Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Mendelssohn Family (1729-1847) From Letters and Journals, Vol. 1 The work I now offer to the public was originally undertaken for a very different purpose and from a very different point of view. It was intended to be a bio graphy not only of the family but for the family; I wished my children to know a little more of their fore fathers than is generally the case, especially among the middle classes. Some few friends saw this family biography, ' compiled about fifteen years ago, and expressed a wish to see it published. I have preserved its original form as much as possible, and hope that it will be read as the chronicle of a good middle-class family in Germany. 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.