Excerpt from Literary Industries: A Memoir Hen we contemplate a great work of any kind we are naturally led to inquire into the origin of it. We ask ourselves how it was conceived; how the germ-idea of it was developed; how it grew to its full proportions; and above all, What manner of man it was to whom the accom plishment Of such a work was given. In this volume of memoirs the genesis, evolution, and completion of one of the most remarkable literary undertakings of the age are de scribed, and in the most interesting of forms, namely, the auto biographic. The life and work of Hubert Howe Bancroft, moreover, afford a study of one of the rarest and most potent of combinations - that of the faculties which belong to the scholar and to the man Of action. For the most part these faculties are found apart. The scholar is seldom a man of action; the man of action is seldom a scholar. The devotion of all available energies to busmess has usually been thought incompatible with the development and pursuit of any high intellectual aim. The devotion Of all available energies to intellectual work has as a rule appeared incompatible with success in what are called practical affairs. Mr. Bancroft's memoirs not only prove him to be possessed of both these capacities, but they clearly Show that this rare and peculiar combination could alone have enabled him to carry out his life-work as he has done. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.