Gleanings from the Harvest-field of Literature: A Melange of Excerpta, Curious, Humorous, and Instructive

Published in the late 19th century, Gleanings from the Harvest-field of Literature was compiled by Charles Carroll Bombaugh, an American physician and editor known for his fascination with curiosities and linguistic oddities. The volume emerged during an era of great popularity for literary miscellanies, which served as encyclopedic compendiums for Victorian readers who enjoyed scanning short, intriguing passages during their leisure time. Bombaugh intended the work to function as a cabinet of intellectual wonders, gathering disparate anecdotes, puzzles, and historical fragments that might otherwise be overlooked by a casual reader.

The design and structure of the volume reflect the encyclopedic enthusiasm of the time, favoring a dense, thematic organization that prioritized variety and entertainment over a singular narrative flow. Critics and contemporary readers generally received the work as a charming and accessible reference, cementing its place as a staple of the late-Victorian personal library. It remains a notable example of the nineteenth-century 'commonplace book' tradition, capturing the period's cultural appetite for the strange, the humorous, and the obscure.