Our album of authors gathers into one volume a knowledge of the men and women who have made the standard literature of the world. Our album of authors takes the reader over the entire field, and introduces him to the representative men and women in the various departments of literature. It presents only a few minor writers, and these were selected either because they are very popular, or because the reader may learn a valuable lesson from their lives and writings. This volume will be valuable to those wishing to make up a library, as it gives a list of books published by standard authors and names each author's best works. It will be valuable to teachers for reference and study, because it not only gives extended sketches of the best authors, but it gives the critical estimation of each author's writings. It will be valuable to parents, because it carries their children into the society of good books, and makes them acquainted with the men and women of the grandest, purest, and noblest thoughts. - Preface.