NINETEEN THOUSAND SETS SOLD IN ENGLAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 194, 29 August 1901, Page 2

NINETEEN THOUSAND SETS SOLD IN ENGLAND.

There have for some years beanj various collections of selected literature on the market, noi; a (if thera excellent so far vs they go ; but nothing on so large a scale has till now beeu lifc'empfcpd as th<t which the London Standard put on the nnrket las!; year—the " Libr.ry of F.im jus L'te.-a'ura"— and of which over 19,000 sets were sold iu a few mouths.

The work, which is in twenty handsome volumes, is stated on the title page to consist of " Selections from the World's Gre.it Writers, Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern, with Biographical and Explanatory Notes, and Critical Essays by many Eminent Writers." The general editor is Dr. [Richard Garnett, 0.8,, of British Museum fame, and seldom has an editor had the assitance of bo able a stalf of colleagues as contributors. The " Library " has been prepared by the most competent hands, by men whose whole life work has ben a development of that keen judgment and criiical insight for the production of such a " Library." Every walk of literature has b°en covered, and the result is a series of volumes reaching in the aggregate to no fewer than 10,000 pig«s of large clear type. The conten's are as varied as is the literature iis?lf, and its scope is truly contermiriU3 with that of thw world of letters. The coloured plates runniog through every volume, form one of the most notable feiturosof the ''Library.' They have be«n gathered from rare sources, an 1 comprise some of the most exquisite specimens of the antique art of book i'liimioatio.i which flourished centuriis ago, \s hen books were made by hand, and the transcription of a single volume often represented the lab ur of j ears. What such a work really is and own* may be more readily im igintd than described. Tncsi wlii put in their applications at once will recdve their books promptly, as a supply is carried in Wellington t< mp r.rily. The offer will remain open but a short time. Particulars as to prises snd terms will be found ia another co! umn.