DUFFERIN AND AVA, HARIOT GEORGINA (HAMILTON) HAMILTON-TEMPLE-BLACKWOOD, dowager marchioness of.My Russian and Turkish journals. il*$3.75 Scribner (*10s 6d Murray, London) 17-2676
“The author’s letters to her mother, written in the years 1879-84, are the material of which this book is composed. The late Lord Dufferinduring the period in question was at first ambassador to Russia, and later at Constantinople; but the letters relate only to the social life in the embassies and to the writer’s personal experiences in the countries visited. Germany was one of these; and accounts are given of visits to the Emperor William I and the late Prince Bismarck. Lord and Lady Dufferin were in Petrograd at the time of the assassination of the Emperor Alexander II, whose funeral obsequies are described.”—Ath
“Lady Dufferin would feel either amused or horrified to think that these journals were to be submitted to critical review; or that they were to be estimated for anything other than what they really are: a casual record of the trivial commonplaces of an ambassador’s household. ... We are quite disposed to take this book in the spirit in which it is offered, as a somewhat unusual memento for a war subscription.” C. E. Fryer
“The letters are quite pleasant reading, and many celebrities figure in the volume: among them, Sir Richard Francis (then Mr) Burton, George Augustus Sala, Sir Archibald Alison, Baker Pasha, and Madame Schliemann, wife of the archæologist and explorer.”
“The portions of the journals visualizing Turkish life give a succession of pictures seldom presented; visits to various harems, Turkish dinner parties, weddings, etc. which few foreigners see.” F. B.
“Pleasant accounts of personal experiences and social life.”
“It is difficult to convey an adequate idea of the delicately archaic flavor of these letters from a period presenting such a sharp contrast to the present one in Russia and Turkey. Their chief interest, however, is in the brightly reflected personality of a gracious lady.”
“Particularly valuable for its detailed but interesting information concerning the customs and ceremonies of ‘high life’ in these countries.”
“Lady Dufferin has deliberately confined herself to the externals of ambassadorial life.”
“Her journals, though entirely without intellectual distinction, are filled with agreeable gossip, and portraits of world-figures; her detailed account of dining with Bismarck is well worth reading.” W: L. Phelps
DUGARD, HENRY.Battle of Verdun; tr. by F. Appleby Holt. il*$1.50 (3c) Dodd 940.91 (Eng ed 17-8208)
The time covered in this account of the battle of Verdun is from February 21 to May 7. As an introduction to the battle proper there are two brief chapters on Verdun and its past and Verdun during the war. These are followed by The Crown prince’s battle; The choice of ground; The battlefield; The French positions; The assaulting army; Before the battle; The first shock; etc. The closing chapter, The German attitude, gives a poll of the German press. There is a folding map as frontispiece.
“A complete and on the whole dispassionate history of the battle.”
DUNBAR, CHARLES FRANKLIN.[2]Theory and history of banking*$1.50 (2c) Putnam 332 17-31428
A third edition, revised and enlarged by Oliver M. W. Sprague. It contains three new chapters, those on Foreign exchange, Central banks and The Federal reserve banking system. Two chapters of the former edition have been dropped, the one on Combined reserves and that on the Bank of Amsterdam. The chapter on Daily redemption has been merged with the chapter on Bank-notes. The writer states that emphasis on the interdependence of all the banks of a country in the regular conduct of business of banking is the most fundamental difference between this and the earlier editions.
DUNCAN, FRANCES (MRS JOHN LEROY MANNING).Joyous art of gardening. il*$1.75 (3½c) Scribner 716 17-12144
“This little book is designed to serve as first aid to the beginning gardener. It is arranged to be of use especially to the owner of the small place who plans and makes his own garden, and whose means and time are not unlimited. ... Therefore, only those plants which are surest to grow are properly within the compass of this book.” (Preface) Parts of the book are reprinted from the Century Magazine, Ladies’ Home Journal, Country Life in America, and other periodicals. Among the chapters are: In praise of gardening; Suburban gardening; Fitting the garden to the house; The garden in town; The back-yard fence; The use and abuse of the pergola; Why gardens go wrong; The old-fashioned garden. The author is a member of the council of the Woman’s national farm and garden association.
“It will be particularly useful to the owner of a small place whose means and time are not unlimited.”
“Besides good advice on operation and cultivation, it gives information on pergolas, lattices, and trellises, cold frames, hotbeds and garden seats and their arrangement.”
“Clear and reliable working directions for the beginning amateur whose ground, means, and time are alike limited.”
“The feature of the book is its treatment of details often overlooked or mistreated, and its emphasis on the unpretentious, restful qualities that lie within the compass of any plot, be it small or large.”
“Frankly a handbook. ... It is practical, it does not presuppose a great amount of knowledge on the part of the gardener; it assumes only the love of plants and the desire for them. It is detailed; it gives actual concrete directions, outlines a garden calendar, takes up the fine points of many a specific inquiry. It is admirably inclusive. ... It is a most excellent book.”
“It has a literary quality that puts it rather outside the class of ordinary gardening manuals or handbooks. Miss Duncan has adopted a certain informality of treatment that makes her book doubly interesting to the amateur for whom it was written.”
“A book of first-aid to the amateur. ... While it is but one of many such volumes it is sure to be one of the most popular.”
DUNCAN-JONES, ARTHUR STUART.Ordered liberty; or, An Englishman’s belief in his church.*$1.25 (4c) Longmans 283 A17-1509
Based upon the Hulsean lectures delivered before the University of Cambridge, 1916-1917. It is a forward looking justification of the churchand Christianity in which the writer reviews the true character of the Anglican communion. He considers the question under various aspects: as sharing in the Divine foundation and continuous life of the people of God; as part of that great priesthood of humanity which is the Catholic church; as emerging from the Roman government of western Christendom and making a bold national experiment in the way of religion; as adhering to its ideals of faith; and as developing, in the face of difficulties, out of the origins of the past, a permanent stronghold of truth and righteousness for the union and triumph of the people of God. A very modern note is struck in the author’s linking socialism in its broadly spiritual aspect with Christianity as the two great “driving powers which can turn the ideal for which the world longs into faith.”
“A timely little book. It is interesting, clear and thoughtful. The temperate tone and the evident desire to understand differences and contribute a constructive program give it a message that many will read with profit.”
DUNHAM, MELBOURNE KEITH.Automobile welding with the oxy-acetylene flame. il $1 (3c) Henley 682 16-22111
“A practical treatise, covering the repairing of automobiles by welding, with a non-technical explanation of the principles to be guided by in the successful welding of the various metals.” (Title-page) The preface says further, “The workman who can successfully weld all automobile parts is capable of welding anything, since in the construction of the automobile practically every commercial metal is used. The principles of automobile welding are applicable to all kinds of welding.” Contents: Apparatus knowledge; Shop equipment and initial procedure; Cast iron; Aluminum; Steel; Malleable iron, copper, brass, bronze; Carbon burning and other uses of oxygen and acetylene; How to figure cost of welding.
“Practical, simply written work, of wider application than to automobile welding.”
DUNN, BYRON ARCHIBALD.Boy scouts of the Shenandoah. (Young Virginians ser.) il*$1.10 McClurg 16-20109
“‘The Boy scouts of the Shenandoah’ is the first of a new series of Civil war stories for boys. ... The volume follows the adventures of Robert Hunter, who represents the Virginian aristocracy and Jim Kidder, a young mountaineer. The two boys are independent scouts with the Union army, and their adventures are many and thrilling.”—Springf’d Republican
“This is the type of book that contains much information, and evidently the author’s desire has been to verify his historical statements, for there are many foot-notes throughout the book.”
DUNN, WALDO HILARY.English biography. (Channels of English literature)*$1.50 Dutton 920 17-4579
“Prof. Dunn considers his subject both chronologically and analytically. His conclusion regarding ‘true biography’ is that its aims ‘include a record of facts combined with some portrayal of character.’ Biography, he says, ‘may be said to develop in proportion to the degree of accuracy attained in the presentation of mere facts; the measure of its detachment from panegyric, or other didactic intention, and the extent to which it recognizes truth of character portrayal as its first duty.’ ... Prof. Dunn wisely takes a broad view of his subject matter, even if he is somewhat rigid in his definitions. He notes that the diaries of Pepys and Evelyn must be reckoned as biographical, as, of course, must the journals of Wesley, Fox and Scott. Fiction’s debt to biography is considered.”—Springf’d Republican
“In general, Professor Dunn’s survey of the entire course of English biography is thorough and unprejudiced.” E. F. E.
“The treatment is not only historical, but includes some valuable definitions of the function and place of biography in letters, and its relation to other subjects, notably fiction and also some excellent critical material on specific biographies. The unattractive make-up and fine print of the book will affect its popularity.”
“It does for English biography what another pioneer work of a few years ago did for autobiography; we mean Mrs Burr’s treatise on that theme. ... In its appended matter and its index the book maintains the scholarly system with which it begins. It is a useful manual.”
“It is no mere chronicle of names, but rather a thoughtful and interesting analysis of the true function of biography as a literary art. ... It is a book which has much matter for reflection both for the critic and for the composer of biography, fiction, and history.”
“Professor Dunn is to be congratulated for his able work, done with no previously written volumes to serve as standards. Indeed, with his skillful scholarship, interesting writing, and careful organization of his material, he may well be said to have established such a standard. ‘English biography’ stands the test of comparison with the best scholarly work yet done by American or foreign writers.”
“Prof. Dunn’s book affords proof of the richness and large extent of English biographical works, and should encourage the public to enlarge its reading in an entertaining and highly profitable department of letters.”
DUNSANY, EDWARD JOHN MORETON DRAX PLUNKETT, 18th baron.Plays of gods and men.*$1.50 Luce, J: W. 822 17-13749
Four of Lord Dunsany’s plays are included in this volume: The tents of the Arabs; The laughter of the gods; The queen’s enemies; and A night at an inn. The first of these, Edward Bierstadt in his recent study of Lord Dunsany says, is the only one of his plays that contains anything nearly approaching a love story. It appeared in the Smart Set for March, 1915 and was produced at the Arts and crafts theater in Detroit in 1916. “A night at an inn” was published by The Sun-Wise Turn, inc., in 1916 and has been played, as has “The queen’s enemies,” by the Neighborhood Players of New York city.
“‘A night at an inn’ is the only one that does not seem too poetical to be in prose. The ideality which is the basis demands, at least in part, a metrical form for the others. Prose belongs to realism.”
“‘A night at an inn’ is the climax of terror in the collection, but for sheer beauty there is none of these plays to compare with the poetic charm of ‘The tents of the Arabs,’ which is one of the most beautiful things which Lord Dunsany has ever written.” D. L. M.
“Reading these plays, one marvels at the simplicity of their action and wonders if Lord Dunsany will be able much longer to follow the vein that has proved so golden, with results so large and, it may be said, so monotonous.”
“‘The laughter of the gods’ is written with the delicate satire characteristic of the author, and the subtle horror in ‘A night at an inn’will, we think, make it difficult for the reader to put it aside until the last word has been read.”
“We do not know that ‘A night at an inn’ has ever been acted in England, and we hardly like to say that we wish it could be, because to see it would inevitably mean a sleepless night to follow. Nothing since ‘The ghost stories of an antiquary’ has frightened us quite so uncannily. ‘The queen’s enemies’ is not among his best plays. The scene might be effective on the stage: in the book all seems too carefully arranged.”
DU PLESSIS, JOHANNES.Thrice through the Dark continent. il*$4.50 (3c) Longmans 916 17-27663
The author is a professor in the theological seminary of the Dutch Reformed church in Stellenbosch, South Africa. This “record of journeyings across Africa during the years 1913-1916” is largely an account of his travels between mission stations and of the work among the natives carried on by the various societies and institutions. Two journeys across Central Africa form the basis of the narrative. Among the chapters are: Kumasi and its heroes; Along the Gold coast; Ten days in South Kamerun; Travels in the two Nigerias; In the French sphere of influence; From the Shari to the Ubangi; In north Congoland; The Nile and its reservoirs; Through British East Africa; To the Mountains of the Moon. The book is fully illustrated and there is a folding map.
“The author says little of politics or the war, but describes the country and the natives in a fresh and interesting way.”
“He has, indeed, gathered into one volume a mass of information about very many missions which cannot be got elsewhere. He may be credited with a fair degree of impartiality, quite as much as any man of strong theological convictions can be expected to exercise. ... For the rest, he presents many details of African travel in wild regions which, if the type is not novel, are always full of variety and incident. In spite of a stilted pomposity of style which he is never able to abandon, Mr du Plessis reveals himself most engagingly in his pages as a ‘voortrekker’ of the real old sturdy Dutch stock.”
DURAND, WILLIAM FREDERICK.Practical marine engineering for marine engineers and students; with aids for applicants for marine engineers’ licenses; 4th ed., rev. and enl., by C: W. Dyson. il $6 Van Nostrand; for sale by Marine engineering, 461 8th av., N.Y. 621.12
“The first edition of this book was written by Prof. W. F. Durand. ... A second and then a third part were subsequently added. In the present edition Captain Dyson has combined the three independent parts into a consecutive whole, besides adding new material. The book is devoted mostly to marine engines and their many auxiliaries for driving ships and making them habitable. There are also chapters on engineering materials, fuels and computations for engineers.”—Engin News-Rec
“Excellent book for the engineer or novice who may be preparing for examination for a marine engineer’s license. The treatment is as plain and non-mathematical as possible. The greatly increased interest in marine engineering renders this new edition of the best American practical book on the subject particularly timely.”
DURANT, WILLIAM JAMES.Philosophy and the social problem.*$1.50 (2½c) Macmillan 301 17-24304
The author is an instructor in philosophy connected with Columbia university. “The purpose of this essay is to show: first, that the social problem has been the basic concern of many of the greater philosophers; second, that an approach to the social problem through philosophy is the first condition of even a moderately successful treatment of this problem; and third, that an approach to philosophy through the social problem is indispensable to the revitalization of philosophy. By ‘philosophy’ we shall understand a study of experience as a whole, or of a portion of experience in relation to the whole. By the ‘social problem’ we shall understand, simply and very broadly, the problem of reducing human misery by modifying social institutions.” (Introd.) In Part 1, “Historical approach,” Mr Durant considers Socrates, Plato, Bacon, Spinoza and Nietzsche in order to see what there is in their views on the social problem “that can help us to understand our own situation today.” Part 2 is entitled “Suggestions,” but the author states that he is “proposing no solutions.”
Reviewed by C. E. Ayres
“Accurate, concise and very disappointing book. The author writes with a crisp, effective style; he seems to possess a gift for summary. ... In this somewhat futile Socratic discussion the pros too accurately balance the cons; there is little left to go on with.” Archibald Henderson
“The author says things that need repeating, and he says them eloquently and earnestly. ... I fear, however, that his plan of campaign, if followed, would only get philosophy the reputation of being a gadding busy-body, meddling in everybody’s business, having none of her own.” M. C. Otto
“Dr Durant has an earnestness of manner, a flowing vigor of expression and a skill in summary which makes his book readable even for the man who has never turned his attention to problems of philosophy.”
“Dr Will Durant, though an instructor in philosophy, holds philosophy in very low esteem indeed—this being, in fact, one of the amusing phenomena that have sprung from the Deweyesque brand of pragmatism.”
“Part 1 of Dr Durant’s volume is so well done that there cannot be but regret for its brevity. For a little space he has shown these masterly thinkers as kin to us, and, had he pursued this part of the work farther, he would have given us a most significant volume.”
“The chief value of the book lies in its call to rescue philosophy from the calm death of social ineffectiveness. It is to be feared, however, that in order to make out his case, Mr Durant has in some instances made his philosophers a bit too modern. It is rather a strained interpretation, for example, to read into the Socratic ‘virtue of wisdom’ an endorsement of psychoanalysis.” H: Neumann
DURELL, A. J. V.Principles and practice of the system of control over parliamentary grants.*21s John Hogg, London 351.72
“This work, by the chief paymaster at the War office, with a foreword by Sir Charles Harris, assistant financial secretary, War office, deals authoritatively with the important subject of the control of public expenditure.The main divisions of the book are concerned with the House of commons, the parliamentary standing committees, the comptroller and auditor-general, the treasury, and the accounting department. ... There are copious references throughout the book to parliamentary papers containing reports of the public accounts committee and estimates committee, and to authorities dealing with public finance and kindred matters.”—Ath
“The author has presented the facts in such a manner that the volume is likely to become a standard work of reference upon the expenditure of public money.”
“The book opens with its only weak section—a sketch of the constitutional aspect of the financial system, derived from secondary authorities that are somewhat out of date. When Colonel Durell turns to review the present financial system he is clearly in his own element. With the detailed analysis in the last two chapters of the control exercised by the treasury and the function of the accounting department, nothing comparable has yet appeared publicly in print.”
“Colonel Durell sets out in detail the steps taken during the nineteenth century to secure effective machinery for parliamentary control.”
DURET, THEODORE.Whistler. il*$3.75 Lippincott 17-12506
“Theodore Duret’s book on Whistler, which appeared a number of years ago in the original French edition, has been translated by Frank Rutter, and makes a welcome addition to the mass of literature that has been forming for the last thirty years about the salient figure of the American master. Duret knew Whistler well, and adds to his natural carefulness in statement the lively note of personal adventure. ... Duret brought to his task, however, more than the mere data of a conscientious reporter or the pleasant gossip of an acquaintance; he is initiated in the craftsmanship of which he writes, and is an appreciative critic of the painter’s achievement.”—N Y Times
“The great merit of this biographical study is its terse and orderly presentation of the essentials and the omission of all those superfluities which so often obscure the really important features of a biography. ... The translation is accompanied by [32] capital reproductions of many of Whistler’s most important works.”
“Naturally M. Duret writes somewhat in the vein of a second at a duel. Whistler’s career was so much a progress of deliberate pugnacity that any record of it is inevitably one of blows, given and courted. As these encounters so often centred upon the artist’s work there is a certain piquancy in the opportunity of refreshing our individual judgments upon this, furnished by the many and wholly admirable reproductions with which the volume is illustrated.”
“M. Duret, who was a lifelong friend, steers a mid-course between those who, like Mr Menpes, record with gusto every incident of mud-slinging and vanity, and the large and detailed volumes of Mr Pennell, in which everything is recorded and the hero can do no wrong.”
“As a sketch of Whistler’s chequered history, with its struggles, attacks, financial hardships, and final success, this book is fairly adequate, and certainly makes interesting reading. ... But those who wish to follow and understand Whistler’s technique in painting and etching, and to realize the amount of hard honest labour that underlay those performances of his that seem so slight and easy, will do well, when they read M. Duret, to turn back to the more precise volume of Mr and Mrs Pennell.”
DURHAM, HARRY WILLIAM.Saws: their care and treatment. il*$2.50 (4c) Van Nostrand 621.93 A17-1554
The object of this work is “to provide a reliable book of reference for those who are learning the art of saw fitting, or who may be interested in the proper methods of sharpening and keeping saws in order.” (Preface) The author states that he has found no modern work in English treating of the subject with the exception of certain trade publications. He has attempted to select the best methods from among the many he has observed in practice, but has been careful not to lay down hard and fast rules. Among the topics covered are: Particulars of reciprocating saws; Particulars of circular saws; Sharpening saws by hand filing; Saw-sharpening machines; Setting the teeth of saws; The saw-sharpening room.
DWIGHT, HARRY GRISWOLD.Persian miniatures. il*$3 (3c) Doubleday 915.5 17-26877
A travel book by the author of “Stamboul nights” which touches lightly and whimsically the things of Persia that draw the traveler thither,—its cities, its structures, its scenery, its peoples and its indefinable oriental magic. “About rug books” is an interesting and encouraging chapter for those who think despairingly that the Persian rug is passing. The writer believes that there is no more danger of the Persian rug becoming a thing of the past than the oil painting. He says that under mud roofs, not available for the department store buyer, there are being woven carpets quite as good as came from the looms of Abbas the Great. “Social life in Hamadan, descriptions of home apparatus, humorous appreciation of personality, of every kindred, every tribe, sly Pepys-like analysis of high local and imported dignitaries, merry, human, homey stories of everyday life of foreigners in Persia, incidents of adventure and misadventure, make up most of this volume.” (Boston Transcript)
“An amazingly modern book of travel. No roses and nightingales, no bulbuls nor tropical scents and sounds, no humbug of any kind does Mr Dwight deceive us with in his descriptions of Iran. He does impart the beauty of the treeless land, he does make real and recognizable even for an unimaginative reader, the joy to be found in strange appearances of life, and in the different and admirable in architecture. The quality of the book cries in the market place to be imparted, to be shared, to be read aloud with a mutual enjoyer, even its last learned chapter on Avicenna.” M. C. S.
“The present volume has all the atmosphere of charm and oriental coloring that its title would lead one to expect. The intimate description of the author’s sojourn in a Persian town will go far toward making us familiar with an ancient and engaging people.”
“It would be a grave belittling, however, of a book that has in it much of valuable information, the fruit of careful research, to emphasize only its charm of style and its vividness of description. ... The author is blest with the ability to offer a great deal of information, nay more, to correct mistakes in less well-informed writings, without a trace of pedantry.”
“Mr Dwight brings to his new work the ability to be graphic, whimsical, and always readable.”
DYER, WALTER ALDEN.Creators of decorative styles. il*$3 (8½c) Doubleday 749 17-28460
A survey of the decorative periods in England from 1600 to 1800. It is the plan of the writer to consider the lives and personalities of the leaders of artistic thought in England, tracing, at the same time, the contemporary development of styles in the cognate arts. These leaders are: Inigo Jones; Daniel Marot; Sir Christopher Wren; Grinling Gibbons; Jean Tijou; Thomas Chippendale; Sir William Chambers; Robert Adam; Josiah Wedgwood; George Hepplewhite; and Thomas Sheraton. Illustrations reproduce many original pieces of furniture to be found in the Metropolitan museum of art.
“The trouble with the book before us, so far as trouble exists, is that Mr Dyer has not succeeded altogether in a vital synthesis of his critical and biographical material. It is only fair to say that the data available on the personal side seems prevailingly very scant. Especially worth while are the chapters on Tijou, the little-known French master of ironwork, a domesticated English worker, and Wedgwood, the famed creator of designs in pottery.” R: Burton
“Mr Dyer, who has of late made a specialty of writing upon this attractive subject and who has undoubtedly done much in the formation of a revived taste for the beautiful has produced here a work of superior excellence. A large number of well executed illustrations adds to the value of the work.”
“A thoro knowledge of just such facts as this book presents will go a long way towards giving to your house that ‘indefinable air’ of charm and culture and a still more desirable quality—restfulness.” Ruth Stanley-Brown
DYER, WALTER ALDEN.Five Babbitts at Bonnyacres. il*$1.30 (2c) Holt 17-25085
A very up-to-date country-life story in which Farmers’ bulletins play an important part. It is written for young folks, but older people who are interested in farming and in rural problems will also enjoy it. The Babbitts are a city family who go back-to-the-land. The story carries them thru two years of their experiment on a Massachusetts farm, and leaves them satisfied and happy, and well started on the road to success. There are four Babbitts to begin with; the fifth member, who is added to the family later, is a young boy who comes to them as a state ward. His development under a more fortunate environment than he has before known is an interesting study.
“The Babbitts never accomplish superhuman deeds on the soil; their crops are not abnormal. The story goes through two seasons, and there is a steady increase in results, due to the pluck and splendid spirit of the family.”
“Mr Dyer evidently means his story to be a practical handbook of how such a farm should be treated in order to make it a moderately paying investment. ... The fictional interest with which he has invested it by means of the Babbitt family makes it an entertaining yarn, for Mr Dyer writes always with charm and humor and sanity.”
DYSON, G.Grenade fighting. il*50c Doran 355 17-29564
A small manual on the training and tactics of grenadiers. The author is late brigade grenadier officer of the British expeditionary force. Part 1 of the book gives Preliminary notes; Part 2, Notes on training and organisation. There are seven diagrams by way of illustration.
EARLE, RALPH.Life at the U.S. naval academy; the making of the American naval officer. il*$2 (4c) Putnam 355.07 17-10208
The purpose of this book is “to explain the methods adopted at the United States naval academy at Annapolis, Maryland, to give the midshipmen of our navy a thorough theoretical and practical grounding in the knowledge of the many subjects that the naval profession demands.” (Preface) Contents: Historical sketch; The candidate; The new midshipman; Organization; Academic work; Examinations; Practical instruction and drills; Religion, discipline, morale; Physical training and medical care; Athletics; Recreation; The practice cruises; The postgraduate; Grounds and buildings; The ensign. Courses of study, etc. are outlined in appendixes. The author is head of the Department of ordnance and gunnery in the Naval academy, and the book has an introduction by Franklin D. Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the navy.
“An interesting, graphic, and well-illustrated account.”
“Clear and accurate, but not calculated to arouse in boys an enthusiasm for this arm of the service.”
“The parent or guardian will be particularly impressed by Chapter 8, Religion—discipline—morals.”
“The prospective candidate for admission to the academy will find the volume of especial value.”
“The book describes the midshipman’s training in all its aspects and its value is heightened by appendices of special value to the prospective candidate for admission and an ample index.”
“Particularly attractive are the author’s descriptions of the athletic life and recreations of the midshipmen, their games and sporting contests with other bodies. Another chapter which will be widely appreciated is that in which an outline is given of the midshipmen’s activities during the practice cruises which the upper classmen in the academy make annually.”
EASSIE, R. M.Odes to trifles, and other rhymes.*$1.25 Lane 811.08 17-30067
A member of the Canadian expeditionary force makes some humorous observations among the grim happenings of war. He immortalizes the ration biscuit, satirizes the kultur that could so evilly betray its birthright by the “lachrymatory shell,” and eulogizes a pair of sheets but briefly enjoyed on short leave. There are nursery rhymes which parody Mother Goose and there are limericks. The book should not fail to be found in the camp libraries.
“Let me say at once that these ‘Odes to trifles,’ are the very finest things of the sort this war has produced. This Mr Eassie of the Canadian expeditionary force is a humorist of the highest order, is an absolute artist in touching upon the inconsequential of a grim and agonizing piece of business—war.” W. S. B.
“Every stanza gets well home, written with a refreshing air of conviction and a real wit which scintillates the more sharply because not a word of it could be spared.”
EAST, ANNA MERRITT.Kitchenette cookery. il*$1 (7c) Little 641.5 17-14966
Cooking in small quarters is the subject of this book. The first chapter considers the utilization of space and the planning of work in a small kitchen. Other problems of apartment house living—getting meals in a limited time, etc., are given attention. Recipes accompany many of the chapters. Contents: Fitting shelves to space and service; The pots, pans, and containers; The first bill of groceries; Counting costs; Breakfast on a time limit; Lunches at home and by box; Dinners for self and friends; High-pressure dinners; Experiments tried on friends; A bite to eat at bedtime; Half-a-can recipes.
“Business women who are loth to give up the privileges of housekeeping will find much helpful planning in this intensive study.”
“The volume is made the more fascinating by its attractive pictures of the two-room and kitchenette apartment, whose story it is telling.”
EASTMAN, MAX.Journalism versus art. il*$1 Knopf 814 17-26314
“Four provocative essays republished from the Masses, Vanity Fair, the New Republic and the North American Review, respectively. The initial essay ‘Magazine art’ ‘reflects the feeling and in some places even the thought and language of the artists of the Masses in criticizing the art of the popular commercial magazine.’ Speaking thus for his associates Mr Eastman finds that the monotony of magazine illustration, and its subjection to the ideals of the business office combine to keep this work out of the realm of true art.”—Cleveland
“Mr Eastman, as an editor, would never think of giving the public what it wants, and he sets himself here to show how journalism, which is only a very democratic and shaggy kind of literature, is corrupting our taste in letters and art.”
“The papers on magazine writing and lazy verse are but witty remark and schoolboyish platitude and superstition. The others, on magazine art and English spelling, over-expressive of radical opinion, under-expressive of what those opinions clearly mean and marred by a quite shameless preciosity of style and half-way philosophizing, are still healthily stimulating.”
“The only thing wrong with this new book by the editor of the Masses is the title. Magazine writing and illustrating is not popularly called journalism, and that is what a great part of the book is about. ... And, by the way, the book is liberally illustrated with some real pictures, most of them from the Masses.” C. M. W.
“In his new book Mr Eastman plays the rôles of radical and conservative, or, as he calls them, ‘red’ and ‘white,’ with equal facility. The fact that he uses radical language to enforce conservative truths need not concern us overmuch, for every writer must be allowed some consideration for his normal or abnormal ‘squint’ at life. At all events, Mr Eastman is conservative in most of the theories he advances, or restates in this book.”
EASTMAN, REBECCA LANE (HOOPER) (MRS WILLIAM FRANKLIN EASTMAN).Big little person. il*$1.40 (1½c) Harper 17-24397
Arathea Manning, beautiful but deaf, once rich but when the story opens comparatively poor, is a little woman with a big heart and an undaunted spirit, who lives with her mother in the artists’ colony, just off Third avenue, New York. There is a mystery about Marion Beemis, the friend who saves Arathea’s life on Fifth avenue, and who has plenty of money, but refuses to tell what her occupation is. Two mysterious men also figure in the story; the “Kantwearout man,” who writes newspaper advertisements for a living and letters to Arathea, whom he refuses to meet, for the joy of it; and Gerald Staples, “a dynamo for energy,” with “extraordinary eyes” of a “warm brown,” and hair that “looked as if splendid clean winds had always been blowing through it.” Staples is an inventor who cares nothing for money and does not know who his parents were. He loves Arathea, and so does Arthur Endicott, whose parents have “brought him up in the smartest society and given him more money than is good for anybody.” The story solves all the mysteries and leaves everybody happy in the end.
“Fanciful, idealistic fairy-tale sort of a story with a very charming girl as heroine.”
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“The author has a sprightly manner of writing which carries us through many situations which told less attractively would immediately proclaim their unreality.”
“She is a brave and sweet-tempered heroine, while nearly all the other characters in the book are pleasant people, though, like the plot, they belong to fairy tales rather than to real life.”
“The sentiment, if of a stereotyped order, is always appealing and is employed with restraint and in good taste.”
EATON, WALTER PRICHARD.Green trails and upland pastures. il*$1.60 (2c) Doubleday 917.4 17-29641
“To my mother whose hand first led me out among the flowers and whose plea was the first I heard in defense of the wild folk of the woods.” This is the dedication of a book that in turn leads the reader out among the flowers and into the haunts of wilderness inhabitants. Sympathy with nature’s every mood and the language to reproduce it delicately or grandly but always atmospherically—this is the secret of the alluring quality of the book. The illustrations are noteworthy, particularly those that catch and hold the spirit of King Frost.
“For those who love hills and fields and wood paths and all the delights of nature’s green trails, the book is a treasury of exquisite landscapes painted with words in place of the brush.” A. M. Chase
“A nature-lover’s record of ‘Glacier park wild flowers,’ ‘Neighbors of the winter night,’ ‘Trees,’ ‘Bridges,’ ‘Old boats,’ etc., described in a way to make one see a series of pictures rather than share the author’s moods.”
“Walter Prichard Eaton has written of the world out of doors with all the pictorial charm of a Thoreau.”
“The sympathetic tone of the book is well maintained in the colored illustrations of Walter King Stone.”
EBENTHAL, HILDEGARDE.Tragedy of a throne. il*$3.50 (4c) Funk 17-24316
The author states in her foreword that she had written this life of Ludwig II of Bavaria “largely with the help of letters and manuscripts the authenticity of which is indisputable,” but she gives no list of authorities used, and there are no references in foot-notes. She tells us that “Ludwig’s association with Wagner will berelated in these pages in its true light for perhaps the first time, as will many other episodes”; also that had Ludwig been allowed to do what he wished, “it is more than probable that Europe would have been spared the colossal disasters due to the ambition of that Prussia which he hated throughout his life, and whose victim he became.” There are photogravure portraits of Ludwig II, Richard Wagner, Empress Elizabeth of Austria and Prince Luitpold, regent of Bavaria.
“The writer, who appears to be well conversant with the enigmatical reign of Ludwig II of Bavaria, is evidently a person of strong prejudices, one of which is directed against Wagner, and another favorably toward the King. ... That he was more unfortunate than blameworthy she makes quite apparent. ... But we do strongly suspect her judgment of Wagner. Her invective is too vehement to be quite impartial. He is pictured as a demon of almost unbelievable evil. ... Her book is written somewhat too sensationally for serious history. The result of her research and her speculations is interesting.” R. M.