LITERATUKE AND LITERAEY PROGRESS IN 1868. 



409 



Appleton. As was natural, it being the year 

 of the presidential election, biographies of the 

 candidates for the' presidency and vice-presi- 

 dency were a conspicuous feature among the 

 biographical works of the year. There had 

 previously appeared in one form or another, 

 either as complete works or as a portion of 

 collective biographies, eight lives of General 

 Grant, but to these were added, during the 

 year 1868, thirty more, of all sizes, from a 

 dime pamphlet to a five-dollar work. Most 

 of them were by writers of established reputa- 

 tion, and all, or nearly all, were well written. 

 Most of them had a brief memoir of Mr. Col- 

 fax appended, and he was also the sole subject 

 of two biographical volumes. The number 

 was too great for any of them to be remark- 

 ably successful, but the aggregate circulation 

 of the thirty somewhat exceeded 200,000 

 copies. Of the other candidates there was 

 only a single biography and its abridgment 

 for campaign purposes published, but these at- 

 tained a very good sale. 



In poetry there was no extraordinary success 

 like that of "Kathrina," in the previous year, 

 but Longfellow's "New England Tragedies," 

 and Whittier's "Among the Hills," sold largely, 

 and Fitz-Greene Halleck's collected poems, and 

 two or three reprints published just at the 

 close of the year, were in very considerable 

 demand. 



The sale of agricultural and horticultural 

 works has greatly increased within the past 

 few years, and a good book on topics connect- 

 ed with either agriculture, horticulture, or 

 landscape gardening, by a practical man, is 

 perhaps more sure of a protracted and re- 

 munerative sale than one on any other topic. 

 This is largely the result of the great increase 

 of agricultural newspapers, agricultural schools 

 and colleges, and the very wide and thorough 

 advertising of these and agricultural books. 



Of the 2,208 books published during the 

 year, 125 were devoted to biography, of which 

 18 were volumes of collective biographies, 85 

 special or individual, and 12 genealogical works. 

 There were 90 historical works, some of them 

 in several volumes, of which 69 pertained to 

 American history, 12 being general in their 

 character, 17 of Revolutionary or ante-Revo- 

 lutionary periods, and 40 treating of historical 

 events since the Revolution, and being mostly 

 connected directly or indirectly with the recent 

 war. There were 18 works relative to the 

 history of other countries and times, and 5 ec- 

 clesiastical histories. 



The number of theological and religious 

 books was 258. Of these 81 pertained to polem- 

 ic, and 21 to didactic theology; 151 either to 

 religious narratives or instruction on religious 

 topics, and 5 were manuals of devotion. There 

 were 30 works on natural science, of which 

 one was of a general character, 2 treated of 

 natural philosophy, 4 of chemistry, 7 of zoology, 

 2 each of geology and mineralogy, 1 of meteor- 

 ology, 3 of astronomy, and 8 of ethnology. 



There were 5 works on intellectual philoso- 

 phy and psychology, 6 on mental philosophy 

 and ontology, 6 on ethics, 31 on social science, 

 30 on politics, political science, science of gov- 

 ernment, and political economy, 2 on logic and 

 rhetoric, 46 on mechanics and technology, 25 

 on mathematical science, 61 on education and 

 philology, and 6 on classical literature. 



The law treatises, law reports, form-boots, 

 etc., numbered 109 ; the works on medicine, 

 surgery, and hygiene, 97. There were of 

 poetical works and single poems, dramas, 

 essays, and treatises on poetical and dramatic 

 criticism, 122 volumes. Of essays and works 

 on belles-lettres topics, 64. The novels and 

 works of fiction, not juvenile, numbered 320, 

 and the juvenile works, mostly fiction, 434. 

 There were 47 illustrated works and works on 

 the fine arts, 24 of them 'imported in editions 

 with American imprints. 



There were also 47 works on music and col- 

 lections of music ; 43 books of travel, discovery, 

 and adventure; 5 treatises on military and 

 naval science ; 173 almanacs, directories, guides, 

 and statistical works ; 39 volumes on agricul- 

 ture, and 10 miscellaneous works. 



The collective BIOGRAPHIES were all important 

 and valuable compendiums of special classes of 

 persons. They were the following : 



Masonic Biography and Dictionary, by Augustus 



Eow. 

 Portraits of Celebrated Women, translated from the 



French of E. St. Beuve. 

 The Penns and Penningtons of the Seventeenth 



Century, by Maria Webb. 

 Lives of the English Cardinals (imported edition), 



by F. Williams. 



Men of our Times, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

 Biographical Eegister of Graduates of West Point, 



2 vols., by Major-Gen eral G. W. Cullum. 

 History of the Thirty-ninth Congress, by W. H, 



Barnes. 



Men of Our Day, by L. P. Brockett, M. D. 

 Dictionary of Congress, by Charles Lianman. Fifth. 



edition,enlarged. 

 Eminent Women of the Age, by an Association of 



Writers. 



The People's Book of Biography, by James Parton. 

 Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College, by 



Eev. G. T. Chapman, D. D. 

 Memoirs of those who Suffered for the Faith in 



Ireland in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and 



Eighteenth Centuries, by Eev. Miles O'Eeilly, 



D. D. 



Daughters of the Cross. 

 Female Biography, by Samuel L. Knapp. 

 The Women of the Old Testament. 

 Fenian Heroes and Martyrs, edited by John Savage. 

 Ohio in the War, hy Whitelaw Eeid. Two volumes, 



about 800 pp. 8vo. Vol. I. is devoted to biog- 

 raphies, and Vol. II. to biographies of regiments. 

 The Living Pulpit of the Christian Church.with 



Biographies and Portraits. Edited by W. T. 



Moore. 



The Individual or Special biographies of the 

 year, 85 in number, comprised the thirty biog- 

 raphies of Grant, and of Grant and Colfax, 

 which we have mentioned, and which were 

 by the following authors, some of whom pre- 

 pared more than one of the smaller " Lives : " 

 Messrs. J. S. 0. Abbott, Adams ("Oliver 



