Chapter 80

7–8216.

The vast centripetal action of all the issues that make toward the center of a big New York stock-brokerage office shows the author’s complete understanding of the “technique of speculation.” The son of a magnate of finance deplores the methods by which his father aims to get possession of the Virginia central railroad, and plans to outwit him. In so doing he plays a Wall street game that lacks neither characters nor situation to make it realistic.

“Spirited and full of incident. Will probably be popular with men.”

“It makes a fairly interesting story upon a subject that is essentially devoid of any vital human interest.” Wm. M. Payne.

“Mr. Lefevre’s growth in his art is constant.”

“It is a strong and interesting characterization of a modern money king that Mr. Lefevre has given us.”

“Is entirely readable. To the diligent reader the story may almost be recommended as a hand-book and ready reference guide to speculation.”

“Here is undoubtedly a novel with a purpose—a didactic purpose—a purpose, too, which will not meet with everybody’s approval. Fortunately the author as the thing progressed and his scent grew warm, almost lost sight of his own purpose in his own interest in the story.”

“It was a bold thing to base a novel so exclusively on financial battling—for the love story is extremely slight. One feels that the author has succeeded by sheer weight of ability, but the experiment is one not to be easily repeated.”

“Is convincingly realistic.” Vernon Atwood.

“A dreary epic of barter in railway shares, comparing unfavorably with his brisk short stories.”

Leffler, Burton R.Elastic arch, with special reference to the reinforced concrete arch. $1. Holt.

6–45715.

A work which contains among new features a deduction of the subject from one simple equation, graphic application of the easy method of drawing the closing line of the equilibrium polygon, a correct and simple method of designing a reenforced concrete section for combined thrust and movement, and a graphical analysis of an arch for oblique forces.

“We can commend the book only to the careful and intelligent reader.”

*Leger, Jacques Nicholas.Haiti: her history and her detractors. *$3. Neale.

7–25045.

The author who is Envoy extraordinary and Minister plenipotentiary of Haiti in the United States addresses himself especially to students of international affairs and political history and to the reader of sociological literature. The first part deals with the history of the island from before its discovery by Columbus to the election of General Nord Alexis to the presidency; the second, with the natural conditions of the country, the general organization, the customs and manners of the people, and their continued efforts to better their condition.

Legge, Ronald.Admirable Davis. $1.50. Cassell.

“‘The admirable Davis’ is the valet of a member of the British foreign office who is sent to an Eastern potentate with an important treaty. The valet is intimately connected with his master’s adventures, for which the latter is mostly to blame. The valet, in the end, sets things to rights.”—N. Y. Times.

“A crude product on the popular model of ‘The prisoner of Zenda.’”

*Legler, Henry Edward.Poe’s Raven: its origin and genesis: a compilation and a survey. pa. bds. $3. Philosopher press.

A good deal of interesting material concerning “The raven” has been collected for this volume. Mr. Legler discusses its genesis and the circumstances attending the writing and publishing of the poem; gives the alleged sources of “The raven” including “To Allegra Florence in heaven,” a chapter from “Barnaby Rudge,” “Lady Geraldine’s courtship,” “Clare,” “The rime of the ancient mariner,” “The funiao,” and “The parrot;” discusses the manuscript of “The raven” and adds bibliographical notes.

Leigh, Oliver.Edgar Allan Poe: the man, the master, the martyr. *$1.25. Morris.

6–32457.

Descriptive note in Annual, 1906.

Leighton, Joseph Alexander.Jesus Christ and the civilization of to-day: the ethical teaching of Jesus considered in its bearings on the moral foundations of modern culture. **$1.50. Macmillan.

7–18115.

A practical rather than technical consideration of the ethical teachings of Jesus Christ in their bearings on the spiritual life of civilization, in which no account is taken of the external events of Christ’s life or of his deeds further than necessary for an interpretation of the meaning and application of his teaching. It addresses all “intelligent persons who are honestly and open-mindedly seeking to determine the relation of the words of the Great Master of Life and Religion to their own lives and to the complex and confused life of contemporary civilization.”

“A careful study”

“Professor Leighton would seem to be more at home in the field of ethics than in matters of New Testament criticism. One can but wish him well in his doctrine of the freedom of the individual and victory over the forces of time, but it must be said that a more critical attitude toward early Christian traditions would have added not a little to the soundness of his results.”

*Lemaitre, Jules.Jean Jacques Rousseau; tr. by Mme. Ch. Bigot. **$2. McClure.

In which M. Lemaitre, “the most clear-sighted and independent of critics” deals with Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s influence on the history of humanity. He shows what propaganda there are in the “Contrat social,” “La nouvelle Heloïse,” and “Emile,” that helped to precipitate the revolution.

“Is a brilliant picture, painted with the sympathy and the justice of a true artist.”

Lenotre, Gosselin.Flight of Marie Antoinette; tr. from the French by Mrs. Rodolph Stawell. *$3.50. Lippincott.

7–28490.

The incidents of the flight of Marie Antoinette to Varennes, where she is overtaken and compelled to return a prisoner flash before us with panoramic swiftness and dramatic intensity. She is the one strong figure amid the deplorable weakness of husband, children and dependents, and “wherever she passes” strikes “the note of something great, of something gracious, whimsical, and sweet.” (Lond. Times.)

“M. Lenôtre’s work is one of minute research, in which no detail is neglected, and conjecture is never allowed to masquerade as fact.”

Reviewed by S. M. Francis.

“He has used the historical method as severely in determining each detail of the story as if he were engaged on a far duller task. The fulness and exactness of the author’s information has not impaired his sense of the requirements of the story.” Henry E. Bourne.

“It is a scholarly and documented account of a striking episode, told in an entertaining fashion.”

“We have no words in which to criticize this book. If any one who takes it up can lay it down ere the last page is turned he may be calm enough to criticize. The whole volume is not only alive, it is on fire.”

“The skillful use he makes of this material, balancing probabilities against probabilities, checking one document by another, and always picking out with unerring finger the convincing, essential fact, is as striking as the intensity of life which he manages to give to his revival of the past.”

“The volume may have a useful place among historical documents, but it will be found tedious and almost trivial in its exhaustiveness.”

“There was never another story like this, and told as it is here it wrings the heart.” Hildegarde Hawthorne.

“He has acquired the requisite knowledge; he is endowed with a delicate and vivid imagination; he has learned how to construct a story, and, more difficult still, he can tell the story he has constructed. The book is both easy and pleasant to read in its English dress, and nothing better can be said of a translation.”

“One forgets that the English book is a translation, and there can be no higher praise. No one who cares to study the French revolution at all, and no one who loves a true story uncommonly well told, including many interesting characters impossible to be mentioned here, should neglect to read this book.”

Lenotre, Gosselin.Last days of Marie Antoinette; tr. from the French by Mrs. Rodolph Stawell. *$3.50. Lippincott.

Not a life of Marie Antoinette but a collection of narratives, written by eyewitnesses, of the life of the royal family from their imprisonment in the Temple to the execution of the unfortunate queen.

“The book is of poignant interest, and its interest is heightened by the illustrations.”

“He has performed a task needing not only research, but restraint, so that every reader can know the truth and be his own interpreter.”

“Certainly no one can deny that the pathos of these narratives is deep, and exceeds that of any novel, since they deal with real characters and events.”

“Intensely interesting, if very painful, book.”

Leonard, Arthur Glyn.Lower Niger and its tribes. *$4. Macmillan.

7–11550.

“The book opens with a description of the physical features of the country, the tribes inhabiting the various divisions, and of the local traditions, ... Then come chapters on the philosophy of the people as expressed in certain words in their vocabulary, names, proverbs, and fables. The third division of the volume is devoted to a discussion of the ‘natural’ religion of the various tribes dealt with.... Other chapters take up emblemism, ceremonials, and practices of Naturalism, etc.”—N. Y. Times.

“The defect of his book is its verbal exuberance, and its overflow of theories about the origin of religion.” Andrew Lang.

“Whilst Mr. Dennett’s book suffers from too little synthesis, Major Leonard’s suffers from too much. His facts, not his theories, will be valued most by the expert. A rich quarry, but the stone that is to serve for building purposes must be selected with some care.”

“Behind his self-complacency and occasional arrogance there is evidence of real sympathy and insight.”

Le Rossignol, James Edward.Orthodox socialism. (Lib. of economics.) **$1. Crowell.

7–12999.

A brief exposition and criticism of the Marxian or scientific socialism. It is a thoroly practical treatment which defines the creed of socialism and traces the historic rise: discusses the labor-cost theory of value; the iron law of wages; surplus value; the use of machinery and its effects upon skilled labor; panics, strikes, and industrial crises; the struggle of the man with the class; and the social revolution which has been threatened.

“Mr. Le Rossignol makes his points skillfully.”

“Attractively and helpfully presented.”

“His style is didactic, and his diction clear, but a confusion of thought is often apparent.”

Lethaby, William Richard.Westminster abbey and the kings’ craftsmen: a study of mediaeval building. *$3.50. Dutton.

7–19737.

Less a description of the edifice than an account of the craftsmen who built and decorated it. “The author seeks to rebuild in our imaginations this ‘supreme work of art’ in all its perfection of form, its beauty of adornment, its suavity of environment, its church and chapterhouse, its monastery and mill, its garden and farm, seated by the side of the king’s palace on the bank of the clear-running Thames.” (Acad.)

“For genuine love of the past; for unwearied study of its records and minute observation of its example; for accurate marshalling of facts and for incontrovertible conclusions, in support of admirable principles, Professor Lethaby’s book deserves high commendation.”

“Altogether the work is of first-rate importance—by far the most authoritative that has yet appeared, and likely to remain so for many years to come.”

“The book is so thorough a piece of work from beginning to end that slips are very rare. Mr. Lethaby’s fascinating book is so emphatically a new departure that no one could have a better or more trustworthy guide to the glorious abbey church of Westminster.” W. H. St. John Hope.

“The characteristic feature of this new work, the outcome of twelve years of close research, is its recognition of the importance of individual craftsmen in the evolution of the great abbey.”

“Mr. Lethaby has rummaged his ‘documents’ to very good effect and has secured some valuable rays of illumination on the practical organization of building operations.”

“Written in a style which must win readers among all who love Westminster abbey or care to read at all, it contains a body of research at first hand which we do not hesitate to declare unequalled in importance by any similar publication on either side of the channel, for the double reason that there are no such complete records elsewhere, and no archaeologists possessing Mr. Lethaby’s combination of qualities.”

“It is quite safe to say that not since Dean Stanley’s ‘Memorials’ has a book been written on the abbey which has succeeded in conveying so much of the fascination of its subject, and not since Sir Gilbert Scott put together his ‘Gleanings’ has so much fresh light been thrown on the history of the fabric and its ornaments.”

Levasseur, Pierre Emile.Elements of political economy; tr. by Theodore Marburg. *$1.75. Macmillan.

5–17608.

Descriptive note in December, 1905.

“The present work is a rather small volume, following the conventional lines, clear and logical in style, but treating the subject in a very elementary way.”

Levussove, Moses Samuel.New art of an ancient people, the work of Ephraim Mose Lilien. *75c. Huebsch.

6–45172.

Ephraim Mose Lilien is among the younger intellectual Galician Jews who are reflecting the race’s awakening to newer activity andlarger creative effort. Here are reproduced a dozen or so of his studies in black and white, and Mr. Levussove points out the excellencies of style and content as they reveal Lilien’s mastery of the technic of composition and his understanding of Hebrew nature.

“The work will appeal alike to those who have an interest in the rejuvenation of an ancient race, and to those who will be attracted by a technique suggestive of the skill of Japanese decorators and of the European masters of line-work.”

“Mr. Levussove leaves the reader not only with an understanding of the highly poetic value of the artist’s work, but with a vivid sympathy for the racial quality of serious aspiration, which he exemplifies.”

“Mr. Levussove entertainingly covers his subject, keeping always in mind the fact that the awakening art spirit among the Jews is exemplified by Lilien’s works.”

*Lewis, Alfred Henry.When men grew tall; or, The story of Andrew Jackson.**$2. Appleton.

7–36233.

“Tells the story of Andrew Jackson’s career in, we conceive, precisely the way Andrew Jackson himself would have delighted to tell it.... It has the true Jacksonian flavor of unquenchable ardor to twist the tail of the British lion, supreme contempt for the Spanish Dons, burning antipathy to the ‘corrupt bargainers’ Adams and Clay—poor ‘Machiavelli’ Clay, as Mr. Lewis persists in calling him—and unrestrained enmity for ‘serpentine’ Banker Biddle and the rest of the money crew.”—Outlook.

“It is written in a virile, intense, vehement strain that keeps the reader wide awake. As a ‘story’ it certainly has much to commend it, bringing out in vivid relief some of the most dramatic episodes of Jackson’s life, and being distinctly human from beginning to end.”

Lewis, Charlton Miner.Principles of English verse. **$1.25. Holt.

6–27939.

“In the main a plea for common sense as opposed to metaphysics in the treatment of the subject.”—Dial.

“Many a bewildered reader of larger works will be grateful for the breath of fresh air that comes to them from these pages.”

“Mr. Lewis shies at the notion of the foot in English. If [he] could take this one logical step, he might give us a book which would reveal to all who care to penetrate it, the whole heart of the mystery of English verse-rhythms.”

“Compact and easily read volume.”

Lewis, Elizabeth.Lorenzo of Sarzana. $1.50. Badger, R: G.

7–20618.

In Genoa, just before the plague descends upon her, is set this story of a group of artists, studying under the old Italian Maestro in his attic studio. A three stranded love motive tangles the plot into which is woven a double thread of mystery in the persons of a white swathed figure which haunts a young American art student and a demented painter who destroys her canvases as soon as she finishes them. All this throws a glamour over an otherwise modern romance in which a match-making mother and a dowry hunting Italian figure conspicuously.

Lewis, Emily Westwood.Next door Morelands. †$1.50. Little.

7–30990.

A story for girls from twelve to sixteen which tells of the coming of Corinne, an orphan, from France to the home of an American uncle. The Morelands are five rollicking children, who initiate Corinne into the mysteries of their mirth-loving circle.

Lewis. Rev. Howell Elvet.With Christ among the miners; incidents and impressions of the Welsh revival. *$1. West. Meth. bk.

Devotional in its aim and compass this volume contains a series of personal impressions and incidents of the great Welsh revival of 1904. It reveals the hearts of the people, shows how they opened to the coming of the Spirit, rejoices in the good results of the movement and, to be wholly fairminded, does not overlook its shortcomings.

Lewis, Mary Elizabeth.Ethics of Wagner’s The ring of the Nibelung. **$1.50. Putnam.

7–30.

In which the author recounts “every detail of the legend from which the Trilogy is compiled and assigns to each one a definite place in an ethical system which she conceives to have been in Wagner’s mind.” The cycle she discovers to be “a logical and coherent ethical doctrine,” which she regards “as presenting a panoramic picture of the evolution of the human consciousness struggling to free itself from the hampering conditions of self, until at last, selfless, it is lost in the Divine Will.”

“The author of this book has done her work carefully, so carefully indeed that every detail is weighed and appraised at a certain value, while in order to facilitate the analytical process the story of the drama is told in short, bald sentences, often resembling a newspaper report of a parliamentary debate or proceedings in the law courts.” H. C. C.

“She retells in prose, and it must be admitted prosaically, the complete story of this drama of gods and men, and gives her interpretation of its complex symbolism. She does not profess that it is Wagner’s interpretation, and the reader will not be apt to find it his own, but he will at least be drawn to think about it, and so, by getting more meaning from it, he will give to the music more power.”

Leyds, Willem Johannes.First annexation of the Transvaal. *$6.30. Wessels.

7–18148.

A work on the relations of the English and Dutch in South Africa in which the author has prepared an indictment against Britain’s South African policy during the past century. “He is not bitter about England, though he is very bitter about English colonists, and cannot mention the name of Sir Percy FitzPatrick without losing his temper.” (Spec.)

“In this book the author displays the same combination of smart intelligence and rash blundering which was conspicuous during his European mission.”

“The tone of the book is, however, so bitter that he damages rather than strengthens his cause.”

“The book is well-written, orderly in arrangement, adroit in argument, and extremely readable. His narrative is too much a design in snow and ink to convince even the ill-informed reader.”

Lidgett, Rev. John Scott.Spiritual principle of the atonement: as a satisfaction made to God for the sins of the world. 4th ed. *$1.50. West. Meth. bk.

The twenty-seventh Fernley lecture. The editor in these ten chapters covers all phases of the atonement, its historical causes, the Biblical doctrine concerning it, the theology of the atonement, the satisfaction of God, the ethical perfection of our Lord, the relationship of our Lord to the human race, the atonement in relation to the spiritual life of individuals and the atonement and social progress.

*Lighton, William Rheem.Shadow of a great rock. †$1.50. Putnam.

7–18100.

Frontier life and the types of men whom it calls are portrayed here true to the reckless abandon of “the formless western wilderness.”

“A short story—and a very ordinary, conventional short story that might almost have appeared in any monthly magazine—and nothing more.”

“Written in a grandiose style, this story of American pioneering in the fifties is interesting rather than remarkable.”

“Occasionally marred just a little by ‘fine writing,’ [it] is nevertheless, a good story of the winning of Nebraska in the early fifties.”

Lillibridge, William Otis.Where the trail divides; with il. in colors by the Kinneys. †$1.50. Dodd.

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