SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON THE FIRST EDITION.

“Conscientious and painstaking,”—The Times.

“Obviously a most painstaking work, and in many ways it is very well done.”—Pall Mall Gazette.

“In many ways a serviceable book, and deserves to be widely bought.”—The Speaker.

“A book of far-reaching research and careful industry ... will make this poet clearer, nearer, and dearer to every reader who systematically uses his book.”—Scotsman.

“Dr. Berdoe is a safe and thoughtful guide; his work has evidently been a labour of love, and bears many marks of patient research.”—Echo.

“Students of Browning will find it an invaluable aid.”—Graphic.

“A work suggestive of immense industry.”—Morning Post.

“Erudite and comprehensive.”—Glasgow Herald.

“As a companion to Browning’s works the Cyclopædia will be most valuable; it is a laborious, if necessary, piece of work, conscientiously performed, for which present and future readers and students of Browning ought to be really grateful.”—Nottingham Daily Guardian.

“A monumental labour, and fitting company for the great compositions he elucidates.”—Rock.

“It is very well that so patient and ubiquitous a reader as Dr. Berdoe should have written this useful cyclopædia, and cleared the meaning of many a dark and doubtful passage of the poet.”—Black and White.

“It is not too much to say that Dr. Berdoe has earned the gratitude of every reader of Browning, and has materially aided the study of English literature in one of its ripest developments.”—British Weekly.

“Dr. Berdoe’s Cyclopædia should make all other handbooks unnecessary.”—Star.

“We are happy to commend the volume to Browning students as the most ambitious and useful in its class yet executed.”—Notes and Queries.

“A most learned and creditable piece of work. Not a difficulty is shirked.”—Vanity Fair.

“A monument of industry and devotion. It has really faced difficulties, it is conveniently arranged, and is well printed and bound.”—Bookman.

“A wonderful help.”—Gentlewoman.

“Can be strongly recommended as one for a favourite corner in one’s library.”—Whitehall Review.

“Exceedingly well done; its interest and usefulness, we think, may pass without question.”—Publishers’ Circular.

“In a singularly industrious and exhaustive manner he has set himself to make clear the obscure and to accentuate the beautiful in Robert Browning’s poem ... must have involved infinite labour and research. It cannot be doubted that the book will be widely sought for and warmly appreciated.”—Daily Telegraph.

“Dr. Berdoe tackles every allusion, every proper name, every phase of thought, besides giving a most elaborate analysis of each poem. He has produced what we might almost call a monumental work.”—Literary Opinion.

“This cyclopædia may certainly claim to be by a long way the most efficient aid to the study of Browning that has been published, or is likely to be published.... Lovers of Browning will prize it highly, and all who wish to understand him will consult it with advantage.”—Baptist Magazine.

“The work has evidently been one of love, and we doubt whether any one could have been found better qualified to undertake it.”—Cambridge Review.

“All readers of Browning will feel indebted to Dr. Berdoe for his interesting accounts of the historical facts on which many of the dramas are based, and also for his learned dissertations on ‘The Ring and the Book’ and ‘Sordello.’”—British Medical Journal.

“The work is so well done that no one is likely to think of doing it over again.”—The Critic (New York).

“This work reflects the greatest credit on Dr. Berdoe and on the Browning Society, of which he is so distinguished a member,—it is simply invaluable.”—The Hawk.

“The Cyclopædia has at any rate brought his (Browning’s) best work well within the compass of all serious readers of intelligence—Browning made easy.”—The Month.