FOREIGN CLASSICS FOR ENGLISH READERS (WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS)
Series Note: This series of eighteen books provided introductions to a number of great French, German, Italian and Spanish authors of great literary merit and gave English translations of excerpts from their major works (referred to as "classics") accompanied by paraphrases and commentaries.
The series was published by William Blackwood & Sons Limited of Edinburgh and London. The Series Editor was Mrs. Margaret Oliphant [Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant] (1828-97), Scottish novelist and historical writer.
Authors of individual volumes included:
• Sir Walter Besant (1836-1901), English novelist and historian.
• Clifton W. [Wilbraham] Collins (1845-1918), Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools and son of William Lucas Collins (see below)
• William Lucas Collins (1815-87), Church of England presbyter and essayist
• Henry Grey Graham (1842-1906), writer on Scottish history.
• General Sir Edward Bruce Hamley, K.C.B. (1824-93), British general, military writer and Conservative politician
• Elizabeth Julia Hasell (1830-1887), British miscellaneous writer and literary reviewer.
• Abraham Hayward, Q.C. (1818-84), English man of letters
• C. F. Oliphant [Cyril Francis Oliphant] (died 1890), brother of Margaret Oliphant (see below).
• Mrs. Margaret Oliphant (1828-97), Scottish novelist, historical writer, and editor of this book series
• Henry Reeve, C.B. (1813-95), English journalist
• James Sime, M.A. (1843–1895), Scottish critic, biographer and journalist
• Francis Tarver, M.A. (Oxon.), French Master at Eton College
• Miss Thackeray [Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie] (1837-1919), English writer and daughter of novelist William Makepeace Thackeray.
• Henry Merivale Trollope (1846-1926), barrister and son of novelist Anthony Trollope.
• Principal John Tulloch (1823-86), Scottish theologian.
Each volume was first published in a hardback format. It was bound in green cloth boards. The front covers were lettered and decorated ornately in black and the spine lettered in gilt and black with a small decorative element printed in black. Volumes were issued without dust wrappers.
In 1898 each volume was being reprinted as follows: "Cheap re-issue. In limp cloth, fcap 8vo, price 1s. each." (Source: Publisher's catalogue in With Kitchener to Khartum by G. W. Steevens. Edinburgh and London, William Blackwood & Sons, 1898.)
In 1905 volumes were issued in blue/grey cloth with black lettering on spine and front panel and with simple decorative elements on the front and back panels, and were again issued without dust wrappers.
Size: Small octavo (ca. 11 x 18 cm).
Title / Editor / Year First Published
Dante, by Margaret Oliphant. 1877.
Voltaire, by General Sir E. B. Hamley, K.C.B. 1877.
Pascal, by Principal Tulloch. 1878.
Petrarch, by Henry Reeve, C.B. 1878.
Goethe, by A. Hayward, Q.C. 1878.
Molière, by Margaret Oliphant and F. Tarver, M.A. 1879.
Montaigne, by Rev. W. L. Collins. 1879.
Rabelais, by Sir Walter Besant. 1879.
Calderon, by E. J. Hasell. 1879.
Saint Simon, by C. W. Collins. 1880.
Cervantes, by Margaret Oliphant. 1880.
Corneille and Racine, by Henry M. Trollope. 1880.
Madame de Sevigne, by Miss Thackeray. 1881.
La Fontaine, and Other French Fabulists, by Rev. W. Lucas Collins, M.A. 1882.
Schiller, by James Sime, M.A. 1882.
Tasso, by E. J. Hasell. 1882.
Rousseau, by Henry Grey Graham. 1882.
Alfred de Musset, by C. F. Oliphant. 1890.
Sources of the above list:
(A)
With Kitchener to Khartum by G. W. Steevens. Edinburgh and London, William Blackwood & Sons, 1898. Publisher's catalogue in final pages.
(B)
Margaret Oliphant 1828 - 1897: A Non-Fiction Bibliography by John Stock Clarke.
St. Lucia (Brisbane, Australia), Department of English, University of Queensland, c. 1997.
(Victorian Fiction Research Guide 26)
Note:
In 1890 a book on Leopardi by Margaret Oliphant was announced as “In the press”. It
did not appear.
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