Chapter 151

7–30841.

“This is a description of several of the more interesting Spanish cities, strung on the thin threads of an automobile trip and a love story. The hero and the heroine fall in love—of course at first sight—at Biarritz. The heroine and her mother are whisked off through Spain in an automobile by the wicked Spanish duke whom this scheming mother wishes the daughter to marry. The hero follows in his automobile. The account of the roads, the country, and the towns is broken by the incidents of the chase—some of them highly melodramatic.”—Nation.

“Frankly, the book contains every one of the elements which ought to annoy a reader of critical taste. And yet, paradoxically, instead of annoying, it furnishes a very genuine, even though not enduring, enjoyment.”

“So unconvincing is the characterization, that marriage as well as misadventure leaves the reader cold.”

“Splendid descriptions of Spanish life and scenes abound.”

“It is a penny-in-the-slot romance, as mechanical as if it were turned out of a factory, marketable like calico, and of about as much distinction.”

Williamson, Charles Norris, and Williamson, Alice Muriel Livingston.Princess Virginia.†$1.50. McClure.

7–15121.

This story “provides a lovely princess with American blood in her veins and ... a pretty will of her own. Also a proper American romantic idea of falling in love with whom she pleases and marrying to suit. But the safety of Europe depends upon her marrying the young Emperor of Rhaetia. What is to be done?... The impressionable Princess Virginia must happen upon the handsome Emperor when she does not know who he is, and he does not know who she is. They will, of course, both of them fall in love at sight. It is always thus. No sooner said than done.”—N. Y. Times.

“The most one can say for it is that it is harmless.”

“No motors in this, but a manner so glib and facile that it resembles nothing so much as the swift revolutions of a new front wheel, when the salesman turns the bicycle upside down and gives a twirl to prove the smooth perfection of its ball-bearings. There is the same near approach to perpetual motion, and the same lack of arriving.”

“The Williamsons have produced another fine, galloping romance of the most approved rose-color order.”

Williamson, Charles Norris, and Williamson, Alice Muriel.Rosemary in search of a father.†$1.50. McClure.

6–40214.

“The five-year old Rosemary at Monte Carlo, seeing that her mother is sad, sets out to find a lost father, and meets with such extraordinary good luck that we can only suspect the intervention of Christmas fairies. They send Rosemary a wonderful father, far more attractive than the real one, and just the man her mother most desired to meet again. So with the help of an old love-affair, an American millionaire, a pretty French adventuress, a profusion of jewels, and costly raiment such as might haunt the delirious dreams of a milliner’s girl, the tale runs on to a happy conclusion.”—Acad.

“It is a brisk, highly coloured story, of the lightest possible construction.”

“This little novel has distinction, a literary aroma.”

“When this has been described as a ‘pretty’ tale of the whipped cream and bonbon box type, there is not much more to say about it.”

“All this is highly melodramatic, but Rosemary is a quaint little creature, and adds a large redeeming feature to an otherwise impossible picture.”

“An agreeable little short story.”

Willys, A. A.Swiss heroes, an historical romance of the time of Charles the Bold; tr. from the German by George P. Upton. (Life stories for young people.) **60c. McClure.

7–31242.

The careers of Hans Vögeli, Heinrich Vögeli and Walter Irmy. three Swiss heroes, are followed in their relations with Charles the Bold, whose oppressive measures they avenged for the safety of their people.

Wilson, Mrs. Augusta J. E.Devota; il. by Stuart Travis. †$1.50. Dillingham.

7–21224.

“‘Devota’ is the story of a tragedy in the lives of two persons, a man of sterling character, and a proud woman—does it not sound familiar?—who are separated by a misunderstanding and kept apart by the woman’s obstinacy. But after many years they are reconciled. Surely Mrs. Wilson has filled her ink bottle from the spring of eternal youth!”—N. Y. Times.

“Without having read ‘St. Elmo,’ one may safely assert that not even an ornamental border on every page, and illustrations of preternatural loveliness will quite bring ‘Devota’ the vogue of its predecessor.”

“Although it is hardly more than a novelette, has the self same characteristics of style, thought, conception, viewpoint, which marked Mrs. Wilson’s novels of the long ago and which will carry back to his youth the memories of many a gray-haired reader.”

*Wilson, David Henry.George Morland. *$1.25. Scribner.

The growing popularity of the Morland paintings seems to be reason enough for producing this biography which covers all of the phases of his artistic career and besides records a good many impressions of the seamy side of man’s life.

“Mr. Wilson does not exhibit, in his pleasant little volume, any special qualification for his task. He moralizes too much on Morland’s career. He seems to fail when he has an opportunity of adding a useful chapter to his book.”

*Wilson, Harry Leon.Ewing’s lady.†$1.50. Appleton.

7–38598.

The story of a young Westerner with genius for painting who is both the protégé of a young New York widow and the object of diabolical revenge on the part of the man whom his mother ran away from to marry his father. Apart from the melodramatic fury of the story a group of minor characters is drawn including “the cowboy in the clear, heady Colorado air, the genial freemasonry of the studio, Clarence, the lovable convert from civilization, dyspepsia and predigested food, and Ben Crider, fit associate for Billy Brue.” (Nation.)

“A generation ago such a story would have been branded as the rankest and frankest of shockers. But Mr. Wilson keeps a strong literary grip on his plot. His characters are admirably drawn, consistent and lifelike. There is plenty of real humour in the book, and some excellent pictures of manners, Eastern and Western.” Burton Blass.

“It is the drawing of the minor characters and their environment that gives the book its charm.”

Wilson, James Harrison.Life of Charles A. Dana. **$3. Harper.

7–19056.

This volume has grown out of the biographer’s intimate acquaintance and immense admiration for a man who during fifty years and more of the past century helped to make the history of our nation. Chapters on his education and early battle with poverty, association with Greeley on the New York Tribune, his telling service to the Federal government during the civil war have been written from letters, documents and clippings bearing upon public and private life.

Reviewed by M. A. De Wolfe Howe.

“The whole narrative is very interesting. One could wish that General Wilson would have given us as minute a study of Dana the editor as of Dana the commissioner and the Assistant Secretary of War.” Richard W. Kemp.

“His long and intimate acquaintance with an admiration for the man have qualified him to write understandingly without dependence on such outside aid.” Percy F. Bicknell.

“While in the main it is laudatory, it is not laudatory in a fulsome sense.”

“The facts of his life have been diligently assembled, and they are set forth authentically in good chronological order.”

“Taken as a whole, General Wilson’s book is excellent in so far as it relates to Dana’s early years and to the civil war. For the rest, it lacks that fulness of information which is necessary to a complete survey of a remarkable career.” Harry Thurston Peck.

Reviewed by H. W. Boynton.

“While a journalist might perhaps have written a biography of Dana more interesting to journalists, it is doubtful whether any of Mr. Dana’s newspaper acquaintances could have put into the book more of a personal history of the past generation.”

Wilson, James Southall.Alexander Wilson, poet-naturalist: a study of his life with selected poems. $2. Neale.

7–410.

A sketch of the life of America’s first ornithologist, and poet of somewhat indifferent fame. Alexander Wilson came to America from Scotland in 1794 to be free from the turmoil of revolution. The life story includes Jefferson’s letters about birds, a study of the Scotland of Wilson’s and Burns’s time, and a careful analysis of Wilson’s character.

“The one serious mistake of the author is reflected in the title. He undertakes to rescue from oblivion not only the man and the bird fancier, but the poet.”

“An interesting memoir.”

Wilson, May (Anison North, pseud.).Carmichael. †$1.50. Doubleday.

7–12002.

“A pretty story of Canadian rural life. The heroine tells the tale, and we see her loving, helpful ministry to family and neighbors, yetsharing her father’s feud and trying to keep it up after his death. But justice and love are too strong for her filial theories, and the houses of Mallory and Carmichael are reconciled. The illustrations and marginal decorations do not add especially to the simple narrative.”—Outlook.

“A story with a distinct moral lesson—which lesson is well to the front in the author’s mind. Yet it is a very pleasant and readable story also—one which will recommend itself particularly to old-fashioned maiden ladies but need not necessarily on that account be scorned by younger and wiser persons.”

Winckler, Hugo.History of Babylonia and Assyria; tr. and ed. by James A. Craig; rev. by the author. **$1.50. Scribner.

7–29420.

“What a few decades of spade-work have revealed of more than three thousand years of civilization is presented here, with the caution not to expect any connected history of it until future excavators shall have done the work awaiting them.”—Outlook.

Winslow, Helen Maria.President of Quex: a woman’s club story. †$1.25. Lothrop.

6–36041.

A novel whose heroine, the president of Quex, “is led out of the useless life of a sorrowing recluse by her work as president of the club, which she makes a factor of consequence in the social, industrial, and political life of her state.” (N. Y. Times.)

“We close the little book with a smile compounded of amusement and skepticism.”

Winter, Alice Ames.Jewel weed.†$1.50. Bobbs.

6–36042.

Descriptive note in Annual, 1906.

“The book is too full of reflected culture, and lacking in realism and vitality. It is weak fiction.”

Winter, Nevin Otto.Mexico and her people of to-day.$3. Page.

7–34163.

An account of the customs, characteristics, amusements, history and advancement of the Mexicans, and the development and resources of their country illustrated from original photographs. The author bases his book upon both travel and study and presents it in the hope that it may help Americans to a better understanding of their neighbors across the line.

“A book of up-to-date information of a miscellaneous sort about a nation concerning which, though she stands at our very doors, most of us know very little.”

Winterburn, Mrs. Rosa V.Methods in teaching. *$1.25. Macmillan.

7–20690.

“This book is made up of a series of monographs explaining the methods employed in the elementary school of Stockton, California. The English teacher will find much here that is obvious, but the monograph on the teaching of English deserves attention.”—Ath.

“The monographs are very thorough, but also, for the most part very dull.”

“It is a record of experience, of the deductions made by a body of practical teachers working together for a considerable period. As such it is valuable—of greater value perhaps to many teachers than a more profound statement of theoretical pedagogy.”

Wister, Owen.How doth the simple spelling bee.*50c. Macmillan.

7–8533.

An extravaganza on reform spelling, in which the reformer “at the age of seventy-five, with uncounted millions, and ten United States Senators, and a fourth young wife all in his pocket, proposed to hand his name to Immortality by simplifying the spelling of English all over the earth.” The sketch is worthy a Dickens up to date, and exposes humorously the unrelated scraps in the “rag-bag of lawlessness” which Mr. Wister chooses to denominate English spelling.

“The author has mist his aim and is badly mixt in his ideas.”

“A witty satire.”

“Were well worth preserving, for a time at least.”

“This fantastic skit is immensely amusing at its outset, but becomes a little tedious before the end.”

Wister, Owen.Lady Baltimore.†$1.50. Macmillan.

6–10312.

Descriptive note in Annual, 1906.

“The first serious and patriotic American story which candidly has the courage to uphold the aristocratic ideal.” Mary Moss.

*Wister, Owen.Mother.†$1.25. Dodd.

7–32323.

“Love and speculation in copper stocks are the themes of the novelette, which Mr. Wister blithely dedicates ‘To my favorite broker, with the earnest assurance that Mr. Beverly is not meant for him.’”—Dial.

*Wister, Owen.Seven ages of Washington: a biography. **$2. Macmillan.

7–38230.

An elaboration of a Washington address by the author. It is “a full-length portrait of Washington with enough of his times to see him clearly against.” Mr. Wister shows how the unfreezing of Washington began by Irving, but that he went at it gingerly; “to-day,” he says “we can see the live and human Washington full length. He does not lose an inch of it, and we gain a progenitor of flesh and blood. The seven ages are Ancestry, The boy, The young man. The married man. The commander, The president, and Immortality.”

“His portrait is thoroughly convincing.”

Witt, Robert Clermont.How to look at pictures. **$1.40. Putnam.

3–15103.

Descriptive note in Annual, 1906.

“There is no better book of the kind.”

Wolfe, Albert Benedict.Lodging-house problem in Boston: published from the income of the W. H. Baldwin, jr., 1885 fund. (Harvard economic studies, v. 2.) **$1.50. Houghton.

6–45064.

While for two years holding the South End house fellowship Dr. Wolfe collected the material which he has presented here. His treatise“deals with the class of dwellings that are known in many cities as rooming-houses or furnished-room houses, and with the mercantile employees and skilled mechanics who are sheltered in these houses. Oddly enough, it appears that there has never been, heretofore, anything like an adequate investigation of lodging-house conditions in any of our great cities.” (R. of Rs.)

“Societies which aim to promote the wellbeing of young people of this class will find here materials and methods of investigation of highest value.” C. R. Henderson.

“The author has made an important contribution to our knowledge of home (?) life of the great class in our communities, and his volume, and its suggestions, should be carefully studied.”

“The author is disappointing in not being more convincing and conclusive in some of the salient points he has raised; he has left vital issues related to the subject for others to investigate and develop.”

“Taking the volume as a whole, the student of social conditions will find in it much to interest him, and he will certainly credit the author with much conscientious industry. At the same time, he will hardly avoid the conclusion that valuable time and energy have been sacrificed to microscopic detail of trivial importance and leading to nowhere in particular.” E. R. Dewsnup.

“While somewhat academic, Dr. Wolfe’s discussion of immediate and ultimate means for the betterment of lodging-house conditions is written broadly and judicially.”

“Dr. Wolfe has gone into the subject very thoroughly.”

Wood, Robert Williams.Physical optics. *$3.50. Macmillan.

6–5702.

“While the book hardly claims, perhaps, to be a complete treatise, it covers a great deal of ground, and in particular deals with a number of matters, such as the laws of radiation, dispersion, fluorescence, and the optics of moving media, which are not so fully treated in some other recent works. A student commencing the study of optics would perhaps hardly begin with this book; he would find, however, in its pages when he came to read them some most instructive views of the subject.”—Nature.

“It is full of instruction clearly conveyed, is instinct with intelligence and is uncommonly interesting, because it is largely about the author’s own work. Some day we shall have a better proportioned book, but that it will be a more serviceable one is not so certain.”

“The theoretical treatment of the matter is perhaps less satisfactory.”

“It would be difficult to collect a more instructive and interesting group of experiments in optics than that presented. In quite a number of places the notation does not agree with the figures. Apart from these slight defects the book is an inspiration to students and teachers and will be a great aid in rescuing physical optics from the absurd mathematical symbolism which sometimes seems to throttle progress in this fruitful field of investigation.” J. S. Shearer.

Wood, Walter Birbeck, and Edmonds, James Edward.History of the Civil war in the United States, 1861–1865. *$3.50. Putnam.

5–35776.

Descriptive note in December, 1905.

“It is enough to say that the book can be read with pleasure, but we have to read slowly and closely.” J. E. Morris.

Wood, William.Fight for Canada; a sketch from the history of the great imperial war. Definitive ed. $2.50. Little.

6–15420.

A new edition which includes revisions and additional notes. The author gives much detail concerning the personnel and technical equipment of the army and of the navy, and emphasizes particularly the part played by the naval forces in the campaign against Quebec.

“The author writes with clearness and force. His characterizations are often presented with succinct and epigrammatic phrase. One defect in the author’s treatment is that all men are either black or white; none are, to use Professor Morse Stephen’s illuminating phrase, pale gray. The author’s strong convictions on present-day subjects ... show a lack of judicial restraint.” S. J. McLean.

Wood, William Wallace.Walschaert locomotive valve gear. $1.50. Henley.

6–46770.

A practical treatise on the locomotive valve actuating mechanism, originally invented by Egide Walschaert, with the history of the development by American and European engine designers, and its evolution into the mechanically correct locomotive valve gear of the present day.

“The work is clear and explicit in the manner of handling the subject, and it should give any careful reader an excellent idea of the principles and application of the Walschaert gear, together with much important relative information of practical value to the engineman and master mechanic.” Arthur M. Waitt.

*Woodberry, George Edward.Great writers. **$1.20. McClure.

7–33931.

Essays of a critical nature upon three prose writers and three poets: Cervantes, Scott, Montaigne; Virgil, Milton and Shakespeare.

“The peculiar critical genius of G. E. Woodberry is seen to exceptional advantage. He approaches high matters with a subtle simplicity that lends a dignity to the texture of his prose, and reinforces his humane imagination with a singularly concrete and vivid sense of the individuality of historical periods. The essays upon the prose writers are perhaps a little more interesting and satisfactory than those upon the poets.”

“Carefully wrought and singularly beautiful, Mr. Woodberry is so much of a poet in temperament that his prose sometimes exchanges simplicity and clear definition for a vagueness which gives the atmosphere of the critic’s mind rather than the fullness of his ideas.”

Woodberry, George Edward.Ralph Waldo Emerson. **75c. Macmillan.

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