The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Rating:
Summary: The poems are great...but why such tiny print?
Review: As a lover of great rhyme poetry, and in particular, a fan of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poetry - I was glad to finally find that a "Complete Works" volume was available. If (like me) you are a lover of Longfellow's classy and distinctive verse style, then of course there is no faulting the actual content of this book - from his most famous works to his most obscure..it's all here! Another fine feature of this book is the brief introductions that give historical and/or background information as to what/where/who inspired Longfellow to write a particular poem (although these intros are not given for every poem in the book, but mainly for the more critically-renowned & famous ones). However, this book certainly CAN be faulted for its extremely small, lightly colored, and almost eye-damaging print!!! I was surprized to open a harcover book of this size (not to mention price!) and find such a tiny, substandard printing style - and to make matters even worse, the small print is divided into narrow columns (like most modern Bibles, or newspapers), with two columns on each page and lots of blank space on either side! My advise? Buy this book ONLY if you are a hardcore Longfellow enthusiast who is looking for the more obscure works - if you are simply looking for a sampling of his best-loved poems, [...] sells plenty of other fine Logfellow collections that are much more easy on the eyes! My rating? Five stars for Longfellow's thoughtful and imaginative work with rhyme, rhythm, and imagery - but only 2 stars for this publisher's slipshod reprinting!