THE END
NOVELS BY WILLIAM J. LOCKE
Jaffery
Crown 8vo. 6s.
Press Opinions
"'Jaffery' is certainly a novel on which the sun should shine. Mr. Locke has never written a better story than it contains, nor has he ever written anything in which there glowed more brightly his faith in human character.... It adds to the author's reputation without altering its character."—Standard.
"'Jaffery' will strengthen the hold Mr. Locke has on his great following. It is a better book than any of the last two or three he has given us. It has the advantage of telling a story. If 'Jaffery' does not 'boom' even as Adrian Boldero's stolen novel 'The Diamond Gate' 'boomed,' then will the effect of the war on fiction be greater than we deemed or have found it."—Daily Chronicle.
"The story is full of interest and incident, it has both pathos and humour, and all those romantic qualities always associated with Mr. Locke's work, and is written with all that characteristic charm of manner and joyous love of life which make his novels so welcome."—Globe.
"In 'Jaffery' Mr. Locke has given us one of the most engaging of his many engaging novels.... Presented wittily, gracefully, and with a fine romantical good humour, they enliven the world of fiction and of fact amazingly."—Observer.
"With 'Jaffery' one may forget everything else. The book bubbles over with the gaiety of life. Good-humoured, kindly natured, with its pleasant literary flavour and scintillating wit, it is a true Locke story of the first class."—Truth.
"Mr. Locke has added another humorous portrait to his already large gallery of fantastic creations.... Ras Fendihook is a miniature masterpiece, and we are forced to believe in Barbara, the shrewdly kind wife of the raisonneur."—Times.
Simon the Jester
Crown 8vo, 6s; also Popular Edition, Cloth, Crown 8vo, 1s net.
Press Opinions
W. L. COURTNEY inThe Daily Telegraph.—"You will not put down the book until you have read the last page. The story is not the main part of Mr. Locke's book. It is the style, the quality of the writing, the atmosphere of the novel, the easy pervasive charm ... which makes us feel once more the stirring pulses and eager blood of deathless romance."
Morning Post.—"We thoroughly recommend 'Simon the Jester,' and can promise an enjoyable time in the company of the miscellaneous assortment of people from all ranks and classes who dance through its pages to Mr. Locke's many tunes."
Standard.—"It is much the best of his sentimental stories, without forgetting for an instant the illiterate Carlotta and the gushing Paragot; the writing of it has a style, a grace, that owes something to the immortal author of 'Sylvestre Bonnard' and 'M. Bergeret à Paris'."
The Beloved Vagabond
Crown 8vo, 6s; also Popular Edition, Cloth, Crown 8vo, 1s net.
Press Opinions
Morning Post.—"It would not be surprising if 'Beloved Vagabond' became the favourite novel of the season.... This fantastic and enlivening book."
Truth.—"Certainly it is the most brilliant piece of work Mr. Locke has done."
Daily Telegraph.—"Mr. Locke, who has a happy gift for characterisation, and who writes in the easy cultured style of the scholar, has been quite successful in delineating his hero."
Liverpool Courier.—"'The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne' was emphatically the book of a year. It was irresistible. 'The Beloved Vagabond' is in many respects a better book. Mr. Locke is an artist in method and in style. English so distinguished and so unaffected as he employs is a refreshment to the reader, and the spirit of the tale, with its beautiful, touching and mellow humanity, its wisdom and its poetry, is deeply impressive. It is a memorable book."
Globe.—"Mr. Locke's novel abounds in delightful dialogue."
The Glory of Clementina Wing
Crown 8vo, 1s; also Popular Edition, Cloth, Crown 8vo, 1s net.
Press Opinions
Times.—"Mr. Locke is a master of many spells."
Daily Telegraph.—"Mr. Locke may feel assured that both Clementina and Quixtus will become favourites with his readers, and that neither the rough idiosyncracies of Clementina, nor the amiable fatuity of Dr. Quixtus, will readily pass into the limbo of forgotten things."
MR. JAMES DOUGLAS,Star.—"The best novel Mr. Locke has written since he produced his masterpiece, 'The Beloved Vagabond.' Into it he has poured all his powers ... the story is a real story with a real plot, real human beings, real human emotions, and a real development of character. The story holds you from start to finish. You cannot lay it down. And over that story there is a perpetual play of that airy humour and fantastic gaiety with which Mr. Locke alone among living novelists knows how to enchant his readers."
Daily Chronicle.—"The tale is a very good thing indeed, one worthy and truly characteristic of an author who is reaping a golden harvest of appreciation, well deserved. 'The Glory of Clementina Wing' is very enjoyable. It runs trippingly throughout, and in characterisation, style, and dialogue deserves the laurels."
Globe.—"Clementina is a real triumph for Mr. Locke. He has certainly never drawn a more living character, or one whose charm is more certain. It is not necessary to emphasise the individuality of Mr. Locke's style and treatment. His latest effort is characteristically felicitous and unconventional in outlook, and possesses much of the poetry of virile romance.... A delightful work."
Sunday Times.—"With that style of his that is at once so fastidious and so charming, so illusive and so easy, Mr. Locke sets out the tale of his Quixtus's misfortunes, and in the meantime paints a very engaging portrait of this student-solicitor."
Observer.—"Mr. Locke's best ... Clementina Wing and Dr. Quixtus are the two most adorable characters that Mr. Locke has ever brought together in holy wedlock.... The phrases are Locke's most debonairly witty."
Eye-Witness.—"A very soothing, charming, and sparkling piece of work."
Truth.—"Of all adventures into the realms of fantastic fiction there is none quite so daring, certainly none so much at home, as Mr. Locke. The novel will add to its writer's reputation."
Evening Times.—"In this work Mr. Locke gets back to the irresponsible joyousness of 'The Beloved Vagabond,' and he will add by it countless numbers to his host of admirers. In no book of his do we have more admirable characterisation of eccentric persons...."
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol
With Illustrations by ALIC BALL. Crown 8vo, 6s; also Popular Edition Cloth, Crown 8vo, 1s net.
Press Opinions
Pall Mall Gazette.—"At all times he is the best of company, and he will rank among the best and most charming of Mr. Locke's creations. 'The Joyous Adventures' will add greatly to the author's fame, for rare indeed is literary work of such colour and vivacity."
Clarion.—"It is a grand book this. A jolly, delightful book, for though a tear gleams here and there, the great characteristic of the book is laughter. A most audacious book, a most enchanting book, and such a perfectly fascinating hero."
Globe.—"'Aristide Pujol' is one of Mr. Locke's happiest creations."
Bystander.—"I could say much more about this engaging and delicious and fairy-hearted book had I room, but, as I have already said, criticism is not wanted. Aristide Pujol will make friends wherever he goes."
Outlook.—"It leaves us the richer for a friend."
Tatler.—"For a really humorous, whimsical story let me recommend 'The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol.' It will even put a pessimist in exceeding good humour with himself and the world at large. We have laughed and we have cried, and most of us will, I fancy, have found a new friend."
Sketch.—"The oft-repeated word 'brilliant' seems still the one word possible."
Scotsman.—"The book is one of Mr. Locke's best."
Sunday Times.—"Any novel reader with any taste for the fantastic will revel in these truly 'Joyous Adventures'."
Vanity Fair.—"Written with rare distinction and charm 'The Adventures of Aristide Pujol' have anallureand a fascination all their own; they are quite the best work Mr. Locke has done since he described the wanderings of another Frenchman, Paragot, 'the beloved vagabond'."
Onlooker.—"Here we have this delightful writer at his brightest."
Birmingham Daily Post.—"A wholly delightful creation."
Court Journal.—"One of the cheeriest, brightest, and most delightful books of the season."
Academy.—"Aristide Pujol is a creation of genius."
Referee.—"Aristide Pujol indeed is irresistible."
BY A. NEIL LYONS
Kitchener Chaps
Cloth, Crown 8vo, 1s net.
Press Opinions
Times.—"Mr. Neil Lyons writes as the friend and observer of the new army.... Mr. Lyons ... is a master of cockney humour.... As to nearly everything that Mr. Lyons' 'cockneys' say we have an instinctive feeling that it is exactly right."
Morning Post.—"It is, on the one side, an antidote to the sentimental and mawkish, and on another a supplement to what may be called the purely professional soldier tale. It should be widely read."
Outlook.—"A writer who in such times as these sets out to make us laugh—and succeeds in his amiable intent—deserves praise."
Sunday Times.—"Here you will say is the very man to take down the talk of the humbler members of Lord Kitchener's Armies, and you will be right. You will laugh heartily over ... 'Kitchener Chaps.'"
Evening Standard.—"These stories are excellently conceived and artistically executed. There is no sense of anti-climax about them ... for side-shaking merriment the veracious history of 'Private Blood' will not soon be forgotten."
Daily Express.—"Mr. Neil Lyons' sketches of the recruits in the new army are splendid humorous and human pen pictures, almost the first genuine literature that the war has produced."
Tatler.—"And when you have finished it and read many of the sketches a second time, as you will want to do, send it anywhere, where there is a soldier."
Arthur's.
The Romance of a Coffee Stall
Crown 8vo, Cloth, 1s net; also Library Edition, Crown 8vo, 6s.
Press Opinions
Times.—"Very pretty comedy ... not only a very entertaining and amusing work, but a very kindly and tolerant work also. At the back of it is understanding and love of life, and that most admirable frame of mind for an artist, the live-and-let-live temperament."
Morning Post.—"An outspoken and withal a kindly work, allowing a power of clear observation, and an interesting and unusual milieu in which to display it."
Manchester Guardian.—"'Arthur's' can cordially be recommended.... Mr. Lyons seems to have the animating gift as well as the seeing eye, and a kindly humour in selection and treatment brings out the light and warmth of the stall rather than its flare and smell."
Daily Chronicle.—"Arthur and his cronies will live among the Londoners of fiction beside the bargees of Mr. Jacobs and the inmates of 'No. 5 John Street.'"
Sixpenny Pieces
Third Edition, Crown 8vo, 6s.
Press Opinions
Evening Standard.—"'Sixpenny Pieces' is as good as 'Arthur's.' ... For a book full of laughter and tears and bits innumerable that one feels impelled to read aloud, 'Sixpenny Pieces' would be very hard indeed to beat."
Standard.—"It is a book that no one can afford to neglect. Both as literature and as life its appeal is irresistible."
Morning Post.—"Mr. Neil Lyons is a shrewd, penetrating, and sympathetic observer of the lives of the poor. Two of the most delightful characters we have met in fiction."
Pall Mall Gazette.—"It is pure, fast, sheer life, salted with a sense of humour; and the reader is sure of being lured as cunningly from sixpenny bit to sixpenny bit."
Cottage Pie
A Country Spread
Third Edition, Crown 8vo, 6s.
Times.—"Marked with the humour and grip with which Mr. Lyons visualizes an episode, and by his remarkable power of transcribing the talk of the less educated classes of the community."
Clara
Some Scattered Chapters in the Life of a Hussy
Crown 8vo, 6s.
Pall Mall Gazette.—"It is doubtful whether since Dickens anyone has caught so exactly, and presented to us so artistically as Mr. Lyons, the sharp shrewd wit and the rich though acrid humour of the London gutter."
Simple Simon.
His Adventures in the Thistle Patch
With 8 Illustrations by G. E. Peto. Crown 8vo, 6s.
Outlook.—"A rollicking sense of fun, an almost unbearable seriousness, a keen observation, a kind heart, and a genius entirely his own are among Mr. Neil Lyons' assets for writing."
Moby Lane and Thereabouts
A Sussex Confection
Crown 8vo, 6s.
BY FORD MADOX HUEFFER
The Good Soldier
Crown 8vo, 6s.
Press Opinions
Daily News and Leader.—"And when one has come to the end of this beautiful and moving story, it is worth while reading the book over again simply to observe the wonders of its technique ... indeed this is a much, much better book than any of us deserve."
Observer.—"So absorbing that one has the puerile itch to look at the end.... There are not three people in England who could have told it, or two who could have told it just that way."
Globe.—"This book is going to add enormously to Mr. Hueffer's reputation as a novelist. It is ... an amazingly clever psychological study ... it is a novel that is going to be read."
Daily Telegraph.—"There is the excellent writing, the play of imagination, the delicate attention to character that holds the mind in all his best work."
Sunday Times.—"Mr. Ford Madox Hueffer is a literary artist with a big future before him ... it is extremely effective and magnificently true."
Outlook.—"This novel ... is amazingly well written."
Truth.—"The story is told with such astonishing artfully artless naturalness that it absorbs you from the first page to the last."
Evening Standard.—"It is ... among the very best he has turned out yet ... of Mr. Ford Madox Hueffer's many new veins, this would seem one of the richest."
Love-Birds in the Coco-Nuts
By PETER BLUNDELL.
Author of "The Finger of Mr. Blee."
Crown 8vo, 6s.
Press Opinions
Daily Telegraph.—"It is pleasant indeed at a time of severe trial, such as the present, to be able to take up a book that shall compel relaxation of a thoroughly healthy kind, that shall in our hours off duty provide such entertainment as is the most delightful and refreshing diversion, ... Ferdinard Fernandez ... is one of the most humorous people whom we have encountered in recent fiction.... To all who seek fresh and hearty amusement Mr. Peter Blundell's new story may be confidently commended."
Morning Post.—"The story ... is not merely amusing ... it appeals to the imagination and the feelings in other ways."
SIDNEY DARK in theDaily Express.—"This is a delightfully amusing book, the story of life somewhere or other in the Malay Peninsula, with irresistible light comedy in almost every chapter."
Pall Mall Gazette.—"Mr. Blundell continues to prove himself as true in his humour as he is surprising in his inventiveness.... The book has an exuberance of good humour."
Evening Standard.—"'Love-birds in the Coco-nuts' is an extraordinary book, about extraordinary people.... The author has real originality, a style and humour all his own, and a background for his story practically untouched by novelists."
Scotsman.—"The story is managed with a rare ability.... The book cannot but be enjoyed by any reader who likes a new and natural touch of irresponsible humour."
OTHER NEW NOVELS
Mrs. Barnet-Robes
By Mrs. C. S. PEEL, author of the "Hat-Shop." Crown 8vo, 6s.
Outlook.—"With insight and tenderness and courage, Mrs. Peel has written one of the most charming and at the same time most living of stories.... It is stamped with truth and is very beautifully told."
The Titan
By THEODORE DREISER. Crown 8vo, 6s.
WILLIAM J. LOCKE in thePall Mall Gazette.—"It is a memorable book, written by one saturated with knowledge of his own national life."
The Auction Mart
By SYDNEY TREMAYNE. Crown 8vo, 6s.
Sunday Times.—"Mr. Sydney Tremayne is a newcomer among English novelists, but it is a sure and certain thing that he has come to stay.... He has wit, humour, and the knack of telling a story. He should go far."
The Jealous Goddess
By MADGE MEARS. Crown 8vo, 6s.
Merry-Andrew
By KEBLE HOWARD. Crown 8vo, 6s.
JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, W.