An enterprise such as THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS is to be judged from two different standpoints. It may be judged with respect to its specific achievement-the material of which it consists; or it may be judged with regard to its general utility in the scheme of literature to which it belongs. In an age which is sometimes ironically called remarkable for its commercialism, nothing has been more truly remarkable than the advancement in learning as well as in material progress; and of all the instruments that have contributed to this end, none has been more effective, perhaps, than the practical popularisation of literature.