best known of his works besides Pilgrim's Progress is The Holy War, The Holy City, Grace Abounding in the Chief of Sinners, The Life and Death of Mr. Badman.
The best short life of Bunyan is that by James Anthony Froude in English Men of Letters Series (New York, 1880). Macaulay's essay on Bunyan ranks with his noble essay on Milton. Other lives are those by Southey, Dr. J. Brown and Canon Venables.
BOSWELL'S JOHNSON
The first edition of Boswell's Johnson appeared in 1791 and made a great hit. There was a call for a second edition in 1794 and Boswell was preparing a third edition in 1795 when he died. This uncompleted third edition was issued by Edward Malone in 1799, who also superintended the issue of the fourth, fifth and sixth editions. Malone furnished many notes and he also received the assistance of Dr. Charles Burney, father of the author of Evelina, and others who knew both Boswell and Johnson. An edition in 1822 was issued by the Chalmers, who contributed much information of value. All these materials with much new matter went into the edition of John Wilson Croker in 1831. Croker was cordially hated by Macaulay and the result was the bitter criticism of Croker's edition of Boswell's great work that is now included among the famous essays of Macaulay. Bohn brought out Croker's edition in ten volumes in 1859, and it has been reproduced in this country by the John W. Lovell Company in four volumes. Carlyle's Essay on Boswell's Johnson is one of the best pen pictures of the old Doctor and his biographer that has ever been written.
Percy Fitzgerald's Life of Boswell (London, 1891) is good and Rogers' Boswelliana gives many anecdotes of the writer of the best biography in the language. Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Thrale, by A. M. Broadley, furnishes much curious information about the relations of the old Doctor with the woman who studied his comfort for so many years. It is rich in illustrations from rare portraits and old prints and in reproductions of letters (New York: John Lane Company, 1909).
ROBINSON CRUSOE
The first edition of Robinson Crusoe appeared in 1719. It made an immediate hit and was quickly translated into many languages. A second part was added but this was never so popular as the first. The first publication was in serial form in a periodical, The Original London Post or Heathcote's Intelligencer. So great was its success that four editions were called for in the same year, three in two volumes and one, a condensed version, in a single volume.
In 1720 Defoe brought out Serious Reflections During the Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, with His Vision of the Angelic World. This was poorly received, although it has since been included in many of the editions of this story.
Of the making of editions of Robinson Crusoe there is no end. Nearly every year sees a new edition, with original illustrations. A noteworthy edition is that of Tyson's, published in London, with many fine engravings from designs by Granville, and another in 1820 in two volumes, with engravings by Charles Heath.
A fine edition of Robinson Crusoe in two volumes was issued by Houghton Mifflin Company of Boston in 1908, with illustrations from designs by Thomas Stothard.
The standard life of Defoe is that by Wm. Hazlitt, published in London (1840-1843) in three volumes. Sir Walter Scott edited a good edition of Defoe's complete works in 1840, in twenty volumes. About fifteen years ago J. M. Dent of London issued a fine edition of Defoe's works, with an excellent introduction to each book. A good selection of some of Defoe's best work is Masterpieces of Defoe, issued by the Macmillan Company in a series of prose masterpieces of great authors.
"There are few books one can read through and through so,
With new delight, either on wet or dry day,
As that which chronicles the acts of Crusoe,
And the good faith and deeds of his man Friday."
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
Swift foretold very accurately the great vogue that Gulliver's Travels would have. In writing to Arbuthnot he said: "I will make over all my profits (in a certain work) for the property of Gulliver's Travels which, I believe, will have as great a run as John Bunyan." The success of the book when issued anonymously in November, 1726, was enormous. Swift derived his chief satisfaction from the fact that he had hoodwinked many readers. Arbuthnot told of an acquaintance who had tried to locate Lilliput on a map and another told him of a shipmaster who had known Gulliver well. Many editions of the book were called for in England, and in France it had a great success and was dramatized.
A large paper copy of the first edition, with Swift's corrections on the margin, which appeared in later editions, is now in the South Kensington Museum. It shows how carefully Swift revised the work, as the changes are numerous. Toward the close of 1726 the work was reissued, with a second volume. In 1727 appeared the first new edition of both volumes. Swift's changes were mainly in "Laputa," which had been severely criticized. On Dec. 28, 1727, Swift in a letter suggests illustrations for the new edition and says of the book: "The world glutted itself with that book at first, but now it will go off but soberly, but I suppose will not be soon worn out."
A Dublin edition of 1735 contained many corrections and it also included a "Letter from Gulliver to his cousin Simpson," a device of Swift to mystify the public and make it believe in the genuineness of Gulliver.
The best life of Swift is in two volumes, by Henry Craik (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1894). The best short life is by Leslie Stephen in the English Men of Letters Series.