“Dr Benson may rest assured that many readers, friends and strangers, will thank him for bringing out a book which will certainly elevate and strengthen and brighten them.”
“Her brother has performed his task lovingly and well. Arthur Benson’s own contribution is in his fluent, modulated English; he supplies delightful descriptions of English country life as his family lived it.”
“It cannot be said that as far as art goes his treatment of his sister’s life marks any advance. The author with facile skill sets forth the family facts which he has mostly given elsewhere; and he includes a number of letters of all shades of interest. The attraction lies rather in that Bensonian faculty for criticizing other Bensons, as well as folk in general, which Maggie possessed in a large measure.”
BENSON, EDWARD FREDERIC.Freaks of Mayfair. il*$1.50 (4½c) Doran 18-1525
“In ‘The freaks of Mayfair’ Mr E. F. Benson pokes fun at some very paltry people. Among them are the social snobs; the woman who makes the fad of the moment into a religion; the man who will prattle to anyone who purveys nice food; the cats of both sexes who pretend to be kittens; and the automaton who is governed not by reason or impulse, but by habit.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
“Mr Benson is happier in his satire than in those long and rather didactic efforts in fiction by which we have so far known him. ... Compared with satire qua satire, the sketches are not of much account, they are rather too obvious and laboured; but they amuse, especially ‘The perpendicular,’ which is decidedly the best.”
“What makes this volume so worth while is that one feels that it is not inspired by a mere desire and delight in mocking, but that it springs rather from an honest and profound detestation of all the soft-brained and wasteful snobs and parasites that incumber a gasping world. Mr Benson, you feel, is a philosopher as austere as Emerson.”
“Mr George Plank’s intricate patterns of lines and squares trick out with much ornament things that are not worth any ornament at all. ... When Mr Benson has finished with his freaks, the futility of what they do compared to the effort they make to do it must be apparent even to themselves. No defence is left to them; and we fear they are too invertebrate to turn and say: ‘How came you, brother, when paper is so dear, to describe us in a rivulet of print, meandering thro’ a meadow of margin?’”
BENSON, EDWARD FREDERIC.Tortoise (Eng title, Mr Teddy).*$1.50 (2c) Doran 17-17423
This novel, the scene of which is laid in Sussex, was published in England under the title, “Mr Teddy.” It is a gently humorous story, with a slight plot, of youth, middle-age, and old age. Edward Heaton, or “Mr Teddy,” as he is usually called, a kindly bachelor of forty, devoted to his exasperatingly selfish mother, is “the tortoise.” Other characters are the two middle-aged sisters, “Miss Marion,” who writes stories for the parish magazine, and “Miss Daisy,” who looks after their home; Mrs Vickary, clergyman’s wife and feline diplomatist, and the youthful lovers, Robin and Rosemary.
“This is a far better story than ‘The Oakleyites,’ in which similar material is handled with less spontaneity and freshness. Mr Benson has no idea or ‘message’ to convey unless it be that the humours of ourselves and our neighbours are among the best sources of refreshment the Lord has given us, and that beneath them, we may flatter ourselves, there wells many a pure fountain of kind feeling and honest purpose.” H. W. Boynton
“In ‘The tortoise,’ a delightful tale of English village life, Mr E. F. Benson displays again his peculiarly feminine outlook to great advantage.”
“‘The tortoise’ is just good enough to read when there’s nothing better around.” Harry Salpeter
“It is one of those quiet, human, very interesting tales which are so rare and so difficult to write.”
“Mr Benson has the intuition and deftness to make trivialities take on importance.”
“Once more Mr Benson takes us into a quiet little set of ‘nice’ people in a provincial town, or village; and once more he studies them with a tenderness at once shrewder and blunter than Mrs Gaskell’s, but not less attractive.”
BENSON, OSCAR HERMAN, and BETTS, GEORGE HERBERT.Agriculture and the farming business. il*$3.50 Bobbs 630 17-7062
The preface says that this book attempts “what has not yet been accomplished for the farmer—the bringing together in one simple non-technical volume of a wide range of practical scientific information directly related to the every-day problems of the farm and home.” The object of the authors has been to bring together in convenient form a wide variety of information that is now scattered thru reports and bulletins, etc. In addition to chapters covering the usual subjects, farm management, farm crops, live stock, etc., there are chapters devoted to: The farm home; The automobile and the farmer; Extension education and the farmer; Extension education by means of boys’ and girls’ club work, and other miscellaneous subjects. Mr Benson is connected with the United States Department of agriculture, and Mr Betts is author of “Better rural schools.”
“An admirable general work. ... Well illustrated.”
“There is vast deal of material touched upon between these covers, but it is not always clear upon what principle it is organized and distributed. ... This volume does pretty much all that can be done in 500 pages towards a manual of information, of laboratory experiment, and of field practice. Whether the feat is worth attempting, remains a question.”
BENSON, STELLA.This is the end.*$1.35 (3c) Macmillan 17-29334
The author has a way of her own in telling a story, as one who has read “I pose” will know. Simplified, the story she now tells is of an English girl who leaves home in war-time to become a London ‘bus-conductor. Hoping to find her, her family starts out on a motor car journey around the English coast, following clews thrown out in the girl’s letters. Only one of them, her brother, home on leave, knows that the “house by the sea” of which she writes is fancy and make-believe. For these two, brother and sister, have always played at that game together. They have lived in a secret world, which later, comes to an end for the girl with the news of the brother’s death in France.
“Cleverness of a somewhat forced type mars the effect of this volume. The author has both imagination and insight, but her sarcastic gifts are apt to run away with her.”
“In ‘I pose’ her recklessness seemed a little too real for comfort, her modernity too desperate, her feminine nature set too defiantly against any sort of simple emotion or faith. The impression is renewed in this second novel, or fantasy.” H. W. Boynton
“Starts like an essay on modern philosophy, continues like a confession, goes at a bound into fiction, shifts into the manner of a Kipling fairy tale, and ends in perfect consistency with them all.”
“Another very modern, and rebellious, and essentially sentimental affair.”
“In spite of its many pathetic efforts at cheerfulness, and even gayety and whimsical humor, it is this effect of utter hopelessness which remains in the mind of the reader after closing the slender volume.”
“A book so kaleidoscopic in its changes from mockery to tenderness, from realism to fantasy, defies the ordinary canons of criticism. We must not omit to note Miss Benson’s gift for verse—whimsical and mystical—or her suggestive and vivid treatment of the mysteries of existence. ... In fine, this is a book to bewilder the old, to perplex the middle-aged, and to enrapture the very modern young.”
“Miss Benson often irritates when she means to stimulate; and if we have dwelt on this at some length it is because the irritation spoils our enjoyment of gifts of fancy and expression not often met with. There is an imaginative tenderness in what she writes about certain dead soldiers which shows her sensibility to be delicate, rare, and true.”
BENTON, ALEXANDER HAY.Indian moral instruction and caste problems: solutions.*$1.40 Longmans 17-13834
“The British government in India has, according to the author, made three mistakes in dealing with the educational problem and the book may be regarded as a study of the causes of those mistakes and of possible remedies for the evil results. ... Mr Benton suggests that toleration should be substituted for neutrality; and toleration he explains to be ‘impartial favour for all religions, with maintenance of the law.’ Mr Benton’s suggestion is to found a committee in each district for religious and moral instruction, empowered to draw up a religious and moral syllabus; and this syllabus would ‘contain a narrative of the barest facts of Christ’s life simply told, with the most important gospel precepts embodied.” (Int J Ethics) “This scheme, he suggests, should be first introduced in the higher schools and colleges, ‘where the plague spot is to be found,’ rather than in the elementary schools.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
“The treatment of the caste problem seems to us to be somewhat inadequate. ... A similar criticism may be passed upon the treatment of the subject of religious toleration. ... Here again the defect is chiefly due to lack of space and it may be left to the reader to fill in the gaps and to apply to present day problems the truths enunciated in the past and expounded by Mr Benton. We have nothing but praise for the masterly way in which Mr Benton with the scholarship of a statesman is not content merely with stating the problem and suggesting temporary and superficial remedies but insists on referring his readers to the fundamental principles underlying the problems set forth. But some of his remedial measures are dangerous.” M. C.
“We hope that Mr Benton’s thoughtful study will commend itself to the British as well as to all governments concerned with the education and welfare of Asiatic wards.”
“The failure of the educational system being assumed, many minds have been directed for many years to find a remedy, or, at least, a palliative. Mr Benton’s book is a thoughtful contribution for this purpose. But ... his proposals are open to serious political objections.”
BERCOVICI, KONRAD.Crimes of charity.*$1.50 Knopf 361 17-15181
“It is the contention of Konrad Bercovici that in being a remedy for one evil, organized charity has become itself an even greater evil to be combated. ... His charges are not made for the common reasons that it is a futile palliative, that it works toward graft and expenses wasted in red tape, but for the more vital reason that it becomes an actual force of detriment and oppression to those it is supposed to aid.”—Boston Transcript
“It is a very strong book whose pictures come very truly from the heart of reality.” D. L. M.
“In spite of the extreme position of condemnation taken by the author as the result of his alleged experiences as an investigator, the book is worth reading as showing the possible need of a change of method along certain lines.”
“Many of the charities condemned by the author of ‘Crimes of charity’ would certainly not be considered forms of ‘organized charity’ by those who are supposed to know what these words stand for. ... But the book is chiefly devoted to the work of a large relief agency, apparently a Jewish relief society in New York, and the author finds his opportunity to observe the methods of the society by becoming what he calls a ‘charity spy.’ ... Is it necessary to say that such dishonesty is not really the method of organized charity in America. The language of the author is extremely violent throughout. ‘This stupid ass in charge of the poor,’ ‘This spiritual hog,’ are typical of expressions found throughout the book. His conduct is almost equally violent. ... Whatever the faults of organized charity may be, they are certainly not set forth in this volume of hysterical stories.” Edith Abbott
“The testimony given by the author is not melodramatic, but a revelation made by one who has studied at first hand conditions that are pathetic, thrilling, and revolting.”
“A preposterous attack.”
BERENSON, BERNARD.Study and criticism of Italian art, v. 3. il*$3.25 Macmillan 759.5 (17-14402)
“Of the six essays in this volume, five relate to Venetian painting in the fifteenth century. They have been selected because they deal with points for which there was no room in another book, published under the title of ‘Venetian painting in the United States: the fifteenth century.’ Two essays, however, on Carpaccio’s ‘Glory of St Ursula’ and ‘A Carpacciesque Madonna in Berlin,’ stand somewhat apart, being chiefly essays in method. A paper on Leonardo da Vinci is an attempt at a revaluation.”—Ath
“It is equally hard to accept our critic’s final appraisal of Leonardo, whom he would put down to Botticelli’s level. And still harder is it to share his implicit tenet that the art of the Far East gives us a norm by which Leonardo’s painting, and presumably all other painting, is to be measured. ... Even if Leonardo does not seem wholly to come to his rights in this remarkable essay, the incidental criticism and the fresh point of view are boldly significant.” R: Offner
“Offers besides the reprinted papers a novelty and a sensation in a revaluation of Leonardo da Vinci. Mr Berenson describes whimsically his gradual liberation from the spell of legend and his final view that Leonardo is barely a great artist, rather a charming draughtsman obfuscated by the discovery of counterpoise and chiaroscuro. We by no means share the individual appreciations, or depreciations, upon which Mr Berenson’s view is based. ... The whole volume is good reading whether for the amateur or for the professional student.”
“Nor will the admirer of Leonardo be much troubled by the dubious studio works with which Mr Berenson tries to fortify his case. The essence of his attack is that knowledge, science, logic, and attention to technical problems are ruinous to the artist. Such a sweeping generalization does not stand the test of inquiry.”
BERENSON, BERNARD.Venetian painting in America: the fifteenth century. il*$4 Sherman, F: Fairchild 759.5 16-25230
“Gathered and amplified into a book, Mr Berenson’s conclusions, known to us through his serial studies in Art in America, have gained in persuasion and consequence. Mr Berenson, finding an adequately representative sequence of Venetian paintings in our collections, has grouped them historically; and adopting the discursive method of his avowed master Morelli, he has made them the pretext for discussion of almost all problems incident to their study. ... As one might expect, the central figure in the book is Giovanni Bellini, and the central problem, his chronology.”—Dial
“One of the most significant works of reconstructive criticism that have appeared in recent years on the subject of Italian painting. It teems with incidental criticism, æsthetic evaluations, and valuable hints of attribution. ... The 263 pages of text are abundantly illustrated with one hundred and ten reproductions and provided with two tables and two indexes.” R: Offner
“Alike for enjoyment and for minute consideration of attributions and chronology the book must be read widely. Thanks are due the publisher for making what must have been a pretty costly book accessible at a price possible for students.”
“Whatever one may think of the author’s method, the volume shows insight and enthusiasm and contains valuable information on the subject with which it principally deals.”
“If the book fails wholly to satisfy, the scheme on which it is planned must be held in some measure responsible. The author has attempted to rewrite the history of the Venetian school in terms of the pictures representing that school in America. These are of very unequal merit, and though interest in them doubtless gave Mr Berenson the principal stimulus for his work, it is a little unfortunate for its permanent value that it was not planned on cosmopolitan lines.”
BERESFORD, JOHN DAVYS.House-mates.*$1.50 (1½c) Doran 17-12391
The main interest in this story lies in the author’s analysis of the character of Wilfred Hornby, a young architect, shy, awkward, conventional, brought up “to divide society into categories.” “His early experiences at home, at school, and in the architect’s office, his love affairs and engagement to his cousin Gladys—a poseuse to the backbone ... are related with comparative brevity. Then comes the day when, for the first time in his life, obliged to act for himself, he takes lodgings on the ground floor of the old house in Keppel street, a house inhabited by all sorts and conditions of men—and women. Resolved though he is at first to have nothing to do with his fellow-lodgers, proud of his isolation, he is gradually, inevitably drawn into the life of the house. And presently he comes to know all these ‘House-mates’ of his, and one of them is the girl with whom he quickly falls honestly and deeply in love.” (N Y Times) In Keppel street Wilfred learns to alter his standard of values and comes to the “simple realization of [his] essential equality with the rest of mankind.”
“When all is said, it is by far the most vital and most appealing of all Mr Beresford’s novels.” E. F. E.
“The hand of the craftsman continues to work, though the materials are of a quality so much thinner and cruder than those he customarily uses.”
“The book is written in a style somewhat easier than are the majority of Mr Beresford’s novels, but it does not quite rank with his best work—not with ‘A candidate for truth,’ for instance—though it is, of course, well worth reading and decidedly interesting. The development of Hornby’s character, which is the core of the book, is in every way excellent. The product of his narrow, middle-class, Sabbatarian surroundings, the brief spells of emotionalism for which he is unable to find a name, his hesitations and mistakes, and that honesty which lies at the root of his character—all these are portrayed with sure, firm strokes. ... In the last pages of the story we are given a brief glimpse of the result of the war and of several weeks’ service in the trenches on this especial temperament.”
“Not by any means the equal of Mr Beresford’s ‘These Lynnekers.’ The incidents are disagreeable and in one case revolting, and the young man who narrates the history of his younger days is much more interested in his own psychological development than the reader is likely to be.”
“If, however, the book has no great central purpose, so that there seems to be no place where the reviewer can take hold, it brings out two big Beresford ideas—freedom from restraint, whether that restraint be stereotyped art or stereotyped thought, and democracy.” Doris Webb
“Its purpose is to show the influence of a strange group of human beings in drawing out and molding the spirit and character of a sensitively introspective young man. It is a carefully wrought picture, and a keenly analyzed situation, differing widely from the character of work Mr Beresford has done heretofore. ... It is not a particularly easy or entertaining story to read.”
BERESFORD, JOHN DAVYS.The Wonder.*$1.40 (2c) Doran 17-8200
The story of a child prodigy. Victor Stott was the son of the most famous man of his time in England. It was the father’s ambition to raise up a son who should take his place. The father was a champion cricketer; the son turned out to be a Wonder. Abnormal in appearance, his well-developed and sturdy child’s body appearing frail in comparison with his massive head, Victor Stott seemed, so far as those who tried to puzzle out his case could ascertain, to possess illimitable understanding. Nothing in the universe, unless it was the mystery of his own personality, was hidden from him. He had a strange power over every one who came in contact with him. There was one being only who could defy that power. This was the idiot boy, who tried dumbly to claim a kinship with the Wonder. No-mind and absolute-mind were brought into contact in these two. As Henry Challis, the scientist, explained the Wonder, he represented finality, giving a glimpse of what a world would be without ignorance and without mystery.
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“All the elements of wizardry in this story can only be suggested. It is told consistently with all the verisimilitude of a scientific document, with an occasional footnote and a mention of actual men that can not fail to delude the reader, at least for the moment, into thinking that he is having set before him the life story of a prodigy that actually existed. As to his fate, ... it brings the story to a logical and a sensible conclusion.” E. F. E.
“Throughout the book we feel restraint. Now and again in elusive realism possible analogiesin the life of Jesus are hinted at, analogies which are never pressed—from that pitfall the author is saved by his understanding of how only in little flashes historical analogy may appeal to the imagination. But for the familiar and barren query, ‘What would happen if Jesus appeared on earth today?’, Beresford plainly substitutes in effect the more stimulating query, ‘What would have to happen today to produce the effect Jesus once produced?’” E. C. P.
“Mr Beresford’s new story is quite unlike any of his previous novels. It is, indeed, a peculiar book, and one is not at all certain whether the author intends it to be taken partly at least, as an allegory. ... But one thing at least seems fairly certain—it is a book about which people will disagree.”
“The workmanship of the book is notable; its intent is presumably satirical, but it is also, to us at least, unfathomable.”
“In ‘The wonder’ Mr J. D. Beresford has satirically pilloried certain methods of education and taken a fling at the sum of human knowledge.”
BERGER, MARCEL.Ordeal by fire; tr. by Mrs Cecil Curtis.*$1.50 (1c) Putnam 17-26261
This story of the first days of the war follows the development of a man who is transformed from a sceptic and cynic to a loyal and ardent patriot. Michel Dreher is in Switzerland when he learns that war has been declared. For a moment he entertains the idea that he need not return to his country. That he does so is due to a sense of his social position rather than to patriotism. He takes up his duties as a sergeant half-heartedly, but as the war progresses he gradually undergoes a change. Shortly before he had met a young French girl who attracted him greatly, but since love and marriage had no place in his cynical scheme of life, he had passed her by. But with his new seriousness he comes to think of her more and more often and the Epilogue, which carries the story into 1915, pictures their union. The author is a sergeant in the French army.
“It is grimly terrible, but not morbid.”
“This, evidently, is a book of deeper mood and meaning than the now famous ‘Gaspard’; here are Gaspards in their natural setting and relation to the great theme as a whole—the great theme of France at war, which has here its finest interpretation in fiction thus far.” H. W. Boynton
“A vivid translation of a story that throbs with life.”
“The story is told in the first person with all the characteristic incident and spirited dialogue to be expected from a French writer handling such a theme.” P. F. Bicknell
“‘Ordeal by fire’ does for France something very much like what ‘Mr Britling’ and ‘The vermilion box’ have done for England. It shows how the war came home to France.” H. W. Boynton
“Whatever M. Berger, himself a sergeant in the French army, was solely responsible for in this book has been admirably done. ... But the work of the translator leaves much to be desired. ... One closes the book with a strong desire to read it in French.”
BERLE, LINA WRIGHT.George Eliot and Thomas Hardy; a contrast.*$1.50 Kennerley 823 17-30753
In a preliminary chapter the writer shows that it is Eliot and not Hardy who furnished a basis upon which rational idealism may be developed,—one which, while acknowledging facts, recognizes also the relation of the spiritual elements in life to the grosser material forces. George Eliot’s idealism has been in the direction which subsequent generations have found most sound. Hardy, on the other hand, is the romantic decadent. His characters never pass from a lower to a higher spirituality but are bound on the wheel of life which inexorably breaks them in its revolution. Following a statement of these fundamental principles of difference are essays that show the striking contrast in treatment of both weak and good women; that indicate how both novelists struck the same rock in the creation of men—both making the minor characters real men, their principals, men of straw; points out the differences of goal in their love stories,—Eliot attaining wisdom higher than ourselves thru suffering and pain, Hardy descending to licentious, often brutal love; finds saneness in the treatment of old age; and closes with an illuminating estimate of radical and reactionary types with the deduction that Eliot was the radical and Hardy the reactionary.
“On every page of Miss Berle’s book is evidence of the futility of writing such a study.” E. F. E.
“As worked out by Miss Berle the thesis becomes fruitful of excellent criticism, at once ethical and æsthetic, as the best literary criticism always is. Only the last chapter gives one pause. In her use of the words ‘radical’ and ‘conservative’ Miss Berle is somewhat arbitrary, and in a manner that may lead to confusion in the minds of many readers.”
“The book is decidedly interesting and well phrased, but one feels that while the radicalism of George Eliot has been properly valued by the author, there are emendations that might be suitably made to the estimate of Hardy.”
BERTSCH, MARGUERITE.How to write for moving pictures; a manual of instruction and information. il*$1.50 (2½c) Doran 808.2 17-17069
The author is director and editor for the Vitagraph company and the Famous players film company. “Her complete discussion of the writing and production of the photoplay is followed by warnings against hackneyed themes, which she classifies, and a presentation of unhackneyed possibilities.” (Springf’d Republican) The last four chapters deal with the censorship and the educational possibilities of moving pictures. The illustrations are from photographs. There is no index.
“The literature of scenario-making is already bulky, but Miss Bertsch’s manual is well worth a place in it.”
BETTS, FRANK.Saga plays.*$1.25 Longmans 822
There are three plays in this collection: The passing of Sinfiotli; Ingiald Evilheart, and The sword of Sigurd. Writing in 1917, the author says in his preface, “The plays were completed in April, 1914, by one who did not believe that great wars were any longer possible. Especially in ‘The sword of Sigurd’ he used the traditional motif of the sword to stand in his imaginations for all the adventurous and creative life of men. There is now need for the actual and physical sword as well as the Sword of the Spirit. ... The writer finds nothing to alter on this account. ... ‘The sword of Sigurd’ is not intended to be a complete play. It is a prologue to a play, as yet unfinished, dealing with the death of Sigurd.”
“They present tragic episodes from the ‘Volsungasaga,’ and the terse, grinding dialogue is strong and dramatic, and a fair imitation of that in the translated sagas. But though a prose different from that of real life is tolerable in a translation, where one unconsciously makes allowances, it gives a sense of unreality here without evoking the right poetic atmosphere.”
“Through their likeness and unlikeness to the conditions of our own strenuous days Mr Betts’s three plays come apt to the moment. Even in the days of laughter and dancing, peace and overflowing garners they would have been found exciting, exalting work. ... The dialogue seems to thrill and quiver; and though we are always kept close to the matter in hand, the suggestions of thought on fighting, on adventure, on honour, on religion and fate, set the mind at work outside the scope of the stories here vividly and dramatically told.”
BETTS, GEORGE HERBERT.Class-room method and management. il*$1.25 Bobbs 371.3 17-13425
“Part 1, which is devoted to a discussion of general method, makes use of what Professor Betts calls the ‘four cardinal elements which comprise method.’ These to him are (1) the determination of aim, (2) the selection of material, (3) the organization of subject-matter for instruction, (4) presentation or the technique of instruction. He states the outcome of instruction in the elementary subjects as (1) fruitful knowledge, (2) right attitudes, (3) applied skills. ... In Part 2 the author discusses method in teaching, applied specifically to reading, spelling, language, arithmetic, geography, history, civics, physiology and hygiene, agriculture, and home economics. In each case he makes use of his four cardinal elements of method and tries to summarize the conclusion from the recent scientific work in learning and teaching in each of the elementary subjects.”—El School J
“In spite of the many excellences of the book, the reader familiar with contemporary critical thought in education finds frequent cause for disappointment. ... Nearly all contemporary books intended as guides to teachers, while indicating orientations of aim and subject matter, fail like that of Dr Betts, to present acceptable indications as to desirable boundaries of the areas of knowledge and skill to be mastered.” D: Snedden
“The title of the book is in part misleading. It is really a rather systematic treatise on the principles of education and general principles of method in teaching together with a statement of method applied specifically to each of the common branches. ... Prof. Betts’s discussion of the teaching of spelling ought to be very helpful. His treatment of reading from the standpoint of the ‘quantitative movement’ is quite inadequate. ... He has not taken advantage of available scientific material in the chapter on the teaching of arithmetic. ... This book will be of definite value to prospective teachers of elementary subjects or teachers who wish to keep abreast of current modes of thinking about school problems.”
BEVAN, EDWYN ROBERT.[2]Land of the two rivers.*$1 (3c) Longmans 935 (Eng ed 18-1520)
A brief historical survey that attempts to answer the question What has Mesopotamia stood for in the past? The author says: “The country which we incorrectly call Mesopotamia and the countries connected with it—Armenia, Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia—have recently become associated with living interests of the hour and immediate questions of practical politics; that may seem a reason for trying to give a fresh rapid survey of what their significance has been in former ages. ... I have tried to seize the main points and leave out all details which did not contribute to making them apprehensible.” There is one folding map.
“This admirable little sketch of Mesopotamia’s place in history is by far the best of its kind that we have seen. Mr Bevan’s very first sentence, protesting against that misleading catchword ‘the unchangeable East,’ stimulates curiosity, and is fully justified in the course of the book.”
“To write a small book on such a subject calls for special qualities in its author, if it is not to degenerate into a mere list of names and dates. Mr Bevan has avoided that pitfall. The reader with no special knowledge of ancient history will here find a book he has long wanted.”
BEVAN, EDWYN ROBERT.Method in the madness.*$1.50 Longmans 940.91 17-28628
A fresh consideration of the case between Germany and ourselves. Loyal to the cause of the Allies, in no sense a pacifist, the author who is an Englishman sets aside controversy and denunciation and prepares an unimpassioned statement of what appear to him the inexactitudes in prevalent views of Germany; and looks at Germany just as it might be looked at by some one who stood outside the hurly-burly, with a desire, not to score points, but to say what he seems to see. In the quiet atmosphere of reflection he invites the reader to a consideration of truths which forward-looking men of all countries regard as basic, calling attention to these truths as the common ground upon which plans for peace may be made, the questions of territorial possessions and economic prosperity cleared up, and the matter of future warfare settled for all time.
“This English book on the great war has two unusual characteristics: it is written in a style of fine and deliberate quality, and its writer is almost as much as it is humanly possible to be, fair and dispassionate. ... With regard to the attainment of peace, his chapter entitled ‘Differences on the major premise’ is of special worth as showing that after all the difference between the contending parties is not so much a difference of primary principles as of judgment on particular facts.”
“Perhaps its greatest merit is that Mr Bevan, unlike too many of the patriotic men of letters who ‘do their bit,’ has really taken the trouble to master his material. ... Our only criticism concerning the documentation of the book is that it has been allowed to appear without an index. That is all the more unfortunate because there is a certain lack of consecutiveness and plan. ... His book is valuable for the light it throws on German aims and German methods.”
BIERSTADT, EDWARD HALE.Dunsany the dramatist. il*$1.50 (4c) Little 822 17-7565
This study of Lord Dunsany consists of four chapters: The man; His work; His philosophy; Letters. The author finds a happy characterization of Dunsany in the exclamation of Thoreau, “Who am I to complain who have not yet ceased to wonder?” He cannot be classified as a realist or romanticist, for he deals not with life but with dreams. The series of letters, taken from a correspondence between Mr Stuart Walker and Lord Dunsany during Mr Walker’s production of the Dunsany plays, is particularly interesting. The illustrations show scenes from the plays.
“The most interesting section of Mr Bierstadt’s book is the chapter which records the recent correspondence between Lord Dunsany and Mr Stuart Walker, the proprietor of the Portmanteau theatre. ... The simple record of this correspondence, in itself, would make the book worth reading. ... Those of us who have seen ‘The gods of the mountain’ do not need to be told that it is a great play. All we really want to learn is a catalogue of further facts concerning the career of a dramatist whose life has been hidden in obscurity. On this account, it is unfortunate that Mr Bierstadt’s book is weakest on the score of information.” Clayton Hamilton
“While Mr Bierstadt’s comments are entertaining rather than authoritative, the volume will repay perusal.”
“He has read everything in print on the subject. He has conned all the plays and Dunsany’s other writings. Yet the result leaves one with a sense of undiscovered depths. Least fortunate of all is Mr Bierstadt in the life of Dunsany. ... The appendix, on the contrary, dealing with productions and publication, seems precise and accurate. The sixteen illustrations in half-tone give us a notion of both the man and his plays. Altogether the book will be welcome as the first treatment of a playwright whose vogue has advanced with surprising leaps in the last year or two.”
“The most discriminating and valuable part of the author’s survey is his treatment of Dunsany’s philosophy. Like Yeats, Dunsany is more interested in ideas than in people. ... But he has revived Wonder for us. His plays release us from an intolerable burden of photography and realism.” Algernon Tassin
“His criticisms are highly laudatory, but the points at which he takes issue with Dunsany are points which to the average reader will appear to have little importance.”
BIGELOW, FRANCIS HILL.Historic silver of the colonies and its makers. il*$6 Macmillan 739 17-25629
A vast fund of information has been collected in this work which describes and illustrates the various forms of colonial silver of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries made principally by the colonial silversmiths. It seeks its audience among possessors of colonial heirlooms, art lovers, art collectors, and art students. Church silver, beakers, tankards, flagons, mugs, chalices, table silverware, candlesticks, porringers, casters, tea kettles, inkstands, stew pans, bread baskets and many other objects wrought in silver are included with genealogical and historical notes concerning owners, donors and silversmiths. Over three hundred illustrations accompany the text.
“The 325 illustrations of pieces of colonial plate which the author has selected as typical or as particularly beautiful will arouse the wondering admiration of those who think of our forefathers only as simple and rather inartistic frontiersmen.”
“There is a confusing mass of genealogical information and dates which would appeal principally to the collector or student, but there is, too, much that is interesting for the general reader. The anecdotes that enliven these pages are of like variety and interest.”
“The art side of our pre-Revolutionary times is seldom brought home to us so graphically as in this well-illustrated book. The author writes as one who loves his subject and is an authority upon it.”
“The book will prove a joy to lovers of old silver and a competent guide to collectors.”
“He has made a book of much value in its particular place, one which collectors and connoisseurs will be very glad to possess.”
BIGELOW, JOHN.Breaches of Anglo-American treaties; a study in history and diplomacy. maps*$1.50 Sturgis & Walton 341.2 17-11357
In quotations from the British press the author shows that the United States has been looked upon as a treaty breaker. His purpose in this book, begun and practically finished before the war, is to examine the record of the two nations in this respect. He says, “The following study is devoted to determining the relative trustworthiness of two great nations as indicated in their conventional intercourse with each other. Beginning with the treaty of peace at the end of our War of independence, it considers all the treaties, conventions, and similar agreements negotiated between Great Britain and the United States that may be regarded as broken by either of the contracting parties, sets forth and discusses the infraction in each case, and ends with a summarising of the records on both sides and a balancing of the accounts.” This summary shows that “the United States has more than a safe balance of good faith to its credit.”
“A perusal of the work indeed fully confirms the accuracy of the statement that it ‘was not written to form or influence public opinion as to any phase or feature of the present world war.’ ... An examination of the disputes arising out of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty occupies nearly two-thirds of the volume. In this way their relative importance is perhaps unduly enhanced.” J. B. Moore
“A curious, interesting, and, in some ways, a futile book. It would seem to reflect the spirit of an enquiring mind, rather than the results of profound research.” P. M. Brown
“The limits of this review do not permit of an analysis, or estimate of the evidence which Major Bigelow brings forward in support of his conclusions but it may be doubted whether the case he makes out against Great Britain in some of the instances which he cites is conclusive.” J. W. Garner
“Marked by fairness of treatment and broad scholarly effort.”
“We have ventured to sound a note of protest against the tone and temper of this volume, which doubtless contains much valuable matter, but we should equally regret railing accusations on behalf of British claims. One can only hope that a major, even though retired, is finding now more useful scope for his energies than in fanning the flames of wellnigh extinct controversies.” H. E. Egerton
“Greatly to be commended for its research and candor. ... After reading the author’s gatherings and conclusions about the treatise named, one lays down the book feeling that he has produced a powerful argument for the world court that seems to be rapidly coming nearer.”
BILBRO, MATHILDE.Middle pasture. il*$1.25 (1½c) Small 17-26262
The middle pasture divided the two Crawford farms. Neglected and unused and overgrown with brambles, it lay between the well-kept acres, dividing the two families as well. For at their father’s death, each brother had claimed it, and the family quarrel that resulted had lasted thru many years. The difference didn’textend to the children, however, and the pasture that separated their elders became a common meeting ground for them. Billy and Beatrice climbed the stone wall on one side to meet Mary and Carey, who came tumbling over the wall on the other. The pasture was a very paradise for play. Beatrice, a delightful mixture of earnestness and mischief and naughtiness and wisdom, tells the story, bringing into it the grown-up affairs of many of the neighbors in the pleasant little southern community.