“The book is of general interest just now, when especial need is felt of a readable and accurate account of the political forces at work among the central European powers following the Franco-Prussian war.” L. E. Robinson
“Though Professor Coolidge modestly disclaims having made any startling discoveries, his little volume is probably the clearest, sanest, and most objective brief account of the most important permanent results of European diplomacy between 1866 and 1882. Its value lies in the discriminating judgment, based on wide reading and personal acquaintance, with which he handles such elusive questions as the war scare of 1875, the personal relations between the old Kaiser and the Czar, and the devious motives of Bismarck, Gortchakov, and Andrássy. ... Professor Coolidge has also been wise in giving an unusually full analysis of the Russian and Balkan factors in the origins of the Triple alliance. These have ordinarily been much less appreciated than the Italian and French elements.”
“It is pleasant to recognize a book in which Bismarck as a statesman is not, if the expression may be used, melodramatized out of all lifelikeness.”
“One of the best books to help one understand how the present way came about.” P. B.
COOLIDGE, DANE.Rimrock Jones.il*$1.35 Watt 17-13184
“‘Rimrock’ is a young Arizona prospector, possessing all the vices and virtues of his kind—the magazine and moving-picture kind. He discovers a fabulously rich copper mine. A young woman stenographer gives him her small savings to assist in establishing his claim, in return for which he gives her a one per cent interest in the property. He interests an eastern capitalist, but past experience has taught him to be wary of surrendering his control. Eventually, a fault develops in his filing and a man jumps one of his claims. Jones kills the man and is jailed. Until he is acquitted the girl watches over his interests, but afterward he becomes infatuated with an eastern woman, follows her to New York and there pursues a round of dissipation and seriously involves himself in disastrous stock speculation. In the meanwhile, the fault in his mining claim once more crops up in Arizona. This the girl uses to advantage in bringing him to his senses.”—Springf’d Republican
“The story is vigorously written, as beseems its subject, and will especially appeal to those acquainted with mining manipulations.”
“It is a breezy story of its kind, and its rapid action creates a high degree of interest.”
COOLIDGE, LOUIS ARTHUR.Ulysses S. Grant. il*$2 (1c) Houghton 17-4331
“No man who ever gained enduring fame was more the sport of chance than Grant,” says his biographer. “No character in history has achieved supreme success in war or the supreme reward of politics who owed less to his own ambition or design. ... He was the child of splendid opportunities which came to him unsought, for which he never seemed to care, and which he met with calm assurance of his own capacity.” It is a well-written work based on trustworthy sources and it treats adequately of what the author calls Grant’s two distinct careers, devoting more space than is usual to Grant’s presidency.
“Mr Coolidge has used the best books relating to the subject, and particularly everything personally relating to Grant, except the material in the Civil war records. He has not, however, familiarized himself with recent monographic literature, or with the economic and social movements of the time, which emphatically influenced Grant’s career, although they left his personality untouched. ... He seems also not to possess a sufficient background of military knowledge to give force to his military criticism. Grant, however, both man and boy, by quotation and incident, stands out more clearly than in any previous account. ... The study of Grant in some respects is apt to prove final.” C. R. Fish
“General King and Mr Edmonds devote but a small portion of their books to Grant’s life after the close of the Civil war. While not an absolutely necessary biography, would be of use as viewing Grant from this angle.”
“The more important and distinctive part of Mr Coolidge’s work lies in the last third of it. ... Scant justice is done to the character of Carl Schurz in this review of Grant’s life. ... Mr Coolidge’s book fails to achieve its evident purpose to set Grant among the few great presidents; it was not needed to place him among the country’s greatest soldiers.” H. S. K.
“Mr Coolidge presents an informing and, on the whole, judicial account of Grant’s presidency. The student of our history knows that this is no easy task. One of the best features of this excellent biography is the liberal quotation from Grant’s letters and state papers, written in that simple and forceful style which proceeded from his integrity and strength of character.”
“If it cannot be said that Mr Coolidge’s biography altogether explains the man Grant and his career, ... he has nevertheless narrated the events of a difficult historical period with a skill which gives to the present generation a rapid and comprehensive account of much with which it should be acquainted, while older persons familiar with the story can read it once more with renewed interest.”
“The biography, while it embodies in quotation or paraphrase all that is most significant in Grant’s narrative, has abundant freshness and vitality of its own: it is written with more than a touch of eloquence. Not merely because of its fullness and accuracy, but also through its literary qualities—its virility and incisiveness—it is not unworthy to stand beside the ‘Memoirs’ as a companion piece.”
“It comes just short of 600 pages, as long as a one volume biography can afford to be, and a study of its proportions reveals good judgment on the part of the author. ... The value of the volume is enhanced by the portraits, seven of Grant alone, one in a group of officers: all but one of these are from the collection of Frederick Hill Meserve of New York and some of them have not hitherto been published. Five of them are of the soldier, one of the president, two of the veteran.”
COOMARASWAMY, ANANDA KENTISH.Buddha and the gospel of Buddhism. il*$3.75 (3½c) Putnam 294 A16-1519
For descriptive note see Annual for 1916.
“There is nothing scholarly about this book; as a contribution to scientific knowledge, it is nil. Its accounts of the legendary life of Gautama and his teaching, the discussions of the contemporary religious systems of India and of the later developments of Buddhism, as well as the concluding chapters on Buddhist art, are all a hotch-potch of quotations from modern scholars. ... If one wishes to get a general view of Buddhism, he will do better to turn to any popular manual, say the one by Mrs Rhys Davids in the Home university library, which is far better than the present work, and only costs one-seventh as much. ... The book is confessedly a work of propaganda. As an argument for Buddhism, it is not particularly convincing.”
“We have many expositions of Buddhism, but few possess either the charm or the forcefulness of this.”
“This book, dealing, as it does, very largely with metaphysical speculations, is, of course, not very easy reading. But the author’s style is admirably clear. It is illustrated with a number of fine plates, some in color, others in black and white.”
“The author’s previous work and his peculiar fitness to write authoritatively on this subject should go far to recommend this book for serious consideration by all students of the Buddhist religion.”
COOPER, CLAYTON SEDGWICK.Brazilians and their country. il*$3.50 (3c) Stokes 918.1 17-29767
The writer contends that in a period when territorial barriers are being so rapidly dissolved and when national and social conditions are being so deeply stirred by the greatest human conflict of all ages, isolation and localism are no longer possible for any thoughtful person. He offers this contention as an apologia for a North American’s presumption in writing about a South American people. Contents: Mental hospitality; Brazilian traits; Portugal and Brazil; The Brazilian empire; The orientalism of Brazil; Republican government; A leviathan country; Education; Brazilian home life; The triumph of the engineer; Seeing Rio de Janeiro by tramway; Electric energy transforming Brazil; The racial melting pot; In the land of the Paulistas; The awakening of southern Brazil; Trade and transportation; Outdoor sports and lotteries; Rio de Janeiro, city of enchantment; Bahia, old and bizarre; Paranagua; Pernambuco and Central Brazil; Para and the rubber workers of the Amazon; The Brazilian Indian; Languages, libraries and literature; Brazil’s army and navy; The Latin American view of North Americans; The newspaper as an international medium; Brazil’s tomorrow.
“We have as a result a history with science, observation and experience combined in a really valuable volume.” T: Walsh
“The frequent comparisons between North American and South American ways of looking at life and of carrying on the business of living are always interesting and ought to prove useful to all business men, especially young men, who hope to enter into trade relations with South America.”
“Exceptional among serious descriptive works in being readable as well as full of useful information. A business man with South Americantrade in the back of his mind might well invest in this book. It gives a striking picture of our great southern neighbor and ally.”
COOPER, ELIZABETH (MRS CLAYTON SEDGWICK COOPER).Heart of O Sono San. il*$1.75 (3½c) Stokes 17-28073
The heart of O Sono San is not only the heart of every Japanese girl, but the heart of woman the world over. The customs, the ceremonies, the superstitions and traditions that dominate the environment in which O Sono San is reared are those which now stifle, now strangely quicken the development of Japanese women. From babyhood to motherhood we follow her. In her maturity when she gives her boy to her country, while she lives thru the uncertainties and terrors of the struggle for Japan’s life, when her boy falls serving his country, she rallies from the staggering blow with the heroism that is no more Japanese than French, English, German or American. It is the old Spartan heroism of universal womanhood. The illustrations are excellent reproductions in duo tone from photographs.
“The author’s ‘The lady of the Chinese court yard’ was an interesting piece of work. It was brilliant, but not so fine as ‘The heart of O Sono San,’ because the latter book possesses rare ethical and spiritual beauty.”
“If the illustrations do not always illustrate the accompanying text, they are in themselves exquisite. The book is worth owning.”
COOPER, JAMES A.Cap’n Abe, storekeeper; a story of Cape Cod.il*$1.25 (1½c) Sully & Kleinteich 17-14190
Louise Grayling decides suddenly to spend the summer on Cape Cod with an uncle she has never seen, Cap’n Abram Silt. She finds Cap’n Abe to be a mild and peaceful old gentleman who for many years has entertained his neighbors with tales of the wild adventures of his seafaring brother, Cap’n Amazon. Louise has never heard of this brother and is amazed to learn that she has another uncle. There are others, too, who have begun to express polite doubt as to his existence. So to silence these doubters, Cap’n Abram arranges for the appearance of Cap’n Amazon. His own disappearance is coincident with the arrival of the swarthy-skinned, black-haired, red-turbaned seaman who can be no other than the legendary captain. The village accepts the stranger at his face value but is sorely puzzled to know what has become of the gentle Cap’n Abe. The reader will anticipate Louise in guessing the secret, but the curious villagers are kept in doubt for some time.
“Mr Cooper is to be credited with some ingenuity of plot and with holding concealed until almost the closing chapter a climax which can fairly claim originality. ... There is a conventional love romance in the book.”
“If your last trip to the Cape has lost any of that delicious odor of clams and seaweed that clung even to your shoelaces, you can get a new whiff of it here, with a great deal of pleasure.”
“The sea and the seafolk give the breezy atmosphere which makes it pleasant reading for a summer’s day.”
COOPER, LANE, ed. Concordance to the works of Horace. pa $7 Carnegie inst. 874 16-20920
“With this monumental volume a great labor of love on the part of the professor of the English language and literature in Cornell university has been finished, and a new and advanced position in the progress of classical scholarship has been gained. ... The text on which the ‘Concordance’ is based is that of Vollmer’s ‘Editio maior’ of 1912. Contrary to the usual practice, Mr Cooper has maintained a purely alphabetical sequence in the arrangement of Horatian forms, as, for instance, ‘sum,eram,esse,fui,’etc., rather than listing all these under the basis of ‘sum’ or ‘esse.’ The advantage of this plan is that the student can at once detect the presence or absence of any given form in Horace. The work is a concordance and not a mere index. Each word is quoted in connection with a whole line (or more if necessary) of its context, which makes it possible, not only instantly to identify the passage, but also to study the word or phrase in question without turning it up in the original text. ... Mr Cooper has issued with the ‘Concordance,’ for the benefit of those engaged in a similar task, a list of instructions for preparing the slips used in the compilation of this great work.”—Class J
“We, who up to date have had no index to Horace except those of the Zangemeister-Bentley type, works ill printed and out of print at that, will have constant cause for gratitude to Mr Lane and to his ‘Maecenas,’ the Carnegie institute of Washington, for his scholarly, handsome, and entirely usable volume. It is a royal octavo, on heavy durable paper, printed with type unusually large and clear for such a work.” F. J. Miller
“To review a concordance exhaustively one must have thumbed it in long service. I have tested this one only by rapid reading of a hundred pages selected at random. I have observed no misprints and no instances of unintelligent or misleading delimitation of the excerpts. They are always so made as to indicate sufficiently the metrical, the grammatical, and the substantive context. ... An interesting page of the preface describes the method by which the forty-five thousand slips were prepared by eighteen collaborators.” Paul Shorey
COOPER, LANE, ed. Greek genius and its influence.*$3.50 (2½c) Yale univ. press 913.38 17-29847
Select essays and extracts that interpret the life and genius of classic Greece. The work aims to supply “a part of the necessary background for the study of Greek and Latin masterpieces, ... and to stimulate and rectify the comparison of ancient with modern literature.” The characterizations of the Greek race which are assembled here have special interest for students of literature, and the writer hopes, for the geographer and anthropologist. A penetrating study of the traits of the Greek race, at its best, furnishes an introduction to the volume. He finds the Greek the most versatile and evenly developed of any race nature has brought forth; they were religious and intellectual; remarkable was their scientific interest in human conduct. The writer, who is professor of the English language and literature in Cornell university, offers the volume as a stimulus to the study of standard English translations of the classics.
“Certainly the reading is good reading, for the whole two hundred odd pages. Only—and one must ask it—why isn’t it edited?” H. B. Alexander
“While this book lacks the unity that a single authorship would compel, it is none the less abundant in interest and in wisdom.”
COOPER, LENNA FRANCES.How to cut food costs. il 75c Good health pub. 641 17-19175
“In this little book, the director of the Battle Creek sanitarium school of home economics gives a popular explanation of a balanced diet and provides a guide to the selection of low cost foods. It contains a large number of recipes and a list of economical menus for ten days. The seasonal factor in food economy is brought out, and the part played in cost by transportationand selling charges illustrated by telling examples. The emphasis is laid on wise buying rather than waste in the kitchen which, so far as working class households are concerned, is apt to be exaggerated by the critics.”—Survey
“The book closes with a complete bibliography on kindred subjects.”
“Though this book cannot take the place of verbal instruction and practical demonstration in the education of the less educated housewives, it may be recommended as a trustworthy manual for those already interested in the subject.” B. L.
COPPING, ARTHUR E.Souls in khaki; with a foreword by General Bramwell Booth.*$1 (2c) Doran 940.91 17-17990
“Mr Copping’s book presents a series of pictures of his personal investigations into spiritual experiences and sources of heroism in the English army. [With the assistance of the War office and the Salvation army] he visited the training camps in England, went to France, tarried in the hospitals, went through the trenches, was under fire, talked with numberless soldiers, whole and wounded, spent much time in the Salvation army huts, and everywhere made it his chief purpose to find out what quality it is in the British soldier that enables him to face calmly and smilingly the horrors and the perils of battle. It is his conclusion that at the front ‘the spirit is supreme and the flesh subordinate,’ and he bears witness to what so many other observers have noted, the reality of religious faith among the soldiers.”—N Y Times
“In spite of the incessant and aggravating recurrence of adjectives—‘piteous’ seems to appear upon every other page—the writer has achieved a very readable war book and one that ought to find a place in the libraries of our Sunday schools.”
“Chatty and interesting but marred by occasional sentimentality.”
“It is a chatty and very readable little book and shows in a graphic way how spirit can rise above material conditions and make them contribute to its own good, no matter how abhorrent they may be. And that is something that ought, just now, when our own men are soon to be in the trenches, to be a consoling message to Americans.”
“The book is full of stirring anecdotes of heroism and exalted Christian service. It is well put together and is free from any suspicion of special pleading. Mr Copping has done his best to get at the facts. His material is fresh and, in the main, convincing.”
CORBETT, JULIAN STAFFORD.England in the Mediterranean [1603-1713]. 2d ed 2v*$5 Longmans 942.06
“‘Once to grasp the Mediterranean point of view is to be dominated by its fascination,’ wrote Julian S. Corbett a dozen years ago in the preface to his admirable work on ‘England in the Mediterranean, 1603-1713.’ He went on to give the first satisfactory account of that important bit of English naval and political history by which England first established her sea-power within the Pillars of Hercules, occupied for a while Tangier, and finally fixed her unshakable hold on the Rock of Gibraltar.”—Nation
“Today the Mediterranean is more than ever the ‘Keyboard of Europe,’ and the history of the seventeenth century strategists who secured it for England must always be of deep historic interest. Some of the episodes discussed in the book are ‘Sir Walter Raleigh,’ ‘England and the Venice conspiracy,’ ‘The navy under James I,’ ‘The Spanish succession,’ ‘Marlborough and the navy,’ and ‘The congress of Utrecht.’”
“With unusual success he has kept the complicated politics of the period in close relation to the naval history. With their readable style and their sense of the romance of the sea in its embodiment in English sea-fighters, Mr Corbett’s volumes are again welcome.”
“The great war, which has again centered men’s minds on England’s sea-power and her position in the Mediterranean, has called forth a second edition of Professor Corbett’s authoritative story of those small beginnings in the seventeenth century. It is reprinted in smaller format, but otherwise there is no change from the first edition.”
CORBETT-SMITH, ARTHUR.Retreat from Mons. il*3s 6d Cassell & co., London 940.91 (Eng ed 16-22253)
“The book deals with Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien’s corps more than with Sir Douglas Haig’s, and even on its own ground does not attempt a connected narrative. It gives us specimen episodes in the fighting; but these are so well chosen that they do in effect convey to us an accurate idea of what the whole strategical issue was.” (Spec) “Much of the book is anecdote: stories of heroism; stories of the irrepressible humor of the British soldier; stories of the capture and summary execution of German spies.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup) On p. xi-xvi the roll of honour of the First expeditionary force is given.
“He is particularly skilful in describing individual feats and incidents.”
“If we were asked how to get the best idea of the early fighting by our small but immortal Expeditionary force, we would say: Read Lord Ernest Hamilton’s book, ‘The first seven divisions,’ for the facts, and Major Corbett-Smith’s book, ‘The retreat from Mons,’ for the spirit.”
“He gives us one of the most graphic accounts which we have read of the German mass attacks at Mons.”
CORBIN, THOMAS W.Marvels of scientific invention.(Marvels ser.) il*$1.25 Lippincott 608 17-4604
“Some of the ‘Marvels of scientific invention’ are collected in this interesting account by Thomas W. Corbin. The subjects include guns, torpedoes, the use of high explosives on farms, submarines, protection in mines, smelting, freezing, color photography, and electrical testing. These inventions and their uses are told in a pleasant fashion and their scientific aspects are described accurately in non-technical language.”—Nation
“Mr Corbin’s book is briefer than Mr Talbot’s, and covers a smaller range. On the other hand, it has an index, and it goes more fully into the chemistry and science of the subject.”
“On the whole Mr Thomas W. Corbin achieves considerable success. But he is not entirely free from mistakes in fact.”
CORCORAN, TIMOTHY, comp. State policy in Irish education, A. D. 1536 to 1816; exemplified in documents collected from lectures to postgraduate classes.*$2 Longmans (Eng ed E17-153)
“The professor of education in the National university has printed a series of documents illustrating the chequered history of Irish education, hampered for centuries by racial, linguistic, and religious differences. The first of them is Henry VIII’s admonition to Galway ‘that every inhabitaunt within the saide towne indevor theym selfe to speke Englyshe,’ and it is characteristic. ... Dr Corcoran’s historical introduction, written from the Roman Catholic standpoint, is instructive, but the documents tell their own tale.”—Spec
“It has been necessary to point out that Dr Corcoran mutilates or omits important documents—a practice which might be further illustrated from this book. But, notwithstanding this, all students of Irish history will be grateful for what he has given them. To much of it, no doubt, the criticism which has been made does not apply.” E.
CORIAT, ISADOR HENRY.What is psychoanalysis?*75c (5½c) Moffat 131 17-10883
This little book consists of questions and answers on psychoanalysis. Such general questions as, What is psychoanalysis? Where and under what conditions did it originate? Can psychoanalysis be harmful? What is the cause of certain failures in psychoanalysis? are answered together with many more specific questions relating to definite neurotic ills. The author is first assistant visiting physician for diseases of the nervous system, Boston city hospital, and he has written other books on “Abnormal psychology,” “The meaning of dreams,” etc.
“A straightforward clear exposition of the general procedure of psychoanalysis and of the technical terms that have arisen in connection with it.”
“Dr Coriat answers questions that have been in the minds of many persons. All this information is presented in simple terms quite within the understanding of persons of ordinary intelligence.”
CORKERY, DANIEL.Munster twilight.*$1 (2c) Stokes
A collection of Irish tales possessing all of the qualities we have now come to associate with things Irish, mysticism, pathos, poetry and humor of the sort that is more grim than jovial. Six of the stories are grouped together under the title The cobbler’s den. They are the stories drawn from the reminiscences of a group of cronies who come together nightly in the cobbler’s shop.
“Whether he has been influenced by the study of Gorky and others of this violently depressing school of realists we cannot say. It may be merely an unconscious convergence, but the resemblance is sufficiently striking. ... Mr Corkery has put nearly all his gloom in the van, a method to be deprecated on prudential grounds, for while it may impress the critic who admires strong meat, it is apt to choke off the plain and gentle reader, especially at the present time. But we recommend the reader to persevere, for he will be rewarded.”
“Not all of these stories are violent or harshly humorous. Some are warm and tender, with a deep, queer insight into the hearts of old and gentle and afflicted people.”
CORNELL, ERA.Above Cayuga’s waters; comp. by the editors of the Class of 1917. il $1 Cornell era, Ithaca, N. Y. 378 16-19647
A selection of articles and poems that have appeared in the Cornell Era since its founding in 1868 to the present day. It has been the policy of the magazine to obtain for publication articles by prominent men on all phases of college life. “As a result,” says the preface, “the bound copies of the Era, covering nearly fifty years, are a storehouse of articles valuable for all who may be interested in that wonderful phenomenon, the American university.” With few exceptions the authors of the selections are either Cornell graduates or members of the Cornell faculty. Among those represented are Andrew D. White, Goldwin Smith, David Starr Jordan, Hugh Black, Arthur Brisbane, Norman Hapgood, Dana Burnet, Liberty Hyde Bailey, and Jacob Gould Schurman.
“This little book will have interest not only for all Cornellians, graduate as well as undergraduate, but also for many others who busy their minds much or occasionally with the problems of student life and the relations between that life and the world life.”
“The book has little general appeal, but is valuable to students because of its treatment of their problems, and to Cornell men because of the memories it preserves.”
COSMOS, pseud.Basis of durable peace.*50c (1c) Scribner 940.91 17-3465
A series of articles written for the New York Times in November and December, 1916. As a starting point the author examines statements at that time recently made by the German chancellor and the British prime minister. Finding the two statements strikingly similar in outward appearance, he discusses the meaning of such expressions as “rights of small nations,” “freedom of the seas,” etc., from both the German and the British points of view. He discusses further the principles of the new international order that may be established after the war and the place of the United States in it. Victory for the Allies is the first essential for a durable peace. The second is the stamping out of the military ideal, not in Prussia alone, but in all the countries of the world. “The spirit and the point of view which manifest themselves in militarism, in the subordination of civil to military authority and policy, and in the setting of right below might, must be driven out of the hearts and minds of men. ... The basis of sound international policy will be found in sound domestic policy, and in sympathy with equally sound domestic policies in other lands.”
“The writer who offers his work under the title of Cosmos, and who is undoubtedly ex-President William H. Taft, has given us probably the sanest discussion of the terms of peace that the nations must agree upon at the close of the war. The articles show sound judgment and as far as the settlement of the war is concerned, great practicability.”
“Much information clearly and briefly given.”
“One of the ablest expositions of the subject that has appeared in small compass. Much less technical than Lafontaine’s ‘The great solution.’” L. A. Mead
COULT, MARGARET, ed. Letters from many pens. (Macmillan’s pocket American and English classics)*25c Macmillan 826 17-7948
“Miss Coult has followed a plan of her own in selecting the letters, and her collection is variously lively, informing and inspiring. It is an admirable book for use in schools. ... There is a group devoted to chat about home matters, another group of letters from young people to their elders and another of lettersfrom grown people to children (including some of Phillips Brooks’s and Lewis Carroll’s), a group of letters addressed to strangers, a long collection of sketches from many lands, a section about tastes and a group of letters expressing emotions. A capital group is that of ‘Other times, other manners,’ which runs from classical times through the 18th century.”—Springf’d Republican
“While the educational use of the work is perhaps most important, many persons will find it profitable and delightful for casual reading.”
COUPERUS, LOUIS MARIE ANNE.Twilight of the souls; tr. by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.*$1.50 (2½c) Dodd 17-25859
This is the third of a series of four novels, “The book of the small souls.” It carries on the story of the various branches of the Van Lowe family. Ernst becomes temporarily deranged, Gerrit, the “healthy brute” of a soldier, who figures largely in this volume, has a severe illness; suffering and death come also to other of the Van Lowes, and the “family group” that “Mamma” van Lowe has tried so hard to hold together, seems to be breaking up. Constance, who, in the two preceding volumes, has been passing through a period of spiritual evolution, and has reached “the happiness of accepting one’s own smallness ... and of not being angry and bitter because of all the mistakes ... and of being grateful for what is beautiful and clear and true,” has a bitter disappointment when her son, Adriaan, tells her that he cannot carry out his parents’ long cherished plan and enter the diplomatic service, because he has become absolutely convinced that he should be a doctor. But the mother understands, forces down her disappointment and encourages her boy to follow his deepest conviction.
“It is a depressing chapter in the family history, yet not without its glimmer of happier light. Constance sees it as that atom, that ‘grain of absolute truth and reality’ which even small souls may possess, and may impart to others.” H. W. Boynton
“The general tone is pessimistic but it is remarkable in its human sympathy and has touches of fine idealism.”
“In ‘The twilight of the souls’ Mr De Mattos translates with his accustomed skill the third of those linked ‘Books of the small souls’ in which the Dutch realist Couperus has embodied so searching and sympathetic an interpretation of human nature and of modern life.”
“Among the three volumes of the series which have now appeared, this, the third, ranks second in merit, above ‘The later life’ and below the ‘Small souls.’ This because, while very much better in every way than the former, it has less variety than ‘Small souls’ and less of inevitability.”
COURVILLE, E. H., comp. Autograph prices current.*25s E. H. Courville, 25 Rumsey Road, Brixton, London, S. W. 017
“The records in the volume are stated to have been extracted from the catalogues of about sixty-five days’ sales, and to represent a sum of more than £35,000. Among the entries we notice autograph letters of Rossetti, Swinburne, Sir Walter Scott, Samuel Johnson, R. L. Stevenson, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Washington, and others. ... Numerous quotations from letters are embodied in the text.” (Ath) The compilation is to be published annually and is “a complete alphabetical and chronological record of all autograph letters, documents, and manuscripts, sold by auction in London, with the date and place of sale, name of purchaser, and price of each lot: together with a comprehensive reference index.” (Sub-title). Sales from August, 1914 to July, 1916, inclusive, are comprised in this first issue.
“His scholarly catalogue will be welcomed by the student, the collector, and the dealer alike.”
“On every page of this carefully edited volume there is something to arrest the attention, and we can only express the hope that it may become as hardy and as vigorous an annual as ‘Book prices current.’”
COUSINS, FRANK, and RILEY, PHIL M.Wood-carver of Salem; Samuel McIntire, his life and work. il*$7.50 Little 724.9 16-23955
“‘The wood-carver of Salem’ is a well-deserved tribute to Samuel McIntire, of Salem, whose distinction as an architect and designer, as well as a craftsman, is preserved in many of the stately houses of the third colonial period that still adorn the ancient streets of Salem. ... McIntire passed his whole life and did all his work in Salem, never having had an opportunity to see the productions of Wren and other contemporary English architects. Yet he attained high rank as a designer and, in the opinion of the authors of this book, he was our foremost colonial architect of domestic buildings.”—R of Rs
“To anyone that loves New England and is familiar with its widespread excellence of old architecture such a book as ‘The wood-carver of Salem’ affords pleasant entertainment. ... It is a book to read beside a fireplace such as those fireplaces that it pictures and describes.” W. A. M.
“A plentiful index and 127 plates give added importance to a work that is replete with vital interest.”
“It appears as a limited edition, carefully and elaborately prepared.”
COX, KENYON.Concerning painting; considerations theoretical and historical. il*$1.75 (4c) Scribner 750 17-24869
“This book is the result of such thinking as I have been able to do on my own art of painting. It divides itself into three parts: the first is an inquiry into what painting essentially is and into the nature of its appeal to humanity; the second is an attempted account of what painting was in the golden age, from the beginning of the sixteenth century to nearly the end of the seventeenth; the third deals with some aspects of the painting of the more immediate past. Part first was originally given in the form of lectures at Union college. Parts second and third were delivered at Yale, in the Trowbridge course on the history of art, and at the Metropolitan museum and other institutions. The three chapters on ‘The golden age of painting’ have appeared in Scribner’s Magazine, and the other five in the Art World.” (Preface) There are thirty-two reproductions of typical works from the older and from contemporary artists.
“The suggestions are clear and not too technical in form so that they will interest the intelligent layman as well as the student.”
“I find the first division of the book, devoted to a general consideration of what painting is according to Cox, the most arresting part of the discussion: probably because it is most Cox, whereas the historical survey puts him in a vast field where the competitors are numerous.” R: Burton
“Dr Cox elsewhere has not kept to himself his opinions regarding the vagaries of futurism, cubism and the other extreme manifestations of erratic individualism but he refrains from even recognizing in this book the existence of such a school or even mentioning the name ofits votaries. He waxes quite enthusiastic over John La Farge, having evidently fallen under the sway of the personality of that brilliant genius.” N. H D.
“The eight essays are of unequal interest. Mr Cox has done nothing better than the two studies ‘Painting as an art of imitation’ and ‘Painting as an art of relation.’ ... There is a cleanness and trenchancy about this work which is beyond the range of any other American critic of art. Where Mr Cox’s admiration is fully aroused there is also a great sensitiveness. This quality Mr Cox keeps for his favorites. The rest get a rather schoolmasterly report.”
“If he wrote only of the technical side of his art he would be an absorbingly interesting author; but he is too much of an artist to stop with this. Not only the form but the meaning interests him, and he connects his comments on the detail of the workshop with observations on persons and schools and countries as catholic and sound and sincere as they are learned. ... His arguments have lost the bitterness that once diminished the force of their effect on his readers.”
“In his chapters on the Italian renaissance and the Venetian school, Mr Cox is at his best. His brief, crisp summing up of the four great masters, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Correggio, is luminous with clear, incisive judgments. ... It is in the third division of this work, devoted to certain aspects of 19th century painting, that we find Mr Cox somewhat disappointing. He has tried to crowd too much into inadequate space. ... Perhaps the most disappointing of all the essays is that relating to the mural painters.” F: T. Cooper
“The book is valuable to teachers and students for several excellent reasons: It is accurately informative, intelligently analytical, and stimulating to the cultivation of æsthetic conceptions that are in harmony with our ideals concerning the newer civilization that we hope to see emerge out of the present chaos of thought.”
COXON, MURIEL (HINE) (MRS SIDNEY COXON).Autumn.*$1.40 (lc) Lane 17-9809
After ten years of an unhappy marriage, Deirdre Caradoc thought that the best of life was over for her. She was midway in her thirties, she had no child, and her love for her husband was dead. She decides to separate from him, and takes a house in the country where she hopes for uninterrupted quiet. Here she makes two friends, a father and his young daughter, who become of momentous importance in her life. Between the man and herself a deep and sincere love comes to life, but the course of their future is influenced by the daughter, who, in falling in love with a married man older than herself, seems to be giving them a replica of their own situation.
“This work carries the evidence of some originality. But the action does not progress with the desired celerity.”
“It has to do with several charming people who seem unable, either by sin or by virtue, to solve their problems practically, ethically or sentimentally. Puppets of circumstance are they, whose perfervid loves play havoc with them. One wishes that they were all set to earning their living.”
“If the closing chapters of ‘Autumn’ do not quite fulfill the promise of its earlier portion, the novel is, nevertheless, one of unusual merit. ... It has that nameless distinction which, for want of a better word, we term quality.”
“What one complains of chiefly is, first, that the main events of the story do not happen inevitably, but only because the author makes them happen, and that they are, therefore, unconvincing. One’s second ground of complaint is the author’s constant evasion.”
COXWELL, CHARLES FILLINGHAM.Through Russia in war-time. il*$3.50 Scribner 914.7 (Eng ed 17-18477)
“It was on May 22, 1915 that the author, an Englishman, sailed from New York for North Cape and Archangel.” (N Y Times) “He describes with full appreciation for the wonders of Russia his journey and the various cities and sections he visited. He entered at Archangel, and travelled from north to south and from east to west of Russia. Much space is given to Petrograd and Moscow. He describes Holy Kiev, Odessa with its busy life, the beauty of the Crimea, the antiquities of Kertch, the Cossack country, the wonderful Georgian military road over the Caucasus, as well as the less-known parts of Russia. At the end he passes through Finland and through the country of the Lapps.”—Boston Transcript
“In spite of his limited Russian vocabulary and in spite of war-time restrictions, he nearly always manages to get into actual touch with the natives, and ultimately to persuade them to pose for him. The result is a collection of unconventional photographs which help to impress on the mind a vivid picture of all those who came within Mr Coxwell’s view.”
“An amusing account is given of the author’s difficulties at the outset with the Russian language.”