“Since the cost of building material and labor have advanced by leaps during the past year and a half, Mr Embury’s statements of cost prices require revision.”
EMERSON, EDWARD WALDO.Henry Thoreau as remembered by a young friend. il*$1.25 (6½c) Houghton 17-19701
The author is a son of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau had the run of the Emerson house, and was to the children “the best kind of an older brother.” Twenty-seven years ago, Dr Emerson tells us, he was moved to write a lecture on Thoreau, because of “the want of knowledge and understanding, not only of his character, but of the events of his life,” and of “the false impressions given by accredited writers who really knew him hardly at all.” Lowell’s essay on Thoreau is mentioned as “having unhappily prejudiced many persons.” This book is the outgrowth of that early lecture, and is based, not only on Dr Emerson’s own youthful recollections, but on the recollections of the Concord people whom he, as a physician, has had the opportunity to know.
“Of Thoreau’s experience as a teacher, of his work in the pencil-making industry founded by his father, of his life in Concord and acquaintance with its people of greater and less celebrity and of no celebrity at all, we learn much in Dr Emerson’s few and unpretentious pages. ... They solve many puzzles about his life, his doings and his character.” E. F. E.
“These illuminating glimpses of a strongly marked and splendidly independent but too often misunderstood personality are a welcome addition to the rather meagre literary product called forth by the Thoreau centennial. In this little book Thoreau the idealist stands justified for his refusal to devote the best years of his life to pencil-making and money-getting.”
“In these few pages we see the author of ‘Walden’ at his best and, we feel convinced, as he really was.”
“It is a long way from the stoical Thoreau of Emerson’s ‘Memoir’ to the ‘simple, gentle, friendly, and amusing’ Thoreau of his son’s ‘Henry Thoreau as remembered by a young friend.’ ... If the point of view is slightly distorted, at least there is compensation in the really winning personality that rises into life as we read these pages.”
“A rather muddled sketch of Thoreau’s life, with a wealth of significant incidents that throw a more human halo about that rich personality.” Max Lustig
“Dr Emerson succeeds in demolishing common misconceptions of Thoreau as an idler, misanthropist, and rather inconsistent fanatic ... and demonstrates that he deserved the pretty general love and respect of the Old Concord with which this little book credits him.”
EMERTON, EPHRAIM.Beginnings of modern Europe (1250-1450). maps $1.80 (1c) Ginn 940.4 17-25735
The period which is the subject of study in this volume is the transition period between the time when Europe was committed to feudalism and the Roman church, and that of the modern Europe of independent national states and religious toleration. The thread of the narrative aims to be the working out, consciously in literature and unconsciously thru social and political conflict, of the idea that individuals or bodies of men voluntarily united in a common interest might, if they pleased, speak and act for themselves. Slight emphasis is put upon theological aspects, political, social and intellectual movements being the main consideration. Contents: The principle of the modern state; The new empire; The new papacy; The rise of a middle class; The Italian republics to 1300; The Hundred years’ war; The age of the councils; The age of the despots in Italy; The renaissance in Italy; The northern renaissance.
“Nothing but praise can be said of this most admirable treatment of European history. Professor Emerton avoids the bizarre which is so tempting to some of the popular writers on medieval history and institutions, and he will be found a safe and sound guide thru a fascinating field.”
“If one is looking for a masterly treatment of the transition from mediaeval to modern times, such will be found in this book. His method involves a certain amount of repetition, which, by the way, is beneficial rather than detrimental in this case by showing the close interrelation of the historical movements considered. The book contains a number of valuable colored maps.”
EMPEY, ARTHUR GUY.“Over the top.”il*$1.50 (2c) Putnam 940.91 17-15575
An account of trench warfare “somewhere in France” by an American who served for a year and a half in the British army as bomber, machine gunner, etc., until he fell wounded and after four months in the American women’s war hospital in England, was discharged as physically unfit for further war service. Empey says: “I have tried to tell my experiences in the language of Tommy sitting on the fire step of a front-line trench on the Western Front—just as he would tell his mate next him what was happening at a different part of the line.” “Tommy’s dictionary of the trenches” (unofficial) fills the last thirty-five pages.
“Through it all there breathes the spirit of buoyancy and optimism that is characteristically American. It is all an unconscious piece of quite wonderful writing.”
“For once the publisher’s urgent description does not exaggerate; for in this unpretentious volume is caught at last the soul of Tommy Atkins.”
“One of the very best soldier books of the war.”
“There have been several such books, but this is different from them all and one feels that for the average fighting man, it is truer than the others. ... In no other book that has come from the front has there been so much of soldier humor. ... Prospective soldiers can learn here pretty nearly just what is awaiting them, in both incident and sensation.”
“Many of our readers must have heard Captain Empey tell his war experiences from the platform. He writes exactly as he talks—clearly, incisively, in the language of the trenches.”
“Few personal records of service have given us so much genuine pleasure as this one—whether for the overflowing cheeriness and the simple intimacy and the keen humour of its style, or for the real feeling which beats all through it.”
Empire and the future.*75c Macmillan 325.3 17-15171
“A slim volume containing a series of lectures delivered in the University of London, King’s college. Mr Steel-Maitland contributes an introduction. Dr M. E. Sadler deals with ‘The universities and the war.’ Sir Charles Lucas treats of ‘Empire and democracy.’ The Master of Balliol discourses on ‘The people and the duties of empire.’ ‘Imperial administration’ is in the capable hands of Dr H. A. L. Fisher. Mr Philip Kerr is on his own ground, dealing with ‘Commonwealth and empire.’ The volume is fittingly closed by Mr G. R. Parkin’s address on ‘The duty of the empire to the world.’”—Ath
“There is no single work we would more strongly recommend to those interested in the future of the British commonwealth than this little volume. Indeed, we regard it as an excellent introduction to the study of the problems of imperial reconstruction. It contains no cut-and-dried schemes; its value lies rather in providing a background for schemes of reconstruction.”
“From one important standpoint it is a book to be welcomed: it comes from men who are profoundly in earnest, and who wish to grow into the needs of a most difficult new time. Their desire is to educate themselves, as well as to help those who know less than they do. On the other hand, they do not yet know how to coax great subjects through the prejudices of uneducated middle-age. ... It is a book for political clubs and for university students. The subjects chosen are too widespread to be generally useful at the present moment.”
Reviewed by the Earl of Cromer
“These lectures are anything but academic. Throughout they are the live words of men who speak of great things to listeners as keenly interested as themselves.”
Empty house. il*$1.40 (2½c) Macmillan 17-17515
“The theme of this novel is the need of sex-fulfilment for the American wife, through motherhood. The wife in evidence, who is her own witness and judge, has grown up, under the example of her own mother’s fate, in the fear of maternity. She dreads marriage for what it threatens, and will not marry until it is understood that she is to have no children. Between herself and her young husband exists a possible basis of friendship as well as that passionate relation which is to go through the inevitable phases. ‘The need of a world of men’ asserts itself for the husband: the wife is left to her own resources, her clothes, her bridge, her idle-restless occupations of the servanted and childless city-woman. Her husband remains her preoccupation, while his work more and more absorbs him. In her will to possess him, she begins to prey upon him; in the end, by her exactions and by her secret and disastrous interference with his career, she brings about his ruin and his death. And it is all traceable to that ‘over-sexed’ condition of the American woman which, according to the German scientist of the story, condemns her, in default of motherhood, to destroy her mate.”—Nation
“These people have the breath of life in them, are real as the action is real, however slightly both may be outlined.” H. W. Boynton
“With her abstract theories of married life the writer of ‘The empty house’ gives us all food for discussion. But like many novels with a purpose it is totally one-sided. ... Were we to surmise concerning the writer of this novel we might say that she is herself unmarried. The days of her childhood are described convincingly, but the post-matrimonial discussions lack conviction and sincerity.” D. F. G.
“It is a vivacious story with an air of determination to speak out and tell the truth. What it tells is interesting. But after all it does not tell very much. The manner is sometimes irritating, if the reader is over-sensitive to literary manner. In trying to sound human and natural the author makes an unnecessary sacrifice of sentence-construction.” J: Macy
“A special plea, if you like, but vigorously embodied in a tale well told.”
“We are almost tempted to say that it is many years since we have read anything so trivial published by a reputable house. ... The style is scrappy and lacking entirely in any literary qualities.” M. G. S.
“Notwithstanding the irritating style and the wearying repetitions, the author contrives to put a good deal of emotional suspense and some dramatic situations into the story. But it really wasn’t necessary, for the convincingness of the tale, to make the teller of it seem quite such an uncurbed fool.”
“An incisive yet moving study of feminine tendencies—some limited and morbid, others general and human. There is bitterness in the exposition of one type of American women, described by a foreign scientific observer.”
ENDELL, FRITZ AUGUST GOTTFRIED.Old tavern signs; an excursion in the history of hospitality.il*$5 Houghton 394 16-24700
“Mr Endell confesses in his ‘Old tavern signs’ that his love of the subject is his only apology for his bold undertaking of writing about it. First it was the filigree quality and the beauty of the delicate tracery of the wrought-iron signs in the picturesque villages of southern Germany that attracted his attention; then their deep, symbolic significance exerted its influence more and more over his mind, and tempted him at last to follow their history back until he could discover its multifarious relations to the thought and feeling of earlier generations. ... Poetical and political signs are treated at length, and the English sign and its peculiarities are fully described. Not the least interesting part of the book are the pictures, some of them copies of old prints. The author has added a bibliography and index to make his work complete.”—Boston Transcript
“A notable book of a rather unusual kind, ... which the author himself lavishly illustrated with drawings of much quaintness and charm. ... The edition is limited to 550 copies.”
“If it were not for the date in the imprint and a few scattered allusions, one would almost swear that this book had been composed in the eighteenth century. It seems to be pervaded by the kindly, unworldly sentiment of the vanished Germany of little states, such as Thackeray hardly caricatured in Pumpernickel, and Stevenson made the scene of Prince Otto’s adventures.Over all is the atmosphere one feels in the illustrations to Hans Andersen. Nowhere is the modern, scientific spirit.”
“A book at once erudite and whimsical, entertaining in its style and illuminating in its account of the social life of former times.”
ERASMUS, DESIDERIUS.Complaint of peace.*50c (2½c) Open ct. 172.4 17-14169
“This translation of the ‘Querela pacis’ of Erasmus is reprinted from a rare old English version. It is probably the 1802 reprint of the translation made by T. Paynell but published anonymously.” (Publishers’ preface) Erasmus, even in the sixteenth century, pictures Peace as seeking a refuge in vain with the common people, with kings, with scholars and with the religious. He dwells upon the incompatibility of war with Christianity, and argues that “there is scarcely any peace so unjust, but it is preferable, upon the whole, to the justest war,” but states that he is to be understood as speaking of the unjustifiable wars that Christians wage with Christians, and not of the purely defensive wars necessary to repel the violence of invaders.
“The essay is noteworthy as an appealing presentation of the arguments for peace.”
“Every argument that has been advanced by the lovers of peace against militarism and its attendant horrors is cogently stated in this quaint document.”
“This translation is welcome for other things than its abstract wisdom. It is welcome for its gentle irony and for the modulated richness of the English. The book would be admirable for reading in the schools.”
“What Erasmus has to say is still not only readable, but worth reading. War is the most disastrous of human crimes and follies, and anything that helps us to understand that is good and useful. Provided that we also understand—what Erasmus only shows for one moment a glimpse of understanding—that it may be the most urgent of human duties.”
ERICHSEN, ERICH.Forced to fight; the tale of a Schleswig Dane.*$1.25 (3c) McBride 940.91 (Eng ed 17-15580)
The author tells this story as it was told him by a young soldier returned from the war. “He told me,” says the author, “sometimes calmly and sometimes with excitement, about all those experiences that had whitened his hair and worn out his body, and made him an old man, though he had not yet completed his twenty-seventh year. I am telling his story as he told it to me. The words are mine but all that gives life to them, the moods and thoughts, the hopes and sufferings, the abasement of the soul and the horror of the mind—all these are his.” It is the terrible story of one who endured all of the horrors of war without any of the sustainment of a conviction of right. After the invasion of Belgium, in which he took part, the narrator was transferred to East Prussia, a region similarly devastated. The book is translated from the Danish by Ingeborg Lund.
ERVINE, ST JOHN GREER.Changing winds.*$1.60 (1c) Macmillan 17-9813
The mettle of the young men who are giving their lives in this war and the irretrievable loss suffered by any nation that goes to war are brought home by this novel. It is the story of four boys, friends from schooldays. It is a story filled with the joy and eagerness and tragic seriousness of youth, with its big ambitions and easy achievements and its plans for the reformation of the world. War does not enter into these plans. The war is something that happens; but it cuts across every other claim and takes the four, one after the other. The war is a calamity that breaks suddenly, but the Irish revolution which also enters into the story, gives warnings of its approach. There is hardly a phase of the complicated Irish problem that is not touched on in the course of the novel. Henry Quinn, one of the four, is Irish and it is to him that events are most closely related, but the most vital personality in the group is Gilbert Farlow, killed in Gallipoli. The book is dedicated to the memory of Rupert Brooke.
“One of the women and the sex interest she arouses will be disapproved of by some readers, though few such would read the book.”
“The character-drawing throughout is of a high standard, but the chief interest of the book lies in the discussions between the quartet of young men, which range over nearly all the questions of the day. ... the position of labour, the war, Irish affairs, including the rebellion, etc. ... The book will appeal mostly to the unsophisticated.”
“A story of uncommon range and power.” H. W. Boynton
“Despite Mr Ervine’s chaotic methods, despite his annoying habit of playing havoc with the passing of time, despite his rapid shifting backward and forward through the years and his consequent chronological disorder, despite the wordiness and trivial episodes in a story that for its full effect should be brisk and compact, he has written in ‘Changing winds’ a novel that demands attention and that is certain to arouse discussion. We do not regret its length and we do not hasten towards its end. ... Anyone who has read ‘Mr Britling sees it through’ will be eager for another view of the English attitude as reflected in Mr Ervine’s agile mind.” E. F. E.
“A monument of industry rather than talent. ... ‘Changing winds’ suggests the book of a writer who has attempted to immerse himself in his subject, but has not absorbed its implications. It is the work of a man who does not quite feel the life he portrays.”
“An interpretation full of insight, and rich in human sympathy.”
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
“So far, then, as Mr Ervine has allowed his discipleship to H. G. Wells to lead him into discussing universal military service, factory organization, machine industry, etc., he has been badly bamboozled. You have to be a Meredith or at any rate a Wells to overflow into thesecreative fictional discussions, and where Mr Ervine has attempted this he is tin painted to look like steel. ... The utilization of contemporary personages and contemporary events gives ‘Changing winds’ an excitingness that has a sort of suggestion of genius. There are certain tricks about the book, however, that impair this impression. ... Though not written in the first person, ‘Changing winds’ is hot fromfirst-handexperience, an empiric version of reality.” F. H.
“Mr Ervine’s new book is by all odds the biggest piece of work he has done.”
“The author has one pervading purpose, namely, to make his readers see Ireland and Irishmen as they are. ... The picture of the recent Irish revolution included in the story is admirably done, and is both touching and dramatic.”
“The title was taken from the sonnet, ‘The dead,’ by Rupert Brooke, to whom the author has dedicated the story.” M. A. S.
“‘Changing winds’ may perhaps be not unfairly described as a set of variations on the theme of Mr St John Ervine’s book, ‘Sir Edward Carson and the Ulster movement,’ in which there was very little about Sir Edward Carson but a great deal about Ulstermen, young and old. ... The pictures of life in London are enlivened by some caustic portraits, under thin disguises, of well-known figures in the world of letters.”
“The most interesting modern Irish novel that we can remember. ... The Londoner and the Dubliner, particularly the former, will have no difficulty in recognizing numerous real people in the thinnest disguises, many of them hit off with amusing malice. ... The book is all youth and enthusiasm, and it is written by a man who obviously loves Ireland and loves England too. That is what makes it so good a presentation of the issue between the two countries.”
ESENWEIN, JOSEPH BERG.Writing for the magazines.*$1.50 Home correspondence school 808 16-26010
“The Writer’s library already contains books on short story writing, photo play writing, writing for vaudeville, verse writing and play writing. Its manifest object is the compiling of a series of helpful and practical textbooks which shall answer the numerous questions which writers want to ask and which no one has time to answer for them. Four things Mr Esenwein considers essential to success in writing—having something to say, knowing how different editors wish it said, knowing how to shape material and knowing the markets.”—Boston Transcript
“‘How to do it’ books are always slightly amusing, but in ‘Writing for the magazines’ J. B. Esenwein gives intelligent practical advice as to what the editor wants.”
ESENWEIN, JOSEPH BERG, and STOCKARD, MARIETTA.Children’s stories, and how to tell them. (Writer’s library)*$1.50 (2½c) Home correspondence school 372.6 18-781
Professor Esenwein is head of the literary faculty of the Home correspondence school, Springfield, Mass., and Miss Stockard is connected with the Wilson normal school, Washington, D.C. The authors attempt to give “a clear statement of the various methods used successfully by story-tellers,” and, from these methods, to deduce certain simple foundation-principles “so as to help the student of the art to understand the material he has to work with, the forms in which it may be cast, various successful methods of presentation, the limitations of his hearers, and the ends he is justified in seeking to gain.” (Foreword) All this is covered in the eleven chapters of part 1, each chapter being followed by “Suggestions for study and discussion.” Part 2 consists of “Fifty stories to tell to children.” These include among others animal, Bible, patriot, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and hero stories. Part 3 gives eight suggestive “Reading and reference lists,” such as “Source-books for the storyteller,” “Books on literary study and its value,” etc. A list of publishers’ addresses is given.
“Now, the important and joyous thing about this excellent new book is that it indicates a reiterated faith on the part of the authors and publishers that story telling is an important factor in life.”
ESSEN, LÉON VAN DER.Invasion and the war in Belgium; with a sketch of the diplomatic negotiations preceding the conflict. il*15s T. Fisher Unwin, London 940.91 (Eng ed 17-17104)
“‘Our aim,’ writes Professor van der Essen, ‘has been to give for the first time a connected account and a complete survey of all the events of the German invasion and of the war in Belgium from the attack on Liège till after the battle of the Yser. ... We have always referred to our sources to enable the reader to control our evidence.’ ... The account of the military operations is drawn chiefly from three sources—the official report of the Belgium general staff; a compilation by a Belgian officer entitled ‘Les pages de gloire de l’armée Belge’; and reprinted articles from the newspaperLe XXme. Siècle.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup) The author was professor of history at the University of Louvain.
“The fullest and best account of the invasion of Belgium that we have yet seen. ... This book shows in detail what the Belgians did. ... The author gives a clear and dispassionate account of the siege and fall of Antwerp.”
“The translation falls below the ordinary standard of translations from the French. It is about upon a level with them; but that level is not high. ... We must confess to some disappointment with the critical methods of the author. We cannot always share his confidence in his authorities. ... Professor van der Essen is also very loose in his reckoning of casualties. ... From a military point of view, therefore, we cannot regard this book as of any great value; and yet we welcome it and commend it heartily to the English reader.”
EVANS, CARADOC.My people. 4th ed*$1.35 Duffield (Eng ed 16-20112)
“Mr Caradoc Evans’s tales have a comparatively novel setting as an addition to their many purely literary merits. ... The peasants of West Wales are the characters and the neighborhood centring around Capel Sion the scene of all these stories. ... Many of the tales in this volume are sketches, perhaps, rather than stories, but they are every one of them interesting. The quaint dialect is fascinating, the whole point of view of these people redolent of the soil of which they are practically a part.” (N Y Times) The first English edition appeared in 1915.
“This is not in any way what can be called a pleasant book. It is realism, grim and stark. Realism of that type one usually associates with Russian fiction. ... Yet because he is a genuine and not a pseudo realist, every here and there appears some individual through whose character there runs a thread of pure gold. ... The tales are not without touches of comedy.”
EVERSLEY, GEORGE JOHN SHAW-LEFEVRE, 1st baron.Turkish empire: its growth and decay.il*$3 (2c) Dodd 949.6 (Eng ed 17-29198)
“In the course of his long life Lord Eversley has witnessed the greater part of the events which have resulted in the expulsion of the Turks. So far back as in 1855 and 1857, he spent some time at Constantinople, and travelled in Bulgaria and Greece, and later, in 1890 and 1895, he revisited these countries and was able to compare their condition with what he recollected from his former visits. In a single volume, in a compact and popular form, he has given not a complete history of the Turkish empire, but a description of the processes by which it was aggregated, under the first ten great sultans, and has since been in great part dismembered under their twenty-six degenerate successors.In the latter part of his volume, Lord Eversley has drawn from his own experience, and puts on record his conversations with Lord Stratford de Redcliffe and the Ex-Sultan Abdul Hamid.” (Publishers’ note) The book is divided into two parts: The growth of empire, and The decay of empire. There are three maps.
“Lord Eversley knows Turkey well, and is therefore able to write informatively upon the causes which led to the rise of that once great and flourishing nation, and to its subsequent decline and dismemberment. This is a book which should be widely read, especially at the present period.”
“This very readable and interesting book was written to meet the need of a clear-cut historical interpretation of the forces of disintegration in Turkey. Intentionally of secular rather than academic appeal, it is not the result of independent research, but is based mainly on the great work of von Hammer, the German historian, although many other authorities have been drawn upon for new historical evidence.”
“Lord Eversley’s intention to be fair is evident on every page; but, knowing nothing personally of the Asiatic side of Turkey, he has given too much faith to English writers with a grudge against it, who in their turn have given too much faith to eastern Christian writers of a bygone age. Lord Eversley is fairer in his judgment of the Turks, it may be said at once, than any other British author of his standpoint.”
“The Turk has been a failure, and Lord Eversley’s book enables the reader to review with comparative brevity the career of this idle apprentice among the nations. It is interesting and useful to have the main points of Ottoman history with some garnishment of picturesque or arresting detail set forth so handily as in the present volume, but the reader could wish that more attention had been given to the spelling of names and the identification of persons; nor should the capture of Athens and the subsequent strangling of Franco degli Acciajuoli, the last reigning Duke of Athens and Lord of Thebes, be represented as the destruction of the last spark of Greek independence.”
EWERS, HANNS HEINZ.Edgar Allan Poe; tr. by Adèle Lewisohn.*60c (7c) Huebsch 17-2710
This essay on Poe is translated from the German. Its author was born in Düsseldorf in 1871 and he has, the translator tells us, lived in almost all the countries of the world. He spent some time in India, finding himself deeply in sympathy with its mysticism. The translator says, “At a time when Poe was comparatively little understood Ewers was his most sympathetic German interpreter. He is able to mirror the soul of Poe because they are intellectual kinsmen.”
Reviewed by H: B. Fuller
“The swift, delicate, precise sentences give no sense of translation. ... Ewers’s enthusiastic study, rather his pean in praise of Poe, is a distinct contribution to our growing critical literature on the poet.”
“Only a German could allow a criticism of Poe to degenerate into a vitriolic attack upon everything English. This is just what happened to Hanns Heinz Ewer’s essay on Poe.”
FABRE, JEAN HENRI CASIMIR.Insect adventures; selections from Alexander Teixeira de Mattos’ translation of Fabre’s “Souvenirs entomologiques,” retold for young people by Louise Seymour Hasbrouck. il*$2 (3c) Dodd 595.7 17-31000
Fabre was a French school-teacher of whom an English critic said: “He is the wisest man, and the best read in the book of nature, of whom the centuries have left us any record.” Chapter seventeen of the volume gives an interesting sketch of his early years and incidentally shows what problems the French pedagogue had to meet back in the last century. The book makes a big appeal to the young imagination in such expressions as the caddis-worm “pirates,” the “insect submarines,” and the “spider’s telegraph wires.” His life stories of familiar insects will prove fascinating because he touches into life the human quality; because instead of ripping up an animal and turning it into an object of horror and pity in the dissecting room he studies it alive “under the blue sky to the song of the cicadas.”
“After reading what he has to say about the mysteries of the spider, we feel as we did after reading Maeterlinck’s incomparable ‘Life of the bee.’ His books should be received with the appreciation they deserve. They are written by a great lover of nature who happened to be a great scientist as well.”
“Will give young people a new interest in the natural life around them.”
“The great virtue of Fabre as an author for children is that he teaches the habit of patient and precise observation. There should, then, be a welcome for ‘Insect adventures.’”
FABRE, JEAN HENRI CASIMIR.Life of the grasshopper; tr. by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.*$1.50 (1½c) Dodd 595.7 17-9824
The translator says, “I have ventured in the present volume to gather together, under the somewhat loose and inaccurate title of ‘The life of the grasshopper,’ the essays scattered over the ‘Souvenirs entomologiques’ that treat of grasshoppers, crickets, locusts and such insects as the cicada, orcigale, the mantis and the cuckoo-spit, or, to adopt the author’s happier and more euphonious term, the foamy cicadella. They exhaust the number of the orthopterous and homopterous insects discussed by Henri Fabre.” Some of the chapters have appeared in a translation by Bernard Miall, published with the title “Social life in the insect world.”
“This volume attests his delicacy of observation, his humor of description, his unequaled and astonishing patience.”
“It goes without saying that we have here, once more, all the sincerity, sagacity, keen sight and insight, and the ripe ‘human’ flavor that have already made a half-dozen volumes of Fabre popular in translation.”
“In this book, as always, Fabre’s interest centers in instinct; but here as elsewhere, in spite of the accumulation of accurately determined data, he makes no contribution to the solution of the problem of the essential nature of instinct. One loves Fabre for his inveterate aversion to the intricate panoply of modern scientific research, but one sees him as the last of his race.” E. S. S.
FABRE, JEAN HENRI CASIMIR.Story-book of science. il*$2 (2c) Century 504 17-25300
This volume, translated from the nineteenth French edition by Florence Constable Bicknell, is one of a series of elementary science works written by the eminent French naturalist in the belief that the truths of nature could be made more interesting than fiction to young people. The translator says, “The identity of the ‘Uncle Paul,’ who ... plays the story-teller’s part, is not hard to guess; and the young people who gather about him to listen to his true stories ... are, without doubt, the author’s own children, in whose companionship he delighted and whose education he conducted with wise solicitude.” The stories are not limited to the insect life which engrossed so much of the author’s attention. The wonders of the rocks, the planets, the flowers and fruits and of the sea are disclosed to the children’s eager minds.
“Delightful for reading aloud as they will interest grown folk as well as some of the older boys and girls.”
Reviewed by J: Walcott
“The author’s wide grasp of scientific facts has been no barrier in making a book for young readers that endows these facts with the witchery of fairy lore.”
“It should prove an invaluable book for growing children: a book of reference in answering intelligently numerous and constant queries of childhood.”
“Curiosity and the love of story are here blended in just proportions. Miss Bicknell has furnished a competent English translation and the Century company has done its share by publishing it on good paper in admirably clear type.”
“We owe a debt of thanks to translator and publisher who have put into our hands in English words Fabre’s stories of sciences for children. For to his well-known charm of style and his knowledge, Fabre adds an understanding of the child’s mind.” Maud Thompson
FABRE D’OLIVET, ANTOINE, tr. Golden verses of Pythagoras; done into English by Nayán Louise Redfield. il*$3 (3½c) Putnam 182 17-9234
Fabre d’Olivet, an eighteenth century philosopher, translated the “Golden verses of Pythagoras” into French, with “a discourse upon the essence and form of poetry among the principal peoples of the earth” as a preface. He also wrote a more extended “Examination of the golden verses,” which was first published in 1813. For the present volume Miss Redfield has translated both these discourses, and she presents also, in addition to the Greek and French versions, an English translation of the “Golden verses.”
“In the ‘Golden verses of Pythagoras’ Fabre d’Olivet illustrates at the same time a philosophical insight which amounts to genius, and a self-centred frenzy of purpose which touches genius on the one hand and insanity on the other. The general effect of self-hypnosis is furthered by a fluency and warmth of style in the original which Miss Redfield admirably succeeds in retaining in her translation.” R. W.
“Fabre d’Olivet died in 1825. At no time have orthodox scholars taken him and his attempts to recover what is called the ancient wisdom seriously. His theories, however, have been popularized by M. Édouard Schurer in his cinematic survey of religions, ‘Les grands initiés,’ and have had considerable success.”
“The translator has preserved a capable, selective vision and sympathetic understanding of the high content and beauty of the Pythagorean teachings.”
FAIRBANKS, DOUGLAS.Laugh and live.il*$1 (3c) Britton pub. 174 17-13235
These nineteen essays in the vein of Pollyanna are by a popular star of the “movies,” who chats cheerfully on such topics as: Building up a personality; Cleanliness of body and mind; Physical and mental preparedness, etc.
“Mr Fairbanks talks his honest heart out in this book. He takes you into his confidence, talks to you as man to man, quite like Billy Sunday chatting with God. ... Success is his god, a sleek, smiling fetish. He voices and radiates the desire of America. ... His is the quintessential creed of a society that perhaps nothing short of war and calamity can galvanize into a realization of the swollen hollowness of its egotism.”
“As for success, he sums it up: ‘We find that a sound body, a good mind, an honest purpose, and a lack of fear are the essential elements of success.’ That is a large order, certainly! But just as certainly it is sane and wholesome. That is where the merit of Mr Fairbanks’s book lies for his readers; he puts a tremendous amount of breeziness into excellent platitudes.”
FAIRCHILD, HENRY PRATT.[2]Outline of applied sociology.*$1.75 (2c) Macmillan 302 17-50
For descriptive note see Annual for 1916.
“The larger contribution of Professor Fairchild’s book to the textbook literature of sociology is in its clear presentation of the relationships between wages, working conditions, efficiency, housing, and the more specific aspects of the problem of living standards and social welfare. No other general textbook goes so fully into these matters, and yet they are not here discussed from a merely descriptive or analytical standpoint. Conclusions and implications are most carefully drawn from the data presented.” L. L. Bernard
“As to weaknesses, the reviewer finds only those which naturally might be expected to follow from the tremendous size of the task which the author has undertaken. It is a contribution to a comprehensive consideration of social life and progress on the part of the person who is beginning a scientific study of society.” E. S. Bogardus
“A fresh and independent treatment, developed in a scholarly yet popular way, and suggestive to students in connection with other books on the subject, though the theoretical background, to some critics, seems quite inadequate.”
“The esthetic life is scantily treated. To the intellectual life are allotted barely two pages on education, while science, the most powerful intellectual force, is entirely ignored. Religion, by which the author seems to mean Christianity, is treated from the conventional, up-to-date Christian point of view. Much emphasis [is put] upon the abnormal and pathological aspects of social life. The principal defect of this book is that it utterly ignores biology and psychology.” Maurice Parmelee
“An excellent text for the college classroom. The student will find in it unevasive information or controverted questions, and a commonsense guidance at every turn. It is a book, nevertheless, that will make intellectual trouble.Every teacher that uses it will ask, and in his own way will answer, the question, whether the subject-matter here presented is in any proper sense sociology, either pure or applied.”
“The style is simple, clear, and thoroughly readable.”
“His treatment of specific topics may be regarded as more summary than that of other writers in this field, but there is a compensating advantage in the emphasis placed upon the analysis and classification of social facts, each in its relation to a comprehensive whole.”