A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales

From the opening

It is not proposed, in these preliminary remarks, to sketch in detail the origin and growth of the Historical Novel; this has already been amply done by Professor Saintsbury and others. I shall be content to approach the subject on its general side, offering, at the same time, some critical suggestions which will, I hope, not be without value to readers of Romance.

But, first of all, I must explain how the List which follows came to be compiled, and the object I have in offering it. For many years I have been an assiduous reader of novels and tales in which the historical element appeared, supplementing my own reading in this direction by a careful study of all that I could find in the way of Criticism on such works and their writers. Only in this way could I venture on a selection involving a survey of several thousand volumes! With the above understanding, I can say that no book has been inserted without some reason, while I have made all possible effort to obtain accuracy of description. And this leads me to remark, that just in this process of selection do I claim originality for my List. Nearly twenty years ago an excellent "Descriptive Catalogue of Historical Novels and Tales" was published; Mr. H. Courthope Bowen was the compiler,* and I would here mention my indebtedness to him. In Mr. Bowen's list, however, one finds good and bad alike--all the works of even such moderately endowed writers as G. P. R. James, Ainsworth, Grant, etc., are there set down. It seemed to me that, not only was there room for a new list of Historical Novels (Stevenson, Marion Crawford, Conan Doyle, Weyman, Mason, and a number of more or less capable romancists having come forward in the last twenty years), but, also, that more than ever was there a need for some sort of clue in the search for such books.

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