Excerpt from First Steps With American and British Authors Ten years have passed since this book was published. The author has taken advantage of the demand for a new edition to revise the book thoroughly, by bringing it up to date, making many additions to the various texts, and otherwise adding to its usefulness. A systematic study of the texts of standard English authors is now very generally held to constitute an important part of the regular course in most schools of a higher grade. Pupils should have a thorough drill on simple selections before undertaking the more formal study of any representative author. In brief, students should be provided with a judicious and methodical introduction to the standard English texts. This book aims to supply such a want. It is intended to serve as the basis of a regular course of study in English literature. Enough material is furnished for at least one year's work, except perhaps the purchase of an occasional copy of an inexpensive school text. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.