“As a pioneer in its field this study of the museum is a noteworthy book.”
“Nothing would more make for the education of those public-spirited laymen who are our museum trustees than a careful perusal of this volume.”
“Save for its unforgivable crime of having no index, her book is extraordinarily good.”
JACKSON, ORTON PORTER, and EVANS, FRANK EDGAR.[2]Marvel book of American ships. il*$2.50 Stokes 359 17-31922
An informing revelation of the secrets of big ship building. The reader is taken to the ship yards and gets an inside idea of how undersea fighters, superdreadnoughts, all around battle ships, destroyers, sea liners, and all sorts of lesser craft are built. There are accounts of dramatic sea happenings such as sea battles, gun firing and signaling, deep-sea diving and certain tragedies of the seas. Notable features of the book are its more than 400 illustrations from photographs, the chart of the flags used, the signal code and the chart of funnel types and company flags by which ships can be recognized at a distance.
“A reliable informational book.”
JACKSON, SIR THOMAS GRAHAM, 1st bart.Holiday in Umbria. il*$3 (7c) Holt 914.5 (Eng ed 17-21517)
Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, who is architecturally responsible for the restoration and addition of so many of the beautiful buildings of the great English universities and public schools, has here given us a second book of travel. It is “a book of historical, architectural, and literary interest, originating in two visits, in 1881 and 1888, to a part of Italy comparatively unfamiliar to British travellers. Ancona, Rimini, Gubbio, Urbino, Pesaro, and other places are described; there is a particularly detailed account of the ducal palace at Urbino; and many pages are devoted to extracts from ‘Il cortegiano’ (’The courtier’), by Count Baldassare Castiglione, ambassador from Duke Guidobaldo I to King Henry VII. These excerpts present a pleasing picture of life at the ducal court.” (Ath)
“The book is very readable, and the illustrations are good.”
“The author’s contribution to the literature of travel is a valuable one.”
“One of the chief sources of information concerning this history is Castiglione’s ‘Il cortegiano,’ and an abstract of this forms the longest and not the least interesting chapter in Sir Thomas’s book, which is made additionally attractive by reproductions of some of his own sketches and a few photographs.”
“The book is beautifully produced and illustrated.”
“Books of travel appeal to two classes of people—those who have seen, and those who plan to see. This one will interest especially the first class.”
“Distinction and insight are the leading characteristics of Sir Thomas Jackson’s contributions to the literature of his art, and they are not lacking in this volume. ... In describing the humours of the road he selects exactly the right sort of experience to lay before his readers; but in the historical scaffolding he raises around the cities and structures he went to see he is less happy.”
JACKSON, WILLIAM WALROND.Ingram Bywater.*$3 Oxford 17-28095
This memoir of the Oxford scholar, Ingram Bywater—the undergraduate with Walter Pater at Queen’s, the fellow of Exeter, the college tutor and reader in Greek, and finally the successor to the chair of regius professor of Greek left vacant by the death of Professor Jowett—is written by an intimate friend and fellow Oxonian, the former rector of Exetercollege. “Incidentally Dr Jackson tells us all that needs to be told about Bywater’s personal circumstances and surroundings. But essentially the book is a well-balanced appreciation of Bywater’s aims and achievements as a Hellenist of the best and most catholic type.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
“A biography which will be read with attentive interest by all who have at heart the intrinsic value of the scholar’s life. ... There is something sound and stimulating in the fellowship of one who seems never to have suffered from the disease so rife to-day among university men—the feeling of despondency over the value of scholarship in and for itself and over the intrinsic dignity of the scholar’s life.”
“Those who do read the book can be assured, for two hours, at least, of a perfect haven of rest. It is a happily short book. It has the kind of virtues one associates with a good common-room at Oxford, half-a-dozen flashing epigrams, some good anecdotes about the incomparable Mark Pattison, and the heavy mellowness of old college port above it all.” H. J. L.
“Dr Jackson’s memoir is written in choice, good English, but seems a little formal. Here it may be characteristic of his subject.”
“Dr Jackson’s memoir reveals Professor Bywater as an attractive human being and illustrates the permanent value of his scholarship.”
“An admirable little monograph on one of the most learned and brilliant Hellenists that modern Oxford has produced. ... We cannot doubt that all who have known Oxford and its academical life during the later decades of the last century and the first decade of this will heartily welcome the book and read it with keen appreciation. Dr Jackson is singularly well qualified for the task he has undertaken. He has produced a masterpiece of its kind.”
JACOBS, WILLIAM WYMARK.Castaways.*$1.35 (2c) Scribner 17-2478
Mr Jacobs’s new story takes place half on land and half on sea. He has adopted one of the seven, or is it eleven? original plots as a starting point. A modest and unpretentious bank clerk of quiet tastes inherits a fortune. The diversion from type is furnished by Mr Jack Knight, an irresponsible and audacious young person who is not averse to using Mr Carstairs’s good fortune to further his own ends. His ends happen to concern the niece of Lady Penrose. Mr Carstairs is induced to buy a country house in Lady Penrose’s neighborhood where Mr Knight can be a frequent guest. Later Mr Carstairs is induced to charter a yacht and take the whole party, including Lady Penrose and her niece, Mr Knight and his friends, for a cruise. A prearranged mutiny which takes an amusing and unexpected turn brings on the climax.
“His fun turns invariably either on practical joking or its verbal counterpart of repartee. Perhaps that is why he is, as I believe, almost exclusively a man’s author. ... It is all good fun for the reader who likes the Jacobs kind of thing.” H. W. Boynton
Reviewed by Doris Webb
JACOBY, HAROLD.[2]Navigation. il*$2.25 Macmillan 527 17-28810
The author has aimed to make this a book complete in itself, “so that it should be possible to navigate a ship in any ocean not very near the north or south pole without other books or tabular works, excepting only the nautical almanac for the year in which the voyage is made.” No formal mathematical and astronomical knowledge has been assumed on the part of the reader. The author is professor of astronomy in Columbia university. Contents: The fundamental problem of navigation; Dead reckoning without logarithms; Dead reckoning with logarithms; The compass; Coastwise navigation; The sextant; The nautical almanac; Older navigation methods; Newer navigation methods; A navigator’s day at sea.
“Useful for those who must study without a teacher and convenient for the advanced student.”
“Nothing more in the way of books is required by young navigators, who, doubtless, will welcome it as warmly as it deserves.”
JAFFRAY, JULIA KIPPEN, ed. Prison and the prisoner. il*$2.50 (6c) Little 365 17-31780
This symposium, to which fourteen specialists contribute, is edited by the secretary of the National committee on prisons and prison labor. In the discussions the point of view of the lawyer, the doctor, the psychiatrist, the social worker, the educator and the prison official is expressed, each contributing something to the new ideals of prison reform. Contents: The prisoner and the courts, by William H. Wadhams; The prisoner himself, by Bernard H. Glueck and Thomas W. Salmon; The prisoner—ward or slave? by Karl W. Kirchwey; The control over the prisoner, by George Gordon Battle and E. Stagg Whitin; Self-government by the prisoner, by Thomas Mott Osborne and E. Kent Hubbard; The prison officer, by Frederick A. Dorner; Industrial training for the prisoner, by Arthur D. Dean; The prisoner in the road camp, by Charles Henry Davis; The union man and the prisoner, by Collis Lovely; The man who comes out of prison, by R. J. Caldwell; The community center and the delinquent, by John Collier.
“The joint authors of the book place the emphasis rightly ‘not on the place from which the man has come but on that to which he is going.’” R M.
“A valuable and inspiring, if somewhat formless, work by a dozen authors with more or less expert knowledge as to our prisons.”
“A more satisfactory book would have been produced if fewer writers had collaborated, those being left out who either have little to say or who haven’t stuck to their text.”
“The book obviously aims to meet with specific suggestions, in some instances with programs even, some of the pressing tasks set society by the man in prison. With a few striking successes it scores several dismal failures.” W. D. Lane
JAMES, GEORGE WHARTON.Arizona, the wonderland. (See America first ser.) il*$3.50 Page 979.1 17-29202
“The scope of the present work is set forth on the title page as follows: ‘The history of its ancient cliff and cave dwellings, ruined pueblos, conquest by the Spaniards, Jesuit and Franciscan missions, trail makers and Indians; a survey of its climate, scenic marvels, topography, deserts, mountains, rivers and valleys; a review of its industries; an account of its influence on art, literature and science; and some reference to what it offers of delight to the automobilist,sportsman, pleasure and health seeker.’ Fortunately the pages are large, so the above subtitle leaves also space for the announcement of a map and sixty plates of which twelve are in color.”—Springf’d Republican
“A volume valuable as a record, as well as attractive to those in search of timely gift-books.” A. A. R.
“Too bulky for a guide book, too discursive for quick reference, the work nevertheless, makes pleasant and often informative reading.”
“His style is so easy that the uninitiated will imagine that the book could almost write itself. But there is a vast amount of research behind this orderly parade of friars and cowboys, Indians and explorers and politicians.”
JAMES, GEORGE WHARTON.Reclaiming the arid West. il*$3.50 (3½c) Dodd 631 17-31554
The author has written of the work of the United States reclamation service from the standpoint of the layman and homeseeker. In the early chapters he describes the work of the “army of peace,” which within the past twenty-five years has been carrying out the great plans conceived by Major John Wesley Powell. In the chapters that follow he takes up the projects, one at a time, tells something of the difficulties encountered, the engineering skill that surmounted them, and of the resulting opportunities offered to settlers. The story of the text is supplemented by very excellent photographic illustrations.
JAMES, HENRY.Ivory tower.*$1.50 (2c) Scribner 17-29022
Had it been finished, this work would have added one more to the author’s list of international novels. Graham Fielder is brought fresh from a European background to Newport, to be made the inheritor of his uncle’s millions. The story as it progressed was to have concerned itself with the young man’s reactions to the situation and to his new American environment. As it now stands the fragment has a claim to completeness in its unforgettable picture of the two old men, Mr Gaw and Mr Betterman, business rivals and enemies, each waiting for the death of the other. Appended to the three completed parts of the novel are the notes in which the author had amplified the idea of the book as it first took possession of him.
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“The texture of this story gives me the impression of a firmer and more precious weaving than in any of the novels of the master. The book is a fragment as it stands, but a glorious fragment.” W: S. Braithwaite
“Artistically, the book reaches the high water mark of James’ genius.”
“‘The ivory tower,’ if a great thing, is great in the smallest ways associable with its author. The story probes shrewdly into some aspects of our American social scene. But it belongs among such late and relatively little things as ‘The outcry’ and ‘The sacred fount,’ without the beguiling farce of the one or the uniquely confessional purpose of the other.” Wilson Follett
“Not since 1909, when Ibsen’s preliminary studies made their appearance, has any book thrown such interesting light on the literary process.” Q. K.
“In the vast world tragedy this story must have seemed to its author trivial; and trivial it is, whether it seemed so to him or not. The style is full of unusual difficulties, even when compared with most of its author’s later works. Real characters there are, too—I have never seen a better presentation of that modern figure, known only too well in modern affluent homes, the trained nurse; but, on the whole, the failure to finish this story cannot be regarded as a literary disaster.” W: L. Phelps
“Yet it is worth while to persevere with Henry James’s tortuous sentences, clinched so often with a touch of slang as if the literary language had in the end failed him, for they build up, little by little, strange modern characters such as one does not find elsewhere in fiction.”
“Impressive and interesting as are these posthumous fragments, their interest is immensely enhanced by the plans or schemes for their completion. They are things quite unique in literature, intimate glimpses into what Henry James has elsewhere called ‘the closed chamber of an artist’s meditations.’”
JAMES, HENRY.Middle years.*$1.25 Scribner 17-31066
“With this small volume, which brings us down to about the year 1870, the memories of Henry James break off. It is more fitting to say that they break off than that they come to an end, for although we are aware that we shall hear his voice no more, there is no hint of exhaustion or of leave-taking. ... We recognize, if not directly then by hearsay, the old world of London life which he brings out of the shades and sets tenderly and solidly before us as if his last gift were the most perfect and precious of the treasures hoarded in ‘the scented chest of our savings.’” (The Times [London] Lit Sup) The volume is the third of Henry James’s reminiscences, following “A small boy and others,” 1913, and “Notes of a son and brother,” 1914.
“Unfortunately a mere fragment. Comprised in its pages, however, are some interesting recollections of George Eliot, G. H. Lewes, and a few others, as well as memory-impressions of the London of mid-Victorian days.”
“I am glad it has been published, there are things in it one would on no account have missed, portraits in different scales of Swinburne, Renan, Browning, Lewes, George Eliot, Tennyson, Mrs Greville, Lady Waterford. But it makes me feel that Henry James took with him to England, as a young man of twenty-five, a state of mind which would have been forgivable if it had been temporary, and which lasted forever after.” P. L.
“Henry James is not at his best in the fragment called ‘The middle years.’ These few chapters were dictated in the autumn of 1914, when he was thinking of something else—the war. We ought to remember that they were never revised by the author, and that he dictated without notes. The book is a model of the publishers’ art, in its clear type, its dull paper, and its exquisite lightness.” W: L. Phelps
“A series of impressions or memories, which must have been a torture to write, as they seem to be dug out of the novelist’s memory by exquisite toil. ... We are far from saying that these impressions of a distinguished novelist are not worth giving to the world. But we think that they might have been conveyed in a simpler, more vivacious, and shorter form.”
“It contains little or none of the personal gossip ordinarily to be found in books of reminiscences, but there are, instead, some unforgettable impressions of mid-Victorian worthies. ... Our only complaint against this ultimatefragment of his work is a complaint against the inevitabilities—that he did not live long enough to complete it.”
“He comes to his task with an indescribable air of one so charged and laden with precious stuff that he hardly knows how to divest himself of it all—where to find space to set down this and that, how to resist altogether the claims of some other gleaming object in the background; appearing so busy, so unwieldy with ponderous treasure that his dexterity in disposing of it, his consummate knowledge of how best to place each fragment, afford us the greatest delight that literature has had to offer for many a year. And this book of memories sounds to us like a superb act of thanksgiving.”
JAMES, HENRY.Pictures and other passages from Henry James; comp. by Ruth Head.*$1 Stokes 813
“Henry James himself set the seal of his approval on Miss Head’s proposed plan of making an anthology from his writings, but did not live to see the completed work. It is divided into five chapters with sections under the headings: The seasons, Nationality, America, France and Paris, Switzerland, Italy, London, Country England, Country houses, Gardens and parks, The world of art, Interiors; Men, women, and their rooms, Passions; Portraits of women, character, feminine; Portraits of men, character, male; Moralities and aphorisms, Similes and metaphors.”—Boston Transcript
“The style of Henry James, building up complex impressions by minute sensitive touches, is more pictorial and more epigrammatic than one realizes until one has his portraits and pictures separated and individualized in such an anthology as this. ... The editor might with advantage have arranged his extracts chronologically, at least within the subsections.”
“Those who want to appreciate Henry James should read his books—there is no other way of appreciating an artist.”
“This method of extracting representative passages and grouping them under headings enables the reader to appreciate at once the range and the limitations of Henry James’s genius. He is least happy when dealing with the primitive—the seasons, the passions, the countryside—and is seen at his best when writing of men and women, and the civilization they have made.”
JAMES, HENRY.Sense of the past.*$1.50 (1½c) Scribner 17-28794
One of two novels that remained incomplete at the death of the writer. The other is “The ivory tower.” The central character is a young American who, from the English branch of the family, inherits an old London house. He goes to England, seeks out his new possession, and shuts himself away from the world for a night while he wanders from room to room, yielding to the spell of the past that is cast about him. He sees himself in an old portrait of 1820. A compelling sense of the past slips him out of the year 1910 back into 1820. Comfortably at first, and then uneasily he reacts to the people and conditions of the world into which he is projected. He experiences the thrills and embarrassments of two successive love affairs. The story breaks off at the end of the first. But some seventy pages of notes reveal the plan of the writer, his deft scheme for extricating his hero and bringing him back to 1910 and to Aurora Coyne who sent this lover of hers from her for the sake of his development; who grows impatient at the time it takes and hurries to London to find out the cause.
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“One inevitably thinks of ‘Peter Ibbetson,’ and the dream life there so exquisitely portrayed, in reading ‘The sense of the past.’ In a sense, too, the story of Ralph Pendrel’s experience is a dream one, though Henry James has touched it with innumerable hints and suggestions of forces deeper and more measurable scientifically though more elusive.” W: S. Braithwaite
“An exquisite fragment of a novel in James’ most matured style.”
“It alters the shape, pushes out the bounds, of the whole Henry James world, adds a substantial figure to the sum of imaginings, achievements, beauties, perfections. ‘The sense of the past’ promised all the rich, full orchestral resonance of novels such as ‘The ambassadors’ and ‘The wings of the dove’; yet, in its entire dissimilarity from anything else that even James could have written, it is as isolated and self-sufficing as ‘The great good place’ or ‘The Madonna of the future’ or ‘The turn of the screw.’” Wilson Follett
“‘The sense of the past’ is undoubtedly a work of genius; the old inspiration came back abundantly for the swan song. The English style of ‘The sense of the past’ is a glory in itself, like a mediaeval bit of architecture; the result of quiet, leisurely, devoted, loving industry, founded on genius. Fragment though it be, it is an imperishable addition to the work of one of the great masters of English fiction.” W: L. Phelps
“We can gather from the notes how Henry James wanted to complete it, but as the transition from 1910 to 1820 is not very satisfactorily contrived, we question whether the bringing back of the hero to his own time could have been an artistic success.”
“How this passion is adumbrated and suggested, how it grows and glows to a brightness of almost insane intensity, is sufficiently given to us in this fragment to make us sadly aware of our loss of a complete masterpiece. It would surely have been, we feel, the greatest of ghost stories.”
JAMES, HERMAN GERLACH.Municipal functions. (National municipal league ser.)*$2 (2c) Appleton 352 17-10893
“Municipal advance in a democracy can be achieved in only one way, namely, by the realization on the part of the citizenship of what should be the ideal of municipal government,” says the author. His book is addressed, not to city administrators, but to citizens. His purpose is to give “a simple but comprehensive survey of the whole field of municipal endeavor.” This is done in chapters on: The growth of municipal functions; Public safety; Public health; Public education; Public morals; Social welfare; City planning; Public works; Public utilities; Municipal ownership; Municipal finances—revenues; Municipal finances—debts, budget and accounting. The author is associate professor of government and director of the Bureau of municipal research at the University of Texas.
“It is popular in style, practical in aim but scientific in method, and will give the general reader an excellent perspective of the modern problems of city government. Among the most important chapters are two entitled ‘Public morals’ and ‘Social welfare.’ As regards the saloon and liquor problem, he comes to the rather regrettable conclusion that this issue should be decided locally.”
“In one respect this work differs from most books of its class. The author approaches the discussion from the standpoint of the smaller community rather than the metropolis.”
“Though perhaps not directly intended as a text-book, it has the special values of being fundamental and clear, so much required and so seldom found in text-books. For the beginner who would acquire the point of view of the municipal statesman there is probably nothing better. There is one disappointment in the book. The reader is left with the impression that the housing problem cannot be solved.” E: T. Hartman
JAMES, WILLIAM.On vital reserves.*50c (4c) Holt 131
A little volume containing two of the essays of William James, one reprinted from “Memories and studies,” one from “Talks to teachers on psychology.” The first, “The energies of men,” is a study of “the phenomena of second wind.” The second, “The gospel of relaxation,” is based on the Lange-James theory of the emotions, which sometimes expresses itself popularly in the statement that we are afraid because we run. We are a tense, nervous and over-strained people, argued Professor James, because by habit we assume attitudes of tensity. Our mental state is the result of our habit of life, not vice versa.
“The practical side of the Professor James’ books has always given them a wider public than is usually supposed to belong to the philosophical or psychological writer. In the two essays of this book he sums up the best ways in which young men and women—all men and women in fact—may realize their powers.”
“Both statements are models of expression. They deserve the wider circulation which, in this form, they promise to attain.”
“The gift of making psychology read like an adventure story came to William James as to few, if any others. His gingery essays ‘On vital reserves’ are therefore well worth the while of the Henry Holt company in re-publishing.”
JAMISON, EVELYN MARY, and others.Italy, mediaeval and modern; a history. (Histories of the belligerents ser.)*$2.90 (2c) Oxford 945 17-19811
The present volume, covering the period from the barbarian invasions to 1915, has been written to supply the need for a general sketch of Italian history which should serve as an introduction to more detailed studies. The authors “have devoted considerable space to political and ecclesiastical history ... have called attention to the more remarkable achievements of the Italian spirit in the fields of art and philosophy and science, and the historical conditions which made these achievements possible, [and] finally, have traced, so far as it is possible to do so in a textbook, the working of those instincts ... which from age to age promoted or retarded the cause of national unity.” (Preface) Appended are an eight-page bibliography, tables of genealogies, and a list of the popes.
“The appended lists of books, and other subsidiary matter, will be of great service to students; and the volume is well provided with maps. The index might with advantage have been fuller.”
“Of the quartet of authors to whom we are indebted for this rather uninspired but extremely learned, sound, and valuable history of Italy, the last-named, Professor Terry of Aberdeen university, is the best known. ... There should certainly have been a chapter or a section to deal with literature since Goldoni, with music since Palestrina, with sculpture since Canova, with the novel since Boccaccio. ... The book answers the question, Why Italy entered the war. The authors are true philosophers of motives.” N. H. D.
“In Italy, more perhaps than in any other European country, the national history is interwoven with that of the church, and cannot be fairly presented unless church history receives its meed of studious attention and just judgment. These the authors of the present work have not seen fit to give it. Hence, while the work may have its partial uses as a reference book, it cannot be recommended as accurate, authoritative or comprehensive.”
“It may be doubted, however, whether they are correct in the reasons which they tentatively assign for the Libyan war; their bibliography of this period is not up to date; and no adequate attempt is made to fill the greatest blank in Italian history—that since 1870.” W. M.
“A clear outline of the subject. ... Each period has been treated by its author with full knowledge, and with a sympathy that secures the interest of the reader. ... The story of the foundation of the kingdom apparently written by Professor Sanford Terry, is a brilliant piece of work.”
JARINTZOV, NADINE.Russian poets and poems. 2v v 1*$3.50 Longmans 891.7 17-27782
This volume, to which Dr Jane Harrison of Newnham college contributes the preface, is by the author of “The Russians and their language.” “Madame Jarintzov first discusses the subject of Russian versification; and she compares the poverty of what she calls the ‘small squirrel’s wheel’ of English rhymes with the wealth of rhyming words in Russian. Many convincing examples are given in the introduction. For the most part biographically, but to some extent critically, the author then deals with the Russian poets I. A. Krylov, V. A. Jukovsky, A. S. Pushkin, A. V. Koltzov, M. Y. Lermontov, F. L. Tutchev, Alexei Tolstoy, N. Nekrasov, and A. A. Fet. Of their works Madame Jarintzov furnishes numerous examples, translated by herself; and in her renderings she, as a Russian, has endeavoured to carry over into English the Russian spirit, and, as far as possible, the Russian manner.” (Ath) “In a second volume it is intended to treat the modern poets in the same manner.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
“A fairly good biographical and critical essay on Nekrassov will be found in Mme N. Jarintzov’s ‘Russian poets and poems.’ In spite of her theory, which we cannot take seriously, Mme Jarintzov succeeds in producing some good translations. Nevertheless, her experiment in rendering Russian poetry, ‘along new lines’ can hardly be considered successful.” Abraham Yarmolinsky
“These poets, Pushkin and Lermontov excepted, are almost unknown to the average English reader. ... Upon the difficulty of rendering the spirit and the rhythm of Russian verse in English Madame Jarintzov writes with feeling and eloquence as one who has herself attempted the impossible. Yet in a high degree she has attained to it. ... Her work forms a valuable link between two great literatures.”
“We can bear witness to the accuracy of such of the versions as we have compared with the originals, and the Russian metres are reproduced with really astonishing success. Unfortunatelywe must add that the English reader knowing no Russian will too often be impressed by the queer un-English turns of phrase rather than by the poetic merit of the selected pieces.”
“These poets use the same metres as we do, with some remarkable and pervading differences. To many Russians, even when they know our language well, English poetry does not seem to be poetry at all, because they miss the double rhymes. ... A second difference is the Russian avoidance of equivalent feet. ... Mme Jarintzov thinks it of capital importance to reproduce these peculiarities of her originals—the double rhymes and the exact syllabic correspondence. ... But she goes much farther than this; she attacks the established theory of translation.”
JARINTZOV, NADINE.Russians and their language; with a preface by Nevill Forbes.*$2.50 (6c) Kennerley 491.7 (Eng ed 17-10234)
The author is a Russian woman who has lived in England and who writes in English. It is her belief that much of the bewilderment experienced by the English reader on first attempting to read Russian literature in translation is due to differences in language. In her introduction she discusses some of the problems of pronunciation and transliteration. The remainder of the work represents an attempt “to show the national character of the Russians as reflected in their language.”
“Every time Madame Zharintsova publishes a book, she has a new way of spelling her own name. ... For the student of Russian there is much that is suggestive in this book. All the words used are given in an appendix in Russian with the proper accent. For those that love Russia there is much that is interpretive in her dispositions on slang and diminutive and word-play.” N. H. D.
“A good deal in this book will doubtless mean little to one who knows nothing of the language; however, anyone interested in Russia may glean therein much of interest on its life, literature and psychology.”
“Books by amateurs in any subject are not likely to be marked by accuracy, proportion, or solid judgment, but they often express points of view and shrewd comments on details for which specialists may be grateful. All this is true of ‘The Russians and their language.’ The writer has no knowledge of phonetics, so that her chatter about Russian pronunciation and transliteration is of the sort that darkens counsel.”
“One very interesting feature of this little study is the interpretation of Russian literature from an accurately balanced Russian standpoint. Readers who have taken the younger authors overseriously as typically Russian will be surprised to learn that an average Russian after speaking about them feels inclined to take a deep breath of fresh air.”
“The intelligent student of Russian will be fascinated by this clever book—the work of a Russian lady who knows English extremely well, and is therefore able to interpret with quite exceptional fidelity the character of the Russian language. ... Mme Jarintzov’s comments on the great authors are most illuminating, though all too brief, and her hints on pronunciation are invaluable.”
“There is a section on pronunciation and transliteration, but we do not think (and here Mr Nevill Forbes, who supplies a preface, seems to agree with us) that much light is thrown on either of these dark regions. Russian sounds can be learnt only from the living voice. ... The merits of the book, which are great, lie elsewhere. ... The author takes a large number of linguistic facts, and shows from them that the Russian language is a true reflection of the Russian character.”
JASPER, MME.Flemish system of poultry rearing. il*$1.50 Scribner 636.5
“The Belgian poultry-rearing industry has attained great dimensions; and in this volume Mme Jasper (who possessed at Tongres a large establishment for the breeding and management of poultry for table use) describes wherein Flemish methods excel those customary in England. The distinctive feature of the Flemish system is that the birds are sheltered from cold and damp, provided with plenty of air without any draught, kept in a mild and carefully regulated temperature, and put to sleep in a clean and spacious brooder.”—Ath
JASTROW, MORRIS.[2]War and the Bagdad railway. il*$1.50 (4c) Lippincott 940.91 18-1122
A timely presentation of one of the most important single factors contributing to the present war. Because the full import of the railroad venture is made clear in the light of the history of Asia Minor, the author traces that history and its relation to the civilization of antiquity thru the period of Greek, Roman, Parthian and Arabic control down to the conquest by the Ottoman Turks. Then he proceeds with the story of the railroad thru which he follows the growth of hostile rivalry among European nations terminating in the great war. Step by step the writer follows the change in the project from a commercial scheme to a political one in which Germany ambitiously aims to get the mastery of the East. The solution offered is to throw open the road to the East but urges that its control be neither German nor British but international.
“Of all the books that have come to our notice, works dealing primarily with the problem of Bagdad, Professor Morris Jastrow’s ‘The war and the Bagdad railway’ with its illustrative map, is unquestionably the best.” S. A.
“Professor Jastrow is hard to match for brevity and clearness, although he adds little that is new to the discussion of the present problem.” A. J.
“Not from the patriots with their hands over their ears, nor from the pacifists with their hands over their eyes, but from such accurate thinkers as Dr Jastrow do we make the first patient beginnings in the unsnarling of the war problem. It is not easy these days to write as a student of history and not as a partisan, but it would be difficult to doubt the justice of Dr Jastrow’s claim to this position.” Doris Webb
“Professor Jastrow is a high authority in the field of Semitic languages. ... His studies of the ancient peoples of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia have been extended to an accurate knowledge of the present peoples and conditions. He has thus been able to give us a remarkable valuable account of the recent rivalries of the great European powers in Asiatic Turkey, and in his newest book he tells the story of the Bagdad railway more instructively for American readers than any other writer has yet done.”
JATAKAS.Jataka tales; selected and ed., with introd. and notes, by H: T: Francis and E: J. Thomas. il*$2.50 (1½c) Putnam 398.3 (Eng ed 17-18045)
“Jataka tales” are Hindu folktales. They are commonly referred to as “Buddhist birth-stories,” but Mr Thomas in the introduction points out that their origin is pre-buddhistic. This introduction considers also the relation of the tales of those of Aesop. The aim of the editors has been to bring together the stories “of most interest, both intrinsically, and also from the point of view of the folklorist.” The translations are taken from the complete edition translated under the editorship of Prof. E. B. Cowell, Cambridge, 1895-1907.
“The Jataka stories included in the present collection exhibit many features of interest to the student of folk-lore; and at the same time the English renderings run so smoothly that readers who seek merely entertainment will find plenty of it here.”
“From one point of view their work is of an encyclopædic character, from another it is thoroughly human composition. They have retold stories of the world’s childhood in such vigorous prose that the children upon whom the ends of the world are come will read with avidity what they have written.” Bishop Frodsham
“Type and page are of excellent size, the editing is entirely trustworthy, and the illustrations are taken from the representations of the Jataka tales carved on the Stupa of Bharhut, discovered by Sir A. Cunningham in 1873 and dating from 250-200 B.C. ... To this day there is no book so beloved by humble eastern folk as this book. There is a mighty, enthusiastic audience for the recital of it at this very present in Ceylon. For us of the West it gives us glimpses of the permanent life of the people such as is seldom afforded us in other Indian literature.”
JEFFERSON, CHARLES EDWARD.Land of enough; a Christmas story.*50c (9c) Crowell 17-24813
The moral lesson of this little book is effective because it is presented with a saving touch of humor that removes it from the “Sunday-school” type of story. Max and Madge never had enough of anything. Max always wanted more time to play, more time to sleep, more of something to eat. Madge wanted more clothes and more of a dozen other things that girls of seventeen do want. And it was quite in vain that her mother compared Madge’s wardrobe with her own when she was a girl, for, as the author says, “there are comparisons which are odious, and this is one of them.” And then suddenly the “Land of enough” is really achieved, and is found to be a quite barren country.
“An effective sermon on the Christmas spirit.”
JEKYLL, GERTRUDE.Annuals and biennials; with cultural notes by E. H. Jenkins. il*$3 Scribner 716 17-15076
“This addition to Miss Jekyll’s garden books, always acceptable to the aesthetic gardener, consists on pp. 57-156 of an alphabetical list, with description of culture, of the best annuals and biennials; following introductory chapters on various sides of the subject, including one by Mr Jenkins on ‘Raising annuals in green-house or frame.’ At the end is a chart of colour and height and a list of selections for various purposes and aspects. The book is fully illustrated by full-page photographs and some coloured plates.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
JENKINS, BURRIS ATKINS.Man in the street and religion.*$1.25 Revell 17-11447