Abbot, Henry L.Problems of the Panama canal. $1.50. Macmillan.
Abbott, G. F.Through India with the prince. *$3.50. Longmans.
As special correspondent for the Calcutta Statesman, Mr. Abbott accompanied the Prince and Princess of Wales on their recent tour thru’ India. The author gives the route of the royal party making the description interesting with receptions and fêtes; he records observations socially and politically; he “touches on every imaginable topic that India offers to a writer.” (Dial.) “Disposed to be epigrammatic, sarcastic, and ironical, in epigram he is sometimes betrayed into excess.” (Lond. Times.)
“The style is, as the French say, ‘tortured,’ or, in other words, there is some straining after effect. We are, nevertheless, able to commend Mr. Abbott’s volume: and his photographs are among the best of the many good Indian photographs we have seen.”
“The want of descriptive power and the too pronounced personal note are the two blemishes that detract from the main value of the book, which is found in the writer’s comments and observations on the political status of India.” H. E. Coblentz.
“Mr. Abbott made lively use of his exceptional opportunities and shows himself to be a man of, at any rate, independent judgment.”
“He has not written daily newspaper ‘stories,’ but a book that will quite probably endure.”
“He had opportunities of seeing pageants, and we allow that he has a gift for describing them. But where is his call to deal with the ‘serious problems of British rule?’”
Abbott, Lyman.Christian ministry. **$1.50. Houghton.
“The book is a valuable one for the modern ministry. It is full of reality, of suggestion, and of inspiration.” J. M. English.
“The book is characterized by keen analysis, comprehensive thought, practical interest, and by vigorous and clean-cut expression.” E. A. Hanley.
Acton, Sir John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st baron.Lord Acton and his circle; ed. by Abbot [Francis Aidan] Gasquet. *$4.50. Longmans.
The letters of Lord Acton render a direct service in throwing light on a personality little known and little understood. “With the exception of a few letters written to Mr. Wetherell, all those here published were addressed to Richard Simpson, one of the most brilliant though least famous of the Oxford converts to Rome, and they are all concerned with the conduct of ‘The rambler,’ ‘The home and foreign review,’ and the other periodicals which occupied the energetic youth of Acton.... We see in the letters how thoroughly Acton was imbued with the principle of growth in religious thought.... We get a series of interesting glances into European and Papal politics before either Bismarck had won his laurels or the Pope had lost his crown.” (Ath.)
“It may be said of the letters as a whole that they will possess most importance to the liberal section of English Catholics, for whom, indeed, the book seems to have been written.”
“On the whole the picture of Lord Acton as it appears in this volume is a very favorable one.”
“Attractively edited.”
“The letters contained in the present volume are of surpassing interest.”
“The editor has done his work of annotating the letters and explaining the allusions admirably; and it could not have been an easy task.”
Adams, Andy.Cattle brands.†$1.50. Houghton.
Life on the frontier in the eighties is vividly portrayed in the fourteen stories which Mr. Adams, “a veteran cowboy,” has included in this volume. These are tales “of the desperado; of man-to-man difficulties; of queer characters; the adventures of the cowboy in the field of politics, the capture of outlaws by rangers; and the ransom of rich rancheros who have been kidnapped.” Some titles are: Drifting North, Bad Medicine, A winter round-up, A college vagabond, The double trail, Rangering, and The story of a poker steer.
“These stories are somewhat slight in texture, more suited to the ephemeral needs of a magazine than a bound volume, but they have a ring of sincerity about them and an insight into essentials.”
“To many people they will seem more enjoyable than the longer stories by Mr. Adams. Their merit lies wholly in the obvious truth to life of the scenes.”
“The new book will seem to most readers too much like an echo of ‘The log of a cowboy’ to allow of its producing the same effect of sincerity.”
Reviewed by Louise Collier Willcox.
Adams, Frederick Upham.Bottom of the well. †$1.50. Dillingham.
The capture of a smuggling craft by a revenue cutter off the Jamaica coast brings into view the hero of Mr. Adams’ story, a lad of twelve, the charge of the smugglers. Once separated from them, he is adopted and educated by a titled Englishman. From England the scene shifts to New York where young Stanley Deane espouses the cause of some much abused strikers whose plans brew within the four walls of the “Well.” He is convicted of murder, but cleared of the charge when the supposed victim dramatically appears and reads a serious lecture to the supporters of a police system that “makes justice a market place for the employment of incompetence and the enriching of pettifoggers.”
Adams, Samuel.Writings of Samuel Adams; ed. by H. A. Cushing. *$5. Putnam.
“In one respect this volume is superior to the first. It indicates with care the reason for attributing newspaper letters and other papers to Adams. Little more if anything can be demanded. The notes are numerous and helpful.” A. C. McLaughlin.
“Mr. Cushing has followed Wells too closely, and has not made such a careful, critical study of the contributions to journals as to give his decision the requisite weight.”
Adams, Thomas Sewall, and Sumner, Helen L.Labor problems: a text book; ed. by Prof. R. T. Ely. *$1.60. Macmillan.
“The ground covered has not been well covered in any other text book. The scope of this book is unusually broad.” John Cummings.
Addison, Mrs. Julia de Wolf.Art of the National gallery: a critical survey of the schools and painters as represented in the British collection. **$2. Page.
“Will be likely to hold its own for several generations.”
“Is brightly and sympathetically written.”
“Is for a person visiting the gallery who has a fair general knowledge of art, one who would like to be guided by impressionistic criticism rather than by accepted scientific connoisseurship.”
Adler, Elkan Nathan.About Hebrew manuscripts. *$2.50. Oxford.
Nine detached pieces compose this group: Some missing chapters of Ben Sira; An ancient bookseller’s catalogue; Professor Blau on the Bible as a book; A letter of Menasseh Ben Israel; Jewish literature and the diaspora; The humours of Hebrew mss.; The romance of Hebrew printing: and Zur jüdisch-persischen litteratur, by Prof. Bacher.
“Much of his work is, of course, tentative: but he at the same time provides very useful material for further study.”
“To the true book worm, to the man who loves ‘erudition’ for its own sake without looking very deep for the substantial contents of rare prints or manuscripts, this work will be welcome.”
Adler, Felix.Essentials of spirituality. **$1. Pott.
“In fact Dr. Adler does not mean quite what he says. His theory followed logically would lead us all into a moral Nirvana.” Edward Fuller.
“Four popular addresses which are very readable and elevating in tone.” E. L. Norton.
Adler, Felix.Religion of duty. **$1.20. McClure.
Reviewed by George Hodges.
Aflalo, Moussa.Truth about Morocco; an indictment of the British foreign office; with introd. by R. B. Cunninghame Graham. *$2. Lane.
Agnus, Orme, pseud. (John C. Higginbotham).Sarah Tuldon. [+]75c. Little.
A popular edition of a 1904 book. Sarah Tuldon, an English peasant girl, is the type of heroine which one expects to find in historical novels, but her spirit, energy, good commonsense and generosity are directed towards leavening sordid conditions among the laboring classes. She is self-reared from most unpromising surroundings, and thru never-wearying perseverance reaches a position of self-command and generalship in her community.
“Its greatest claim to importance lies in the artistic and sympathetic treatment the author has given the subject.”
Ainger, Alfred.Lectures and essays. 2v. *$5. Macmillan.
Canon Ainger, “of blessed memory, never forgot in the pulpit that he was a man of letters, or out of it that he was a clergyman.” In these volumes, he “ranges over a wide field, from Chaucer to Tennyson, giving five lectures and two essays to Shakespeare, and writing also of Swift, Cowper, Burns, Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Charles Lamb, Dickens, of children’s books, of actors, modern plays, conversation, of wit, and of euphuism.” (Spec.)
“The saving grace in Canon Ainger was his appreciation of perfect language. In his critical estimates we think he very often wandered wide.”
“Had the Royal institution lectures been omitted, our judgment might have been much more favourable.”
“That the author has found the secret of charm in literature no one who is familiar with his genial and sympathetic work on Lamb needs to be reminded.”
“The two volumes are likely to find contented readers best among those who look for a discussion of style and obvious quality rather than verbal felicities and critical niceties.”
“The two volumes will not take rank as permanent additions to the literature of the English essay, but they form most agreeable reading.”
“Sanity and sympathy is the keynote of these essays.”
“It is, indeed, no small merit in a writer when he expresses his most subtle thought with the lucidity, ease, and completeness that are to be found here.”
Alden, Raymond MacDonald.Knights of the silver shield; with il. by Katharine H. Greenland. †$1.25. Bobbs.
Out of such ingredients as castles, knights, giants, palaces and fairies, the author has fashioned a story for little people abounding in good deeds and true.
Aldin, Cecil Charles Windsor.Gay dog; pictured by Cecil Aldin. †$1.50. Dutton.
Mr. Aldin’s “gay dog” is a bull terrier owned by an actress. And the creature is as veritable a bit of canine irresponsibility and pomposity as one could imagine. He indulges in the fun-loving, care-free pursuits of his mistress, gets into scrapes, and is finally sent into the country to recuperate. His dog-philosophy is this: “Some dogs are too readily imposed upon—not I.”
“No display of cleverness quite compensates for unsuitability in choice of subject-matter.”
“The text is poor, but Mr. Aldin’s drawings have some spirit.”
“This year of a dog’s life is very amusing.”
Aldington, Mrs. A. E.Love letters that caused a divorce. [+]75c. Dillingham.
The title is quite self-explanatory of the contents of the book. A series of letters which at first intend no harm, grow to the proportion of Platonic missives, and later become the unlicensed love-letters that cause a separation.
Aldis, Janet.Madame Geoffrin, her salon and her times. **$2.75. Putnam.
From the journals and letters of friends have been gathered the interesting phases of a unique salonist’s life. Madame Geoffrin was “a homely bourgeoise without rank and connections,” yet able to draw about her kings and princes, dukes and maréchals, in short, the literary, artistic and social lights of all Europe. Aside from being simply a diversion, the book sets forth much economic and social history of the latter half of the eighteenth century.
“The central story is well enough told, though in rather a rambling manner.”
“The scraps of information of which it is made up are of exactly the right kind. We cannot commend the style of the book, which is unpleasantly jerky.”
“A most interesting volume.”
“It is an extremely vivacious and interesting throng of men and women that pass before us in the pages. The author is an amiable and communicative cicerone.”
“The volume is remarkably crisp and concise in its treatment of material which in many hands would have remained an incoherent medley, and, what is of prime importance in a work of this kind, its clever and sprightly pages slacken to no dull word.” Jessie B. Rittenhouse.
“It is bright, easy, extremely anecdotal, and studded with word-miniatures of the notables of the day.”
“An interesting and readable book.”
Aldrich, Richard.Guide to The ring of the Nibelung. $1.25. Ditson.
“The book furnishes a very helpful aid to the study of Wagner’s great tetralogy.”
“An analysis which in completeness and usefulness surpasses those of his predecessors.”
“Particularly useful to students is the second part of this little book.”
“For general use this guide is most convenient.”
Alexander, De Alva Stanwood.Political history of the state of New York.2v. ea. *$2.50. Holt.
Volume 1, (1774–1832) follows the movements of political parties in New York from 1777, when the state constitution was drawn up, to 1832 and the formation of the Whig party. Volume 2, (1833–1861) takes up the story and carries it down thru the formation of the republican party in 1854, to the crippling of the Weed machine in 1861. The causes of fractional divisions during these years are carefully traced, and the subtle methods by which such men as George Clinton, Hamilton, Burr, De Witt Clinton, Van Buren, Seymour and Thurlow Weed achieved leadership and in succession ordered the political course of the Empire state receive detailed analyses.
“These volumes will have small value for the special student of New York politics, but they are capable of rendering a real service to the general reader until the time when a more thorough and comprehensive study of this subject shall appear.”
“In this limited field Mr. Alexander writes with vigor, and shows generally a sound judgment which partly atones for his tendency to hero-worship and his lack of research.” Theodore Clarke Smith.
“The author has contrived so well to adorn the necessary political facts with items in personal biography, that the chronicle rises to a place somewhere in the domain of masterpieces.”
“What Mr. Alexander has done is to give an interesting, although, perhaps, a too uncritical account of political leaders and events in a field of American history that was practically unoccupied. To the reader, who has hitherto found it impossible to get anything like a general idea of early New York politics in a single work, the volumes should prove a boon.”
“Mr. Alexander is very successful in conducting the reader through the mazes of New York politics.”
“In the main, Mr. Alexander has succeeded well in presenting the personalities that have figured conspicuously in New York’s history.”
Alexander, Eleanor.Lady of the well. †$1.50. Longmans.
“This novel is a romantic story of Guelf and Ghibelline, of troubadour and queen of beauty. The Emperor Frederick II., grandson of Barbarossa, is the central figure, and the troubadour, Bernart, is very properly the hero. There is a great deal of real romance in the book, and the clash of arms and perilous adventures which occur in it are very much more lifelike than is usual in works of this kind.”—Spec.
“It is a pretty story, gracefully written, as such a story should be; but a little nebulous, as is the troubadour himself.”
“Miss Alexander writes with distinction, and her book may be recommended as a quiet and artistic piece of work.”
“Just the proper amount of realism and humor to make a pretty and fairly plausible tale.”
“A picturesque piece of work in many ways, but the style is stiff and affected and at times careless and slipshod.”
“The beginning of the story certainly drags a little. The book is altogether an extremely successful attempt to portray an exceedingly difficult subject, and we may congratulate the author on the mediaevel atmosphere which she has contrived to impart into her story.”
Alexander, Grace.Judith. †$1.50. Bobbs.
Camden, Ohio, in the days of the Omnibus bill furnishes the setting for this romance. The principal actors in the little drama, which is barely saved from being a tragedy, are the following: Stephen Waters, a stalwart young minister; Judith La Monde who is to be sacrificed matrimonially to atone for her mother’s wrong done to the fiancé’s father; Abel Troop, the colorless but altogether good youth, for whom Judith is making her sacrifice; and a group of town’s people who lend a social and political atmosphere to the story. Judith’s battle between conscience and heart’s desire is waged valiantly and her patience has its reward.
“The story shows painstaking effort and some skill in handling, but it lacks the subtle power and imaginative grasp that mark a novel of the first rank.”
“A volume that is not devoid of merit.”
“Some of the scenes are well done, and the characters stand out with a good degree of boldness.”
Reviewed by Mrs. L. H. Harris.
Alexander, Hartley Burr.Poetry and the individual: an analysis of the imaginative life in relation to the creative spirit in man and nature. **$1.50. Putnam.
“If it be necessary to analyze the reason for the expression of thought in poetry, then Dr. Alexander has done a useful thing. If not, he has at least done an interesting thing, in tracing from a philosophical standpoint the evolution of poetry since its earliest manifestation.” (Pub. Opin.) The question is dealt with under the general subjects: Impulse and song, Evolution of poetic spirit, The worth of life. The universal and the individual, The imagination, Aesthetic expression, Beauty and personality, and Nature and poetic mood.
“His style impresses me as surprisingly inconsistent. It is both brilliant and stilted, fluent and awkward. The book is admirable for its sympathetic and sure apprehension of the present age (its individualism, introspection and courageous faith) and for a captivating string of poetry and eloquence which pervades the whole.” Ralph Barton Perry.
“Doubtless many will question the validity of his logical process at various points, and a still larger number will find it extremely difficult to read his pages with confident grasp of his meaning, for it is not the habit of the day to carry such discussions quite as far beneath the surface as he has presumed to go.”
“It is a well-ordered and well-reasoned treatment.”
“The book is not unusual at all, but shows care in its preparation, and somewhat more interesting than this, an actual love for the subject.”
Alexander, J. H.Elementary electrical engineering in theory and practice. $2. Van Nostrand.
A class book for junior and senior students and working electricians. The volume is fully illustrated.
“It is difficult to find much in this book to recommend.”
Alexander, Lucia.Libro d’oroof those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life; tr. from the Italian by Mrs. Francis Alexander. *$2. Little.
“Her translation is in excellent English, and reads like an original; she has given us an altogether delightful book.”
“Mrs. Alexander ... has discharged the translator’s task very faithfully and gracefully.”
“As a whole, the book will undoubtedly appeal to a limited and definite class of readers, but the legends are picturesque enough to make a casual dipping into the treasures of the book decidedly pleasurable. The English rendering of the text is simple and graceful.”
Alexander, William.Life insurance company. **$1.50. Appleton.
“It is, indeed a ‘primer’ with all a primer’s defects and merits; a text of so great skill in presentation that it may be trusted pretty nearly to teach itself; of surpassing snap and go; of perfect mastery in technique of exposition; of consistent actuality and concreteness of method: of interest almost rivaling a storybook.” H. J. Davenport.
Alger, George William.Moral overstrain. **$1. Houghton.
“Eight essays dealing with the moral aspects of modern business and law.... The writer ... who is a New York lawyer, discusses ‘graft’, the influence of corporate wealth, the irresponsible use of money, and the man with the ‘muck-rake.’”—R. of Rs.
“In the flood of, to say the least, ill-judged revelation with which the magazines are being flooded at the present time such calm reviews as these are of the greatest benefit as a needed antidote.”
“One feature of the book which recommends it is that in almost every case the lawyer-author has a remedy to suggest for the evil he exposes.”
“Any American citizen will be benefited by reading the eight essays. They are sane without being commonplace, and interesting without being sensational.”
“They are vigorous in thought, and written in a nervous and virile English.”
Allen, Charles Dexter.American bookplates.*$2.50. Macmillan.
“It is still the only book on the subject and serves its purpose well as an indispensable book of reference.”
Allen, Frank Waller.Back to Arcady. †$1.25. Turner, H. B.
“It is a pretty and poetic book, perhaps without much substance, but all the better for its delicacy of touch and feeling.”
“Mr. Allen’s fancy is tenderly delicate, and entirely free from sentimentality.”
Allen, Philip Loring.America’s awakening: the triumph of righteousness in high places. **$1.25. Revell.
An optimistic view of America’s reviving ideals in business and politics. “This book is an attempt to catch, while the subject is still close and living, some of the spirit and accomplishment of this revival. Dealing, as it must with movements only half worked out and men still active in the same fields, it cannot pretend to be in any sense critical or final. Yet it does hope to make the citizen who reads it a little better acquainted with some of the personalities and some of the forces most prominent in this remarkable period.”
“He does not hold a brief for any reformer or any fad. The novelty and assured interest of Mr. Allen’s book lie chiefly, of course, in his interpretation of events.”
“A readable and suggestive little work.”
Alston, Leonard.Modern constitutions in outline: an introductory study in political science. *90c. Longmans.
“May be of some service to the reader who wishes to get a little knowledge of a big subject in a short time and with little effort: it is a short cut to learning.”
Ambler, Sara Ellmaker.Dear old home. †$1.50. Little.
A happy wholesome story for young boys and girls. Two city children spend the summer with their grandmother in an Amish settlement of Pennsylvania. The story records the pranks and sports of these youngsters aided by two Pennsylvania Dutch children.
Amelung, Walter, and Holtzinger, Heinrich.Museums and ruins of Rome; ed. by Mrs. S. Arthur Strong. 2v. *$3. Dutton.
Each of these volumes gives a “synthetic and comprehensive view” of the subject with which it deals. “The plan of the work is very simple. Beginning with the Vatican, the student is taken through the papal collections, the municipal collections, and the national collections, the text describing and characterizing the masterpieces, with sufficient biographical data relating to the sculptors, with succinct but clear accounts of the character of the work, and descriptions which enable the reader to fasten his attention on special characteristics with the enforcement of a profusion of illustrations.” (Outlook.) A short bibliography prefaces each volume.
“Altogether, these little books are without their match, and no one should go to Rome without them.”
“This manual, however, is not calculated to please the ordinary visitor to Rome, nor the student of Roman antiquities in general, on account of its bias in favour of one class of specialists.”
“It is very evident that our author has given us the latest and best theories as to the different works of art.” James C. Egbert.
“The volume becomes quite a liberal education in the history of antique sculpture, which is made more thorough by its historic index in the concluding chapter.”
“Amelung’s knowledge and experience are broad and solid, his perception keen, and his writing vigorous yet pleasant. The translation represents him as worthily as perhaps any translation of a book of æsthetic as well as historic criticism could reproduce its original.”
“Gives the traveler a convenient and suggestive guide for his rambles about the Roman capital.”
“A convenient work.”
“Probably the best compendium yet produced of the art treasures of the mother city of the world.”
“The idea embodied in these volumes is an excellent one, and it is, upon the whole, carried out with a large measure of success. Some points, however, invite criticism. Dr. Amelung’s verdicts on ancient sculptors are not free from that dogmatism which is the besetting sin of German archæologists.”
American Jewish yearbook, 5667. Sept. 20, 1906, to Sept. 8, 1907; ed. by Henrietta Szold. 75c. Jewish pub.
The eighth issue of this yearbook. Among the new features are a table of the time of sunrise and sunset, and the beginning of dawn and the end of twilight for six northern latitudes, on three days of each month of the solar year; two new lists including respectively a record of the United States during the current year and notable articles appearing in the Jewish press and thru secular mediums, and notably a table of Jewish massacres in Russia during the period “whose entrance and exit are guarded by Kishineff and Bialystok as blood stained sentinels.”
Ames, V. B.Matrimonial primer; with pictorial matrimonial mathematics and decorations by Gordon Ross. **$1.50. Elder.
Amsden, Dora.Impressions of Ukiyo-ye, the school of Japanese colour-print artists. **$1.50. Elder.
“Accurate investigation of personalities, epochs and eras, and warm appreciation, expressed in highly rhetorical terms, of Japanese art characterize this informing volume.”
“This little book tells us things we desire to know about a fascinating subject.”
Anderson, Asher.Congregational faith and practice: principles, polity, benevolent societies, institutions. *5c. Pilgrim press.
A little pamphlet for pastors and church workers.
Anderson, Sir Robert.Sidelights on the home rule movement. *$3. Dutton.
“Sir Robert Anderson’s ‘Side lights on the home rule movement’ is emphatically a controversy-breeding book. It contains the recollections of the well-known British secret service official so far as they pertain to his activity in connection with Fenianism and later aspects of Irish agitation, and it may also be described in large part a scathing criticism of the Irish sections of Mr. Morley’s ‘Life of Gladstone,’ which Sir Robert attacks as the work of a romanticist rather than a historian.”—Outlook.
“It has fallen to the lot of hardly any other man in our time to have so intimate a knowledge of the darker aspects of Irish Separatist politics as Sir Robert Anderson.”
“It will be difficult for most readers who are not of his immediate social or political circle to see any advantage that can result from the publication.”
“Apart from these personal interests, the book has an undoubted historical value as a contribution to our knowledge of the events with which it mainly deals. Especially interesting are the chapters on the Fenian movement, the dynamite campaign, and the much too historic Clerkwell explosion.”
Anderson, Wilbert L.Country town; with introd. by Josiah Strong. **$1. Baker.
Dr. Strong says “The author has faith in the country town, and is able to render a reason for the faith that is in him.” Mr. Anderson maintains that the great drift from the country to the city will only benefit the rural districts, for there will be left an enduring residuum with the stout heart that battles with problems of civilization and advancement. He says “that there is no scientific reason for the popular notion that the rural population is under a fatality of evil. The future depends almost wholly upon the power of environment—upon education, upon commerce, upon evangelization, upon participation in the great movements of the age.”
“This study of existing conditions will be found valuable even by those who do not agree with all the conclusions reached.”
“Though he cites numerous authorities, he writes in the graceful style of the essayist.”
“It is involved in style; is loaded with quotations and citations having no particular bearing on the case, full of repetition, and not clear in its manner of reaching conclusions, which are, however, sane ones.”
“The most serious criticism that can be advanced against it is that the author carries the argument from evolution to an extreme in conducting a sociological inquiry along biological lines. To be commended for its readableness as well as for the sanity and fair-mindedness.”
“Extremely interesting and informing work.” Edward Cary.
“Mr. Anderson is an optimist where optimism is rare.”
Andreas and The fates of the apostles: two Anglo-Saxon narrative poems; ed. with introd., notes, and glossary by G: Philip Krapp. *$2. Ginn.
This volume in “The Albion series of Anglo-Saxon and middle English poetry,” contains all the material essential to a thoro study of these two poems. The text of both poems is based upon Wülker’s Codex Verallensis and the variant readings present a full history of the textual criticism of the works. A comprehensive introduction discusses the Vercelli manuscript, the sources of the poems, their history, and their authorship. The volume is fully annotated and contains a classified bibliography and a glossary.
“Altogether, this much-needed edition is one of the most scholarly contributions that have been made in recent times to the illustration of Old English literature.”
Andrews, Arthur Lynn, ed. Specimens of discourse. *60c. Holt.
A miscellaneous collection of specimens chosen with the object of teaching a student to present near-at-hand occurrences in clear English. The introduction gives a variety of themes, analyses them, and shows how to elaborate various types of composition, as description, narration and exposition.
Andrews, Mary Raymond Shipman (Mrs. William S. Andrews).Bob and the guides; il. by F. C. Yohn, A. B. Frost and others. †$1.50. Scribner.
A book of ten Canadian hunting stories with Bob, a small boy, for the hero. In each he gives in boyish fashion some camping adventure, admitting that he gets “big words mixed sometimes unconscientiously.” but having a “noble ear for general picturesqueness.”
“Can be read aloud and out of doors, two severe tests for a book.”
Angus, S.Sources of the first ten books of Augustine’s De Civitate Dei. $1. Univ. library, Princeton, N. J.
A three-part thesis which treats “Literary sources of Augustine.” “Annotations on books i-x,” and “Augustine’s knowledge of Greek.”
Annandale, Nelson.Faroes and Iceland; with 24 il. and an appendix on the Celtic pony, by F. H. A. Marshall. *$1.50. Oxford.
“Is pleasant reading. He might with advantage have given a little more time to contemporary Icelandic literature before printing his censures: he is too ready to cry ‘All is barren,’ and hardly appreciates the variety of life, the mixture of old fashions and modern culture in that wonderful country. Some of his statements may be flatly contradicted by other travellers, who have found better entertainment there and little of the squalor which seems to have beset Mr. Annandale.” W. P. Ker.
Anstruther, Elizabeth.Complete beauty book. **$1.25. Appleton.
“Beauty is a matter of health, dress, and winsomeness,” the author declares in her introduction, and she follows her assertion with sensible advice upon the care of the body, a detailed plea for fresh air, exercise, and cold water, with some additional counsel upon clothes and conduct. The skin, diet, digestion, the hair, the hands, feet, and teeth, fatness and thinness and charm of manner are treated in successive chapters.
“With the utmost good sense and simplicity, we are told just how to keep well and to be beautiful.” Hildegarde Hawthorne.
Arbiter in council: a collection of papers on war, peace and arbitration. *$2.50. Macmillan.
“Is there any reason to hope that right ever will be ready? This is the question which the ‘Arbiter in council’ essays to answer. In form, the work is a series of colloquies initiated by a veteran Liberal, a disciple of Bright and of Cobden, and a lifelong advocate of peace and arbitration.” (Lond. Times.) The subjects discussed, one for every day during a week, are the causes and consequences of war, modern warfare, private war and the duel, cruelty, the federation of the world, arbitration, the political economy of war and Christianity and war.
“The scheme is a well-imagined one and the discussions are full of interest, information and suggestion. Nevertheless the result is far from satisfactory. The book is pervaded throughout by the assumption more or less openly avowed that war is always and everywhere a wrong thing—not merely that most wars are wrong, and that many wars are wicked: and the several parties to the discussion are all too much of the same way of thinking.”
“As a summary of all that is to be said on the subject, thrown into a readable form, the book is well done; nevertheless, after reading it there is left in the mind of the reader the perhaps unavoidable feeling that it is an old story.”
“A clever piece of special pleading rather than a serious contribution to political thought.”
Argyll, George Douglas Campbell, 8th duke of: autobiography and memoirs; ed. by the Dowager Duchess of Argyll. 2v. *$10. Dutton.
In his autobiography the Duke of Argyll sketches a “long career filled with notable activities. Acceding to the title very young and unexpectedly ... he was of a serious and energetic bent. Early called to share in the government, he was a member of several cabinets.... For years he was an enthusiastic follower of Gladstone, but broke with him on the land question and Home rule; but their personal friendship remained unimpaired. Yet his chief distinction was as a controversial writer. He had considerable scientific attainments. From early life an eager naturalist ... and was practically skilled in geology. He read widely in science, too, and being, as he innocently observes, ‘inclined to question rather than to harbor doubt’ he ‘took most naturally to religion and theology.’” (Nation.)
“His biography was well worth writing; though it might have been advantageously condensed into half the size.”
“The Duke might have curbed his pen to advantage.”
“It differs in two particulars from most British biographies. It deals with political and social life in Scotland as well as in England; and more than any biography of recent times, except perhaps that of Earl Granville, it deals with life almost exclusively from an aristocratic point of view.”
“Has an interest and a value little below Morley’s ‘Life of Gladstone’ in the brightness of the light which it throws on the English history of its time.”
“The chapters which follow the autobiography give a most inadequate picture of what the Duke was in his prime and of what he did. The chapter on his science is particularly disappointing.”
“The various kinds of interest that belong to the memoirs of a statesman, relating great events in which he has a borne a part, and the chronicles of a recluse, of a naturalist watching the lower lives about him, belong to these volumes.” Montgomery Schuyler.
“To the biographical library these volumes will be a valuable addition. Will be interesting as a biography to the reader who is versed in the art of judicious skipping, and valuable as a contribution to the history of the nineteenth century.”
“The Duke of Argyll’s literary gift was considerable, as is shown, not only by his speeches, but by his descriptive criticism of the great men by whom he was surrounded.”
“It is full of interest, and displays almost on every page a love and knowledge of nature which add to its charm.”
Armitage, Albert B.Two years in the Antarctic. $5. Longmans.
A personal narrative of the British Antarctic expedition to which Dr. Nansen contributes a preface.
“Those who have studied Captain Scott’s weighty volumes may skim with some amusement and interest Lieutenant Armitage’s lighter pages.”
“He is a good narrator and carries the reader along with a warmth that is surprising in such a chilly subject.” Stephen Chalmers.
“Mr. Armitage supplies some points of detail which supplement Captain Scott’s narrative.”
Armour, John P.Edenindia: a tale of adventure. †$1.50. Dillingham.
Edenindia is a Utopian realm into which an airship drops the hero of this tale, Victor Bonnivard. Jilted by a heartless maiden, and weary of life at best, it touches his vanity to be called to join the king’s counsellors and family of state. Edenindia is a socialistic kingdom whose inhabitants have been kept in ignorance of any other people. Ennui finally compels young Victor to elope with the king’s daughter.
“His imagination, if bold, is rather heavy and lumbering in its gait.”
Armour, Jonathan Ogden-.Packers, the private car lines and the people. $1.50. Altemus.
In which Mr. Armour defends the packers. He tells of the conditions that brought the private car-line into existence and what it has accomplished to facilitate traffic and to improve the business situation.
“Mr. Armour is not a stylist; but he knows how to put his arguments clearly and effectively.”
“The book is vigorously written, and probably must be regarded as the authoritative reply of the packers, by one of their most eminent representatives, to the accusations brought against them. It is an able plea in defense and avoidance. As such the careful student of the problem will find it valuable. He will not find it conclusive.”
“Mr. Armour writes in a rather bitter tone.”
Armstrong, Sir Walter.Gainsborough and his place in English art. $3.50. Scribner.
“Has already come to be justly regarded as a standard biography.”
Armstrong, Sir Walter.Peel collection and the Dutch school. $2. Dutton.
“A meritorious contribution to museum literature.” Royal Cortissoz.
“The volume is perhaps the best contribution to the critical study of Dutch painting since the publication of ‘Les maîtres d’autrefois.’ It is something new in the literature of art. Its criticism is fresh and stimulating.”
Armstrong, Sir Walter.Sir Joshua Reynolds, first president of the Royal academy. *$3.50. Scribner.
“Excellent critical life.” Royal Cortissoz.
“His whole aim seems to be to belittle and disparage Sir Joshua as a man, and as a result to lessen the potentiality of his art.” Charles Henry Hart.
“It is probably the best book that has yet been written about Sir Joshua.... His presentment of Reynolds’s character is, perhaps, more just than the pæans of the hero worshippers; and his critical opinions on Reynolds’s art are worthy of the most careful attention.”
Armstrong, William Jackson.Heroes of defeat. $3. Clarke, R.
Six heroes who thru no fault of bravery failed to attain their hoped for success “are here described with all the vivid and picturesque power of a Froude, a Macaulay or a Hugo.” (Arena.) They are Schamyl, the soldier priest and hero of Caucasus; Abdel Kader, the Sultan of Algeria who for fifteen years kept France from any stronghold in Algeria; Scanderbeg, the Albanian who saved Europe from the Turk’s dominion; Tecumseh, our own Shawnoe hero; Vercingetorix, King of Gaul, who fought against Julius Caesar; and Kosiuszko, the hero of Polish freedom.
“It is a real acquisition to our literature, a work of permanent value.”
“Mr. Armstrong tells the story of all these with some skill, though his style is considerably marred by flights that suggest stump oratory.”
Arnim, Mary Annette (Beauchamp) gräfin von.Princess Priscilla’s fortnight. †$1.50. Scribner.
“Priscilla’s adventures are a shade too preposterous for genuine enjoyment.”
“The most charming extravaganza imaginable.” Wm. M. Payne.
“A gentle cynicism, which we fancy a little mellower, and a style a little riper than in the earlier books, leave a pleasant fragrance in the memory, when the strange experience ends, precisely as it should.”
“‘Priscilla’ is an unworthy successor to ‘Elizabeth,’ though she will be probably quite as popular.”
“The strength of the book lies in its faithful picture of the contrast of two modes of life, brought on this occasion sharply together—a true comedy-motive when, as in this case, both are adequately understood.”
Arnold, Matthew.Sohrab and Rustum: ed. for schools and general use by W. P. Trent and W. T. Brewster. *25c. Ginn.
Supplied with an accurate text, footnotes and an introduction, this poem is offered to the general reader by way of preparation for the study of Arnold no less than to the preparatory school student.
Arthur, Richard.Ten thousand miles in a yacht. **$2. Dutton.
A narrative which follows the incidents of the celebrated cruise made by Commodore E. C. Benedict’s yacht among the West Indies and up the Amazon in the winter of 1904–5. The author and also Mr. Ivins who contributes the introduction were among the eleven cruisers. The volume contains numerous illustrations from photographs.
“Some readers may wish that the author and the introductory writer had exchanged places.” H. E. Coblentz.
“A singularly naïve narrative it is.”
“A slight but readable account of quite an unusual cruise.”
“Mr. Arthur has a knack of telling his experiences pleasantly.”
Asakawa, Kanichi.Early institutional life of Japan. *$1.75. Scribner.
Reviewed by Munroe Smith.
Ashley, William James.Progress of the German working classes in the last quarter of a century. *60c. Longmans.
“An example of judicial and balanced argument.” Charles Richmond Henderson.
Aspinwall, Alicia.Story of Marie de Rozel—Huguenot. *75c. Dutton.