Colegrove, William.Hartford; an epic poem. $1.25. Badger, R. G.
An epic poem modeled upon the Æneid, which presents the early history of Hartford, Connecticut and sings of arms and the colony’s founders.
Collier, The Hon. John.Art of portrait painting. *$3.50. Cassell.
In this practical treatise for the student and professional painter, the subject is treated from a threefold point of view: The historical, The aims and methods of the great masters, and The practice of portrait painting. The illustrationsinclude forty or more portraits painstakingly reproduced from some of the world’s best work.
“No man of our day could write of his subjects more agreeably, sanely, or with more intimate knowledge, nor produce a volume so likely to gain the attention of the general public.”
“Much personal suggestion is also admitted by the pleasantly colloquial manner of the book, and the attitude throughout is marked by common sense, definite opinions and an open-minded inclination for progress and novelty coupled with a sufficient conservatism.”
Collins, Archie Frederick.Wireless telegraphy: its history, theory and practice. *$3. McGraw.
A general explanation of the theory of etheric waves furnishes a foundation for an explanation of the nature of waves in general, of light waves of electrical vibrations, and apparatus for producing them. “He discusses electric discharges, the action of ultra violet rays, direct and alternating current effects.... He explains the workings of a variety of oscillating current generators and then passes to electric wave detectors—the best known to the public being the Marconi ‘coherer.’” (N. Y. Times.)
“Aims to be—and seems to succeed in being—a practical treatise on wireless telegraphy so written so as to be of use both to the expert in scientific matters and to the tyro who has everything to learn.”
“In the opinion of the reviewer the illustrations ... constitute the most useful part of this book. In the hands of one whose familiarity of the subject enables him to interpret the many obscure passages and to distinguish the inaccurate statements from those that are correct, Mr. Collins’s book may in some cases be found useful.” Ernest Merritt.
“He covers the whole field briefly but satisfactorily. In addition to being practically the first book in this field, Mr. Collins’s is well prepared and authoritative.”
Collins, John Churton.Studies in poetry and criticism. $2.50. Macmillan.
Seven essays which regard poetry from the standpoint of the moralist,—the moralist who thinks that “In the wretched degradation into which belles lettres have fallen we seem to be losing all sense of the importance once attached to them, when critics were scholars and poets something more than aesthetes.” The essays are The poetry and poets of America, The collected work of Lord Byron, The collected poems of Mr. William Watson, The poetry of Gerald Massey, Miltonic myths and their authors, Longinus and Greek criticism, and the True functions of poetry.
“In this book Mr. Churton Collins writes as a pessimist.”
“As a critic, Prof. Collins has a cultivated taste, but his instinct is unsure.”
“Impeccable in scholarship. Mr. Collins has not in this volume avoided one or two minor slips of style, probably due to careless proofreading.”
“A genuine by-product of scholarship, true essays, containing not any sound doctrine, but the human touch which alone is able to convey the results of scholarship to those who stand outside the bars of that snug pasture.” H. W. Boynton.
“A fine book because its author has high ideals and has lived with and learned to love the master-minds of literature.”
“The truth is that Professor Collins’s doctrine turns out, if it is followed to its logical conclusion, to be a fatally narrow one.”
Colson, Elizabeth, and Chittenden, Anna Gansevoort, comps. Children’s letters: a collection of letters written to children by famous men and women. $1. Hinds.
As different in tone and individuality are these letters as the characteristics and moods of the long list of contributors. Among the letter-writers selected are Holmes, Whittier, Lincoln, Phillips Brooks, Martin Luther, Sidney Smith, Longfellow, Stevenson, Scott, Dickens, Lewis Carroll, Hans Christian Andersen and many others.
“The compilers ... have performed their tasks of selection and explanation with good judgment and sympathy.”
“Altogether a delightful little volume, and one well worth making.”
Colton, Arthur Willis.Belted seas.†$1.50. Holt.
Reviewed by Mary Moss.
Colton, Arthur Willis.Cruise of the Violetta.†$1.50. Holt.
An Ohio woman, left with a vast fortune, equips a yacht and sails to the land of “parrots and monkeys and bananas and foreign missions.” The story is a humorous characterization of a practical woman’s missionary work, shared by the unique Dr. Alswater, who was “not a ‘globe trotter’ but rather a floater,—in the manner resembling sea-weed, that drifts from place to place, but wherever it drifts or clings, is tranquil and accommodating.” The fortunes of a young electrician, sent to a South American town to establish an electric light plant, form one thread of the tale.
“Mr. Colton’s new novel is conceived in an unconventional, not to say freakish, style. Banter and sarcasm prevail from the beginning to the end. Humor is not lacking, but it is seldom wholesome or spontaneous.”
“He approaches the ticklish realm of burlesque with too great cocksureness.”
“It is lively and clever, and fit company for hours that might otherwise be dull.”
“In this book he is not at his best.”
Colvin, Sir Auckland.Making of modern Egypt. *$4. Dutton.
“It is the imperturbability of Lord Cromer which dominates Sir. Auckland Colvin’s history,” (Acad.)—the man who is chiefly responsible for the growth of modern Egypt. “The scheme of the book is a simple one. Whereas Lord Milner gave us a series of brilliant essays on different aspects of the Egyptian problem, Sir Auckland aims at presenting a consecutive narrative of successive incidents so that the reader may know, in any given year, the exactprogress made by Egypt up to that date in all branches of the public service. It is an attempt to show history in the making, and, though lacking the style and charm of “England in Egypt,” it will prove of more value to the student than Lord Milner’s volume.” (Lond. Times.)
“Well written, lucid and temperate, it sets before us the events of the last five and twenty years without favour. As we read Sir Auckland Colvin’s book, we understand the reason of the supremacy which England most unselfishly still holds in Egypt and her colonies, and we can imagine no better handbook of practical statesmanship than ... ‘Making of modern Egypt.’”
“Sir Auckland Colvin knows all there is to be known on ‘The making of modern Egypt.’ The fact that he can hardly be said to possess the art of constructing a book does not detract from the worth of this volume, though it renders it heavy for the general reader.”
“It differs from Lord Milner’s ‘England in Egypt’ in being more of a consecutive narrative of incidents, but at the same time lacks the brilliancy of style that characterizes Lord Milner’s essays.”
“Despite a few errors and a few redundancies this book is the most useful record available, if we exclude Lord Cromer’s official reports, of Egypt’s progress from 1882 to the present day.”
“The book, despite the many romantic phases of the subject, is not exciting reading, but it supplies the safest guide to those who may wish to study one of the most interesting and far-reaching series of events which have occurred in our own time.”
“Cannot fail to be a valuable and interesting work.”
“Every chapter is enlivened with wit and picturesqueness of phrase, and he has a happy gift of classical reminiscence.”
Coman, Katherine.Industrial history of the United States for high schools and colleges. *$1.25. Macmillan.
“In view of the scattered and partial character of the material available, it is not perhaps surprising that Miss Coman’s book gives the impression of a collection of facts having to do with the economic history of the United States, rather than of a clear presentation of the main features of that history and the influences by which they have been determined. It must be said, moreover, that even in her statements of facts the author has not exercised as much care as might fairly be expected.” Henry B. Gardner.
“On all moot questions in our economic history, whether resulting from political differences or purely academic in character, she has shown an eminent degree of fairness.” Robert C. Brooks.
“One of the good qualities of the book is its directness and clearness of statement.” Henry E. Bourne.
“This is an instructive and a much needed work.”
“It is written in a clear, concise style and contains a large amount of descriptive material within brief compass. Its main defect is that it fails to leave upon the mind of the reader a clear impression of the development of the principal industries of the country.” Robert Morris.
“The lines of conception ... are broad, and bold, but not fully matched by firmness in execution.” Carl Russell Fish.
“As a first attempt it is entitled to considerable measure of commendation. The great defect of the book is that those ‘essential elements’ of our economic history are not only not brought out clearly so that the reader may be sure to grasp them, but they are apparently not comprehended by the author herself.” G. S. C.
Commons, John Rogers, ed. Trade unionism and labor problems. *$2.50. Ginn.
The second volume of the “Selections and documents in economics” being brought out by Professor W. Z. Ripley of Harvard university. There are twenty-seven essays, mostly reprints from current scientific magazines on a variety of aspects of the social and economic situation, which aim to furnish collateral reading for college classes.
“Is invaluable to the student; it places in accessible form a mass of most important material, and heartily commends itself to the reader.” G. B. Mangold.
“There is scarcely a question of the day that does not have interesting light shed on it by one or more persons peculiarly fitted to discuss it. The book is an excellent disseminator of wholesome good sense and moderation.” W. E. C. W.
“It will furnish the raw material for a course in descriptive economics, and as such is a serviceable volume.”
“Despite the variety of material in the book, a fair amount of unity is preserved through Mr. Commons’s introduction, which adequately relates the chapters.”
“To any student of labor problems the book is indispensable.”
“With most of the material included economists are generally familiar, but the assembling of the material in one volume provides an excellent text-book for classes making a study of labor problems.” John Cummings.
“The selections will supplement admirably the lectures and ordinary reference-books which have constituted hitherto the principal pabulum that teachers could set before their students.”
“The volume is full of valuable information, but it is rather material for the student than history, philosophy, or sociology for the general reader.”
“In no other one book is such a mass of vital facts brought together.”
Companion to Greek studies; ed. by Leonard Whibley. *$6. Macmillan.
“The only weakness is in a detail of arrangement i. e. the neglect of side references and the consequent lack of coherence. There is much unevenness in the bibliographies.” James C. Egbert.
Comstock, Harriet T.Meg and the others. 75c. Crowell.
Two little girls of to-day, sitting in the firelight just before bed-time hear the stories of Meg, and Mary, and the Boy, which their grandmothercalls out of the long ago for them. And when they have heard all about them, their games, their troubles, and their adventures, when they have learned to love them, and are loath to let them go, they find that Mary is a nice old lady who is coming to live with them, and that Meg and the Boy are really their own dear grandmother and grandfather.
Comstock, Mrs. Harriet Theresa.Queen’s hostage. †$1.50. Little.
A story built up about plot, treachery, and treason which constantly threatened Queen Elizabeth’s peace of mind. The hero is a young lord of the house of Rathven who incognito redresses the wrongs of a treacherous father and earns the long questioned right to be counted among the queen’s loyal subjects.
Comstock, Seth Cook.Marcelle the mad. †$1.50. Appleton.
“With the romantic Ardennes forest for setting, and for the motif the incident of a medieval feud between the Duke of Burgundy and the citizens of the town of Dinant, Dr. Comstock has written a stirring tale of adventure to which he gives the name of ‘Marcelle the mad’ ... after the female Robin Hood who plays the leading role.”—Lit. D.
“A trifle melodramatic and stilted in the earlier chapters, it develops into a really powerful piece of work. If the story boasts little originality either of plot or incident, it is told with a skill and vigor that lift it well above the level of its kind, and few are likely to leave it dissatisfied.”
“As a romance—a mere romance—of the time-killing variety, Mr. Comstock’s story will do very well indeed.”
“A stirring tale of love and adventure.”
Conant, Charles Arthur.Principles of money and banking. 2v. *$4. Harper.
Mr. Conant’s work carries “the reader from the beginnings of exchange when cattle and fragments of metal passed by tale of weight down through the origin of coinage and the birth thereof of modern banking to the complete mechanism of money and credit as they exist to-day.” “It is not written for the purpose of demolishing the ‘quantity theory,’ extirpating the bimetallist, or advocating an ‘asset currency,’ but is devoted to irenic exposition rather than polemical discussions.” (Nation.)
“The work is not only a forceful exposition of so-called principles which have guided commercial people and leading nations in thinking about monetary problems, but it is unique in that the work of the author is in the nature of a collation of the thought and expression of nearly every writer of note on the several topics treated.” Frederick A. Cleveland.
“The proper man to write on the subject is the man who is constantly practicing the operations he describes. Mr. Conant fulfills these conditions.”
“To his task Mr. Conant brings some very unusual qualifications.” Winthrop More Daniels.
“A breadth of view and a freedom from partisan bias not frequently found in monetary treatises.” R. C. B.
“A careful reading increases the admiration for the skill with which the well-selected quotations have been woven into the book. What was once scattered and almost unattainable in small libraries has been brought together in an attractive, new and forceful way, which leaves the professor of economics deeply indebted to the author.” Frank L. McVey.
“In spite of its theoretical weakness, the work has much to recommend it to serious students of monetary science. It furnishes one of the best available accounts of recent developments in money and banking.”
“He has not always discriminated between what was novel to him and what would be new to a well-informed reader. His pages are encumbered with superfluous quotations upon unimportant topics. His historical chapters are sometimes painfully inadequate, and his treatment of theoretical subjects not always satisfactory.”
“It would be difficult to name a treatise which blends facts and theory so well, applying each to the other in a manner so illuminating.”
“As a writer he possesses an agreeable style and the ability so to present the most arid scheme that it becomes interesting even to a reader having a minimum of economic knowledge.”
“While Mr. Conant’s work possesses the virtue of great comprehensiveness, it is the opinion of the reviewer that, to be of greatest use to the general reader and the university student alike, a book on money and banking should above all exhibit that unity and precision of theory which is the greatest lack in Mr. Conant’s work.” A. C. Whitaker.
“Mr. Conant’s treatment of disputed questions in monetary theory, in the opinion of the present reviewer, leaves much to be desired. Mr. Conant is none too happy in his handling of technical economic phrases.” A. Piatt Andrew.
Congo, The: a report of the commission of enquiry appointed by the Congo Free State government. *$1. Putnam.
“The main topics taken up in the commissions’s report are the land régime, taxation, military service, trade concessions, depopulation, and the administration of justice. In respect to all of these matters, numerous evils are pointed out: the arrogance of the government in appropriating alleged vacant lands, the oppressiveness of the labor tax, the terrorism and cruelty resulting from quasi-military expeditions, the exploitation of the natives by agents of greedy commercial companies, and the lax jurisdiction of the territorial courts.”—Dial.
Connolly, James Bennet.Deep sea’s toll.†$1.50. Scribner.
“It is a healthy, stimulating book, with the tang of salt air in every page.”
“Though applauded by all true sailors, is a trifle too special for a general reader.” Mary Moss.
“Is written with full knowledge and sympathy, and in the slow, involved talk of the men we get much of the flavour of the spoken word.”
Connor, Ralph, pseud. (Charles William Gordon).The Doctor, a tale of the Rockies.†$1.50. Revell.
A character of rare strength and beauty is developed in this story of Barney, who as a lad was obliged to renounce his hope of a college education in favor of a clever younger brother. He stayed at the mill, worked, played his violin, and longed to be a doctor. Then, after many things had come to pass which tried his soul, and purged it of all dross, he became a preacher-doctor in the Rockies where strong men and rough loved him for his unselfish ministrations to their bodies and their souls and honored him as a power for good. In the end when he laid down his life for his friend he brought his career to its final triumph of success in failure.
“It is hard to see why the average adult should not find the story at once commonplace and passably long-winded.”
“The best thing Ralph Connor has done since ‘The sky pilot,’ and perhaps the best thing he has ever done. Is a good book, both in the religious and literary senses of the word.”
Conover, James Potter.Memories of a great schoolmaster. **$1.50. Houghton.
The life of Dr. Henry A. Coit, for fifty years headmaster of St. Paul’s school at Concord, N. H., has inspired this volume. It is a confession of Dr. Coit’s religious and educational faith expressed in terms of high standards and ideals in everything.
“To the alumnus of St. Paul’s the book will be a valuable memorial of its chief personality; and to others it will be an interesting disclosure of a noteworthy influence.”
“It is an inspiring book for all who, whether teachers or parents, have the perilous charge of either boys or girls in the budding time of adolescence.”
“His book has the double charm of personal knowledge and of love for his subject.”
Conrad, Joseph (Joseph Conrad Korzeniowski).Mirror of the sea.†$1.50. Harper.
One who has long known and loved her, and who has always understood, writes here of the sea and her moods, of her anger when the winds lash her, of the fear of her, the charm of her, of the men in the good ships that sail her and sometimes go down in her, of their ways, their rugged courage, and the various phases of the lives they lead. There are bits of sentiment, scraps of romance, flashes of humor, many real dramatic scenes and much hard fact, and thru it all the sound of the sea.
“But the book is more than a series of fine pictures; it is a sensitive appreciation of the whole art of seamanship, an imaginative reading of the varying moods of the sea.”
“There is nothing here which the discriminating reader can afford to miss.”
“His latest work will compare well with the best work he has done.”
“For ‘The mirror of the sea’ we would make bold to predict a very long life. We seem to see it being discovered and re-discovered as the years roll on.”
“He knows the souls of the sea and of ships, as he knows the souls of men, but that would be worth but little to us, did he not possess a still more wonderful faculty of interpretation and expression—a faculty that was never better shown than in these sketches.”
“To a practical knowledge of seamanship, of lading cargoes, ruling crews, managing and navigating vessels, Joseph Conrad adds the vision of a poet and exercises the witchcraft of a master of style.”
“To those who belong to the totem of its writer it will be always a kind of gospel. It contains the whole soul of a man who has known the deeps of sea mysteries, who has sought them as a lover, with joy, and reverence, and fear.”
Conrad, Joseph (Joseph Conrad Korzeniowski).Nostromo: a tale of the seaboard.$1.50. Harper.
Reviewed by Mary Moss.
Conversations with Christ: a biographical study. $1.50. Macmillan.
The author of these “Conversations” which, he says, have “too much personality to be mythical” “has taken between twenty and thirty passages from the gospels in which questions put, or petitions made, to the Master, and His answers, are recorded. In all of these we have portraits of Christ, wonderfully various, but with an unmistakable likeness, and also with an unmistakable reality.” (Spec.)
“As a study it has the merit of freshness and insight; it is the product of a cultured and vigorous mind, intellectually and spiritually strong.”
“A really noble piece of writing.”
Conway, Sir Martin.No man’s land; a history of Spitsbergen from its discovery in 1596 to the beginning of the scientific exploration of the country. *$3. Putnam.
It is the history of the whaling industry engaged in by rival nations along the coasts of this group of islands that occupies the greater part of Sir Martin Conway’s volume. In addition are accounts of Russian exploring enterprises and scientific expeditions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
“His task has been accomplished in a characteristically complete fashion, and has evidently involved a good deal of research in rare books of old voyages, both English and Dutch.”
“No one has a better claim than Sir Martin Conway to have undertaken this history, and few could have written it so well. The book is a most valuable achievement, a most important contribution to geographical literature.”
“The great value of this work is that it brings within convenient compass a great body of information scattered through forgotten books and manuscripts which throw light on some obscure points and give a connected history and a most complete account in English of the great whale industry.” Cyrus C. Adams.
“Sir Martin Conway arouses the interests of his readers in the curious history of a land which, though never permanently inhabited, has played the part of an apple of discord between the great powers of former days.”
“A compendious bibliography and some good illustrations add to the value of his excellent book.”
Cook, E. Wake.Betterment, individual, social and industrial; or, Highest efficiency. **$1.20. Stokes.
The preface says: “The object of this work is to give in convenient form the latest discoveries which promote individual, industrial, and collective efficiency.” Conservation of energy in all its forms would result in the “Simple life,” weary though the expression be, and the author suggests it as the goal that insures immunity from disease, and a great increase in mental and physical energy.
Cook, Theodore Andrea.Old Provence. 2v. **$4. Scribner.
“Old Provence is the land of romance, and of the tale of its beauty and interest Mr. Cook is the most delightful of narrators.”
“The work needs a clearer plan, more adequate special knowledge, better judgment and critical discrimination, many more references (there are but very few), more personal reserve, a better index and a real map. It is pleasant, semi-learned magazine writing.”
“More than a guide-book and less, it is one of those aids to travel which, like Mr. Crawford’s ‘Rulers of the South,’ should lie by the side of Baedeker in even the smallest steamer trunk.” Josiah Renick Smith.
“The effect is excellent and exquisite, the information fixed and true.”
“We commend these attractive volumes to every one who cares for truth and romance blended in European history.”
Cooke, Edmund Vance.Chronicles of the little tot. $1.50. Dodge.
Under five head verses grave and gay are here grouped for little people: The cradlers. The creepers, The cruises, The climbers, and In remembrance.
“Should make both universal and tender appeal,—not alone to those who are the little tot’s vassals and slaves, but to the wider circle of child-lovers, as well.”
Cooke, Grace MacGowan.Their first formal call; il. by Peter Newell. †$1. Harper.
How two ambitious boys just out of knickerbockers and duly posted in “Hints and helps to young men in business and social relations,” fared in making their first formal call upon the Misses Claiborne. Not daring to make their mission known they sat at the feet of Grandfather Claiborne and Aunt Missouri the entire Sabbath afternoon and when night came were sent to bed, much to the humbling of their youthful pride.
“Mrs. Cooke has made the whole affair wonderfully ludicrous and real and Peter Newell has furnished fourteen full-page pictures as funny as the text.”
Cooke, Jane Grosvenor.Ancient miracle. †$1.50. Barnes.
“Life in the Grand plateaux of northern Canada is described pleasantly in this peaceful but not unpleasing tale of love and labor. Mrs. Cooke has imprisoned the atmosphere of this cold yet beautiful country and draws well the good and pleasant folk who live there. The Francoeur family, the faithful curé Xavier, and his numerous progeny are all pictured graphically, while the love stories of the two girls furnish sufficient interest to keep the reader’s attention.”—Critic.
“It is chiefly for the characterization that the book will be found enjoyable.”
“A romance of the Canadian forests, alive with the fascination and witchery of those vast regions.”
“So good superficially that it is a little difficult to express its limitation. There is a lack of human warmth and sympathy.”
Cooper, Edward Herbert.Twentieth century child. $1.50. Lane.
Reviewed by E. L. Pomeroy.
Cooper, Walter G.Fate of the middle classes. *$1.25. Consolidated retail booksellers.
Copperthwaite, William C.Tunnel shields and the use of compressed air in subaqueous works. *$9. Van Nostrand.
“Mr. Copperthwaite’s task has been to compile and condense ... scattered information into one place. He has done his work excellently.... Mr. Copperthwaite divides his book into eleven chapters. Of these the last chapter on ‘Cost of the shield,’ and the first three chapters on ‘Early history, 1818–1880,’ ‘Use of compressed air in engineering works’ and ‘Cast-iron lining for tunnels,’ respectively, are general in character; the remaining seven chapters are collections of descriptions of specific shield tunnel works classified under three heads; Shields in London clay, Shields in water bearing strata and Shields in masonry tunnels.”—Engin. N.
“The book is undoubtedly destined to be the standard English work on this peculiarly difficult branch of engineering practice.”
“The volume is in all respects worthy of prominent position in the tunnel engineer’s library.”
“A very valuable and comprehensive history of a system of tunnelling.”
Corelli, Marie (Minnie Mackay).Treasure of heaven: a romance of riches.†$1.50. Dodd.
The treasure of Heaven which becomes the quest in Miss Corelli’s story is love, and she would demonstrate the fact that riches menace its possession. David Helmsley, an aged multi-millionaire, becomes a tramp in pursuit of definite happiness, he gives and takes in his wanderings and learns both are spontaneous. Finally he is nursed back from death by one who teaches him the great love lesson which, without any matrimonial thought, blesses his closing days.
“The novel is exceedingly modern in flavor and probably will be found satisfactory by those readers who were in expectation of iconoclastic touches such as recently have distinguished Miss Corelli’s utterances.”
“Miss Corelli’s latest story is by no means lacking in power. Lacking in distinction, it of course is; but it has more dignity of substance and less indignity of style than anything of hers we have hitherto seen.”
“As a literary production does not measure up to its ethical intention.”
Cornell, Hughes.Kenelm’s Desire. †$1.50. Little.
Desire, a musician by instinct, by training, and by heredity, spends a summer in British Columbia among the Indians, canoeing, sailing, mountain-climbing and fishing. Here she discovers in a young Alaska Indian, adopted and educated by white people, a soul fired by ambition and pride, one that reflects the sad poetry of vanishing traditions. The love idyll is interwoven with flagrant race prejudice, political scenes, and true-to-life sketches of Indian character.
“Hughes Cornell has a novel situation in this story and manages it well.”
Cornes, James.Modern housing: houses in town and country, illustrated by examples of municipal and other schemes of block dwellings, tenement houses, model cottages and villages. *$3. Scribner.
Coryat, Thomas.Coryat’s crudities. 2v. *$6.50. Macmillan.
“The recently republished crudities of Thomas Coryat give, perhaps, a clearer notion of Shakespeare’s period than does Shakespeare himself.” Herbert Vaughn Abbott.
Cotes, Sara Jeannette (Duncan) (Mrs. Everard Cotes).Set in authority. †$1.50. Doubleday.
A story “about India and the possibility of carrying our beloved doctrines of liberalism into practice in that strange land.... In with the politics is wound a story of men and women, of love and loss and hopes and fears, which displays a number of very cleverly drawn characters, whose thoughts and feelings are of deep interest. The soldier, by strange bonds that remain concealed until the very end, is united by close ties to the Viceroy himself—and the discovery adds pathos to the wretched muddle which everybody made of things.” (Ath.)
“It is not a comforting or exhilarating story, but it is a clever, mature, and thoughtful piece of work that will increase Mrs. Cotes’s already high reputation.”
“Mrs. Cotes has given us of her best in this story of Indian life.”
“Every character in the book is alive and every character has its proper measure of interest.”
“People who like atmosphere, much clever talk, details of life and character, will enjoy her book. Those who prefer much story and less atmosphere will pronounce it tedious.”
“It is quotable to a large degree, and cannot be read without constant responsive smiles and a desire to share the witty characterizations with any near-by neighbor.”
“Society in the capital of a small Indian province is clearly sketched, but the ineffective love-story of the chief characters is unconvincing.”
“Her present book, though from a literary standpoint not quite in her happiest vein, is, however well worth reading.”
Couch, Arthur Thomas Quiller- (“Q,” pseud.).From a Cornish window. *$1.50. Dutton.
This reflective and discursive “volume is somewhat arbitrarily divided into twelve chapters named after twelve months. Cornish matters, so far as treated at all, are more particularly discussed in ‘August’ and ‘December’; the other chapters handle at random, literature and life and politics and education. The writer’s unenthusiastic estimate of ‘our modern bards of empire,’ whom he finds lacking in high seriousness and any recognition of the human soul, is to be noted with approval. In the sober month of November he indulges in reflections on this human soul’s ultimate destiny.”—Dial.
“Despite occasional dull pages in these random outpourings, our popular story-teller ‘Q’ is worth reading in his more serious moods.”
“There are pages of fooling that we could wish omitted; there is a certain flippancy, a lightness of word that wrongs the serious thought, that makes us say, ‘Not worthy of “Q”!’ We speak of this at once, that we may get our objections out of the way and have done with them. Who—where so much is good—can help a little sigh after perfection?”
“There is much variety in this miscellany, or series of miscellanies, arranged by the calendar; but nothing therein is labored or affected. It is excellent talk, as flexible, suggestive, and responsive to suggestion, as good talk should be.”
“A very charming miscellany.” H. I. Brock.
“All lovers of good literature will find it a treasury which they will not readily exhaust.”
Couch, Arthur Thomas Quiller- (“Q,” pseud.).Mayor of Troy. †$1.50. Scribner.
“A broadly humorous tale.” Mary Moss.
“So long as we are ready to take the actors as characters in farce, the fun is fast and furious, and the writer carries us along with him so that we do not stop to think of possibilities.”
Couch, Arthur Thomas Quiller- (“Q”, pseud.).Shakespeare’s Christmas and other stories. †$1.50. Longmans.
Reviewed by Mary Moss.
“Are capital illustrations of his narrative skill.”
Couch, Arthur Thomas Quiller- (“Q,” pseud.).Sir John Constantine: memoirs of his adventures at home and abroad, and particularly in the island of Corsica, beginning with the year 1756; written by his son, Prosper Paleologus, otherwise Constantine; ed. by Q. †$1.50. Scribner.
This tale of adventure “has movement, suspense, the thrill of danger and the delight of high-minded devotion and idealized love. The time is in the seventeenth century, when Corsica was in arms against Genoa’s occupation and oppression, and the people were rallying to Paoli. Among the aspirants for the crown is a young English lad whose somewhat quixotic but chivalrous father, Sir John Constantine, of Cornwall, has procured from Theodore, a dissolute ex-king confined in an English debtor’s prison, a written renunciation in favor of the boy, together with the possession of the famous iron crown. With a few friends Sir John and his son land in Corsica and encounter adventure aplenty.”—Outlook.
“As adventure there has been no better story for a long time; and there is many a laugh in it too.”
“A novel of adventure of many merits is ‘Sir John Constantine,’ about whose ultimate relation to the literature of its period there need be but little doubt.” A. Schade van Westrum.
“How does he produce a literature that is not literal of life, but higher—a sublimated form of memories that come to the reader like the fragrance of centuries, sweet and familiar, too elusive to hold, too dear to lose?”
“His genius consists in having the right words with which to interpret a high romance of a time long past.”
“Mr. Quiller-Couch is no weaver of ornate verbal fabrics; but he is at once too ardent and too steeped in great literature to be ever mean or cold, and there are times when the mere beauty of his style, as style, moves us to enthusiasm.”
“As a tale of romantic adventure we have had hardly anything since Stevenson’s time so good as Mr. Quiller-Couch’s new story. The story as a whole, indeed, is so excellent of its kind that one wishes that the author had recast some parts of the book and subjected it to a severer test of his judgment as to construction, probability, and humor.”
“Sometimes the changeling in ‘Q’ gets the better of the romancer, and the farce, delightful in itself, strikes a jarring note in such an environment. Apart from this blemish, we have nothing but praise for a story which is not only ‘Q’s’ finest achievement, but one which must stand very near the work of the greatest of the romantics.”
“For ingenuity of plot and unconventionality of adventure the book is in a class by itself. His work never descends to vulgarity or claptrap excitement. For he is an artist.”
Coudert, Frederick René.Addresses, historical—political—sociological. **$2.50. Putnam.
“Mr. Coudert was a man of broad and deep culture, thoroughly acquainted with the literature of France, Spain, and Germany, and possessing a lucid, graceful, and effective English style.”
Cowan, Rev. Henry.John Knox, the hero of the Scottish reformation, 1505–1572. **$1.35. Putnam.
“The index in Cowan is admirable; that in Macmillan is almost worthless. The work by Cowan is the more scholarly, the more unbiased, and the more valuable.” Eri. B. Hulbert.
“Dr. Cowan’s work is less a piece of detraction or of eulogy than a plain narrative of events, with occasional comment upon the main issues which claimed Knox’s effort.”
Cox, Isaac Joslin, ed. Journeys of La Salle and his companions. 2v. **$2. Barnes.
The latest issue of the “Trail makers” series. The work includes translations from the memoirs of Tonty, Membré, Hennepin, Douay, Le Clercq, Joutel, and Jean Cavelier, besides minor sketches and an introduction.
“An admirable supplement to the formal story of American history and exploration, giving us cheap reprints of the personal narratives of the early discoverers and travellers, most of which are long out of print and comparatively inaccessible in the libraries.”
“Some of these narratives have been difficult of access, and certainly they all abound in stirring adventure and incident.”
Cox, Kenyon.Old masters and new: essays in art criticism. **$1.50. Fox.
“Amounting to a general view of the course of art since the sixteenth century.”
Craigie, Mrs. Pearl Mary Teresa Richards (John Oliver Hobbes, pseud.).Dream and the business. †$1.50. Appleton.
Mrs. Craigie’s posthumous novel. “There are six main figures in the book,—Firmalden, the Nonconformist minister, and his sister; the Roman Catholic Lord Marlesford and his wife; Lessard, the musician, and Miss Nannie Cloots, the actress. Among these six the game of love is played with immense confusion.” (Spec.) “The story is one of dreams and of disillusions; it fits its title better than it does the text from which the title is taken. To the meaning of the latter, as made obvious by the context, it seems scarcely to adhere.” (N. Y. Times.)
“We close it with the feeling that here is a fine novel marred by the old lack of sympathetic interest in human nature.”
“Under her customary lightness of manner the tone is full of grave sincerity, but this does not mean that the story is a tract—far from it!—or that it is dull. On the contrary, herworkmanship has never been more careful or her good sayings more abundant.” Mary Moss.
“The author’s skill in describing the play of light and shadow on the surface of character, her French firmness and lightness of touch, the abundance of epigram and delicately elegant phrase, and the keenness of her observation, in which mingles a slight dash of kindly cynicism, make up a fine story.”
“The characterization, acute enough up to a point, constantly breaks down through the writer’s becoming more interested in the conversation than in the people. She lays herself open to the reproach of talking through her characters instead of letting them talk.”
“It may well enough stand as her monument, for it suggests everything characteristic in her substance and manner.”
“Although, as we think, its characters do not measure up to their creator’s conception of them, and although we are sometimes dragged rather than swept along with the narrative, the ability of the novel is of so high an order that we agree with Mr. Choate in his belief that it ‘will be another laurel’ in its writer’s ‘well-won crown.’”
“Its chief charm, alike from the development of a double plot, which is so delicately conceived and carried out with so much artistic finish as to obscure the end before the end comes, lies in the vitality of its characters and their consistently preserved personalities.”
“The book is in many ways the best that Mrs. Craigie has written. It is riper, maturer, firmer. It exhibits a more vivid grasp of things. Much of the pain which strove in her earlier books to hide itself under a mask of flippancy is mercifully gone.”
“Will not, we think, add to the reputation of Mrs. Craigie; but it will not detract from it. It is a fair example of her strength and her weakness.”
Craigie, Pearl Mary Teresa (Richards) (John Oliver Hobbes, pseud.).Flute of Pan. †$1.50. Appleton.
“It should be safe to predict success for the comedy.”
“The whole story is told in the vein of comedy, and is but a trifling performance.” Wm. M. Payne.
“It is moderately amusing. The reader with a small purse might hesitate, however, before putting out his $1.50. for it.”
Cram, Ralph Adams.Impressions of Japanese architecture and the allied arts. **$2. Baker.
“To our mind the most important chapter in it is that dealing with Japanese sculpture. We do not remember any work in which its subject is so well and instructively handled.”
“The general reader as well as students of this subject will find Mr. Cram’s book interesting and instructive.”
“The essays that make up this volume are thoughtful and discriminating.” Frederick W. Gookin.
“It is the work of a man who finds perfected Japanese designs as nearly supreme as any decorative art in the world can be. A book of extreme subtlety of thought, which is increased by the strongly religious turn that all Mr. Cram’s reasoning is apt to take.”
“A keen analysis, interestingly written, of the beauties of Japanese architecture.”
Cram, Ralph Adams.Ruined abbeys of Great Britain. **$2.50. Pott.
“For the book generally we have nothing but praise. It is a pity, however, that Mr. Cram did not use more moderation of language in his introduction.”
Crane, Aaron Martin.Right and wrong thinking and their results. **$1.40. Lothrop.
The undreamed-of possibilities which man may achieve thru his own mental control.