Kenneth M. Roemer
University of Texas at Arlington

Those of you who learned about this collection of American literature covers, title pages, and tables of contents from my Fall 1999 Heath Anthology of American Literature Newsletter article "The Tales Tables (of Contents) Tell," which is included on this Web site, can skip much of this Preface and proceed to browse the collection. I should, however, remind you of the limits of the collection. My presentation of important anthologies and histories is selective. I placed emphasis on early American literature, as indicated by the inclusion of important period anthologies that concentrate on pre-1800 literature. This focus reflects my belief that the definition of the "beginnings" often sets patterns for the rest of the portrait of American literature.

Although there is an emphasis on early American literature and the collection is certainly not exhaustive, this expanded version of the collection is more inclusive than earlier versions. The most significant improvement in this collection of 100 volumes is the additional coverage of the 19th and 20th centuries. The online collection has almost tripled in size since its first appearance in the fall of 2000. Much of the expansion is due to the inclusion of entire two-volume tables of contents; the earlier collections frequently omitted much of the 19th and all of the 20th century. There are also important additions of anthologies not previously listed, including significant volumes mentioned in Jane Tompkins' "But Is It Any Good" chapter in Sensational Designs. One other improvement: the publication time frame has expanded back to 1829 and up to 2004. Despite these improvements, this is still a selective collection, especially if we take into consideration developments such as the Pearson Custom Library of American Literature, which allows instructors to create print anthologies drawing from more than 1700 selections, and the numerous online opportunities that open up a new world of customized electronic anthology creation.

If you have not encountered my Heath Newsletter article, a brief explanation may help you to understand my goals and selection criteria. I believe that one of the most efficient ways to acquaint students with the dramatic changes in the American literary canon is to present them with examples of titles, covers, and tables of contents reproduced from significant anthologies and histories. Even glancing at a few contents pages can raise fundamental questions, not only about the gender, race, and class representations of "America," but also about institutional and disciplinary changes. For instance, how can anthologies be used to demonstrate that a particular "literature" has sufficient "quantity" to be studied and sufficient "quality" (including "masterpieces" and "renaissances") to be studied "seriously"? Should a history or an anthology stress coherent themes, motifs, and patterns that distinguish a cultural or national identity or should they stress pluralities and the blurring of identity definitions? To what degree does/should an anthology or history reflect current theoretical and critical orientations? What does the changing nature of editorial boards and publishing companies say about who defines American literature? These are only a few of the issues that can be raised by comparing the covers, title pages, and tables of contents.

I hope that this collection will help you to explore questions about the shaping and continual re-shaping of the American literary canon and to expand your range of questioning to include the covers, title and contents pages from other American and non-American histories and anthologies.

I would like to thank Paul Lauter and Carla Mulford for encouraging me and offering advice about this project. Phil Cohen and Tim Morris, my former Departmental Chairs, and Victor Vitanza, the former Departmental Webmaster, allowed me to occupy Departmental virtual space. I owe a special debt to Matthew Levy, who spent many hours transforming my hard copies into the electrons before your eyes and designed a user-friendly, attractive Web site. I am also indebted to Loren Gruber and Sondra Reid for pointing out significant omissions in the earlier collections. Finally, I would like to thank the publishers and individuals who granted permission to reproduce covers, title pages, and tables of contents.