strictly into historical epochs, but into three periods which,
while scarcely arbitrary from the historical point of view, have
nevertheless been calculated according to the space which they will
occupy on the shelves and to the demands which they will make on the
purse:

I. From the beginning to John Dryden, or roughly, to the end of the
seventeenth century.

II. From William Congreve to Jane Austen, or roughly, the eighteenth
century.

III. From Sir Walter Scott to the last deceased author who is
recognised as a classic, or roughly, the nineteenth century.

Period III. will bulk the largest and cost the most; not necessarily
because it contains more absolutely great books than the other periods
(though in my opinion it _does_), but because it is nearest to us, and
therefore fullest of interest for us.

I have not confined my choice to books of purely literary
interest--that is to say, to works which are primarily works of
literary art. Literature is the vehicle of philosophy, science,
morals, religion, and history; and a library which aspires to be
complete must comprise, in addition to imaginative works, all these
branches of intellectual activity. Comprising all these branches, it
cannot avoid comprising works of which the purely literary interest is
almost nil.

On the other hand, I have excluded from consideration:--