Chapter 64

7–5683.

Seven diplomatic detective adventures in which Yorke Norroy figures as secret agent of the United States. He always has in his possession the means to foil his opponent in the big international games being played, and the analysis of his method of securing the trump card reveals shrewd practical imagination at work and the adroit handling of resulting situations.

“The seven stories are good reading at any time, and particularly when the mind longs for diversion.”

Howard, John Raymond, ed. Prose you ought to know. **$1.50. Revell.

The editor’s “aim in the present volume is to gather, from a wide range of authorship and subject-matter, a series of brief excerpts, each of which shall be typical of its author’s best style, and, besides exciting a momentary interest, shall ‘at least hint at the richness of an essay, a tale, a history, an oration.’”—Dial.

“Has been edited ... with an intelligence and originality that will make it acceptable even to the avowed enemy of the ordinary book of extracts.”

“The selections he makes are brief and numerous rather than few and choice.”

Howard, Newman.Christian trilogy. 3v. ea. *$1.25. Dutton.

“Religions may come and go; the forms of morality may change, and what is right in one age and clime be wrong in another; but the essential virtue remains the same—nothing else than faithfulness to what a man holds to be right. That is the idea running through the three plays which Mr. Newman Howard calls his ‘Christian trilogy.’... Kiartan was, externally, true to his false friend; Savonarola to his false city; Minervina and Crispus, Constantine’s discarded wife and son, to their false husband, wife, and emperor. In each case there lies behind the occasion, the sense of honor, the conviction of the necessity for truth to an ideal of right.”—Lond. Times.

“Mr. Newman Howard’s ‘Christian trilogy’ is real poetry and it is real drama. Mr. Howard’s work is so fine that it seems captious to point out what we feel to be a defect in it. Though in each of his dramas, tragedy is implied in the character of the chief personage, too much of the action is controlled by the persistent malignity of another individual. Free from most of the tricks of the playwright, Mr. Howard still relies too much on his villain.”

“Starting with the essential idea, he develops it broadly, simply, even severely, preserving always the distinction between what is theatrical and what is dramatic.”

“The work of Newman Howard which has but lately made its way to us, though published first some years ago in England, evinces a dramatic talent of a high order, but a talent not yet wholly disciplined.” Jessie B. Rittenhouse.

v. 1.Kiartan the Icelander: a tragedy.

The motif of the first part of the trilogy is the introduction of Christianity into Iceland.

“In ‘Kiartan the Icelander’ his very care for local colour and characteristic expression makes his meaning sometimes not easy to follow. Possibly in the theatre this difficulty would disappear, though we cannot help feeling that he has been so intent on making his people tenth century Icelanders that they lose something of their probability as men and women.”

v. 2.Savonarola: a city’s tragedy.

A drama filled with the “forlorn anti-pagan hope of Savonarola.” Its interest is centered in “the public career of the Frate, the dramatic incident of the Trial by fire and the tragic spectacle of the Execution.”

“Without any sacrifice of dramatic propriety he has so arranged that you see not only people but their surroundings. As a result, the play is full of the stir and colour of mediaeval Italy. Indeed, though he has handled the central theme in a masterly manner, what will delight most readers is the extraordinary sense of atmosphere created by the minor characters.”

“In ‘Savonarola,’ Mr. Howard’s more recent drama, the lack of sharp definition in the plot and dialogue is much more apparent than in ‘Kiartan,’ since all the rival factions and orders, civil and religious, of that turbulent period are represented in the play and by their machinations so involve the plot that it is difficult to keep the various characters and their allegiance distinct.” Jessie B. Rittenhouse.

v. 3.Constantine the great: a tragedy.

7–18134.

The establishment of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman empire furnishes the key-note of the third part of the trilogy. “In this play Mr. Howard gets his background, his atmosphere, mainly by a single figure; that of the little degenerate Fabius. By an almost savage piece of irony, Fabius is made the victim of the plot to murder Constantine. The state of paganism at the period of the play is admirably indicated by the priests of Demeter with their pitiful machinery for working an apparition of the goddess Proserpine. Bombo is one of the best clowns out of Shakespeare.” (Acad.)

“Mr. Howard reaches his highest level of workmanship in ‘Constantine the great.’ The chief characters stand out with something of the objective reality of sculpture but with all the life and movement of human beings. The dialog is reduced to its bare essentials, and because no word is allowed for its own sake, every word is not only significant but decorative, so that the texture of the verse is as if woven of some precious metal.”

“When we have put together all the poetical achievements of this tragedy, when we have set them beside its mastery of dramatic speech and structure and when we have dispassionately weighed against these excellencies its defects, we cannot hesitate to place it among all but the highest English dramatic poetry.”

“The conception—a rare failing—is superior to the art or technique.”

“We cannot praise Mr. Howard more highly than by saying that he is one of the very few living poets who stand in the great tradition. It is a book which every lover of good poetry must read and cherish.”

*Howard, Oliver Otis.Autobiography. 2v. **$5. Baker.

7–35640.

The volume “takes us once more to the familiar battlefields, shows how campaigns were fought and won and lost, and describes in detail the efforts of the government, after peace had been restored, to relieve the emancipated but helpless slaves whom the war had set at liberty.”—Outlook.

“He takes the reader delightfully into his confidence, and writes with an astonishing recollection of detail. An autobiography at once so full of incident and so free from matters of small importance has rarely been produced.” Percy F. Bicknell.

“Bulks large on the shelf, but so interesting that the reader will not regret the magnitude.”

*Howden, J. R.Boys’ book of locomotives. $2. McClure.

An informing book for young readers which traces with many accompanying illustrations the evolution of the steam engine from its beginning to its replacement by the electric locomotive.

“The book will tempt old as well as young.”

Howe, Frederic Clemson.British city: the beginnings of democracy. **$1.50. Scribner.

7–21305.

A companion to Mr. Howe’s study of the American city. It is not only an exposition full of historical and statistical detail but is a critical discussion of the workings of the British city and of the lessons contained “for the solution of parallel, but by no means identical, American problems.” The author’s strictly economic point of view accounts for all the motives of a commonwealth’s interests, he has become “convinced that it is the economic environment that creates and controls man’s activities as well as his attitude of mind.”

“No social reformer can afford to be without this volume.” B. O. Flower.

“The book contains a good deal of information, not all of it full or pertinent, but it is not presented with especial attractiveness or force.”

“In spite of these numerous mistakes and misconceptions, Mr. Howe has formed some very sound and well-grounded opinions as to the working of British institutions.”

“Mr. Howe never lets himself forget that he is writing for American readers and the contrast which he draws between municipal conditions in the two countries is really the book’s most valuable and illuminating feature.”

Howe, Frederic Clemson.City: the hope of democracy. **$1.50. Scribner.

5–33225.

Descriptive note in December, 1905.

Reviewed by Lewis E. Palmer.

“For our part, we believe that in his main principles the author is right, as also in many of his applications of those principles to judge the success or failure of the British city. We also believe that he carries some of his theories too far.”

“Writes as a propagandist rather than as a student. The work is interesting in style, stimulating in thought and treatment, hopeful in tone, and is well worth a careful reading by the student of municipal affairs.” Clinton Rogers Woodruff.

Howe, Frederic Clemson.Confessions of a monopolist. *$1. Public pub.

6–32427.

An autobiography “showing how easily a man of medium capacity and no scruples can accumulate a fortune by exploiting public franchises and ‘playing Wall street.’” (N. Y. Times.) “Never before has a work appeared in which the methods of the high financiers andpolitical bosses have been more clearly exposed. Here the reader is made to see how certain feats that appear from before the footlights as little short of miraculous are performed. Here he sees how by learning the rules of the game a modern high financier is able to divert the wealth of thousands into the till of the crafty monopolists; how, in short, the thousands are made to labor for the few just as actually as in the days of the feudal lords the serfs slaved for the barons. And here he sees how politics are made the handmaid of the modern plutocracy in its attempt to enslave labor while destroying the soul of democracy.” (Arena.)

“It is far and away the finest political satire on present-day American politics,—a book that every thinking patriotic citizen should read.”

“It is not pleasant reading—it is too true to life, though possibly somewhat exaggerated or unnaturally concentrated either for artistic effect or for the sake of argument.” Max West.

“The little volume is both interesting and instructive, whether regarded as a vade mecum for those desirous of practising the new high finance, or as an addition to the horrors which our professional purifiers have revealed in order to reform them.”

Howe, Malverd Abijah.Symmetrical masonry arches, including natural stone, plain concrete and reinforced concrete arches; for the use of technical schools, engineers and computers in designing arches according to the elastic theory. $2.50. Wiley.

6–33609.

“In the first chapter, fundamental formulas for the elastic arch are derived; in the second chapter, symmetrical arches without hinges and of constant or variable section, are considered.... In chapter 3 the author applies the theory in detail to a segmental circular arch of constant section and also to a reinforced-concrete arch.... The last chapter of the book is devoted to drawings of typical arches. An appendix is given on the physical properties of stone and concrete and data for about five hundred masonry arch bridges.”—Engin. N.

“The book is a strong, sound handling of a difficult subject. The one criticism that can be made of the theory developments in the book is that they are a little too condensed.” Wm. Cain.

Howe, Samuel Gridley.Letters and journals of Samuel Gridley Howe; ed. by his daughter, Laura E. Richards; with notes and a preface by F. B. Sanborn. 3v. ea. **$3. Estes.

6–38340.

v. 1.Following a brief story of his early years, Mrs. Richards has sketched her father’s life from his letters and journals written in Greece during his espousal of that country’s fight for independence. “The book gives a convincing picture of the conditions of Greece at the time of the war of independence, and introduces us to an American working among these conditions who was a credit to his country for firmness of character, coolness of judgment, disinterestedness, and humanity.” (Nation.)

“Full of facts and judgments of high historical value. There was hardly a keener eye on Greek affairs than Howe’s; hardly a man of any age who saw so much and interpreted it so well. His incisive judgments of men have, in the main, stood the test of time. Apart from the historical value of this volume, it takes rank with the very best Greek travels of that day.” J. Irving Manatt.

“If they are to be regarded as historical materials, they require much more annotation to make them generally comprehensible. Their omissions are too serious to give them much weight as a contemporary record of events.”

“Mrs. Richards’s prefatory and interspersed notes add no little to the value and completeness of the book as a detailed account of her father’s eventful young manhood.”

“The letters and journals are written in a spirited fashion, but are lacking in notable incident, and deal with few personalities who are of interest to any except special students of this period of European history.”

“The book is readable throughout.”

“Mrs. Richards would probably be well advised were she to use the pruning knife more freely in succeeding volumes. There is no index, and the printing and production of the book leave much to be desired.”

“This is an interesting volume, but the reader need not consider himself bound to go thru it from cover to cover.”

Howell, George.Labour legislation, labour movements, and labour leaders. 2d ed. 2v. *$2.50. Dutton.

A new edition of a work which serves to throw light on the nature, aims and methods of trade-unionism.

“He chronicles a great deal not to be found in other histories, and his book fills a gap for England which needs filling for ourselves.”

“It is marred by fragmentariness, by repetitions, and by unpolished style, but its merits are so conspicuous that it deserves the thoughtful consideration of every student of economic and social questions.”

Howell, James.Familiar letters of James Howell; with an introd. by Agnes Repplier. 2v. $6; Special ltd. ed. 4v. *$15. Houghton.

7–15871.

An attractive new edition of letters which “speak for themselves, and surely no reader will pine for erudite guidance through the maze of curious anecdote, lively narrative, and characteristically intimate comment and reflection which Howell has constructed, writing always crisply and lucidly, in accordance with his belief that a letter should be ‘short-coated and closely couch’d’ and should ‘not preach but epistolize.’” (Dial.)

“The letters themselves ... possess all the charm and gossipy interest of their time that the letters of Horace Walpole contained a century later.” Laurence Burnham.

“In her pleasant way Miss Repplier brings out, by incident and characterization, the qualities which have made his letters the constant reading of lovers of literature since they first appeared.”

“It is a book that seems as fresh to-day as when it was written nearly three centuries ago, and, though it may never be popular, it will always be valued by the discriminating few.” Charlotte Harwood.

“The wide careless world will pay little attention to these volumes, but they will have their own sure welcome.” H. W. Boynton.

Howells, William Dean.Between the dark and the daylight.†$1.50. Harper.

7–34775.

Of the seven tales told by old friends at the club four are psychological romances, stories of that mental borderland suggested by the book’s title. “A sleep and a forgetting” tells of a strange lapse of memory in a young girl; “The eidolons of Brooks Alford” concerns the visions of a broken down professor and the pretty widow who disperses them; “A memory that worked over time” is a confusion of memory and imagination; and “A case of metaphantasmia” enters into the question of dream-transference. The three stories which conclude the book, “Editha,” “Braybridge’s offer,” and “The chick of the Easter egg” are plain day-light stories, a protest against war, a speculation as to the average proposal, and an amusing Easter comedy.

Reviewed by A. Schade van Westrum.

“They are queer and creepy without being exactly supernatural.”

“The stories are graceful social pictures written with charm and humor.”

“We can only congratulate ourselves that he does not sit before his fire enjoying it all to himself, as he might be tempted to do.”

“All the stories are full of delightful reading. They would not be Mr. Howells’s if they were not.”

Howells, William Dean.Certain delightful English towns, with glimpses of the pleasant country between.**$3. Harper.

6–38895.

Descriptive note in Annual, 1906.

“It is only a Stevenson or a Howells who could achieve fascination for [this task]. But Mr. Howells is triumphantly successful. The American humor, which has always been attuned, in Mr. Howells, to a delicate strain, becomes tender whimsicality. We know no one who writes more beautifully in modern English.”

“How dare we use anything so rough and rude as the downright word praise of anything so delicate?”

Howells, William Dean.Through the eye of the needle.†$1.50. Harper.

7–15545.

Part 1 of this sociological story contains a view of modern New York as seen by a traveler from Altruria. The tall, bleak apartment houses, the social distinctions, and the greed for gain impress him so strongly that he says at the very outset,—“If I spoke with Altrurian breath of the way New Yorkers live, I should begin by saying that the New Yorkers do not live at all.” Part 2 contains an account of Altruria as seen by the American wife whom he takes home with him, and who has a difficult time adjusting her American ideas to a country which has neither money nor social gradations, and, where lord and farmer work happily for their living, side by side.

“Done in the author’s usual delightful manner.”

“Unhappily, these sociological criticisms are not conveyed in an interesting form of fiction. We cannot be absorbed in Mr. Homos’s love affair with an attractive American widow, and we are thrown back for diversion on his strictures on American conditions.”

“He is writing, not a thesis on the future economics of the world at large, but a kindly satire, a sort of twentieth century parable.” Frederic Taber Cooper.

Reviewed by A. Schade van Westrum.

“In this novel, dealing with a theme peculiarly congenial to him, we have an example of Mr. Howells’s style arrived at its perihelion.”

“We should rather be thankful for a piece of very grateful fancy, and not the least for a deft and witty introduction which is an almost faultless little piece of irony.”

“The account of these plutocrats endeavoring to maintain the forms of an obsolete social order verges perilously upon comic opera. This, however, is of small consequence, the point of interest being that with Mr. Howells’s deep love of humanity as he finds it, the apostle of realism in American fiction should care to spend (almost waste) his precious gifts upon such a toy of the imagination as the island of Altruria.”

“Certain it is that whatever be our attitude toward socialism, or our opinion of what we may presume to be Mr. Howells’s own theories, we must needs enjoy the exquisite literary flavor of these letters to and from Altruria, and can hardly fail to be lifted to a higher plane by the author’s own sincere enthusiasm of humanity and widely inclusive sympathies.” M. Gordon Pryor Rice.

“Mr. Howells has written in his characteristic whimsical vein.”

“Mr. Howells writes, not as a reformer with a grievance, but simply as a lover of his kind, perturbed over current errors but too wise to let them warp his judgment.” Royal Cortissoz.

“Somehow, it leaves the reader not half so kindly disposed toward his fellow-men, not half so eager to make this a better world, as he was after reading ‘Lemuel Barker’ or ‘Silas Lapham.’” Vernon Atwood.

“It embodies much cogent criticism of every important phase of American life.”

“Mr. Howells is always welcome in whatever guise his message comes, and a special interest attaches to his new romance, since it exhibits his distinguished talent in an unfamiliar light.”

Hoy, Mary Lavinia Thompson (Mrs. Frank L. Hoy).Adrienne. $1.50. Neale.

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