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Subject Area: History
Subject Area: Religion

ORIGINAL PROSPECTUS. - Saint Bede, The Complete Works of Venerable Bede, 8 vols. [1843]

Edition used:

The Complete Works of Venerable Bede, in the original Latin, collated with the Manuscripts, and various printed editions, and accompanied by a new English translation of the Historical Works, and a Life of the Author. By the Rev. J.A. Giles (London: Whittaker and Co., 1843). * 8 vols.

Part of: The Complete Works of Venerable Bede, 8 vols.

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ORIGINAL PROSPECTUS.

In an age when every work of value, either in our own or in foreign literature, has been anxiously sought out and laid before the public, it appears extraordinary that no complete edition of the Works of Venerable Bede has ever been undertaken; and yet the benefits which he conferred on the literature of our country are more than have been derived from any other author whatever in modern times. He is our first historian, our first mathematician, our first divine, and our first metaphysical writer. A portion of his historical writings has lately issued from the press, under the sanction of the English Historical Society, but the great mass of his writings are almost entirely unknown. Bede does not deserve to be thus neglected: he is the great intellectual father of our country, and his Works deserve to be preserved as lights which shone in their day. The simplicity of his character, so well depicted in his writings, the fervor of his piety, the zeal which he shows in recording the truth, as far as it lay in his power to discover it, can never be too highly spoken of, and they will remain as his highest panegyric to the latest posterity. Two or three centuries have elapsed since his Works were collected on the Continent, and three times published in eight folio volumes, of mean typography, disagreeable in appearance, and cumbersome in size, without a syllable to smooth the reader’s path to a knowledge of their contents; and both these editions, notwithstanding their bulky dignity, do not contain all Bede’s Works, but are filled with spurious and useless lumber that has long passed under his name and obscured his reputation. The lives of the Abbots of Weremouth, one of his most interesting productions, is omitted, and several smaller pieces also are not to be found therein. His Historical Works, published by Smith, do not contain more than the eighth part of all his writings; and the Edition published by the English Historical Society, forming part of a series illustrating English History, does not contain all of what may fairly be called his Historical Works; and it has been well remarked, with respect to selections from an author’s works, that such editions have invariably failed to give general satisfaction. These considerations have induced the Editor to determine on devoting his attention to the revision and republication of the genuine Works of Bede, including every thing that has yet seen the light, and whatever else may be obtained from public libraries. He invites the co-operation of all those who entertain a sentiment of regard towards our early Authors, and particularly to him who is the first in merit as the earliest in point of time. The task is one of great labour, and worthy to be undertaken at the national expense; but from the flattering manner in which his proposal has been hitherto entertained, he devotes himself to the Work with confidence of success.