Chapter 7

20–6561

This new edition, revised and brought up to date, includes “detailed plots of two hundred and thirty-five celebrated operas with critical and biographical remarks, dates, etc.” (Title page) There is a “prelude” by James Huneker. and an index to operas and one to composers. The work was originally published in 1899 and was revised in 1904 and again in 1910.

“Well told, with the chief points brought out with admirable directness. The arrangement is simple and the indices ample.”

“One of the best existent guides to opera librettos.” H: T. Finck

ANNIN, ROBERT EDWARDS.Ocean shipping; elements of practical steamship operation. il *$3 (2½c) Century 656

20–11077

This is the first volume in the Century foreign trade series, edited by William E. Aughinbaugh. The author, who is lecturer on economics in New York university, says in his preface: “Within the limits of a volume like the present it is possible only to touch upon even the fundamentals of ship management and operation.... The aim has been to exclude, as far as possible, the academic and legalistic, and to make the book what its title implies—a practical, if elementary, guide, based on experience, rather than a theoretical treatise based on maxims.” The book is divided into three parts. Part I, The ship, has chapters on An American merchant marine; Range of the business: Freight rates; The labor problem; Officering and manning; The cargo carrier, etc. Part II is devoted to The office, with discussions of Machinery of foreign trade; Foreign exchange; Traffic manager; General cargo, etc. Part III devotes thirteen chapters to Charters. There are six illustrations, appendices and index.

“Although the book cannot be described as having a scholarly style and although the author’s ideas on economics seem to be a bit unorthodox at times, the reader will find this volume far more useful than many written in a more literary vein. The author seems to be thoroughly familiar with his subject-matter.” M. J. S.

“The language is simple and direct and free from technical terms. It has evidently been the aim of the writer to produce a book of thorough practical value to those engaged in ocean shipping.”

“Excellent manual.”

ANNUNZIO, GABRIELE D’.Tales of my native town. *$1.75 (2½c) Doubleday

20–6708

This collection of short stories is translated from the Italian by Professor Rafael Mantellini and has an introduction by Joseph Hergesheimer. This is an appreciative comparison between our Anglo-Saxon short story and that of the great Italian. Mr Hergesheimer calls attention to the intense realism of D’Annunzio, which knows no reservations and no shrinking. The tales are: The hero; The countess of Amalfi; The return of Turlendana; Turlendana drunk; The gold pieces; Sorcery; The idolaters; Mungia; The downfall of Candia; The death of the duke of Ofena; The war of the bridge; The virgin Anna.

“Here writing is done with the big stick. They are tales of the noisier passions, executed with meticulous consideration for the formidable detail, since D’Annunzio writes with all the heat and strength of pulse that is supposed to belong to the southern temperament. The translation, with the possible exception of parts of the conversation, is very smoothly done.”

“It takes, as Joseph Hergesheimer points out in his exceedingly interesting preface, a rather carefully prepared attitude of mind to thoroly enjoy them. They are written with art and skill but with a lack of reticence in description which is likely to disturb the Anglo-Saxon. If you enjoy Russian short stories you will probably enjoy these.”

“The stories are of course arresting and at times brilliant. D’Annunzio’s powerful gifts are beyond question today.” L. L.

Reviewed by Rebecca West

“In their English dress, certainly, they are not overwhelming. One can with a fairly good conscience own to the impression that, with all their marvel of detail, several of them are oppressively squalid and even tedious; squalor and tedium having, of course, their part, a relative part, in the spectacle of living.” H. W. Boynton

“These tales neither convince nor move the reader. There is a quickness of action in these sketches, foreign to D’Annunzio’s novels; his writing has lost a great deal of that sensuality and voluptuousness so cloying to the American mind. But it has also lost in beauty and harmonious detail.”

ANSTRUTHER, EILEEN H. A. (MRS JOHN COLLINGS SQUIRE).Husband. *$1.75 Lane

20–8450

“The story of a very modern young lady, Penelope Brooke, befriended in the early chapters by a cousin. Later on the heroine embarks on the adventure of earning her bread in London, during which time her relations with her cousin’s husband become involved. In the end the inconvenient Mrs Dennithorne dies, and the reader is led to anticipate a happy sequel.”—Spec

“The author has good powers of description and characterization.”

“A pleasant tale of English life. Never very exciting, it yet holds the reader’s interest sufficiently for an evening’s enjoyment.”

“This book is well written—the characters clearly drawn; but that is the whole measure of commendation that can be bestowed upon it. It is an exceedingly dull story of contemporary English life. It seems a pity that such good writing and so much print paper should be wasted upon a dead level of mediocrity.”

“Well written with the principal characters clearly portrayed, ‘The husband’ lacks vitality. A certain stiffness and awkwardness make the tale in numerous places ‘heavy going.’ Penelope, with a mild, Quakerish manner, is the most human and attractive principal.”

“Her choice of the moment for a description and her choice of the scene to be described show psychological understanding as well as good craftsmanship. The story is anything but ‘didactic,’ but it is none the worse for having an ethical direction.”

ANSWERto John Robinson of Leyden; ed. by Champlin Burrage. (Harvard theological studies) pa *$2 Harvard univ. press 274.2

20–12134

“John Robinson is considered by some to be the real father of American democracy with its emphasis upon the separation of church and state. The answer to Robinson by a Puritan friend is against his advocacy of separation from the Church of England. In this answer practically the entire argument of Robinson, the Pilgrim pastor at Leyden, for the separation of church and state is given. The manuscript is of the date 1609, eleven years before the Pilgrims left Leyden for their ultimate destiny, America. It is now published for the first time.”—Boston Transcript

Reviewed by Williston Walker

ANTHONY, KATHARINE SUSAN.Margaret Fuller; a psychological biography. il *$2.25 (4c) Harcourt

20–18959

A study of Margaret Fuller from the standpoint of modern psychology, analyzing the hysteria of her childhood and the neurotic element in her later life. Her contribution to the feminist movement and her relation to the revolutionary struggle in Europe are also dealt with from a modern point of view. Incidentally there are brief and searching criticisms of Emerson, Hawthorne, Horace Greeley and others. Contents: Family patterns; A precocious child; Narcissa; Miranda; A woman’s woman; The transcendentalist: The journalist; Contacts; Her debt to nature; The revolutionist; 1850. There is a bibliography of four pages and the book is indexed.

“Written in a straightforward, interesting literary style.”

“Taken as a whole the book opens up wide intellectual and imaginative horizons.”

“The book is like some fine-grained granite rock of solid psychological and historical scholarship, all sun-flicked with glinting humor and warm-hearted common sense.” E. F. Wyatt

“Margaret Fuller’s genius was akin to madness, and how far such an analysis of so abnormal a character is of real value is questionable. It is, however, unquestionably well done.”

“To explain Margaret’s hysteria by a purely Freudian hypothesis is folly, and something a good deal worse than folly.”

“Katharine Anthony’s ‘Margaret Fuller,’ a ‘psychological biography’ is infested with preconceptions and is unpleasantly provocative in tone.”

ANTONELLI, ÉTIENNE.Bolshevik Russia. *$2 (3c) Knopf 947

20–650

This book, translated from the French by Charles A. Carroll, is from the pen of a former professor of the College de France, an economist and sociologist, who as military attaché to the French embassy studied the Russian situation with its historical background and the character of the Russian ever in view. The conclusion he arrives at is that Bolshevist Russia, “if not crushed by a new ‘Holy alliance,’ will prepare for humanity the spectacle of a singular democracy, such as the world will not have known until then, a democracy which will not be made up of gradual conquests plucked by shreds from a plutocratic bourgeoisie, but which will build itself up out of the very stuff of the people, a democracy which will not descend from the powerful ones to the people, as in all present forms of society, but which will rise voluntarily and surely from the unorganized and uncultivated folk to an organizing intelligence.” (Conclusion) The contents are in two parts: Bolshevism and politics; and Bolshevism and society.

“The detailed recital of events in chronological order is straightforward and clear but for the confusion of names of individuals and of parties and factions which are almost meaningless to an ordinary reader in this country. The psychological analysis of the Russian is interesting, but its over-simplification makes one feel that it is inadequate.” V: E. Helleberg

“His record, covering almost the same period as that of Robins in point of experience, has a much broader historic background and a more carefully scientific sociological basis.” O. M. Sayler

Reviewed by Harold Kellock

“He has not only produced the most authentic record that has yet appeared of the opening months of the second revolution, but has written some of the clearest and wisest words which have thus far been uttered about it.” Jacob Zeitlin

“It is distinctly a relief to read one book about Russia that is not written by a journalist, amateur or professional. M. Antonelli does not describe a tremendous historical upheaval in the manner of a reporter describing a street fight. Some of M. Antonelli’s statements and conclusions are contradictory; but this circumstance merely confirms his general reliability as a witness. Every revolution carries within itself the seeds of many contradictions. It is only the conscious or unconscious propagandist who smooths out all difficulties and represents the acts of his own party as uniformly righteous, correct and consistent.” W. H. C.

“Valuable as well as interesting. The calm, broad view taken and the absence of anything like passion or partisanship are not the least appealing elements in this volume.”

“A colorless but informative historical narrative.”

“Although not himself a believer in Bolshevism, he is capable of judging fairly the administrative aims of the Lenin-Trotsky régime. At any rate his contribution contains more fact and less hysteria than most current publications dealing with Russia.”

“This book inspires confidence in the author’s impartiality and freedom from bias. This is the best book on the subject we know of.”

“A sane and helpful account of his subject.” Reed Lewis

“Written with the clarity and quick intelligence one expects from a well known French sociologist and professor.”

“M. Antonelli describes his work as a ‘philosophical survey’; but the philosophical or rather psychological study of Bolshevism stands out less prominently than the very full and interesting account of the methods by which the Bolshevist leaders grasped and held power during the first few months after their coup d’etat.”

ARMFIELD, CONSTANCE (SMEDLEY) (MRS MAXWELL ARMFIELD).Wonder tales of the world. il *$2.50 Harcourt 398.2

20–18948

Seventeen folk tales from as many countries compose this collection. Among them are: The food that belonged to all (America); The birds who befriended a king (Arabia); The cattle that came (Bulgaria); Lazy Taro (Japan); The prince and the eagle (Greece); The seven sheepfolds (Hungary); The clever companions (India); Tom of the goatskin (Ireland); Cap o’ rushes (England); The little cabin boy (Norway); The chess players (Wales).

ARMSTRONG, DAVID MAITLAND.Day before yesterday. il *$6 (5c) Scribner

20–18941

These “reminiscences of a varied life” (Subtitle) are edited by the author’s daughter, Margaret Armstrong. Mr Armstrong was born in 1836 at Danskammer near Newburgh, lived an interesting life as artist, government official and traveler until his death in 1918. The contents are: Danskammer; New York when I was a boy; My brothers; The South before the war; At college; Travels and a shipwreck; New York when I was a young man; Rome—church and state; Some Roman friends; The Campagna; Venice; Saint Gaudens and others; Some pleasant summers; The Century club; My farm at Danskammer.

“It is singular that so sweet and amiable a book should be so interesting, so amusing. So much of the charm of the man seems to me to have got into the book that I expect for it a marked success, and, what is better, a long life in the future.” E. S. Nadal

“A delightful narrative of one phase of American life at its best.”

ARMYand religion; an inquiry and its bearing upon the religious life of the nation. *$2 (2c) Assn. press 261

This inquiry had its origin in the desire of certain British Y. M. C. A. workers “to consider and interpret what was being revealed under war conditions as to the religious life of the nation and to bring the result before the churches.” The first step in the inquiry was the preparation of a questionnaire to be submitted to various classes of persons, including officers, privates and war workers of all classes. This questionnaire covered three topics: What the men are thinking about religion, morality, and society; The changes made by the war; The relation of the men to the churches. The report is in two parts, Part 1 dealing with the facts, Part 2 with religion and the army. The report is edited by D. S. Cairns and has a preface by the Bishop of Winchester.

“The really disappointing section of this volume is that which deals with the remedies. One confesses to some occasional irritation in reading ‘The army and religion,’ due to a certain complacent assumption that the traditional religious synthesis with its dogmatic superstructure is still valid.”

“The witnesses do not always see eye to eye with one another, or report the same thing. The result is a certain impression or spontaneousness and of the actual. The writers do not say what they feel under an obligation to say; or tell us what they, or those behind them, wish us to believe. They give us the facts, as they have come to their knowledge. The compiler, Professor D. S. Cairns, sums up, and he has done so admirably.”

“A document of much importance both in its enlightening disclosure of a state of things in many ways disquieting, and in the suggestions of future policy which arise out of it.”

ARNOLD, JULIAN B.School of sympathy. *$1.60 Jones, Marshall 824

“Several essays and poems are presented by Julian B. Arnold in a volume entitled ‘The school of sympathy.’ The author is the son of Sir Edwin Arnold, author of ‘The light of Asia,’ and is himself favorably known in England as a traveler, archaeologist and lecturer.”—N Y Times

“The reminiscent portions of the book are doubtless the best.”

ARONOVICI, CAROL.Housing and the housing problem. (National social science ser.) *75c McClurg 331.83

20–2757

“Mr Aronovici’s definition of housing reform is: ‘The furnishing of healthful accommodations adequately provided with facilities for privacy and comfort, easily accessible to centers of employment, culture and amusement, accessible from the centers of distribution of the food supply, rentable at reasonable rates and yielding a fair return on the investment.’ Nor does he overlook the close connection of housing policy with larger aspects of industrial development, distribution and growth of population and national economy. Following the lines of previous studies of social survey methods, he suggests a plan of inquiry for the housing reformer who wishes to arrive at an accurate view of the housing situation in his community and for the legislator who is concerned with improvement of the law. He has no easy panacea for stimulating housing activity or supplanting private by state enterprise, but rather lays down some fundamental considerations without which either must fail.”—Survey

“This small but weighty volume is likely to do a world of good in correcting mistaken view-points and vague programs yet all too current among laymen who tackle housing reform with more enthusiasm than knowledge and wisdom.” B. L.

ARTHUR, SIR GEORGE COMPTON ARCHIBALD.Life of Lord Kitchener. 3v il *$12.50 Macmillan

20–9393

Lord Kitchener’s private secretary has written his life, now issued in three volumes as the official biography. The marquis of Salisbury writes a preface in which he says, “Sir George Arthur has undertaken the difficult task of writing a life of Lord Kitchener within four years of his death. He has, I believe, in so doing been well advised, and he has produced a work of great value. The interest of Lord Kitchener’s career, its extraordinary culmination, the public enthusiasm which in these last critical years centred upon him, and the dramatic end, demand immediate treatment by a friend whose inside knowledge of recent events from Lord Kitchener’s own point of view is second to none.” There is also a brief introductory note by Earl Haig on Lord Kitchener and the new army. The first of the three volumes covers the early years, the Sudan campaign and the period to 1900. Volume 2 completes the account of the Boer war and deals with India and Egypt. Volume 3 is wholly devoted to the world war and closes with a chapter summing up personal traits. Each volume is illustrated with portraits and maps and there is a full index.

“Sir George Arthur, it will be seen, leaves us with no real vision of either Kitchener or his work. But there is one characteristic which the unreality, the romantic haze, and all the clichés of this biography cannot conceal. Kitchener had a real simplicity and honesty of mind.” L. W.

“The book is good history but not light reading for hero-worshippers.”

“We have a genuine respect for the workmanship of this long-expected and interesting book, but it would be a mistake, we think, to ‘place’ it in the line of great biographies. And for a double reason. Kitchener was admittedly a two-sided man. Wanting the highest military talent, he was still the most conspicuous example since Wellington of the handy-man-soldier.... At the same time, he was capable of thinking and acting for her as a political and a moral force. But Sir George Arthur is the soldier pure and simple, and if politics talks to him at all, it speaks to him in the unsophisticated accents of the Guards’ mess. He is also an assiduous, if an extremely competent, hero-worshipper. There was no need for over-reverence about Kitchener. His character, built in the main on lines of simplicity, crossed with shrewd rather than subtle calculation, would well have borne a more detached view even of its excellencies than Sir George Arthur maintains.” H. W. M.

“The biography is presented with such vividness that the careful reader can discern the man apart from his work.”

“That Lord Kitchener served to the very limit of his powers is amply and nobly proved by these volumes. But they do not solve the deeper problem of the quality of his powers.” H. J. L.

“It is a plain, straightforward story of absorbing interest, told without hysteria, without malice, without criticism of others—differing so widely in this respect from the books of Lord French and Sir Ian Hamilton—but with sound judgment.” F. V. Greene

Reviewed by Archibald MacMechan

“Furnished as he is with a keen sense of proportion and a wide knowledge of men and things, possessor of a literary style which is at once graceful and trenchant, and having at his disposal much documentary matter which few besides himself have seen, he was equipped with special qualifications for undertaking this memoir of one of the foremost figures of our time when he accepted the task. But the very fact of his intimate association with his late chief has in certain directions proved a handicap.”

“Sir George is no doubt better fitted than any other to weigh without undue bias the character and achievements of this outstanding British military figure. His devotion to his chief is revealed throughout, but at the same time he exercises calmness in weighing his strength and weaknesses.”

“Here, with its element of mystery, is a great theme for a master-biography. Sir George Arthur’s three volumes are not that. He is an easy writer with a simple, unaffected style, who for the most part contents himself with a plain narrative of concrete facts. He has, too, something of the reserve of his subject, and when one gets to the difficult and contentious passages in the life he is apt to become general and elusive, a bad fault in a biographer. But Sir George Arthur has the great virtue of honesty with his subject.”

ASH, EDWIN LANCELOT.Problem of nervous breakdown. *$3.50 (4c) Macmillan 616.8

(Eng ed SG20–45)

In writing this book on nervous disorders the author has had in mind “the family doctor, the trained nurse, and the anxious relative,” and his main purpose has been “to review the problem as it affects the individual and as it concerns the state; to discuss the origin of the more common disorders, and to indicate in what direction it is possible for us to redress the balance in favour of nerve and efficiency.” (Foreword) The four parts of the book are: The origins of nervous breakdown; the varieties of nervous breakdown: The hygiene of nerve; and The breakdowns of war. There is an index.

“The subjects are discussed temperately and sanely. He has no fads and attacks none, though the field is large.”

“Dr Ash’s book is a timely warning of the dangers of emotionalism as well as an important contribution to the subject of neurasthenia, and it is so free from medical terms that it can be understood by all.”

“This is a commonsense work on a subject which is of universal interest.”

ASHFORD, DAISY (MRS JAMES DEVLIN).Daisy Ashford: her book. *$2 (2c) Doran

20–9783

A volume containing the remaining novels of the author of “The young visiters” together with “The jealous governes,” by Angela Ashford. Daisy Ashford’s works are: A short story of love and marriage; The true history of Leslie Woodcock; Where love lies deepest; The hangman’s daughter. They were all written before the author was fourteen. Angela Ashford’s offering, “The jealous governes, or The granted wish” was written by that young person at the age of eight. Irvin Cobb contributes an introduction to the American edition.

“We think that the author of ‘The young visiters’ has been unwise to respond to the greedy public’s desire for more. Her new book was bound to invite comparison with the other; it is not a patch on it.” K. M.

“Quite a tome in quantity compared to ‘The young visiters’ but except in the most childish efforts, not so happily naïve in quality.”

“Nothing is to be found either in Sir James Barrie’s introduction to ‘The young visiters,’ or in Mr Cobb’s tribute to the author of these tales, to show us that they believe in the identity of Daisy Ashford or in the claim that their humor is a juvenile product. In fact, at times both seem to be writing in jest more than earnest, or with a superficial seriousness that scarcely attempts to cover up the jest. Sex is the basis of the humor in all these stories, as it was in ‘The young visiters.’” E. F. E.

“None is in the same class with ‘The young visiters,’ though each has here and there a touch worthy of her best year, her tenth, her annus mirabilis.” Silas

“We doubt whether the book will repeat the success of its predecessor. It is hard to say why one doesn’t get as much out of it, but probably it is because a little of this sort of thing is amusing while a good deal palls.”

“These five stories, with their deeply romantic titles, contain enough to give the admirers of the earlier book many of the same thrills of pleasure and amusement.”

“The present writer would unhesitatingly say that it is upon the subjects of meals and packing and costume that ‘Daisy Ashford’ shines pre-eminently.”

“‘A short story of love and marriage’ and ‘The jealous governes’ have the truly original ring of the book that made Daisy Ashford’s name famous and her identity wondered at. But the longer efforts of the new volume are merely uninteresting stories amateurishly told. The charm of the precocious but still unsophisticated mind is gone.”

“None of the surviving products of Miss Daisy Ashford’s pen is quite up to the standard of ‘The young visiters.’ The longest, ‘The hangman’s daughter,’ contains some amusing passages, but it is a more ambitious work, written at a later age, and gives the effect of a burlesque of a ‘grown-up’s’ novel more than of a spontaneous efflorescence of childhood.”

ASHMUN, MARGARET ELIZA.Marian Frear’s summer. *$1.75 (3c) Macmillan

20–10729

Marian Frear and her mother live together on an isolated little farm on the lake shore. They have been very happy together and keep busily occupied with the vegetable garden that supplies their living. But Marian misses the companionship of other girls and the lack of educational opportunities troubles both mother and daughter. Then a happy family of young people comes to spend a summer on the lake. Marian learns to play with other young people and in the fall finds the desired way to education open to her.

“A cheerful, wholesome, natural story for girls.”

“The young people are simple and natural and the incidents are never strained to produce dramatic effects, but those who have lived in the country may feel that the absolute superiority of Marian and her mother to all their neighbors is exaggerated.”

ASLAN, KEVORK.Armenia and the Armenians from the earliest times until the great war (1914). *$1.25 Macmillan 956.6

20–1701

“In this little volume an Armenian historian gives a concise account of the rise and progress of his people, including the formation of Armenian royalty, the early religious ideas and customs, the conversion to Christianity, the dawn of Armenian literature, and finally the four centuries of bondage to the Turk. Many little-known facts have been gleaned from the somewhat obscure records of this long ill-treated people.” (R of Rs) “The work is translated from the original French by Pierre Crabites, whose introduction is an impassioned plea for Armenian independence.” (Dial)

“While at times the author seeks to present his nation in the most favorable light, as in the omission of any mention of the outrages perpetrated by the revolutionary societies at the close of the nineteenth century, his book is free from any attempt at propaganda. Unfortunately, this cannot be said of the preface written by M. Crabites.” D: Magie

“It is a concise and readable outline, giving not only the main currents of political development but also some information concerning economic and social organization.”

“Unlike most writings on the subject the history is stated in a matter of fact way free from propaganda.”

“There is grievous need of a map and almost equally of an index. But the book is good and solid, sober with historical sense and conscience.”

“A carefully prepared, though naturally sympathetic, history.”

ASQUITH, MRS MARGOT (TENNANT).Margot Asquith, an autobiography. 2v il *$7.50 Doran

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