The Story of the House of Cassell
committed to the charge of Professor Mather, whose name appears as joint author on the title-page of the later editions. "Electrical Engineering," from the pen of Harold H. Simmons, first appeared in volume form, in 1908, and afterwards serially. Revised and enlarged by Alfred H. Avery, it has recently been issued as a serial.
As we have seen, the House of Cassell in its early days was active in the production of religious books, publishing a large Illustrated Bible, a Doré Bible, an enormous work called "The Altar of the Household," still occasionally met with in cottage homes, and a reprint of Matthew Henry's "Commentary" in three ponderous tomes. It also issued a Bible Educator. In 1874 it produced Dr. Wylie's "History of Protestantism," written in an uncritical spirit but in a vivid, animated style which kept it in brisk demand for many years. But the firm's greatest success in this kind was secured with the books of the late Dean Farrar, beginning with the "Life of Christ." The origins of this work are told by Canon Teignmouth Shore in the book from which we have already quoted. "There was," he says, "a very feeble old book called 'The Life of Christ' which used to be sold by canvassers, who offered the work for sale at private houses. In 1873 Cassell & Co. suggested to me that a modern work on such a subject, written popularly by a real scholar, might be a success. I thought the matter over and came to the conclusion that there was an opening in this direction, and selected as the man to do it Dr. Alexander (afterwards the brilliant and revered Archbishop of Armagh). I entered into negotiations with him, having already been honoured with his friendship, and the matter was arranged. Shortly afterwards, however. Dr. Alexander was promoted to the bishopric of Derry, and felt it would be for many reasons impossible under the new circumstances for him to carry out such a task. I had again, therefore, to look around for an author, and I selected the Rev. F. W. Farrar, then an assistant master
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