Nayler, James Ball.Kentuckian. $1.50. Clark.
This “is a narrative of Ohio in the sixties, and is concerned with the operations of the Underground railroad and the exploits of a gang of horse thieves. The hero is a young man from the other side of the river, who becomes the district school teacher, and falls in love with the prettiest of his pupils. This is not exactly an original invention, but it may be allowed to serve once more.”—Dial.
Reviewed by William M. Payne.
“A delightful old-fashioned story with many midnight turns in it.” Mrs. L. H. Harris.
Needham, Raymond, and Webster, Alexander.Somerset house, past and present. **$3.50. Dutton.
“This exhaustive history of the Duke of Somerset’s palace, the illustrations of which include many reproductions of interesting portraits and old prints, embodies the results of much arduous research, in the course of which many new facts have been discovered. It is indeed far more than a mere account of a famous building, for its authors have made excursions into archaeological and topographical by-paths, so that it will appeal to the antiquarian as well as the student of history.” (Int. Studio.)
“We lay down this book with admiration of its thoroughness, and a clear perception that it is a notable addition to the literature of London.”
“The authors have done their work well, and produced an illustrated history of one of London’s most important palaces which is both accurate and interesting.”
“They have interwoven into their history of Somerset house much that is new, or rather much that has never found its way into the pages of the standard English histories.”
“Our author’s vehement protestantism is somewhat too much in evidence.”
“The student will find within their pages much to which access is difficult elsewhere.”
“A capital book, pleasantly written and remarkably accurate.”
Negri, Gaetano.Julian the apostate: an historical study; tr. by the Duchess Litta-Visconti-Arese, with an introd. by Pasquale Villari. 2v. *$5. Scribner.
“The author uses the person of Julian as a lay figure on which to arrange his philosophical tenets, in the form of a trophy.” (Lond. Times.) Julian was “a man of brilliant intellect and strenuous morality in revolt from a corrupted Christianity. As such the Emperor Julian gained from the Church of his time the name of ‘Apostate,’ which has stuck to him since. As such he heads a long line of those whom the false representatives of Christianity have scandalized into rejection of the faith presented to them so deformed and smirched.... He is not, however, hindered by his admiration for the austere idealist who is his hero from seeing his faults and fallacies, and pronouncing ‘insane’ his attempt to revitalize and purify an effete and corrupted paganism.” (Outlook.)
“May not be free from minor defects, but it has this great merit—that there is perfect sympathy between the author and his subject and for this reason it may be said to add to our knowledge of this most fascinating emperor, though it brings to light no new facts about his brief and romantic career. Though some obscurities may be due to the author, the translator shows a disposition, regrettable in what is intended to be a popular work, to employ unfamiliarand borrowed words where simpler terms might with advantage have been used.”
“The work is diffuse, and even repetitious, but never tiresome. Without a knowledge of the original, one may believe the translator to have been for the most part successful.” Francis A. Christie.
“The monograph, which is written in a delightfully interesting style, is evidently based on a careful and discriminating study of the original authorities. The translator’s accuracy is almost equal to her taste, but we may note a few trifling corrections.”
“Some slips will be found in these two large volumes, and one rather large error—the acceptance as genuine of Julian’s letters to Iamblichus.”
“Gaetano Negri, whose volume has been thoroughly well translated from the Italian, treats his subject with an understanding untouched by partiality.” George S. Hellman.
“His study of the original sources, both pagan and Christian, has given him an intimacy with Julian’s life and Julian’s world which imparts vitality both to his work and to the interest of its readers.”
“Much praise is due to the Duchess Visconti-Arese for the excellent rendering of this work. It is full of boldness and originality. We are only afraid that the unwieldy presentation of his mature reflection may compromise its undeniable merit.”
“Signor Negri’s volumes on Julian deserve a cordial welcome. His philosophy of history and his philosophy of religion are almost as vague as Julian’s, and are not very illuminating; but the crowded pictures they contain of Julian and his contemporaries will be found interesting and informing even by those who are familiar with Gibbon and Harnack.”
Nelson’s encyclopædia; ed. by Frank Moore Colby and George Sandeman. 12v. $42. Nelson.
“A high class reference work for busy men. Since there is no pretence to literary merit the lack of it can scarcely be criticized.... Each distinct part on a large subject is treated as a separate article in its appropriate alphabetical order.” (Nation.) “British and American authorities have collaborated in its preparation.... Much of it appears to have been freshly written up to date.... Biographical articles are numerous, and personal estimates, when included, are generally judicious and impartial.... Copious illustrations are a strong point in this work—over fifty full-page plates, plain or colored in each volume, with a multitude of minor sort.... Maps also occur in abundance.... A vast amount of information has been compressed into the very moderate limits of a twelve-volume work.” (Outlook.)
“To sum up—this first volume leads us to believe that ‘Nelson’s encyclopedia’ will be a compact, accurate, agreeably written presentation of the sum of human knowledge at the entrance of the twentieth century.”
“Despite many grave faults, it is, in concise treatment of topics of general and current interest, perhaps the most useful compilation yet published.”
“It seems as if the ideal cyclopedia had been found for readers of English.”
“Careful examination and impartial criticism will yield a favorable opinion of the new work.”
“This is perhaps the most ambitious attempt yet made in this country to produce a low-priced encyclopedia of first-class literary quality.”
“Topics, brought well up to date and treated with a thoroughness hardly surpassed in more pretentious works.”
Nesbit, Wilbur Dick.Gentleman ragman; Johnny Thompson’s story of the Emigger. †$1.50. Harper.
The ubiquitous office boy of the village newspaper bursts into print in these series of humorous sketches and tells in his own way all about his editor, his editor’s friends and the people of Plainville in general. The result is genuinely funny from the story of how the barefoot cure succeeded so well in Plainville that not one of the patients ever suffered from bare feet again, to the account of how a rural shopping expedition was conducted. An old feud and a tangled three-stranded love interest carry the thread of the story to a happy ending and a double wedding.
“An ample native Americanism in man, woman, and boy is unfolded with full measure of native American humor in the language of the country, resulting in a fabric, inexpensive but entirely wholesome and clean.”
Reviewed by Otis Notman.
“Literally and hilariously, a ‘howling success.’”
“The book will find favor with many readers who enjoy a good-natured, satirical view of their neighbors.”
Nesbitt, Frances E.Algeria and Tunis; painted and described by Frances E. Nesbitt. *$6. Macmillan.
Seventy colored illustrations picture scenes which the traveler meets by rail from Algiers to Constantine and Tunis. There are streets, buildings, mosques, scenes in the market, in the homes and in the deserts, and there are evening effects with “transparent purity” and “colour in crystal clear.” The accompanying text provides historic and descriptive bits of interest to the tourist.
“The author does both pictures and print, and does both well; but her sketches are more valuable as well as more delightful than her descriptions.”
“In spite of this laxity of language and of a certain amount of worked-over, guide-book information, the volume is unmistakably written by one who possesses the artistic temperament, a keen eye for color, and upon whom light and shadow exert their magic power.”
“While the work is delightful from every standpoint to the reader in a quiet library, we trust that, for the sake of the intending traveler, an edition may be published in small compass, even at the risk of omitting the charming illustrations of the present volume.”
“It is altogether an extremely pretty and artistic gift-book.”
“The pen descriptions, too, are very good; now and then we get an element of humour, and now and then of sentiment; but all is marked with a literary touch of unmistakable skill.”
Nevill, Dorothy, lady.Reminiscences of Lady Dorothy Nevill. ed. by Ralph Nevill. *$4.20. Longmans.
Lady Dorothy Nevill, daughter of Horatio Walpole, now eighty years old, goes back in her reminiscences to England of the ’thirties. “During a long life—she began to keep a diary in 1840—she has known ‘everybody,’ as the phrase goes; has been on the best of terms with princes, peers, parsons, and peasants; has dabbled in literature and seen much of literary men and women; has enjoyed political meetings and race meetings almost equally; has seen every play and made friends with all the prominent players. But she has never made systematic notes, or kept a journal for long together, so that her reminiscences are what they pretend to be—stories or impressions called to mind after a long lapse of time.” (Lond. Times.)
“At the end of the publishing season these reminiscences will probably be described as the liveliest volume that it has produced. It is crammed with good things from beginning to end.”
“Lady Dorothy Nevill’s recollections resemble nothing so much as drawing-room conversation in its happier moments. They are bright, charitable, rather inconsequential; and if they sometimes descend to trivialities, a pointed anecdote soon brings gaiety back again.”
“A lively picture of the past and a not less vivacious account of some aspects of the present.”
“The book is full of good things, scattered over its pages without much regard to order. The part of the ‘Reminiscences’ which, to be frank, disappoints us is that relating to Lord Beaconsfield.”
“It is, then, not as a profound study of men and manners that the reader will find this volume of reminiscences valuable, but rather as a series of brilliantly coloured sketches of social life in early and mid Victorian times.”
Nevinson, Henry Woodd.Modern slavery. **$2. Harper.
Mr. Nevinson traveled incognito thru the Portuguese province of Angola in west central Africa for the purpose of discovering the true facts of the tyrannical slave-trade secretly carried on by the Portuguese in spite of the Berlin treaty of 1895. The chapters of his book reveal a dark blot on the page of present-day history, and make a plea to the just and compassionate for its removal.
“His volume deserves careful reading by all who can help in bringing to an end the abominations it pathetically describes, and it ought to be of considerable service in furthering that object. Incidentally it supplies much welcome information about the general conditions of life in this part of Africa.”
“The book is deeply interesting and gives the impression of being over-drawn in no particular. The author’s tone is moderate and he evidently relates the situation exactly as he saw it and not as he might have seen it.”
“Quite apart from its merits as a study of slavery, the book is fascinating in its descriptions of African life and scenery, and is a most admirable book of travel.”
“Mr. Nevinson describes in detail and in picturesque and weird language the wickedness and horrors that he went out to see.”
“His narrative impresses us as the work of a careful, keen, and honest observer, and while it includes much resting on hearsay, it also presents evidence that seems imperatively demanding an answer.”
Newcomb, Simon.Compendium of spherical astronomy with its applications to the determination and reduction of positions of the fixed stars. *$3. Macmillan.
“The first of a projected series having the double purpose of developing the elements of practical and theoretical astronomy for the special student of the subject, and of serving as a handbook of convenient reference for the use of the working astronomer in applying methods and formulæ.... The volume now before us ... is for astronomers, who will find it exceedingly useful for reference in their investigations.... The whole is divided ... into three parts; the first on preliminary subjects, the second on fundamental principles of spherical astronomy, and third on the reduction and determination of positions of the fixed stars. The nine appendixes supply a number of handy tables and formulæ.”—Ath.
“Is the most important addition to the literature of the subject since the appearance of the works of Chauvenet and Oppolzer. The volume is invaluable both to the advanced student and to the professional astronomer. The usual number of misprints, apparently inevitable in a first edition, have made their appearance, but none of those noted are likely to cause the reader any great difficulty.” F. H. Seares.
“Great care has evidently been used in securing the accuracy which is especially desirable in a treatise of this kind.”
“Much of the information is set down in a readily accessible form for the first time, and all of it by a master hand. Of the value of the book to the student, especially to the beginner, we are more doubtful.”
“We do not know a more excellent book on its subject.” P. H. C.
“This work is too technical for review in our columns, and we need only say that, for the purpose of the astronomer, it fully comes up to the expectations raised by Professor Newcomb’s great reputation.”
Newcomb, Simon.Side-lights on astronomy; and kindred fields of popular science: essays and addresses. **$2. Harper.
Twenty-one popular essays and addresses dealing with the structure, extent and duration of the universe, and with other general scientific subjects, are here gathered together under such chapter headings as: The unsolved problems of astronomy, What the astronomers are doing, Life in the universe, How the planets are weighed, The fairyland of geometry, Can we make it rain? The relation of scientific method to social progress, and The outlook for the flyingmachine. The volume has two dozen illustrations and a good index.
“There is a wide field of entertaining information in Professor Newcomb’s book. One can depend upon the accuracy of the information offered ... and one can be sure of picturesque treatment of a subject of the most absorbing interest.”
“It would be hard to find a serious book more entertaining, or a light book that affords better exercise in reasoning.”
“We would commend the volume to all desirous of obtaining a trustworthy idea of the present state of astronomical knowledge and of the problems which still baffle the astronomer.”
Newman, Ernest.Musical studies: essays. *$1.50. Lane.
“Mr. Newman’s groupings of principles and motives are on a broad and comprehensive scale, and are free from the ambiguity that mars so many works on musical criticism.”
Newman, John Henry, cardinal.Addresses to Cardinal Newman, with his re-Neville. *$1.50. Longmans.
“Before his death, Father Neville, Newman’s literary executor, prepared the contents of this volume for the press. Its main contents are a collection of sixty odd addresses to the Cardinal, with his replies, on the occasion of his elevation to the purple. There is also a prefatory narrative of the events relating to the conferring of that dignity. The letter of Cardinal Nina offering the hat, and Newman’s reply, as well as his letter to the pope, are given in English, while the Italian and Latin forms are found in an appendix.”—Cath. World.
“No student of Cardinal Newman should neglect this book.”
Nibelungenlied; translated by John Storer Cobb. *$2. Small.
The translator says: “In preparing a new translation of the Nibelungenlied, my aim has been to contribute to an expansion of the knowledge of a work that affects us more nearly than the Iliad, for it is the product of the poetic faculties of the race to which we belong. I have followed the original, phrase by phrase, without avoiding the negligencies, the obscurities, the repetitions, that it presents.... The text of the Nibelungenlied has been the subject of extended commentaries and profound study, and I have felt myself bound to render it with most respectful exactitude.”
Nicholson, Meredith.House of a thousand candles.†$1.50. Bobbs.
“Persons who enjoy well-written mystery tales will not be disappointed in ‘The house of a thousand candles.’”
“The wonder is, not that Mr. Nicholson did passably well, but that he did not do a good deal better.” Frederic Taber Cooper.
Reviewed by Wm. M. Payne.
“The story is common in type, but unusual in quality.”
“Despite its impossibilities, has won its way into the select circle of the ‘six best sellers.’”
Nicholson, Meredith.Poems. *$1.25. Bobbs.
Three score lyric poems which touch the chords of memory, of hope, of love and happiness and sorrow.
“Now ’tis the violins that loudest cry,And now in saddest key the ’cellos sigh.··········Chords that are love and life, and even the sharp,Hard pain of death—chords of the golden harp.”
“Now ’tis the violins that loudest cry,And now in saddest key the ’cellos sigh.··········Chords that are love and life, and even the sharp,Hard pain of death—chords of the golden harp.”
“Now ’tis the violins that loudest cry,And now in saddest key the ’cellos sigh.··········Chords that are love and life, and even the sharp,Hard pain of death—chords of the golden harp.”
“Now ’tis the violins that loudest cry,
And now in saddest key the ’cellos sigh.
··········
Chords that are love and life, and even the sharp,
Hard pain of death—chords of the golden harp.”
“In these verses he reveals a delicacy of perception, a love of nature and an appreciation and reverence for the deeper and finer things of life which one would little suspect in the author of ‘The house of a thousand candles.’” Amy C. Rich.
“We find in these pieces a graver and more reflective note than in the earlier ones—the natural mark of a maturer experience and a widened outlook.” Wm. M. Payne.
“Despite many fine single lines in the book, it is mainly pleasurable because of its variety of reminiscent moods.”
Nicolay, Helen.Boys’ life of Abraham Lincoln.†$1.50. Century.
Authoritative, in that it is based upon the standard life of Lincoln by his secretaries, John G. Nicolay and John Hay, well illustrated and simply told, this young people’s story of the great American citizen will appeal to all young Americans who are some day to become citizens.
“Miss Nicolay has succeeded in presenting a thoroly human character of a wonderfully human man.”
“Simple language has usually been employed, but perhaps too sparing use has been made of anecdotes.”
“All in all, it is a very vivid and inspiring narrative, and is bound to take its place in the list of books that ought to be read and reread by every American boy and girl.”
“This book should be in every public library. It is filled with inspiring, beautiful, pathetic, and humorous stories of the man who gave his life, daily, for his country. The pictures, by Jay Hambridge and others, are usually adequate and artistic.”
Nicoll, William Robertson (Claudius Clear, pseud.).Key of the blue closet, a volume of clever essays on life and conduct, men, books and affairs. **$1.40. Dodd.
Thirty essays stimulated largely by personal recollections include such themes as “Never chew your pills,” “Swelled heads,” “In the world of Jane Austen,” “The art of packing,” “The tragedy of first numbers,” and “The key of the blue closet.”
“His literary gift can clothe the commonplace with attractiveness and invest familiar things with a new interest.”
“It is this talent for noting immediately, and remembering the little interesting bits of information about persons and things ... that has enabled him to place before us this collectionof observations against which at least the fault of dullness can never be brought.” Elizabeth Banks.
“It is full of homely truths, set forth wisely and agreeably for the reading of ordinary mortals.”
“A book of genial wit and wisdom.”
Nicolls, William Jasper.Coal catechism. **$2. Jacobs.
A little leather hand-book that answers nearly seven hundred questions grouped under twenty-six headings on the subject of coal. The questions are so arranged as to lead an uninformed inquirer thru various stages of the origin, development and uses of coal until a full knowledge of the subject has been obtained.
Nielsen, Frederik.History of the papacy in the XIXth century. **$7.50. Dutton.
“These volumes ... are written from a point of view which the English editor, Dr. Arthur J. Mason, of Cambridge likens to ‘that of a large-minded and statesmanlike High Churchman among ourselves.’ The first volume extends to the death of Pius VII. in 1823, the second to the death of Pius IX. in 1878. A third volume, soon to follow, covers the pontificate of Leo XIII. The historian goes back to the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the first fight for ‘the Pope’s infallibility, which was the pith and marrow of the whole contention,’ was won by the Jesuits against the Gallican Jansenists. The subsequent history, which he relates down to the adoption of that dogma by the Vatican council in 1870, might be summarized as the ‘Modern development of ultramontanism into papal autocracy.’”—Outlook.
“In the execution of his task Nielsen chiefly falls short, in our judgment, by a deficient sense of proportion.”
“The translation prepared under the direction of Dr. Mason, of Cambridge, England, will be received with interest by scholars.”
“Bishop Nielsen’s work is a magazine of facts dispassionately related, but somewhat lacking in the broad views of the course and tendency of events which make the narrative instructive to the general reader.”
Nitobe, Inazo.Bushido: the soul of Japan.**$1.25. Putnam.
“A singularly suggestive and winning little book.” Alonzo K. Parker.
Nordau, Max Simon (Südfeld).Dwarf’s spectacles and other fairy tales, tr. from the German by Mary J. Safford. †$1.50. Macmillan.
“The translation, by Mary J. Safford, is bald and not very attractive, and the illustrations are poor—in some cases positively bad.”
North, Simon Newton Dexter.“Old Greek,” an old-time professor in an old-fashioned college; a memoir of Edward North, with selections from his lectures. **$3.50. McClure.
“The book is a delightful picture of the man and the teacher.”
Norton, William Harmon.Elements of geology.*$1.40. Ginn.
The present work “is the outcome of the need of a text-book of very simple outline, in which causes and their consequences should be knit together as closely as possible.” The author therefore “departs from the common usage, which subdivides geology into a number of departments,—dynamical, structural, physiographic and historical, and to treat in immediate connection with each geological process the land forms and the rock structures which it has produced.”
Noyes, Ella.Casentino and its story. **$3.50. Dutton.
To the region of the upper Arno, a retreat of reminiscence associated with the names of St. Francis and Dante, the author has lent an atmosphere “rich in breadth and dignity, in warmth and simplicity.” (Ath.) “She pioneers us with praiseworthy skill and clearness through the tangled maze of feuds and crimes which make up the mediaeval history of the Casentino; and more especially, through the Chronicles of the Counts of Guidi, who were the rulers of that region.” (Lond. Times.) There are twenty-live full page illustrations in color, and many line drawings by Miss Dora Noyes.
“Miss Noyes has carried out her undertaking with unequal success. The arrangement of the book is unfortunate. Miss Noyes writes with obvious and sincere enthusiasm and apparently, a thorough knowledge of the ground over which she has taken us. But as a writer of ‘landscapes’ she does not succeed. The chapter on the home life of the peasants, their religious observances and their work in the fields is admirable.”
“The author’s work is worthy of its charming dress. She is full of poetic feeling and knows how to express it.”
“Unfortunately this enthusiasm, and the luxury of indulging a very lively historical imagination, have betrayed the author into generalizations and theories that a scientific analysis of history will not always justify.”
“The writer’s part is scholarly and literary, showing both conscience and ability.”
“She has an unusual talent for making pen pictures of scenery vivid, and she seems to have overlooked none of the literary, artistic, or historical memorabilia of the valley. If at times her material is spun rather thin, that is a defect inevitable in works of this kind.”
“Miss Noyes knows the Casentino thoroughly, and imparts her knowledge graciously and attractively. Her book is thoroughly readable.”
“Though succinct it is never dull, and by the skilful handling of her considerable knowledge, the author has made an intricate subject plain.”
Noyes, Walter Chadwick.American railroad rates. **$1.50. Little.
“Judge Noyes’s book is sound in principle, impartial in spirit, and clear in statement, but its value is lessened by the fact that it is in greater part an elementary presentation of what has been more fully stated by more than one previous writer.” Emory R. Johnson.
“So central is his theme that the book easily takes high rank in our American literature of railway economics.” Winthrop More Daniels.
“Of the two books, the broader, as the title denotes, is that of Mr. Haines, the more intensive and special is that of Judge Noyes.” H. Parker Willis.
“While there is little that is new in Judge Noyes’s exposition of the principles underlying railway practice, the material is presented with a directness and lucidity that entitle the book to a very high rank in the literature on the subject.”
“It may be said that it is as a whole the best balanced book on the subject that the present controversy has evoked.”
“We know of no book which will give the lay reader so clear and so authoritative a statement of the fundamental legal principles which must govern in the determination of the pending question concerning government regulation of railway rates as Judge Noyes’s volume.”
Nugent, Meredith.New games and amusements for young and old alike. **$1.50. Doubleday.
Mr. Nugent creates for the boy of ten a magic world and makes of his young devotee a veritable wizard. The book contains wonderful soap-bubble tricks, with the recipe used for producing immense bubbles lasting from five to ten minutes; it tells how to engineer yacht races in the clouds, how to make sunshine engines, and how to have a circus on a kite string. There are numerous illustrations made by the author and his collaborator, Victor J. Smedley.
“The book is distinctly novel in the suggestions offered, and is thus a pleasing departure from its type.”
“Between the cover boards of the ‘New games and amusements’ lies verily an enchanted land.”
Nunez Cabeza de Vaca.Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, tr. by Fanny Bandelier. **$1. Barnes.
“This translation, by Mrs. Bandelier, has been made with much care, and will replace that of Buckingham Smith ... as the authoritative English version of the earliest detailed account of the Gulf states.”