Publisher's Advertising (1872)

A modest twelve‑page pamphlet offers a vivid snapshot of late‑Victorian reading life. Compiled as an addendum to a popular novel, it proudly lists the titles that filled the shelves of Harper’s Library of Select Novels, a series that promised affordable, reliable entertainment for everyone from railway travelers to salon guests. The catalog reads like a cultural checklist, naming works by Bulwer, Dumas, Andersen and many lesser‑known writers, each paired with a modest price and a brief label of genre.

Beyond the inventory, the brochure paints a picture of how fiction was marketed in the 1870s: brown cloth covers traveling in steamships, boudoirs and verandas, and a promise that a good story could lift the mind from daily cares. Listeners will hear a concise yet thorough portrait of an era when the simple act of picking up a novel was both a pastime and a social statement, revealing the breadth of tastes and the confidence of a publishing house that was nearing its four‑hundredth volume.