The present edition of El Sombrero de tres picos is designed to make the book accessible as a text for use in college classes as early as the second or third semester of Spanish study. The plan of the edition needs no special comment. The editor has made the effort to include in the notes and the vocabulary explanation sufficient to cover all difficulties reasonably to be attributed to students who have done careful work in the elements of Spanish grammar, and the usual elementary reading. The numerous references in the notes are addressed more particularly to the teachers. In the use of the vocabulary, it should be borne in mind that the latter is designed for this text alone, and is in no sense a dictionary. It may be said also that an effort has been made to exclude from the notes all puerilities, and the explanation of commonplaces, whether of history, grammar, or mythology.
