Perhaps the most pleasant element in the compiling of this book has been the generosity and enthusiasm with which persons able to help have responded to inquiries.

Among those who have contributed of their private knowledge facts that but for them I could never have discovered, Mr. Richard Bentley must have first place. Unique as an authority on Victorian publishing, Mr. Bentley not only replied promptly and in detail to my importunate inquiries, but made suggestions and gave information—often at considerable personal trouble—which have greatly extended the scope and utility of my book.

Other publishers and editors were no less ready to give me access to such records of the past as were still in their keeping. To Mr. Arthur Waugh (of Messrs. Chapman and Hall), to Mr. Kelk and to Mr. Barnard (of Messrs. Longmans, Green), to Mr. Spalding (of Messrs. Chatto and Windus), to Mr. Herbert Virtue (of Messrs. Virtue and Co.), to Mr. Farquharson and to Mr. Leonard Huxley (of Messrs. John Murray), to Mr. Marston (of the “Publishers' Circular”), I tender my best thanks.

Gratitude must next be expressed to booksellers and owners of books whose contribution differed in kind but not in degree from that of the foregoing. Mr. Walter Spencer put his unrivalled stock of Victorian first editions wholly at my disposal, thus enabling me to examine many rare items not elsewhere discoverable. He also lent me a series of autograph letters from which certain details were obtainable. To Messrs. Bain and Messrs. Maggs I owe opportunities of seeing books necessary to my list. Mr. Hugh Walpole gave me access to his private collection, and Mr. Cecil Davis, Mr. J. A. Green, and Mr. Clement Shorter helped to a clearer understanding of the bibliography of Captain Marryat and of Mrs. Gaskell.

Further, I should like to set down my appreciation of the facilities afforded to me by the authorities of the British Museum and of the Bodleian Library. Their willingness to shorten in my favour the tedious process of extracting scattered volumes from their stores and vaults saved much fatigue and hours of valuable time.

To my mother, to my wife, and to one of my publishers I owe thanks for friendly collaboration at points where two heads and four hands had more than twice the value of half their number. Lastly, and perhaps mostly, I am indebted, for secretarial assistance and for help in the labour of research, to Miss Martha Smith, whose accuracy and devotion have halved my personal toil.