Excerpt from Dissolving Views in the History of Judaism
Authors and the reading public are generally found at variance with each other in regard to the desirability or necessity of a preface. Authors, as a rule, are convinced that a preface is indispensable to a better understanding of their books, and they seldom fail to insert some prefatory remarks between the title page and the first chapter, deceiving themselves with the presumption that the "kind" reader will peruse their roman-numbered pages before reading the book itself. The reading public, on the other hand, also as a rule, considers the preface a superfluous addition to the book. "If the author cannot make himself understood and appreciated by his work," readers will say, "he will surely fail to do so by the most elaborate preface; if the book is interesting, if it contains some useful information it will float by its own merits, and rise to the surface without the aid of the prefatorial life-preserver." This difference of opinion between author and public is more quickly and more pleasantly adjusted than one would expect. The knot is untied in the simplest possible manner. The public permits the author to write as many pages of preface as he sees fit, but preserves for itself the privilege of skipping these first pages.
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