The Harvard Classics, Vol. 39: Prefaces and Prologues to Famous Books; With Introduction and Notes (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Harvard Classics, Vol. 39: Prefaces and Prologues to Famous Books; With Introduction and NotesBut there are other reasons why a Preface may be presented apart from its parent work, and may, indeed, be expected some times to survive it. The Prologues and Epilogues of Caxton were chiefly prefixed to translations which have long been super seded; but the comments of this frank and enthusiastic pioneer of the art of printing in England not only tell us of his personal tastes, but are in a high degree illuminative of the literary habits and standards of western Europe in the fifteenth century. Again, modern research has long ago put Raleigh's History of the: World out of date; but his eloquent Preface still gives us a rare picture of the attitude of an intelligent Elizabethan, of the generation which colonized America, toward the past, the pres ent, and the future worlds. Bacon's Great Restoration is no longer a guide to scientific method; but his prefatory statements as to his objects and hopes still offer a lofty inspiration.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.