The Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle, Vol. 1 of 2 (Classic Reprint)

Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle, Vol. 1 of 2 But so far as concerns the wants of students, who might possibly wish to follow the author of the History of Civilisation through the process as well as the product of book-making, the former edition must have amply sufficed to meet all reasonable needs. In the present selection, intended as it is for more general circulation, the editor has thought it well to suppress all that portion of the Common Place Books which consisted entirely of extracts from other authors, with few or no original observations, and to retain only those passages which expressed some part of Buckle's own thinking, or represented the collation and comparison of several more or less independent authorities. Especially has he endeavoured to pick out from the mass all such notes as exhibited Buckle (however indefinitely) in the character of a first precursor of the now accepted sociological method. In matters of selection opinions must always necessarily differ; some will doubtless deem that much has been retained which might have been omitted, and much omitted which might have been retained: but the editor has at least tried to ask himself about every paragraph kept or sacrificed, 'Is this a passage which Buckle himself, in the interests of his own reputation, would have wished to put forth as it stands, without correction or alteration?' If he has erred, he believes his error lies rather on the side of laxity and comprehensiveness than of undue severity. He has allowed much to pass that was evidently crude and undigested, lest he should seem to be pruning with too vigorous and unsparing a knife the passing reflections of a great suggestive and nebulous thinker. The excellent Biographical Notice of Buckle by Miss Helen Taylor still remains as an introduction to this edition. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This 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.