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Table of Contents

It may be well to state at the outset in what respects the present work differs from A Reader’s Guide to Irish Fiction published in 1910, and now out of print. The differences may be reduced to four:—

(1). The number of books dealt with is almost double that of the earlier work.

(2). The arrangement is quite new. In the former work the books were classified according to subject matter: in this they are arranged under the names of the Authors, these names being arranged alphabetically. Some lists are appended in which the books are classified as historical novels, Folk-lore, Gaelic Epic and Romantic Literature, &c.

(3). A combined title and subject index has been provided, both of which were lacking in the earlier book. Some new matter is given in the Appendix, in particular some notes on fiction in Irish periodicals.

(4). In A Reader’s Guide, &c., a few notes on Authors were added at the end. In the present work biographical notes on a large proportion of the Authors are given immediately before the notes on their books.

Apart from these differences, the two works have the same scope and aim. In both, the scope includes all works of fiction published in volume form, and dealing with Ireland or with the Irish abroad, and such works only. The present book, therefore, is not, any more than was the earlier book, a guide to the works of Irish novelists—else, Goldsmith, for instance, might surely claim a place. Neither is it, properly speaking, a book of advice as to what is best to read. The aim has been to provide descriptive notes of an objective nature, to record facts, not to set forth personal views and predilections. This is a book of reference pure and simple; it neither condemns nor recommends. In this respect it differs from several other guides to fiction which at first sight it seems to resemble. The Abbé Bethléem’s most valuable Romans à lire et romans à proscrire has been mentioned in the former preface. Its title proclaims its character. Of a similar nature are some works by members of my own Order that have since come to my knowledge. It will be useful to record their titles:

1. P. Gerardo Decorme, S.J.—Lecturas recomendables. (Barcelona: Luis Gili). 1908.

2. P. Pablo Ladron de Guevara, S.J.—Novelistas malos y buenos. Pp. 523. (Bilbao). 1910.

3. Was soll ich lesen? Ein Ratgeber [advice giver] für Studierende (Trier), 1912.

4. Guide de Lecture. (Brussels). Second ed., 1912. A magnificent 4to volume of 1032 pp., compiled by a Belgian Jesuit, Fr. Schmidt, and constituting the catalogue of his great Bibliothèque Choisie of 200,000 volumes.

No. 1 devotes only a chapter to fiction. No. 2 contains a critical examination from a moral point of view of 413 Spanish writers, 1,220 French, 150 English, 98 German, as well as Russian, Belgian, &c. No. 3 devotes a section to Schöne Literatur giving notes and bibliographical details. Symbols are used to indicate the suitability of the books to readers of various ages. The same plan is followed in No. 4, but to a much fuller extent, and the whole work is on a larger scale.

Enough has been said, I think, in the former preface as to the object aimed at in the notes. I have tried to make that object clear: I am far from thinking that it has always been attained, even in this revised work. Some of the excuses for incompleteness that held good for the first steps into an almost untrodden field have no doubt ceased to have the same force. I have had time to explore new ground, and to survey anew that already occupied. On the other hand the years that have slipped away since the former book have been filled by many duties that left little time for literary work. Yet, though I am unable to say with confidence that this work is bibliographically exhaustive, I trust that, for practical purposes, for the purposes for which it is intended, it may be found reasonably complete. For the achievement of even this result I can by no means claim all the credit. My obligations to my numerous helpers are very great indeed, as will appear from the Acknowledgements.

One further point needs to be dwelt upon—the non-inclusion of works of fiction written in the Irish language. I cannot do better in this connection than quote from the preface to a former work[1] in which this same point came up for explanation:—“I have not included books in the Irish language. My reasons for this are threefold. In the first place my own knowledge of Irish is not yet sufficient to enable me even to edit satisfactorily notes of books in Irish.... In the second place I do not think that a bibliography of works in Irish should be made a mere appendage or sub-section, as it would inevitably be, of a work such as the present. Lastly, it may well be doubted whether the time be yet come for doing this work in the way that it deserves to be done.” This last reason is partly based on the fact of the great mass of Irish literature still remaining in MS., a quantity probably much greater than what has been printed and published. The publication of the National Library’s bibliography is mentioned in the Appendix on Gaelic literature as an additional reason for my omission of books in Irish.

Nevertheless, the omission of books in the Irish language from a Guide to Irish Fiction remains an anomaly, one of the many anomalies produced by the historic causes that have all but destroyed the Irish language as the living speech of Ireland.

Dublin, September, 1915.

[1] A Guide to Books on Ireland, Part I. (Hodges & Figgis), 1912.