NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. i. JAX. 23, im.
THE PICKERING CLUB CLASSICS.
The PICKERING CLUB is the outcome of a frequently expressed wish among Book
Lovers to possess in a worthy form absolutely complete editions of certain classical works,
which, by reason either of their bulk or their lack of delicacy, are ordinarily issued in
emasculated editions and also of reproductions of superb editions of the past which have
become scarce and are practically inaccessible.
The PICKERING CLUB Classics will contain only complete unabridged works, edited by the foremost critics of the day, and illustrated with superb plates in photo- gravure.
The Membership of the PICKERING CLUB is to be strictly limited to 375 Members, and there will be only 375 numbered sets of the PICKERING CLUB Classics printed, the type being distributed immediately after completion of each work. Of the 375 copies, 25 will be printed on the finest Dutch hand-made paper, with duplicate sets of the plates, forming an edition de luxe of very exceptional magnificence, and 350 Copies on the best machine-made paper, forming the Club Edition.
The first publication of the PICKERING CLUB is a magnificent edition of the works of HENRY FIELDING in sixteen volumes, comprising the unabridged text of his Novels, Plays, Poems, and Miscellaneous Writings, profusely illustrated with superb plates in photogravure, with an Essay on the Life, Genius, and Achievement of Fielding by the late WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY.
For many years the demand for such an edition has been persistent. It took an American, viz., Prof. Lounsbury, of Yale, to remind Fielding's admirers who clamoured for a monument that the real monument which Fielding's memory most needed was a complete edition of his writings.
The present edition is intended to meet this need. It aims at being a. final and definitive edition, and comparison of its contents with the content of any other existing edition of Fielding's works will, at least, ensure for it the claim of being by far the most complete edition yet published.
The existing editions of Fielding contain little more than the novels, a part only of his work. Since the publication of the monumental edition of Sir Leslie Stephen, new material has been discovered, and this has been incorporated in the PICKERING CLUB Edition, which is thus the fullest ever issued. Here will be found, besides Fielding's novels, his twenty-five plays, his poems, his legal writings, and his miscellaneous writings, that part of his work especially characteristic, which alone reveals to us the man and his surroundings, which really embraced almost every phase of London life of the mid-eighteenth century.
Full particulars as to price, contents, &c., of this magnificent edition will be found in the first number of " The PICKERING CLUB BOOKLETS," which will be sent to any address on receipt of three stamps.
The Secretary of the PICKERING CLUB will keep any appointment that intending Members make, and will send on approval to such intending Members the first set of the Series. All communications should be addressed to him at the Office of the Club, 21, Bedford Street, W.C.
A PROSPECTUS OF THE FIEST SET OF THE SERIES ON APPLICATION.
The PICKERING CLUB, care of WM. HEINEMANN, 21, Bedford Street, London, W.C.
