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Ibsen, Henrik.Letters of Henrik Ibsen; tr. by John Nilsen Laurvik and Mary Morrison. **$2.50. Fox.

Inasmuch as a familiarity with Ibsen’s work is necessary to a full understanding of the content of his letters, this volume will appeal most strongly to Ibsen students. The letters show the mental habits and methods of the great writer; and particularly self-revealing are those written to Bjornson in which “Brand” may be followed from its inception; and others to Councillor Hegel, Ibsen’s publisher, concerning “Peer Gynt”; still others to Hans Christian Andersen, William Archer, Edmund Gosse, Grieg, and King Charles of Sweden, covering a correspondence of half a century.

“The valuable features of the letters is the light they throw upon the character and personality of their writer.”

“One great charm of the letters is that they were written without any thought whatever of publication.” Jeannette L. Gilder.

“These letters have the stamp of absolute sincerity, and reveal one of the most impressive personalities of our time.” Wm. M. Payne.

“Out of a volume of nearly five hundred pages only a small part is of value, and that is imbedded in mere letter conversation.”

“For correspondence he had no great turn. Amid the clutter of his pages, however, it is still possible to trace the main outlines of his own character and to some extent the history and spread of his ideas.”

“This collection of Ibsen’s letters is offered to us as a substitute for an autobiography which he once intended to write, but has not written; and the substitution is not entirely satisfactory. The autobiography would have been a piece of literature; the letters are nothing of the kind.”

“The translation is very smooth and readable, but un-Ibsenish, as is particularly noticeable in the first half of the work. While the proofreading is on the whole satisfactory, certain mistakes should not have occurred in a book of this kind.”

“The letters are carefully edited, and the introduction is full of meat.” James Huneker.

“It is difficult to overstate the interest of this collection of Ibsen’s letters. They cover a great variety of subjects, and thus give us a sort of index to Ibsen’s inner life.”

“When the topics are fairly attractive, the correspondence is not dull, although the writer had no great individuality of epistolary style, and his thoughts, as Polonius would have said, are ‘not expressed in fancy.’”

Iles, George.Inventors at work; with chapters on discovery.**$2.50. Doubleday.

The world, too ready to accept the results of the workings of clever minds, here has full opportunity to take a near-by view of the processes which lead to many of the great inventions. Mr. Iles tells of Bessemer’s great triumph in perfecting his process for steel making, tells of the production of dynamite by Nobel, the transmission of speech along a beam of light by Bell, of the incandescent gas mantle by Von Welsbach, of Edison’s electrical achievements, and numerous other scientific achievements. The volume is copiously illustrated.

“One is struck with three qualities not by any means over-common in works of popular science; first, thoroughness and completeness of knowledge; secondly, clearness of exposition and regard for the demands of the nontechnical reader; third, a broad comprehensive view of the relations of science and invention as evolutions of civilization.”

In the house of her friends. $1.50. Cooke.

A story by an anonymous writer which “gives us a singularly intimate view of what we think must be a unique element in American college life. It presents the life of the small college from the standpoint, not of the student, nor of the professor, nor of the graduate, nor of the outsider, but of the Faculty family that has lived all its days on the college campus.” (Bookm.) “The plot is simple, the incidentsthose of the narrow round of life in a small college, the theme the old-fashioned one of love, but the book is saturated with life.” (Outlook.)

“The lover of literature will find pleasure in this leisurely writing, so different from much of our day.” Edward E. Hale, jr.

“Whatever its defects, ‘In the house of her friends’ is not only a book of unusual promise but an unusual achievement. The author has the power to make character seen and felt in the community in which it moves, to invest it with atmosphere.”

“The story has a most attractive lucidity. You see the characters as you see a landscape in mountain air.”

Indiana state teacher’s association.In honor of James Whitcomb Riley. 50c. Bobbs.

A group of addresses, in honor of Mr. Riley, made by prominent men at a special meeting of the Indiana State teachers’ association.

“There is no lack of generous estimation of Riley’s poetic power and genius in the little volume printed in his honor, but through all that is said runs the strain of affection and hearty friendship, making altogether a tribute not easily matched in literary annals.” Bliss Carman.

Inge, Rev. William Ralph.Studies of English mystics: St. Margaret lectures 1905. *$2. Dutton.

“In the spirit of reasonableness in which they write, the best English mystics of all ages resemble one another. The note of temperateness persists amid the vicissitudes of creed. This is seen very clearly in the works of the writers that form the subject of Dr. Inge’s suggestive studies. Lady Julian, an anchoress of Norwich, and Walter Hylton, Canon of Thurgarton, represent the mystical side of that English renaissance of the fourteenth century which is illustrated by Langland, Wiclif and Chaucer; William Law is the greatest mystical divine of the age of Pope and Addison; Wordsworth is the poet of the philosophical mysticism of the Romantic period. Dr. Inge also includes Robert Browning as a representative English mystic.”—Acad.

“Whatever we may think of Dr. Inge’s own conclusions, let us say distinctly that his analysis of these various writers is always lucid, tends to understanding and illumination.”

“Dr. Inge treats his subject with sympathy rather than with enthusiasm.”

“If we are to give a personal impression ... Dr. Inge’s treatment of the earlier mystics has something indistinct and hesitating about it.”

“There is much in these six lectures on English mystics that is interesting; but the book lacks continuity and coherence.”

“When we took up Dr. Inge’s book we found it hard to lay it down. This is partly due to his beautiful English, which makes every page a delight to read. But it is not only that: he has chosen a subject about which he knows a good deal and other people know very little, and which is in itself intensely attractive.”

Ingersoll, Ernest.Island in the air. †$1.50. Macmillan.

“It is really full of information and of the spirit of the pioneer.”

Ingersoll, Ernest.Life of animals: the mammals. **$2. Macmillan.

This is a book upon the mode of life, the history and relationships of the most familiar and important class of animals, the mammals—covering as the name signifies all animals that feed their young upon milk. It is a carefully classified study, fully illustrated, with colored plates, reproductions of photographs and drawings.

“Is worthy of being classed with the best of recent scientific writings, in popular form.”

“It contains just the information about living and extinct species of mammals especially those most familiar, which the general non-zoölogical reader demands.”

“An interesting feature of the volume is the large number of well-selected quotations which give from leading authorities first-hand information concerning many animals.”

“The biographies, even when very brief, are graphic and stimulatingly suggestive of deeper research.” Mabel Osgood Wright.

“It is the best of its class that has appeared up to the present time.”

“When Mr. Ingersoll writes about animals he has few superiors in clear graphic description.”

Ingersoll, Ernest.Wit of the wild. **$1.20. Dodd.

Mr. Ingersoll’s book “consists of a series of short articles on the characteristics and habits of mammals, birds and insects, written in various styles because they were originally written for various periodicals, but all interesting and reliable. The book may be regarded as a popular postscript to his excellent work on ‘The life of mammals,’ published last year, and is particularly adapted for school and popular libraries.” (Ind.)

“Interesting comparisons with man’s ways are the most unique feature of the book.” May Estelle Cook.

“Mr. Ingersoll can popularize without misrepresenting, and his chapters on some of the facts and factors of evolution are comprehensible to anyone, and yet so carefully worded that the most rigid scientist could not find fault with them.”

“Among naturalists, Mr. Ingersoll has a place somewhat apart, not so much for the breadth and minuteness of his knowledge as for a certain closeness of sympathy and youthfulness of enthusiasm which are infectious.”

“He is an honest and faithful naturalist, and does not let romance run away with fact.”

Innes, Arthur Donald.England under the Tudors.*$3 Putnam.

“It is obvious at a glance that the present work possesses a number of admirable qualities. In the first place the proportions are excellent. It is totally free from theological bias: it is eminently fair-minded and just in its conception of the important characters of the period. A closer examination, however, reveals a wide discrepancy in knowledge, treatment, and expression between the first part of the book and the second. A number of minor errors and inaccuracies reveal his inadequate acquaintance with the recent literature of this period and his style, in the first part of his book, lacks precision and definiteness. But the gravest defect of all is the author’s ignoranceof continental affairs from 1485 to the accession of Elizabeth.” Roger Bigelow Merriman.

“In every respect, except in its literary style, it is far superior to ... Mr. Trevelyan’s ‘England under the Stuarts.’” Edward Fuller.

“Innes wisely discarded the stiff chronological method and the purely narrative style, and adopted a judicious combination of narration and description.” George L. Beer.

“He gives ... everything that the student wants by way of reference. The narrative itself is written with great judgment and full grasp of the subject. Moreover it is eminently readable.” James Gairdner.

“The product of honest labor over authentic materials, well pondered and fused, with no little literary skill.”

“It may appear invidious to institute a comparison between two books each of which is admirable in design and workmanship, but, while Mr. Innes’s volume is quite adequate to the purposes of the series, we have found it somewhat less carefully wrought than Mr. Davis’s account of English life under the Normans and Angevins.”

“A serious, sincere, direct, and graphic narrative in which Tudor England stands revealed in all its strength, its weakness, and its possibilities.”

“A decidedly spirited and well-balanced account of the period of the Tudors.”

“Mr. Innes’s is eminently a workmanlike contribution, with almost a severe air of business about it from first to last. The writing is perhaps a little dry and stiff, for Mr. Innes does not let himself get out of hand.”

Ireland, Alleyne.Far Eastern tropics: studies in the administration of tropical dependencies. **$2. Houghton.

“The humor of the side remarks, the clearness and vigor of the statements, the excision of extraneous matter will make the volume popular as well as useful.”

Irving, Edward.How to know the starry heavens: an invitation to the study of suns and worlds. **$2. Stokes.

“While it contains a large amount of real information, we fear that the matrix is so bulky that the reader to whom the book is intended to appeal will find great difficulty in discovering and assimilating the real facts.”

Irving, Washington.Selected works. $2.50. Crowell.

Irving, Washington.Rip Van Winkle. **$5. Doubleday.

“As a book we do not think that this edition of ‘Rip Van Winkle’ is altogether satisfactory, the illustrations being too much dissociated from the letterpress both in the style of printing and the general presentment of the work; but as an album of pictures by a great artist, it is every way commendable, and can but add to the artist’s well-deserved reputation.”

“It is not often that works of such high merit as these illustrations are produced.”

Irving, Washington.Sketch-book.20c. Univ. pub.

Volume sixty-two of the “Standard literature series,” contains the Sketch-book with introduction, suggestions for critical reading and notes as edited by Edward E. Hale, jr. The volume is divided into two parts: Part 1, Stories; Part 2, Essays, and is designed primarily for school use.

Irwin, Wallace Admah.Chinatown ballads. $1.25. Duffield.

Seven “rhymed memories” of Chinatown. While there is here and there reflected a human strain. “He’s a Chinaman still in ’is yeller heart.”

“Humor is still the predominant quality, but there are touches of grim tragedy, that, coupled with Mr. Irwin’s metrical fluency, telling phrase and dramatizing gift, make the book one that cannot only be read, but reread.”

“Here we have the hoodlum’s view of the Chinaman, rather cleverly rendered in rhyme and with a good deal of fun.”

Irwin, Will.City that was: a requiem of old San Francisco. *50c. Huebsch.

The author, who has “mingled the wine of her bounding life with the wine of his youth,” has given to his obituary of old San Francisco the Arabian nights flavor which makes the reader mourn with him the death of that gay, light-hearted city of romance. He has re-created for him her life that was, he has drawn the colored panorama of hill and water front, Chinatown and “Barbary Coast,” of restaurants and clubs, or grey mists and orange colored dawn, and he has peopled it with the beautiful women and hospitable men who lived the “life careless” in this alluring out-of-doors.

“A description so lovingly written, so full of local colored life, that we are glad to see it published in book form.”

“Fine, graphic description.”

Isham, Samuel.History of American painting. *$5. Macmillan.

“For the student no one could be a more inspiriting or a safer guide than Mr. Isham is, among the painters who flourished before the middle of the nineteenth century. Mr. Isham is ... the first to write a history of American painting on a generous scale, and with modern research.” Royal Cortissoz.

“If the present offering is manifestly lacking on the scientific side, it is at least better printed and better illustrated than any previous attempt in the same fruitful and absorbing direction.” Christian Brinton.

“This work leaves little to be desired in the way of healthful and sound criticism of American painting, if it does leave ‘the history’ of American painting yet to be written.” Charles Henry Hart.

“In a word the book is a most notable one, marking an epoch in American art literature.”

“In the lives of his painters, Mr. Isham, so far as we can judge, is accurate, and his biographical and critical notices are interesting.”

“This survey of the history of American painting becomes peculiarly readable as well as valuable because of the high lights everywhere thrown on the narrative.”

“If we may criticise the extent of the work, its intent is more than gratifying.”

Ivins, William Mills.Soul of the people: a New year’s sermon. **60c. Century.

A buoyant, optimistic view of man’s present possibilities in working out his own salvation, and, in consequence, that of the nation. “Better than is to-day has never been” strikes the keynote that Dr. Ivins sounds out against the lethargy and incompetency which would shift the responsibility of duty to other shoulders.

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