Excerpt from A History of Literature in America

When it was proposed that Wendell's Literary History of America should be reprinted in a school edition, it was clear to us that for such use the book needed thorough revision. Many passages, which properly found place in a book intended for general reading, involved expressions of opinion obviously unsuitable for schools. In preparing this school version, our object has accordingly been to omit needless or debatable matter, but to preserve the general outline and all available portions of the original work.

To aid us in our task, we submitted the Literary History, chapter by chapter, to an advanced class of students at Harvard College, whom we encouraged to criticise it minutely in writing. The energy and good sense with which they did so have enabled us to correct many slight errors, and, at the same time, have strengthened our conviction that the earlier book was historically sound. We cannot too heartily acknowledge our debt to this critical collaboration of our pupils.

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