L

Labriola, Antonio.Socialism and philosophy; tr. by Ernest Untermann. $1. Kerr.

7–3090.

This volume in the “International library of social science” has been translated from the third Italian edition, which has been revised and amplified by the author. In the form of a series of letters, “a conversation in writing” with Mr. G. Sorei, Labriola has shown “that we must study the social conditions which were the cradle of historical materialism, if we would understand its full meaning. He has demonstrated to us that we must familiarize ourselves also with the individual growth of the founders of scientific socialism, of its prominent interpreters, its present day elaborators.”

Ladd, Horatio Oliver.Chunda: a story of the Navajos. $1.25. Meth. bk.

6–37926.

“The career of an Indian girl and her lover, who broke away from their barbaric tribe to learn for its redemption the principles and arts of civilization. Years afterward they emerge from their training ... and go back to their native mountain ... to labor together for the civilization and Christianization of their people.... Dramatic and tragic interest is added to the narrative, which breathes a deeply religious spirit throughout with an evident purpose of stimulating a missionary interest.”—Outlook.

“It is an excellent book for Sunday-school libraries. All that it seems to lack is a prefatory note to indicate how far it is fiction and how far it is fact.”

Lafargue, Paul.The right to be lazy and other studies.50c. Kerr.

7–23081.

Papers whose purpose is to incite the socialist to march up to the assault of the ethics and the social theories of capitalism and establish a future communist society “peaceably if we may, forcibly if we must.”

Lamb, C. G.Alternating currents: a textbook for students of engineering. *$3 Longmans.

W 7–137.

“The first seven chapters cover the preliminary statements of the usual methods of treating alternate-current problems in general, also of measuring instruments, and discuss the theory of the single-phase transformer.... A very brief mention of single-phase commutator motors occupies the eighth chapter.... The rest of the book is devoted to the consideration of alternators both as generators and motors, and of induction motors.”—Nature.

“He has succeeded in producing an excellent reference book for engineers, but from the reviewer’s experience it is too heavy a text for undergraduates.” Henry H. Norris.

Lamb, Charles.Essays of Elia; with an introduction and notes by Alfred Ainger, and a biographical sketch by Henry Morley. $1.25. Crowell.

Uniform with the “Thin paper classics,” this volume is furnished with such additional helps as a biographical sketch of Lamb, an introduction and notes.

Lambert, Preston A.Computation and mensuration. *80c. Macmillan.

7–30461.

A short course whose chapters are as follows: Approximate computation, Graphic computation, Method of co-ordinates, Volumes of solids bounded by planes, Use of trigonometric functions, Use of logarithms, Limits, Graphic algebra, Areas bounded by curves, Volumes of solids. “These headings give in a general way the subject matter of the book. Greatest attention is given to concrete applications of principles. The solution of characteristic problems is illustrated and several additional are given for solution at numerous points throughout.” (Engin. N.)

Lampson, G. Locker-.Consideration of the state of Ireland in the nineteenth century. *$5. Dutton.

“A dictionary of English misgovernment of Ireland.” (Spec.) It is “expressly, intended to gibbet the incompetence of Ireland’s governors for five centuries and in suffusing British cheeks with shame to evoke better intentions for the future.” The author “does not believe Ireland’s ills will be cured by home rule. He proposes closer union, rather than separation. Only he suggests that that union be commercial and social, not political.” (N. Y. Times.)

“Relates, though not in well-arranged order, the chief political events connected with recent Irish history.”

“It is a combination of history, characterdrawing, political discussion, and the evisceration of blue books which Mr. Lampson’s volume offers. He is a shrewd observer of men.”

“Mr. Locker-Lampson makes an exhaustive examination of Irish conditions—and finds what others have found. The chief interest of this book is in the remedy he proposes.”

“It is a pity that so much labor should have been marred by such want of judgment.”

“Regarded, however, as a thesaurus of Irish history, this volume, well arranged, well indexed, almost too lavishly appendixed, is of the highest value as a reference book; it is ‘the case’ against Irish misgovernment.”

Lanciani, Rodolfo Amedeo.Golden days of the renaissance in Rome from the pontificate of Julius II. to that of Paul III. **$5. Houghton.

6–39434.

Against the glowing background of Rome’s renaissance, Signor Lanciani’s five distinct figures are traced: “Paul III., who during the fifteen years that he occupied the chair of St. Peter’s accomplished such wonders in rescuing Rome from the degradation into which it had fallen; Michelangelo and Raphael, supreme in art; Vittoria Colonna, the most cultured of sixteenth century women; and Agostino Chigi, the banker whose splendid financial abilities and great wealth gave him the surname of ‘Il Magnifico.’” (Dial.)

“A few slips in dates which we have observed may be due to oversight on the part of the proof-reader, but inconsistency in giving the modern equivalent for sums of money can hardly be due to that cause. In general there is good reason to speak well of the book.”

“The work is one of permanent value and interest, and a special word of praise must be given to the illustrations. There is an excellent index.”

“Fills a gap in the important series of topographical and antiquarian studies whereby the most readable of archæologists has done so much to render the chaotic Rome of to-day an intelligible spectacle to the passing pilgrim.” Harriet Waters Preston.

“The many matters which Signor Lanciani has taken out of their semi-obscurity in the Italian archives of learned societies and made available to the English reader, the many stories which he has himself aided in unfolding, entitle him to not a little gratitude.” Anna B. McMahan.

“It is really in this elaborate introduction to his main topic that the professor best proves his originality of thought and literary skill.”

“The volume contains much hitherto-unpublished information gained from study of the old monuments.”

“The general attractiveness of Lanciani’s writing is indubitable. His sentences run fluently. He is singularly effective in the manner of telling a story as it were to a single listener. The writer can hardly hold himself down for two consecutive minutes to the topic he has in hand. Another fault is the tendency to inaccuracy, which appears so frequently in matters that can be checked, that it arouses distrust of the author’s accuracy in matters of perhaps greater moment that lie within the scope of his peculiar knowledge.”

“Rodolfo Lanciani seems now to have reached the age when his accumulation of knowledge vaguely obscures his point of view as to the essentials required for popular interpretation.”

“A notable and impressive looking volume.”

“Professor Lanciani, indeed, who, in the course of a gossiping and diverting book, devotes a chapter to the subject, writes of these poems with somewhat less than his customary insight.”

“Signor Lanciani knows his subject thoroughly and at first hand, and he is able to bring to bear a vast amount of curious and interesting detail.”

Landon, Perceval.Under the sun. *$4.80. Doubleday.

7–35221.

“Twenty-five chapters written in the course of annual wanderings over India during the last five years.... Every province in India, including Burma, is represented.... The final chapter purports to describe the later days of Nana Sahib.... The book is well illustrated.”—Ath.

“The chapters are mainly impressions of many Indian cities, and they are generally correct and just; the writer is faithful as to local colour, and not less trustworthy as to local smells, which are often more insistent, if less insisted on by descriptive writers.”

“Many of his narratives of famous persons and events ... are of thrilling interest.” H. E. Coblentz.

“Has most of the attractive literary features of the author’s recent volume on Tibet. The illustrations, an important feature of the book, include many unusual aspects of India.”

“Even the reader who has never seen India may enjoy these impressions; but it is the visitor reading on the spot, or, still more, the old resident refreshing his memory with themfor whom they will have the greatest charm. As far as it is possible to do so in words, they certainly convey the impression of the colouring and the atmosphere of the scenes which they describe.”

“He certainly has produced a readable book, though many of his sketches convey less clear-cut impressions of the places than those of some other writers who have gone over the ground before, Steevens, for instance; and they lack proportion. Some point is seized on and overstrained with a discursiveness that causes the reader at times to lose the thread of the narrative, whilst other more characteristic features of the picture are omitted.”

“The author has had a quick eye for the distinctive features of the Eastern wonderland.”

“Mr. Landon’s book is valuable because it comprises suggestive impressions of an acute observer as to the actual present.”

“He writes well and picturesquely. Bookmaking of this sort is overdone, and the chief novelty in it is the account given at the end, of the last days of Nana Sahib. It is a somewhat incongruous chapter in such a book, and at best is not a very valuable or entertaining contribution to history.”

Landor, Walter Savage.Charles James Fox: a commentary on his life and character; ed. by Stephen Wheeler. *$2.75. Putnam.

7–29125.

A hitherto unpublished work of Walter Savage Landor’s—a study of the life and character of the statesman Charles James Fox. The book was printed in 1812, but suppressed, and the manuscript and all but one copy of the book were destroyed. “The memoirs were, of course, highly eulogistic of Fox, and hence a bête noire to Landor, who was in the habit of hurling abuse with impartial hand at most of the political leaders of his day.” (N. Y. Times.)

“It is handsomely set forth and the editorial notes are good and sufficient.” G. S. Street.

“No reader of discrimination can lay the volume aside without feeling that, despite its extravagance and occasional perversity it is the product of a noble and magnificently endowed intellect.”

“Its present day claim is upon students of literature rather than of politics. It is the vigorous unconventional prose in which Landor’s political and literary convictions are expressed that gives the volume any permanent value that attaches to it.”

“As an historical estimate of Fox the book is too polemical to have much value, but the style has a rare energy and color.”

“Well worth the painstaking labor that Mr. Stephen Wheeler has bestowed upon it, for in its present form the ‘Commentary’ has both a literary and a political value.” Edward Porritt.

“A work which, for all its defects, bears in certain particulars the stamp of true genius.”

“It was certainly well worth publishing, and the editor has done his work with care and precision.”

“It is as a glimpse into Landor’s mind, as an additional chapter in the life of one of the strangest and most original among English men of letters, that his ‘commentary’ possesses its real and permanent value.”

Lang, Andrew.Homer and his age.*$3.50. Longmans.

7–2323.

“The present volume, while it contains much that is to be found in its predecessor [‘Homer and the epic’] is less general, and deals rather with problems of archaeology, the writer seeking to show that throughout the Iliad there is a consistency in regard to such details as the peculiar feudal relations of the chiefs to their over-lord, the burial of the dead, the use of bronze for weapons, or the descriptions of armour, which affords convincing proof that all parts of the poem are approximately of the same date.” (Spec.)

“We welcome another powerful counterblast from the graceful and vigorous pen of Mr. Andrew Lang against the disintegrators of the poems of Homer.” R. Y. Tyrrell.

“It is a fascinating book, and a noteworthy. Mr. Lang was born too late to keep the wolf from the door of the Homeric house, but this championship of Homer will go far to bring the poet’s scattered goods together again under one roof, to be the heirlooms of Achaean glory.”

“Altogether, from frontispiece ... to finis, the book is one for which every Homeric student may well be grateful.” J. Irving Manatt.

“We are sorry that Mr. Lang has not treated his subject more thoroughly, because we are at one with him in most that he says, and would fain go the whole way if we could.”

“Mr. Lang’s polemic, despite much repetition and some wearisome details, holds the attention by a wealth of pertinent illustration from Norse and Old French literature, and by the force and cunning of his dialectical swordplay.” Paul Shorey.

“Excellent book.”

“He has evidently written up his notescurrente calamo, with little concern for system and unity of presentation, consistency in argument, or the elimination of wearisome repitition.”

“Mr. Lang has written such a sound, humane and scholarly book that we can say directly: This is of the absolute truth.”

“Those who love Homer or admire Mr. Lang will take up this volume with eagerness, only to close it with a sigh, while the critic who dreamed of finding matter for a pleasant essay discovers that he has to deal with a dispute the pleadings in which would perplex and weary even the Court of Chancery.”

Lang, Andrew, ed.Olive fairy book.**$1.60. Longmans.

7–31208.

Colored plates and numerous other illustrations give additional life to these tales derived from various sources, from India, France, Turkey, Armenia, and Denmark.

“As fascinating as those that have gone before. The book is sure to enthral any child who may possess it, and many persons of more discreet years.”

“At times are gruesome and without moral, to an extent that prohibits their being wholesome reading for very young children.”

“The collection is an excellent one—Mr. Lang’s editorship vouches for that—and one and all are entertaining.”

*Lang, Andrew, ed.Orange fairy book; il. by H. J. Ford. **$1.60. Longmans.

6–34647.

Mr. Lang says that his stories “‘are taken from those told by grannies to grandchildren in many countries and many languages—French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Gaelic, Icelandic, Cherokee, African, Indian, Australian, Slavonic, and what not.’ As he says, the old puzzle remains—‘why do the stories of the remotest people so closely resemble each other?’” (Sat. R.)

“Mr. Lang’s ‘Orange fairy book’ will not have to look far for eager hands.”

“High among fairy books must be placed Andrew Lang’s annual offering.”

“Some of them again, as in past years, too gruesome for child reading.”

“There is less of the gruesome than we seem to remember in one or other of the earlier volumes, and there are, as usual, some illustrations of excellent quality.”

Lang, Andrew, ed. Poets’ country, il. **$5. Lippincott.

In text and picture the purpose of this book is to trace the relations of poets with the aspects of “their ain countrie.” Among the poets are Scott, Shelley, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Chaucer, Goldsmith, Keats, Spencer, Moore and Burns. A number of men have participated in producing the volume.

“The fact is that the ‘spirit of place’ dominates a few poets only, and a more careful selection would have made this book more representative.”

“The book is one to delight lovers of poetry and lovers of the English country.”

“It is chock-block full of telling quotations, and it really has plenty of pleasant and informed matter.”

“All the essays included in the volume may be read with great pleasure.”

Lang, Andrew.Portraits and jewels of Mary Stuart. *$2.75. Macmillan.

7–2430.

A pictorial history of Mary Queen of Scots from her tenth year to that preceding her death. Mr. Lang has selected, in all, thirteen portraits which he proves to be contemporary and authentic. He is aided in accepting or rejecting a portrait by jewels represented to be worn at different sittings.

“Mr. Andrew Lang has now gone over the ground again with an historical acumen greater than that of any of his predecessors in the field.” J. H. Pollen, S. J.

“The text is noteworthy for its criticism, its freshness, and its suggestiveness.”

“An inquiry from this point of view has added considerably to our knowledge of the subject, both with regard to portraits and miniatures. Mr. Lang’s most important result is a rehabilitation of a fascinating portrait in the possession of the earl of Leven and Melville.” Robert S. Rait.

“With infinite care and rare critical acumen he has summed up the arguments.”

“The object of Mr. Lang, supplementing as he does the researches of Sir George Scharf, Mr. Lionel Cust, Mr. Foster, and others, is rather to correct over-scepticism and to indicate if possible the claims to consideration of certain portraits on which doubts are thrown.”

“Especially in its account of the Queen’s jewels this study is a valuable addition to the knowledge of all who have not the advantage of being Scottish antiquarians.”

“Mr. Lang has had several predecessors in this field of research about Mary Stuart’s personal appearance and ornaments, but he has drawn information from original sources, and added some fresh facts.”

“It is a subject after his own heart, and he has done it ample justice.”

Lang, Elsie M.Literary London; with introd. by G. K. Chesterton. *$1.50. Scribner.

7–13410.

Cyclopedic in its manner of treatment and alphabetic in its arrangement Miss Lang’s book becomes one of handy reference.

“Will prove useful to the tourist who is in search of the spots associated with the great English writers.”

“As a book of reference, it has merits, though they do not include completeness.”

“To one who knows London well enough to have its broad map and the relative position of its neighborhoods in his mind, the book is a delight. It is a collection of prosaic but agreeable memories.”

Langdon, Amelie, comp. Just for two: a collection of recipes designed for two persons. 3d ed., rev. and enl. *90c. Wilson, H. W.

A new edition of a popular cook book which deals in amounts small enough to serve two people without waste.

Langfeld, Millard.Introduction to infectious and parasitic diseases, including their cause and manner of transmission; with an introduction by Lewellys F. Barker. *$1.25. Blakiston.

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