THE PHOENIX LIBRARY (CHATTO & WINDUS)
Series Note:
"The Phoenix Library, in which Messrs. Chatto and Windus republish in a charming format at 3s. 6d. a volume the most distinguished of their books from previous lists, has just reached its century with the addition of Mr. Aldous Huxley's delightful anthology, Texts and Pretexts. (Two other additions are Professor Julian Huxley's essay on Ants, and Mr. David Garnett's novel, The Grasshoppers Come, bound together with his account of his initiation into Flying, A Rabbit in the Air.) The success of editions such as the Phoenix is one of the most encouraging features of the contemporary book-market. They cater not for the public which demands the books which make a brief sensation on the moment of publication and are then fortunately forgotten, but for the intelligent and serious reader who wants only books which have proved their worth by surviving the feverish traffic of the circulating library: these books are intended to be bought and kept, not merely to be borrowed and returned or thrown aside; they are compact, comely, and cheap. The Phoenix Library, by giving in this way a second lease of life to important books, has done much to preserve literary standards. A glance at its list shows how much it has put the intelligent reader in its debt: no less than 16 of Aldous Huxley's books are available in it, there are 6 of Richard Aldington's, 6 of Marcel Proust's, 4 of David Garnett's, 5 of Lytton Strachey's, 7 of C. E. Montague's and other writers less fully represented include Clive Bell, Augustine Birrell, Richard Hughes, Roger Fry, T. F. Powys, Norman Douglas and Baron Corvo.This is a list which only one other library of modern reprints can rival. Every good wish must be extended to the Phoenix Library for its future."
-- An early review of The Phoenix Library. This review was published in: The Spectator (London), 22 February 1935.
"It has been the aim of MESSRS. CHATTO & WINDUS in this series, which will mainly consist of reprints, to design a book which will be suitable alike for the pocket and the shelf, as travelling companion and as household friend. The volumes are printed on choice paper and are of equal bulk, about half an inch; in surface they measure 41/2 inches by 7. They are stoutly bound, and are characterized by this innovation, that the works of particular authors are all bound in one colour. Thus the works of Mr. Lytton Strachey appear in a uniform shade of green, and it would therefore be possible to group together on the shelf Queen VIctoria, Eminent Victorians, and Books and Characters apart from the other books in the same series; and so on."
-- The Right Place: A Book of Pleasure by C. E. Montague. London, Chatto and Windus, 1928 (reprint; first published in this series in 1924) (The Phoenix Library, 20).
Early Titles in The Phoenix Library
Serial Number/Title/Author
1. Queen Victoria - Lytton Strachey
2. Eminent Victorians - Lytton Strachey
3. Antic Hay - Aldous Huxley
4. Along the Road - Aldous Huxley
5. Tales of the Five Towns - Arnold Bennett. 1928.
6. The Mercy of Allah - Hilaire Belloc. 1928.
7. Lady into Fox and A Man in the Zoo - David Garnett
8. Books and Characters - Lytton Strachey
9. Fiery Particles - C. E. Montague
10. First Plays - A. A. Milne
11. Chrome Yellow - Aldous Huxley
12. Art - Clive Bell
13. Disenchantment - C. E. Montague
14. Those Barren Leaves - Aldous Huxley
15. Vision and Design - Roger Fry
16. Essays of a Biologist - Julian Huxley
17. Plays - Richard Hughes
18. Limbo - Aldous Huxley
19. Second Plays - A. A. Milne
20. The Right Place - C. E. Montague
21. The Sailor's Return - David Garnett
22. Mortal Coils - Aldous Huxley.
23. Mr. Weston's Good Wine - T. F. Powys.
24. Lolly Willowes, or the Loving Huntsman - Sylvia Townsend Warner. 1928.
25. On the Margin - Aldous Huxley.
26. The Grim Smile of the Five Towns - Arnold Bennett. 1928
27. Tarr - Wyndham Lewis.
28. Little Mexican - Aldous Huxley.
29. Love and Friendship and Other Early Works - Jane Austen. 1929.
30. Three Plays - A. A. Milne.
31. The House with the Echo - T. F. Powys.
32. Swann's Way (Vol. 1) - Marcel Proust.
33. Swann's Way (Vol. 2) - Marcel Proust.
34. Essays in Popular Science - Julian Huxley.
35. A Short History of England - G. K. Chesteron.
36. Two or Three Graces - Aldous Huxley.
37. Hadrian VII - Fr. Rolfe ("Baron Corvino").
38. The Gentle Art of Cookery - Mrs. C. F. Leyel and Miss Olga Hartley.
39. Rough Justice - C. E. Montague.
40. Four Plays - A. A. Milne.
41. Since Cezanne - Clive Bell.
42. In the Beginning - Norman Douglas.
43. Within a Budding Grove (Vol. 1) - Marcel Proust.
44. Within a Budding Grove (Vol. 2) - Marcel Proust.
45. Proper Studies - Aldous Huxley.
46. Mr. Tasker's Goods - T. F. Powys.
47. Don Tarquinio - Fr. Rolfe ("Baron Corvino").
48. Twentieth Century Poetry: An Anthology. Harold Munro, ed. 1931.
49. Jesting Pilate - Aldous Huxley.
50. Dusty Answer - Rosamund Lehman. 1930.
51. A Moment of Time - Richard Hughes.
52. Possible Worlds - J. B. S. Haldane.
53. The Spanish Farm - R. H. Mottram.
54. In the Midst of Life - Ambrose Bierce.
55. Action - C. E. Montague.
56. Tales - August Strindberg. 1930.
57. Ernst Junger - The Storm of Steel.
58. Death of a Hero - Richard Aldington.
59. Et Cetera: A Collection - Augustine Birrell. 1930.
60. Ten Years Ago: Armistice and Other Memories - R. H. Mottram.
61. Fables - T. F. Powys.
62. The Guermantes Way (Vol. 1) - Marcel Proust.
63. The Guermantes Way (Vol. 2) - Marcel Proust.
64. Brief Candles - Aldous Huxley.
65. The Charterhouse of Parma - Stendhal (Henry Beyle).
66. How About Europe? - Norman Douglas.
67. Selected Poems - Coventry Patmore.
68. The Journal of a Disappointed Man - W. N. P. Barbellion.
69. Eighteenth-Century Poetry: An Anthology - W. J. Turner, ed. 1931.
70. Shchedrin (M. E. Saltykov) - Fables. 1931.
71. Do What You Will - Aldous Huxley.
72. A Writer's Notes on his Trade - C. E. Montague.
73. A High Wind in Jamaica - Richard Hughes.
74. Medallions - Richard Aldington.
75. No Love - David Garnett.
76. Dramatic Values - C. E. Montague.
77. Humorous Verse: An Anthology - Knox, E. V.
78. Nineteenth Century Poetry: An Anthology - John Hayward, ed. 1931.
79. Civilization - Clive Bell.
80. Selections from Remy de Gourmont - Richard Aldington.
81. Music at Night - Aldous Huxley.
82. Elizabeth and Essex - Lytton Strachey.
Miscellaneous further titles in The Phoenix Library arranged chronologically
The Wind on the Heath: A Gypsy Anthology - Chosen by John Sampson (1935)
Peking Picnic - Ann Bridge (1936)
Bird-Watching and Bird Behaviour - Julian Huxley. 1934. (Serial No. 95)
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