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:--

i. Works whose sole importance is that they form a link
in the chain of development. For example, nearly all the productions
of authors between Chaucer and the beginning of the Elizabethan period,
such as Gower, Hoccleve, and Skelton, whose works, for sufficient reason,
are read only by professors and students who mean to be professors.

ii. Works not originally written in English, such as the works
of that very great philosopher Roger Bacon, of whom this isle