Preface. Vol. 16. Early National Literature, Part II; Later National Literature, Part I. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in Eighteen Volumes (1907–21).
Volume XVI. Early National Literature, Part II; Later National Literature, Part I.

Preface.

The Cambridge History of American Literature was originally planned to appear in two volumes, but the abundance of the material submitted, particularly for the bibliographies, led the publishers to extend the work to three. The division into volumes is therefore fortuitous and should not be taken to offer a classification of the subject.

In the second volume, and still more in the third, which is expected to appear shortly, we have found increasing difficulty with the problem of how far to include living writers, some of whom could not be omitted without making the record obviously inadequate. We have felt justified in dealing with certain contemporaries who before 1900 had written notable books and exerted an important influence in our literary history, even where, as for example in the case of Professor Brander Matthews, they have been as contributors associated with the present work, to its profit and to our pleasure.

THE EDITORS.

1 May, 1918.