The Reading of Books: Its Pleasures, Profits, and …, Charles F. Thwing, 1883, VG

Thwing, Charles F. The Reading of Books: Its Pleasures, Profits, and Perils (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1883).

English, Very Good, HC, 8vo?, 7" x 5," 170 pp., including Appendix and Index, + two pages of advertisements in back promoting books published by Lee and Shepard.

ISBN: N/A

Very Good dark green pebble cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering on front and spine. Covers have slight wear and bumping to tips and light rubbing, else clean and intact, binding tight. Pages have a former owner's tipped-in bookplate tipped in on front pastedown, a small ink stamp on front free endpaper and a former owner's ink signature on verso, a former owner's occasional pencil annotations, and light age toning, else clean and intact. A charming book by Charles F. Thwing (1853-1937), an American clergyman, author, educator, and social activist. In this volume, Thwing provides his reasoning in favor of reading and building one's own collection of books. After discussing the advantages of reading, he proceeds, by chapter, to commend different genres of books and recommends some titles for each. Namely, Thwing discusses biographies; nonfictional histories; travel literature; fiction; historical fiction; poetry; religious books; literature; literature about language, philosophy, science, and the fine arts; and children's literature. He concludes with a chapter about forming a personal library.