7–8212.
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Some sixteen chapters of this adventure story lead up thru school-boy escapades, crime, and mystery to the secret of Mortallone island in the bay of Honduras. The chart containing the plan of the island and affording the key to the spot of buried treasure after causing a deal of trouble falls into the hands of a little party who set sail from Falmouth in quest of the island and its hoard. Mr. Quiller-Couch has drawn with clever touches the spirit of unanimity which, with noticeable lack of greed, characterizes the treasure seekers.
“Written with unusual spirit and charm.”
“The author’s happy faculty for sketching eccentric types of character is exhibited at his best, and we thoroughly enjoy the quaint company that he provides for us.” Wm. M. Payne.
“After you have laid down the book, no character, no dramatic situation remains in the memory—nothing but a general impression of misapplied and wasted cleverness.”
“A curious and wholly impossible piece of fiction. Has many points of interest, but is very uneven on the whole.”
“Is a brave, amusing, exciting story, but it is not right ‘Q.’ Seldom does a story by ‘Q’ lose interest when you know the plot. We regret that ‘Poison island’ does.”
“In the end Mr. Quiller-Couch springs some remarkable surprises on his reader, and the closing incidents are even so bizarre and unnatural that the reader suspects that the author is laughing in his sleeve at the credulity of romance-lovers.”
“There is a lack of spontaneity about it that renders it at times almost tedious.”
“If he has not the highest creative faculty, he has at least the power of lending freshness and vitality to time-worn and even hackneyed themes by the agility of his invention and the picturesqueness of hismise-en-scene.”
Couch, A. T: Quiller-.Sir John Constantine. †$1.50. Scribner.
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Descriptive note in Annual, 1906.
Reviewed by Wm. M. Payne.
“It lacks the breath of the romantic life, and inspires a feeling that the writer himself has lived chiefly in books and rarely a life of his own.”
Coulton, George Gordon.From St. Francis to Dante: a translation of all that is of primary interest in the chronicle of the Franciscan Salimbene: (1221–1288) together with notes and il. from other medieval sources. *$4.20. Scribner.
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For this second edition fresh matter from Salimbene’s chronicle has been added and the notes and appendices have been extended. “For those who wish to see the seamy side of the middle ages, this is the best book in English.” (Nation.)
“Mr. Coulton is a far-seeing man and a good writer. What is more remarkable he contrives to unite a judicial mind with strong convictions, which lend warmth and interest to his style.”
“He has read widely in the sources of his period, and is able at every turn to illustrate Salimbene’s statements.”
“Contains more of the famous chronicle of Fra Salimbene, a Franciscan friar of the thirteenth century, than has hitherto appeared in print in English, and for that reason it is a valuable book.”
“He has a great knowledge of his period, considerable attainments, and a very workmanlike gift of exposition. But unfortunately he is before all things else a controversialist.”
“We would recommend the book, as full of curious information, to every one who cares to illustrate his Dante studies by a real contemporary picture of the thirteenth century on its darker side, with all the peculiarities of its social and religious life.”
Coutts, Francis Burdett.Heresy of Job; with the inventions of William Blake. *$2. Lane.
The volume contains “first, introductory matter explaining the editor’s conception of the poem’s purpose and meaning; second, the poem itself divided into three parts, Prologue, Debate, and Epilogue; third, some pages of notes elucidating certain obscurities in the text; fourth, an appendix containing the speech of Elihu the Buzite; fifth, a list of commentaries consulted; and, finally, the ‘Illustrations of the Book of Job, invented and engraved by William Blake,’ and first published in 1825, by Blake himself. Job’s ‘heresy’ consisted not in a denial of God or a rejection of religion, but rather in a refusal to subscribe to the smug orthodoxy of his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.” (Dial.)
“Mr. Coutts has succeeded in properly emphasizing one important side of the argument of Job, but his error consists in mistaking a part for the whole.”
“An attractive and useful volume.”
“Scholarly introduction.”
Coutts, Francis Burdett.Romance of King Arthur. *$1.50. Lane.
“The romance of King Arthur is here told in four parts—the poem of ‘Uther Pendragon,’ the plays of ‘Merlin’ and ‘Lancelot du Lake,’ and the poem of ‘The death of Lancelot.’ In his preface the author states that his ‘sole important variation from the accepted legend’ is to represent Mordred as the legitimate son of Morgan le Fay, and thus supply the enchantress with a purely human, and therefore, we may add, somewhat superfluous, motive for her malevolence towards Arthur.”—Ath.
“The whole work is undistinguished and dull. It is all padded out.”
“There are some fairly effective ‘curtains,’ but the blank verse is generally monotonous and rich in commonplaces.”
“In this volume Mr. Coutts has surprised us. A poet he was known to be; a lyric poet of some intensity and much art; a philosophic poet whose work was unified by a coherent, if undogmatic, faith, and expressed in language as simple as it was profound. The discovery that he is also a dramatic poet comes unexpected.”
“The medium of the whole—idylls and playlets—is blank verse, whereof the quality at times is excellent. The inspiration, in spite of the form, is perhaps rather Kipling than Tennyson, and the playlets are better than the idylls.”
“Mr. Coutts’s poems, while they are smooth and flowing and show now and then passages of much beauty or of poetic fervor, are weak and pale when tested beside the Tennysonian idylls.”
“Mr. Coutts is a grave writer whose verse moves always with dignity, and now and then by dint of simplicity and sincerity rises to a considerable measure of poetry.”
Cowan, Samuel.Last days of Mary Stuart and the journal of Bourgoyne, her physician.*$3. Lippincott.
Letters of Queen Mary and the journal of her physician are used to prove her innocence of any complicity in the plotting against Elizabeth.
“The journal was the work of a man of gossipy intellect of something the same type as that of Boswell and Pepys, and consequently it is often entertaining, and constantly gives close at hand views of the domestic life of Mary’s court.”
“He is a little too partisan and dead-sure to make much of an historian, but he puts his case with enthusiasm and some skill.”
“A contribution of importance to the literature of its subject.”
Cowley, Abraham.Essays, plays and sundry verses, v. 2. *$1.50. Putnam.
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“The first volume of Cowley’s Works in the Cambridge English classics contained all the poems published in the folio which appeared the year after his death. The second volume, now issued, contains the earlier writings from the edition of 1637, together with the plays and essays. The editor, A. R. Waller, is preparing a Supplement of notes, biographical, bibliographical, and critical.”—Nation.
“A very workmanlike edition.”
“It cannot be said that this edition, with its reproduction of the old spelling and its inclusion of so much that is dull, is the best for the reader who merely desires his comfort, but for the scholar it is altogether admirable.”
Reviewed by William A. Bradley.
“Admirable and scholarly edition.”
Cox, Kenyon.Painters and sculptors: a second series of old masters and new. **$2.50. Duffield.
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In an introductory essay on “The education of an artist,” Mr. Cox compares the education afforded by the apprenticeship custom of the renaissance with that obtainable in the modern art schools and studios. Following this chapterare six, as follows: The Pollaiuoli, Painters of the mode, Holbein, The Rembrandt tercentenary, Rodin and Lord Leighton.
“The appreciations, written in a charming easy style, show the author’s technical knowledge, his catholicity of taste and judgment.”
“It is a careful and detailed work, which will of course appeal especially to students of art, the numerous illustrations being valuable adjuncts to an appreciation of the great masters’ work.”
“Disclaiming connoisseurship, his scholarship is adequate, while his insight as a painter, as in the essay on Holbein, at times affords discoveries that the connoisseurs have missed. Above all, he is judicious, weighing gingerly his personal admirations. As a whole, the book lacks the consistency and dignity of the first series.”
“Mr. Cox has a great faculty of seeing the point, and of making his readers see it. There is nothing in the volume which an intelligent lover of art, will not find both intelligible and interesting.” Montgomery Schuyler.
“From among the many dry details of craftsmanship, all of them of importance to the practical worker, he selects what will go farthest toward interpreting for the uninitiated the secrets of a masterpiece of painting or modelling.” Elisabeth Luther Cary.
“If one wants common sense in criticism, backed by expert knowledge, he may turn to this beautifully illustrated volume.”
Crabbe, George.Poems. 3v. v. 3.*$1.50. Putnam.
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“This, the concluding volume of Dr. Ward’s masterly edition of Crabbe’s poems, contains the last eleven books of the ‘Tales of the hall,’ the ‘Posthumous tales,’ and ‘Miscellaneous verses’ (1780–1829), which have all been previously printed, but are now for the first time arranged chronologically; and in addition a quantity of matter hitherto unpublished. Of the poems thus newly given to the world, four are of some length—‘Tracy,’ ‘Susan and her lovers,’ ‘The deserted family’ (which alone is printed in its completeness), and ‘The funeral of the Squire.’”—Ath.
“This is the way to edit a man’s works, with scholarship and exhaustive thoroughness.”
“The ‘completeness’ of the edition must be held the principal justification for much which is present. The editing of the present volume—no light task—is as careful and scholarly as ever.”
“Dr. Ward does not wear his heart upon his sleeve, and the scheme of his book, which is purely textual, gives him no opportunity of confessing his affections.”
“For those, if any such there be, who wish to study Crabbe minutely, Dr. Ward’s carefully collated text, bibliography, and fresh material will be indispensable. And to the general reader, also, who does not own the eight-volume edition of 1834, or one of the other early editions issued by John Murray, the present publication offers Crabbe in the most comfortable form.”
Craddock, Charles Egbert, pseud. (Mary Noailles Murfree).Amulet. †$1.50. Macmillan.
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The Great Smoky mountains during the days when the Cherokees roved over them furnish a background for Miss Murfree’s historical tale. “It is an interesting record of the lives of some very human men and women who have been transplanted from England to the savage wilds of the new world.” (Lit. D.)
“Touches of poetic description are frequent in adornment of the narrative, for in this respect Miss Murfree’s hand has not lost its cunning, but otherwise the book falls far below the high standard set in her earlier writings.” Wm. M. Payne.
“That which gives the volume a permanent value is the amount of historical information it contains about Indian customs, religion and points of view.”
“There are some fine descriptive passages, and the character-drawing reveals the firm touch of the practiced artist. It is to the credit of the writer that she has withstood the temptation to indulge in those orgies of slaughter which are usually met with in this type of fiction.”
“Her present historical romance is a sad affair, perfectly artificial and unreal from start to finish. It may be historically sound, but this, other things being equal, is an altogether trivial consideration.”
“Is every whit as good as those stories with which Miss Murfree long ago established her enviable reputation.”
“The action of the story is somewhat slow, and the characters move stiffly, while both narrative and descriptive passages are heavily weighted with words. A knowledge of Indian rites and customs gives evidence of the author’s careful preparation for her work.”
“The interest of the story lies entirely in the author’s realisation and vivid picture of eighteenth century personages and their surroundings.”
Craddock, Charles Egbert, pseud. (Mary Noailles Murfree).Windfall: a novel. †$1.50. Duffield.
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The youthful and breezy manager of a street fair is lured by excursion rates to take his show to a small town in the Great Smoky mountains, and upon arrival realizes that he has been duped and that there are but a handful of people in the county. He sticks it out, however, becomes involved in the discovery of an illicit still, and incidentally, wins a bride, and a windfall.
“It is a good, stirring piece of melodrama, with here and there some characterization of a sort superior to that of many more pretentious works of fiction—pleasant and entertaining, but marred by undisciplined verbosity.”
“The writer shows herself still capable of using the old material to excellent effect, although it would be foolish to deny that she has worked the vein until it shows signs of exhaustion.” Wm. M. Payne.
“She has written a very clever story with as much of the old fashion charm as can be preserved now. The story is extraordinary however, only in the fact that it contains a threehandedheroine. Fortunately she has not meddled with the Great Smokies, and the book is worth reading for the descriptions of them which it contains.”
“Gives herself free rein in page upon page of the very dullest description that ever escaped editorial scissors.”
“The writer’s style, ordinarily direct and flexible, is occasionally marred by serious lapses.”
“The plot is simple and somewhat obvious; the situations are not always logical, and the effect of the story is rather commonplace.”
Crafts, Wilbur Fisk.Practical Christian sociology. **$1.50. Funk.
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A revised fourth edition of a series of lectures on moral reforms and social problems. The subject is treated from the standpoint of the church, the family and education, capital and labor, and citizenship. The statistics are brought down to the present time, and the volume is illustrated with charts and portraits.
“The book is a repository of sociological facts.”
Craig, Neville B.Recollections of an ill-fated expedition to the head waters of the Madeira river in Brazil; by Neville B. Craig in co-operation with members of the Madeira and Mamoré association of Philadelphia. **$4. Lippincott.
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“The book before us concerns itself much more with the human interest of the story, than with the larger issues involved. It is a plain tale of the adventures, trials and exploits—of the sufferings and privations—undergone by a party of resolute pioneers—American engineers, contractors and railway builders in a year of heroic endeavor in the deadly climate of the Amazon valley.”—Engin. N.
“This book is as entertaining as a novel. The book is a very welcome contribution to the history of American engineering enterprise. Certainly every American engineering school should have a copy of the book. The young engineer will learn things from it that are found in none of the standard text-books, but which are even more necessary for his highest success than anything in his mechanics or chemistry.”
“He disclaims any literary qualifications for his task, but his descriptions of life in the torrid zone are graphic at times and in reporting observations in natural history he avoids the methods of the nature faker.”
“While the completeness and continuity of the story is somewhat sacrificed to the authenticated veracity of the historical account, it will, nevertheless, appeal to most lovers of works on travels and adventure. The greatest value of the book is as a contribution to engineering literature. It may almost serve as a treatise on organizing and equipping engineering expeditions for tropical work, until an authoritative text-book on the subject is available. It should be read by every engineer and contractor engaged in operations in tropical countries, and will be of value to many others engaged on works in distant lands or far from a base of supplies.” Albert Wells Buel.
Craig, W. H.Life of Lord Chesterfield: an account of the ancestry, personal character and public services. *$5. Lane.
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A sketch which “has materially broadened our knowledge not alone of Lord Chesterfield, but also of the political and social history of England during the long period of his life.” (N. Y. Times.)
“The style is on the whole clear and pleasant, and the work well deserves careful perusal.”
“It is to be hoped that this biography may help its readers to take a reasonably comprehensive view of a by no means simple personality.” S. M. Francis.
“His apologist, if one may so designate his latest biographer, is temperate and judicious in tone, and has presented what appears to be a not too flattering picture of the man.”
“It is the chief merit of Mr. Craig’s book to show sterling qualities which Chesterfield was at too much pains in concealing, to reject the perishable trivialities of his character, and to exhibit him as a philosophic statesman, not inferior to any of his contemporaries, except Walpole at one end of his life, and Chatham at the other.”
“In this elaborate biography Mr. Craig has done an important piece of work in a competent way. The index is admirably analytical and leaves nothing to be desired.”
“The author means to be disinterested, but his animus is occasionally too much for him. What he has to say is excellent in substance, but there is a great deal of repetition and digression in the book.” H. W. Boynton.
“Those who wish to satisfy themselves of Mr. Craig’s judicial acumen, based on knowledge of facts and sympathy with human nature, must read his story of Lord Chesterfield.”
Craigie, Mrs. Pearl Mary Teresa Richards (John Oliver Hobbes, pseud.).Dream and the business. †$1.50. Appleton.
6–36053.
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6–36053.
Descriptive note in Annual, 1906.
Reviewed by Mary Moss.
“To this the last of her novels a place must be accorded not far below that occupied by ‘Robert Orange’ and ‘A school for saints,’ her unquestioned masterpieces, and it is possibly a more remarkable production than either of those two in certain respects, as of its finished style, its economy of material, and its nice dramatic adjustment.” Wm. M. Payne.
“The book comes nearer to actual life than Mrs. Craigie ever came before, and it has, moreover, the exquisite effervescing brilliancy that so distinguished her earliest work and made it command the instant attention of every reader with an ear for epigram.” Cornelia Atwood Pratt.
Cram, Ralph Adams.Gothic quest. **$1.50. Baker.