A scheme which had long been simmering in John Blackwood's mind, and to which there are many previous allusions of a tentative kind, at last took shape, as we shall show by the following letters. He had often been struck by the want of a series of books—not school-books, nor yet exhaustive translations—which should place the ancient Greek and Latin authors within reach of a class of readers who knew neither Latin nor Greek, or at best had forgotten the smattering they acquired in their school-days.

John Blackwood to Rev. Lucas Collins.

Edinburgh, April 3, 1868.

Although I have not written to you I have been thinking a good deal about my scheme for popularising the Classics, and I am pretty sure that the scheme is a good one, and that you are the man to carry it out. Your preface indicates exactly the sort of thing I intended, and I like the specimen pages of Homer. A pleasant and readable exposition of what the great poems, dramas, &c., of antiquity are all about is what is wanted, and your style is as pleasant as can be, while your familiarity with the subject gives the proper scholarly tone and will impart the required knowledge. “Ancient Classics for Modern Readers” strikes me as pretty near the right kind of title.

Writing to Mr Delane, he thus describes his idea of the series:—

John Blackwood to John Delane.

Edinburgh, Dec. 21, 1869.

The enclosed is prospectus of a series of little volumes which has been in my head for a great many years, and which, if I mistake not, will exactly jump with your humour.