Page 3 Advertisements Column 4

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2320, 13 October 1908, Page 3

"Neglect not the reading of History, for from it you will learn easily the experience that has cost others dear.”— The Emperor Basil to his son Leo. "All otir hopes of the future depend upon a sound understanding of the past.”—• Frederick Harrison, 4 amperor jjuzit tv /**•> s ’ niST s5 X ~ r WORLD % /V % (published this year in London by The Times) for the sale of which, at the introductory price and upon easy terms —only 7/6 a month — the subscription list was opened in- New Zealand on the 10th instant, • makes claim to the reader’s attention on -two accounts.

The ‘ ‘Historians’ History of the TVoriel manes a double appealin that it performs a service una t temp led for 130 yearns in English literature, ami this service the greatest that could be compassed by any booh. Since 1779 there has been no complete library of historical reading, no world history, for [English readers, and a more valuable, at once, and interesting publication than the vivid and detailed record of man’s experience is unimaginable.

Th© ry of ©torae®. It is the story of stories, the richest possession of the human race, the common heritage into which all should enter. Of other studies it may he said that they demand special faculties, or that the profitable pursuit of them requires the devotion of a lifetime. History alone is the universal study. It is never too early nor too late to begin. ]?or the profitable and enjoyable reading of it no special gifts are needed. History indeed crosses the borderland of studies and enters the realm of literature where it rivals the finest romance on the score of interest alone, with the advantage that the stories told by history are true, and act themselves out upon a larger scene and through a greater diversity of character and circumstance than all the writers of romance have together invented. Indeed a detailed history of mankind embraces the originals of every type oi character and every situation in romance, with all those greater workings of destiny which the man-written story does not touch

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'Tihi.© 4B©©a*es of tSi© World The brilliant' civilisation which we see existing in the valley of the Nile, four thousand years and more before our era ; the might oil the Babylonian-Assyrian Empire, collapsing to sudden and utter oblivion; the heroic struggle of Greece with Persia—the West with all its potential development against the East destined to immobility; the glory of Athens, the democratic naval power aiming at empire, and in the space of a single generation setting models for all posterity in literature, the arts and speculation; the slow rise in Italy of the greatest political power the world has seen ; the wide peace and order of the Homan Empire gradually disintegrating before the Germanic peoples of the north; the triumph of Christianity® the appearance of Islam at both ends of

The 25 Volumes and the Oak Bookcase are on view at the New Zealand Office of The Times (London), 2, Harris Street (corner of Jervois Quay) Wellington , and, by the courtesy of the newspapers mentioned, at the following places:— Auckland, the New Zealand Herald; Christchurch, The Press; Dunedin, The Otago Daily Times. For the convenience of those who are unable to inspect the volumes, The - Times has made the Descriptive Pamphlet very full. The information sent to inquirers includes photographs of books and bookcase, specimen pages, four full page - plates, and a large number of other illustrations, a complete account of the manner in which the History is written, and a resume of the contents of each volume. The reader will find in this pamphlet ample data from which to, form at leisure a judgment of his own. x

the Mediterranean; the beginnings of nationalities ; feudalism; the Crusades; the

international power of the Papacy; the development of the royal power and the rise of cities; the Renaissance ; the Reformation; the discovery and colonisation of America ; the world power of Spain, of Portugal, of Holland; the winning of the seas hy Britain; the revolt of the American colonies heralding the Prencli revolution; Napoleon, the international figure, triumphant over kings and their armies, checked by the resistance of the people in Germany, Russia and Spam; the period of reaction; “ ’4B ;” the granting of responsible government to Canada, the Australian States and New Zealand; Italian and German unity; the sudden awakening in the Par East—such are the scenes through which the reader follows the world drama. Th© Great Figwss. / And across this mighty stage he sees the great figures move— Ramses, Sargon, Cyrus, Themistocles, Pericles, Epaminondas, Alexaudei’, Hannibal, Scipio, Sulla, Caesar, Augustus, Justinian, Odoacer, Attila, Moliamed, Charlemagne, Constantine, Alfred, Otto, ■William the Conqueror, Saint Louis, Richard Coeur de Lion, Edward 111., Tamerlane, Louis XI., Charles Y., Hildebrand, Jengliiz Khan, Luther, Elizabeth, Alcbar, Gustavus Adolphus, The Great Elector, Wallenstein, William the Silent, Cromwell, Peter, Charles XII., Louis XIV., Catherine, Frederick, Maria Theresa, Pitt, Washington, Napoleon, Wellington, Stein, Metternieh, Lincoln, Bismarck, Ito—what diversity of character ! Tlhe Waste of Experieace. And from this reading, which excels all other in interest, the reader learns as he goes, learns the best knowledge the world holds, all that we know by experience of personal and corporate conduct, of causes and effects, of policies and destiny. Such knowledge feeds the imagination with truth instead of dreams; broadens the mind, fits it to form opinions that are worth holding. Ci Ignorance of history means a wilful waste of _experience.” “ Neglect not the reading of history, for from it you may learn cheaply the experience that has cost others dear.” And these lessous constitute the sole guidance, to the future. “ All our hopes of the future depend upon a sound understanding of the past.” Thus history affords the finest entertainment, the best culture of