VERY useful book might be written with
the sole object of advising what parts of
what books should be read. It should not be
a book of elegant extracts, but should merely
refer to the passages which are advised to be
read. It might also indicate what are the chief
works upon any given subject. For example,
take rent; the important passages in Adam
Smithy Ricardo, Jones, Mill, and other writers,
should be referred to.
Of course, this work must be the product of
more than one mind. I have often heard it
said that when the London Library was founded,
there was scarcely any work of any kind, and
of any age, proposed for purchase, respecting
which some member of the learned committee
which formed and regulated that library, could
not tell something desirable to be known about
it. If the knowledge about books embodied
in that committee could have been given to the
world, it would have been a most valuable additions to the world's knowledge.
Ofter a great but obscure student dies without having given to any of the results of his extensive readings. [37-38]
Bibliography
[Helps, Sir Arthur]. Brevia: Short Essays and Aphorisms by the Author of “Friends in Council”. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1871. The reverse of the title page has the following: “Chiswick Press: — printed by Whittingham and Wilkins, Tooks Court, Chancery Lane [London].”
Last modified 5 December 2011