Excerpt from Happy Homes and the Hearts That Make Them, or Thrifty People and Why They Thrive The marked interest which attaches to Mr. Smiles' productions is chiefly due to his happy use of biography. Readers who tire of extended biographical histories find here groups of the wise and distinguished of earth, each giving testimony to the various principles the author wishes to inculcate. This method of applying the accumulated experience and testimony of the past to illustrate and enforce principles, although by no means new, is certainly a most effective method of im pressing truth. The interest excited by the novel arises solely from our interest in the lives and struggles of men and women. They are interesting biographies. But much more interest should attach to lives actually lived and conquests actually made, provided they are produced with equal care. The home is the epitome of society and government. The application of these principles to every member of the home - the importance of their inculcation in the home where character is chiefly molded - and the value of such lessons in making every home what it may be and should be, has dictated the title, Happy Homes, and the Hearts that Make Them. 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.

Focusing on an era that both inherited and irretrievably altered the form and the content of earlier art production, The Art-Journal and Fine Art Publishing in Victorian England, 1850-1880 argues that fine art practices and the audiences and markets for them were influenced by the media culture of art publishing and journalism in substantial and formative ways, perhaps more than at any other time in the history of English art. The study centers on forms of Victorian picture-making and the art knowledge systems defining them, and draws on the histories of art, literature, journalism, and publishing. The historical example employed in the book is that of the more than 800 steel-plate prints after paintings published in the London-based Art-Journal between 1850 and 1880. The cultural phenomenon of the Art Journal print is shown to be a key connector in mid-Victorian art appreciation by drawing out specific tropes of likeness. This study also examines the important links between paint and print; the aesthetic values and domestic aspirations of the Victorian middle class; and the inextricable intertwining of fine art and 'trade' publishing.