confines its researches to no more than the last forty years, and why it would ignore all that had previously been accomplished by American writers? It was necessary to draw a line, and the literature of a colony may be said to belong to that of the parent state. After the declaration of independence in 1776, the national enterprise found many other fields than literature for its development, and though there are most honoured names which make the exception, it was not till about the year 1820 that America, herself, may be said to have possessed a national literature. Added to this, the scantiness of materials would have made it not only difficult but unsafe to have ventured beyond the limits prescribed to myself. This earlier literature is more properly within the province of a native American bibliographer, who, having ready access to public and private collections, will not meet with the difficulties which would beset a foreigner on all sides. Let us hope that my labour may lead to so desirable a result; though in embracing a period of forty years within the limits of my plan, it is but reasonable to suppose that any work of sufficient merit, which may have appeared prior to the year 1817, has been deemed worthy of being reprinted, in which case it will be found enumerated in the following pages, and even where such has not been the case, it will be seen that I have inserted many, particularly such as the Memoirs and Transactions of Scientific bodies, in the lists to which they properly belong. The best evidence I can bring forward as to the principles which have guided me in the selection made, is to be found in the table of contents. To that the reader is referred, and by it he will see that I have endeavoured to render as complete as possible all classes of literature which have a permanent claim upon his notice. I refer more particularly to the analytical table of contents of works by scientific bodies, such as the Memoirs, Transactions, and Proceedings of learned societies, also to careful and accurate collations of many important works, and to the classes of Natural History, Comparative Philology, and American Archæology, Indians, and Languages, in all of which much information will be found, which is nowhere else to be met with. It has also been a part of my plan to place on record the linguistic labours of American missionaries in all parts of the globe, and to enumerate in their proper places the productions of their presses. Since the completion of my volume I have collected upwards of 200 additional titles of such publications in Armenian, Burmese, Chinese, Karen, Siamese, Syriac, Tamul, Turkish, and in the aboriginal languages of African tribes and of American Indians. These, should the opportunity arise, will be communicated to the reader upon some future occasion. TRÜBNER'S BIBLIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE TO AMERICAN LITERATURE. • A CLASSED LIST OF BOOKS PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DURING THE LAST FORTY YEARS. TRÜBNER AND CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. In a work of general reference, like the present, one of two methods must necessarily be adopted; it must either be subdivided into classes, or be alphabetically arranged throughout. I am not about to raise the vexed question of the impossibility of forming a strictly philosophical classification of the productions of the mind; nor am I going to defend the arbitrary classes which I have adopted, in compliance with the wishes of many competent judges, who valued the practical utility of the work more than its extreme bibliographical accuracy. These claim the reader's indulgence, as all other imperfect productions of mankind must ever do; and the more so, as a full and general alphabetical index has been added, by which a facile reference can readily be made to any work sought, if it is not found in the class first referred to. In the course of the work some little inaccuracies as to Christian names have occasionally crept in, from indistinctness of the hand-writing of the copyists, or from errors in the printed catalogues from which the titles were copied. As far as possible these have been rectified in the general index, which, in all cases of doubt, should be the authority followed. In the section devoted to Biography I have followed the American custom of placing the work under the name of the subject of each biography. In the index it will be found both under that head and under the author's name, if known. Like its predecessor of 1854, the present volume also presents the reader with two separate divisions, headed Spiritualism and Mormonism. I make no apology for having excluded these publications from the classes of Philosophy and Theology. In common with many literary friends, I felt reluctant that the records of these mental aberrations should be placed side by side with the productions of higher intellectual powers. The Introduction will need but a few words of explanation, and its value must depend upon the accuracy with which it is executed. It is an attempt to do for North American literature what has long since been done for that of Europe; to furnish the materials for a more comprehensive history of the development of the intellectual powers of a great and powerful people. In the first section, Bibliographical Prolegomena, I have derived much assistance from the labours of my late friend Dr. Ludewig. The second section, Contributions towards a History of American Literature, has been furnished by Benjamin Moran, Esq., Assistant Secretary to the American Legation, and though brief, it is full of valuable information, the fruits of much and original research. The third section, Public Libraries of the United States, is by Edward Edwards, Esq., one of the most successful and indefatigable labourers in the field of literary history. To both these gentlemen my thanks are pre-eminently due, and I cannot take leave of my subject without also discharging a debt of gratitude to those kind friends who have cheered and encouraged me, and assisted me in my labours during its gradual progress towards completion. To Professor Turner, of Washington, Henry Carey Baird, Esq., and Charles B. Trego, Esq., of Philadelphia, S. Hastings Grant, Esq., of the Mercantile Library, New York, and Joel Munsell, Esq., of Albany, my thanks are more particularly due for very much that is valuable in the ensuing pages. NICOLAS TRÜBNER. London, 1st January,1859. POSTSCRIPT. THE following books, received since the printing of the Bibliographical Prolegomena, demand a brief notice in this place. 1. A Catalogue of Books on Freemasonry and kindred subjects. By William Gowans; 12mo, pp. 60. New York. William Gowans, 1858. This neatly got up volume is dedicated to the memory of the late Hermann Ludewig, Esq., and is an enlarged edition, the fourth, of that mentioned at page XXXIII. of the Prolegomena. Mr. Gowans states in the Preface, that he commenced its compilation in 1840, but he must pardon the remark that a bookseller of his intelligence, after 18 years of " unwearied application and research," to use his own words, might have produced a better book, had he availed himself of the many opportunities which must have presented themselves to him during that period. It is a list of books which may simply have passed through Mr. Gowans' hands, or which possibly he may still possess. Such a work has no claims to be considered a bibliographical authority upon the subject. The most ordinary means for making it such would seem to have been disregarded. The titles are imperfectly given, in the case of foreign works, so erroneously, as to make it worse than useless, and even English original editions, and American reprints of them, are not distinguished. To enable the reader to judge of the extent of Mr. Gowans' "researches," it may be stated that his list, professing to be a general one of Masonic books of various nations, does not exceed 550 articles, whilst the Catalogue of American books on Freemasonry alone, compiled by Mr. B. Barthelmes, and printed at New York, in 1856, enumerates about 450 original articles. Mr. Gowans mentions this book at page 10 of his Catalogue, but surely he can never have consulted it in the compilation of his own. 2. THE LIBRARIAN'S MANUAL, a Treatise on Bibliography, comprising a select and descriptive list of Bibliographical Works; to which are added Sketches of Public Libraries. Illustrated with engravings. By Reuben A. Guild, A. M. 4to, pp. 304 (16 wood |