In the past we have been lucky enough to publish a number of books which have not only been very widely read, but seem to have been valuable both to Catholics and non-Catholics alike as aids in their thinking about the Church and the spiritual life. The books we have in mind might well be described as classics; they were published for the most part in the earlier days of Sheed & Ward, and they were in many cases the books which made our name. a number of these books are now out of print; they were to be forgotten entirely. We have therefore decided to reprint them in a uniform series, calling them collectively The New Ark Library.