INTRODUCTION.
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. In the last year or two
there has been an almost alarming influx in this department of Fiction, and
teachers in schools, besides readers in general, may be glad to be saved a
somewhat tedious investigation.