The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 28, 1897, Page 23

1 i i | | AT———— THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 28, 1897. 23 Wiiliam Joseph ew York. Price lifam Doxey, Palace A WOMAN’S COUR Yeoman. Stone & Ki For sale by City. he famous forty conspiracy of 1696, which had for its object the assassination of William 111 of Eugland and the replacing of James IT on the throne, is el of this historical tale. Around this central fact are grouped & number of inseresting incidents of adventure and love wherein history mingles with ro- mance. The descriptions of some of the men and women prominent in that period are viy- | 1dly done give history a stronger hold upon our The book has attracted considerab ice in England. hor b th of which received high praise. The “King William the Third,” which the prominent literary papers com- mended as having all the attractiveness of Sir | ‘Walter Scott’s historical novels. His second venture was a book of poems, which so good an authority as Gladstone indorsed by writing | that he was very sensible of the gits display it. Mr. Yeoman is & lawyer, but divides his time with literature. Until recently he was writing leaders for the Liverpool Daily Courier, and he is a frequent contributor to other journals and magazines in England He is an athlete, and to thisand to the fact thet he spent most of his boyhood in an out- door life on the Scottish border and in Wales is doubtless to be attributed the style of nar- rative which he delights to tell Feats of ngth and courage and wild adventures ymen, duelling and such have an atfon for him, and he has the micate this to his reader. index to his feelings in this matter may pe, perhaps, found in the following words from his book: “Yet I must not be taken to cry down feats of arms and the like. God forbid! 1t will be an ill day for our country when ner sons are all clerks, and might of limb and valor only to be read of in the works of the scribes.” The title is derived from Sir John Tolbot's having been sent by his sister as a courler to warn her lover that he was suspected of plot- ting sgeinst the King’s life, and as a result of this quest all the stirring events. of the tale follow. Sir John himseif suspects that his sister’s betrothed is & traitor to the King he loves and honors, but because of his affection for his sister he persists in his disagreeable and dangerous undertaking, and he thus gets en ight into the whole villainous plot. The book contains some surprises and it is best not 10 risk spoiling the reader’s interest and pleas- ure in perusing the exciting narrative by giv- ing too full an outline of it here. Among the prominent personages described are the Duke of Shrewsbury, borough, Sarah Jennings, Prince George of Hesse, King William and Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester, who was the mistress of King James IL There is a description of the litterateurs: at Will's coffee-house, and emong them Dryden. In style the book has the strength of simplicity, and its perasal will be founa both entertaining and valuable as fixing history more vividly in the memors. The following description of King William the Third 1s & good example of what the writer cando: “Inow had a good opportun- ity of observing the workings of this wonder- ful man's will—and of witnessing the power of control he was reputed to possess over emo- tions naturally strong and passions which most people would have found absolutely un- governable. «Never did T behold kim to greater advan- tage, end never did Irealize more how the in- aividual was merged in the monarch than on this occasion. “Instead of & frail, sensitive, ailing crea- ture—a puny invalid—I saw before me & calm, cold, impassive machine—s thing of adamant, impervious to sentiment; and apparently do- void of the usual feelings of fear and rage which are supposed to dominate our kind. Cool, calculating and reserved in manner, he sat there — contrasiing strangely with the feverish anxiety and excitement of those sbout him, “And as I watched my blood rushed wildly, and my p s throbbed aloud with admira- tion. For 1 experienced his dominating in- finence, and knew how much he towered above usall.” TALE OF THE LAND OF THE TSAR. THE GREEN BOOK—Ey Maurice Jokal. Har- er Broihers, New Yorl rice $1 50, For sale y A. M. Robertson, Post street, City. A thoroughly good story, translated into Eng lish reading so smoothly and strongly that we seel confident it has lost little in its transfer from another language, is this novel by a Rus- sian, illustrative of life in Ho'yRussia and the traits characteristic of its people. The green book from which the title of the story is taken isa sort of register supposed to be kept by the Russians who are conspiring revolution] aud which contains a record of the confer- ences in every distant province and lists of the names of conspirators. The scene is laid mainly in St Petersburg and in the time of the reign of Alexander L named Pushkin is betoved by the prima donns, Zeneida Iimarine, but inasmuch as she 15 the chief conspirator she drives him away from her to keep his life from danger. At the command of the Tsar he engages himself to Sophie Narishkin, the Tsavs illegitimate deughter. With the surroundings of such a country of deep secrets and severe condemna- tions, and with love, patriotism, ambition and terror making the various motives for his Ccharacters, it is easy to_imagine that this able writer has built a thritling tale. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. Leaving the cases containing special letters of great men from those in which are pre- served miscellaneous manuscripts, the visiter is simply dazed by the extent and value of the collection. The department contains more than 9000 volumes of manuscripts written in Oriental languages, and each one is eithera rare work in itself or a representative of & particular type. Thers are more than & bhundred anclent Grbek, Cop- tic and Latin papyri, and 40,000 other volumes of various kinds. While most of these are interesting only to the scholar, many of the Oriental exhibits have a peculiar inter- est for the merely curious visitor. One Pali manuscript is engraved in beautiful charac- terson twenty-five leaves of silver. Another 1s written on lacquered palm leaves with in- 1aid letters of mother-of-pearl. Another ison @ sheet of gold, and others on ivory. The favorite material for this class of manuscripts 15 palm leaves and some of the yolumes con- sist o1 several hundred such leaves bouna in covers of ivory.—From Lippincott’s Magazine, AN ACADIAN ROMANCE. THE FORGE IN THE FOREST—By Charles G. D. Roberts. Lamson, Wolfle & Co., Soston, New York and London. Price $150. For sale by A. M. Roberison, Post street, City. Nova Scotia, during the trying time of its early domination by the English, while the population was mainly French, is the scene of this well-told story of adventure and love. The bold ranger, Jean de Mer, relates the inci- dents in the first person. He is a French gen- tleman who had been the owner of large es- tates now confiscated Dy the English, and be plays the role of blacksmith to con- ceal his identity, while his former ten- ants, who love him, chivalrously pay him rents &s if no English rule existed. His son Marc is the Dhero of the KoLy, s produced two books before | A good | Lord Marl- | A Russian poet | | and interesting complications and adventures follow from his falling in love with an Eng- lish girl, and from ks arousing the enmity of | a plotting priest called the Black Abbe. The | | machinations of this scheming, revengeful and powerful churchman, who has & com- meanding influence over the Indians, and whom the French leaders are compelled to use as & tool, throws a sort of fascinating dread | over the reader while at ihe same time excit- ing sympathy for the lovers and for tne brave men he seeks to entrap, Marc comes very near being made the victim of & plot to get him ex- | ecuted asaspy. There is & well-narrated epi- | sode of an estrangement and a reconciliation. | The description of the great woods and the | rivers, canoes and savages of Acadie are ex- | | cellent, and the love of the brave ranger and | | the fair English girl is sweet to read about. | There are 8 number of spirited illustrations. SPEAKING TROPICALLY. | THE HAPPY HYPOCRITE, By Max Beer bohm. John Lane, the Bodley Head. New | York and London. . Price, 35 cents. | | This truly brilliant little allegory, which is called ““A Fairy Tale for Tired Men,” is worth ading for its wit aloue, and eliminating the [ wit, the exquisitely beautiful seriousness | whicn the autnor half conceals with a sem. | blauce of the most careless levity, would make | the artistic booklet & rare bit of master work- | manship. Add to these two excellencies the wonderfully taught lesson of life the figura- tive story conveys with such refreshingly | unique grace, and the trinity of charms con- | densed into so small & space makes & surpass- & treat for heart and brain. If it is not large enough to be called a literary feast, it is cer- tainly a mostdelicious literary lunch. We are | told ‘in & humorous way that excels in airy | lightness of how the dissolute Lord George | | Hell masks his evil face for love of Jenny Mere, and saying “Lord George Hell is dead,” signs his name to the marriage certificate as Lord George Heaven. In the art of telling a fairy tale for grown folks Max Beerbohm has here reached a per- fection which deserves a crown of roses, and ho takes the cake and champagne of life for- everif he continues such meritorious story- teliing and gets his deserts. If the effectof literature on life is potent as it should be, this | parable put before the world with superlative | | cleverness and grace may well start many an- other Lord George Hell on the way to becom- | ing another Lord George Heaven; and many | | another sweet Jenny Mere, after inspiring a | transformation in her lover, may find there a happy suggestion that perhaps she ean con- tinue to love on even after the mask of her happy hypocrite Is torn away and the confl- dence. of love hides nothing. Manyare the ways in which the heart is reached, and this witty tale may be read by some who would never heed a sermon. BY A CALIFORNIAN POET. In the current Scribner’s the Californian poet, Charles Edwin Markham, has a notable piece of work which he calls “A Look Into the Gult.” It is an unusual and powerful plece of poetic imagery, sueh as this writer often gives. In it he has made Semiramis, the ancient Queen of Nineveh, stand for the picture of all hfo built up upon the desire of self, gone to pieces in the awful wreck of time, yet beating on after death in the terrible fuifillment of its choice in life. “A LOOK INTO THE GULF.” | 11ooked one night, and thece Semiramts, With all her mourning doves about her head, Sat rocking on an ancient road to hell, Withered and eyeless, chanting to the moon Soatches of song they sang to her of old TUpon the Lighted roofs of Nineveh. And then her voice rang out with rattling Irigh: | “ The bugles they are crying back again— | Buzles that broke the nights of Babylon, And then went crylng on through Nineveh. Stana back, ye trembling messengers of fli, 1 rush out with my hair unbound to quelt Tnsurgent citles. Let the iron tread Of armies shaxe th> earth. Look, lofty towers Assyria goes by upon the wind.” And sosie babbles by the ancient road, While citles turned to dust upon the earth Rise through her whirling brain 10 live again— Babbles all night, and when her voice s dead Her weary lips beat on without a sound. | A REFERENCE-BOOK. THE COLLEGE YEAR BOOK—Compfled and | edited by Edwin Emerson Jr. Stone & Kimball, New York. This well-bound volume is an alphabetical catalogue and description of all American universities, colleges and schools of learning qualified to confer collegiate degrees. In the selcotion and rejection of material for the book the editor was directed by the standards set by the Federal Burewu of Education at Washington. It contains very comcise in. formation about all these places of learning— their history, equipment, endowment, degrees and instruction, tuition, scholarships and aid societies and publications, lists of the officers, | etc. There isa1so a complete athletic record | and & copious index. STORY OF REGRETTED ERROR. KITTY THE RAG—By Rita. R.F. Renno & Co., | New York. Price, $1 25. Rita has given an elaborate portrayal of the effect of a single false step upon a proud and noble being. There are some passages in the book whica approach t0o closely the grandilo- | quent and thus lose much force upon the feel ings of the reader. “Kitty the Rag” is a clever character study. The priest in the siory gives a brief outline of such a nature when he said” to her: “I know that want, that restless craving for something better, easier, sensuous and self-satisfying. You have the woman soul. Pray heaven it may not lead you into error as it hes led so many.” Some of the sermonizing is done with considerable ¥ o1 langnage, WIT AND HUMOR. TALES FROM TOWN TOPICS—Town Toples Publishing Company, New York. Price 50 ::e.:z;x. korsale by A. M. Robertson, Post street, Some of the choicest smile-producers have been selected irom Town Topics and em- bodied in this volume of 250 pages. The best thing in it is a novelette by Joanna E. Wood, called “A Martyr to Love.”” There are & great number of short storics, humorous and satirical sketches, poems, comic verses, skits, burlesques and jokes possessing that brevity which is the soul of wi BAD BOY’S ADVENTURES. THE GEORGIE PAPERS—By George Iilustrated by himself. Published by the J. S. Ogilvie Publishing Company, New York. In the Georgie Papers the author has col- lected & numper of sketches that he originally sold to & New York syndicate and which have been published in dafly and weekly papers. 1t is an excellent antidote for the blues and a splendid book on which to spend a bad hour or more. 1t is somewhat on the style of “Peck’s Bad Boy,” but it is sufficiently uew and original to be interesting. st s it 4 TALE OF THE ARMY. FORT FRAYNE—By Captain Charles King, U. 8. A.: pus lished by ¥. Teunyson Neely of Chicago and New York, «Fort Frayne” is adapted from the drama of the samo name which was written by the uthor in collaboration with Evylyn Greenleat ls-muund and Emma V. Sheridan Fry. This E. Booram. 1s the first edition of the work in paper. WILLIAM JOSEPH YEOMAN. NS NN NN R N A AR IR WU e went through nine editions in cloth binding | and the edition of 10,000 was entirely out of | Skweers wrote to the novelist from & country in one vear. “Fort Frayne” isan interesting story of army life charmingly told. ABOUT BOOKBINDING. If the statement were made &t random that the book-printing houses and binderies of New York have the capacity to produce 100,- 000 first-class library volumes per week, it would be taken as an extravagance. It would be within the truth, nevertheless. Another 100,000 of ordinary schoolbooks, or the cheaply made volumes for departmentstore trade, could be added to these figures, and still there would be no interference with the | regular output of briefs, tracts, patent medi- cine almanacs and the like, Which scarcely line under the head of book printing, says the L | New York Times. The trade or art of bookmaking has devel- oped 83 rapidly and reached such stupendous proportions that there is no such thing as keeving a statistical record of it. Compared to newspaper making, it is still slow business, but the binderies of the United States have reached a point where they are able to pro- duce every book that is required for the trade of the American continent, good, bad and 1n- ifferent. Book publishers are looking forward to the time when importations will cease, except, of course, in the matter of special editions, an- tiquated or rare volumes. They are demon- strating every day that they can meet the highest requirements of the domestic trade, both as regards quality and number. If books are produced more cheaply anywhere in the world than here, it is because labor is paid less. It s not because there are better equipped establishments abroad than in this country. Binding is the slow part of the bookmaking trade. . I has appeared to come toward per- fection much more leisurely than printing. Even with the latest improvements in ma- chinery a great deel of the work has to be done by hand. Another explanation is that the work in a bindery has to go through cer- tain processes which machinery eannot burry, The drying, pressing and turning and the fitting of backs are comparatively slow operations at best. Where different colors are used on the covers & day or more must be al- lowed for one to dry before the next is put on. In comparison with the speed of printing, the binding of books is & slow process; yet in the aggregate of a week's production the result is surprisingly large. American penius 1s to be credited with the modern bookbinding machinery, but England has always stood first in the superiority of hand binding—perhaps does to-day—but shie has had to come to the United States for ma- | chinery with which to keep her bindery equip- ments abreast with the developments of the time. In this particular, as in the pro- duction of printing presses, America leads the world. It is often commented on s & peculiar fact that Germany, which invented printing, lags behind France, England and the United States in the produc- tion of books; that is, in artistic covers and g00d binding. France has been at the front in the matter of taste and finish, but bas never equaled England in the strengthand general excelience of binding. Neither coun- try equals the United States in the develop- ment of facilities. It is not too much to that for speed and general effectiveness the United States leads all nations. There are over 100 bookbinderies in New York, and nearly half the number are equipped with appliances for the highest class of work. The capacity of these binderies 1s wonderful, Thére is an instance on record where & New York publishing-house—and not the largest—took an order on Monday for & cloth-covered 12mo volume of 350 pages and actually shipped 2000 copies of the book on the following Wednesday. The type was set (by machinery) for the entire 350 pages before work stopped Monday night. Electrotype plates were made 80 rapidiy thet on Tuesday morning several printing presses were set in motion. In the meantime covers were being made in the bindery and by Wednesday morn- ing the binders had the book in hand. Two the way before Saturday night. While the type-setting and presswork seem remarkable, the craftsmen nnderstand that the bindery is entitled to the greatest praise. The largest bindery here has & capacity of 10,000 books per day. When an establish- ment reaches a production of 1000 or more books per day it means that the folding and sewing are done entirely by machinery. It is | possible to attain any speed that may be de- | sired in the production of books where a plain paver cover is called for. Cloth covering comes next. In the manipulation of leather bind- ing more time is required. For the better ciass of library books it is seldom & question of speed, but always one of skilled workman- ship, good meterial and carefl handling in all departments Cloth binding is a modern product. It was made necessary by the growing demand for medium-priced books—something better than paper but less expensive than leather. The use of cloth admits of speed and places a very serviceable quality of book within the reach of persons ot moderate means, The extensive use of machinery in the book- binding of the present aay involves capital, whereas under the old method of handwork the outlay in this department of bookmsking was trifling compared to the cost of type and printing machinery. It takes 8 good many thousand dollars to fit up a bindery {n these times, and the old- fashioned workman, though possessed of smazing skill, 18 driven out by houses which are competing for business. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say. that he is driven to takeshelter in the big concerns which have the means 1o ada high-priced mechanical ap- pliances to his talent. The New York publishers say that the im- portation of books is declining year by year. It is not difficult to see that it will cease, practically speaking, in the near fuwure. Po- lttical economists in this country, the book men say, must find immense satisfaction in the fact which has veen demonstrated that the binderies of the Unitea States already have the capacity to produce all the books that are required on this continent. NOVELISTS’ CHARACTERS. The trouble that novelists have with the proper names of their characters is aptly illustrated by a story of Hall Calne when at work on “The Christian” (Appleton’s). While yisiting the country home of his publisher he made a call at ex- President Clove- land’s cottage, not far from which is 'a small burging-ground of the colonial days. Caine went in for the purpose of seeing if he coula not find a name suitable for the hero of his new book, which was in an ad- vauced stage, but the leading character of which had not been christened. On a aflapidated tombstone he found the name “Storm,” which he remembered having once before seen in an English graveyard, an instantly the hero was named *John Storm.” The story has a sequel which is almost too sealistic to be other than apocryphal, but, as it is told, & few days after Caine had settied on the name he was in Hamilton, Canads, when the door ot the carriage in which he was seated was abruptly opened by a stalwart man, Who, seeing he had made a wistake, closed it with & bang. *By an uncontrollable impulse” Caine asked his name, and was promptly told “John Stor: Whether tne story be true or false does not matter much, but if the former, Caine isnot the only novelist who had the good or 11 fortune, as the event proved, of meeting in the flesh people whose names he had utilized without perhaps the Zaintest knowledge of their existence. Dickens took no end of pmins in the selection of his names, endeavoring not only to secure such names as exactly fitted the characters he had sketched, but aito to choose those which had no living representatives. In spite of his caution, however, he was ocoa- sionally taken to task f{or what the owner of the name regarded as an unwarrantable 1iberty with his cognomen. Not long after the appearance of *Nicholas Nickleby,” a family of Nicklebys was discovered in London, and a I‘lmoumnl volumoes viere Gomploted Wt day, | 1W MODILA 1aieT 4 GOAIIGIAR by the Dams of district of England to protest against the use of his name, which he had recognized even in the disguised spelling of the story-teller. So odd were some of the names fitted by Dickens to his creations, that it has frequently been supposed the names as much as the characters were of his own devising. Sometimes they were, but after a number of very respectable Chuzzlewits rose up in wrath at their name Deing taken in vain the creation theors was practically abandoned. To a far greater ex- tent than among the English writers, the French novelists and dramatists are compelled to mannfacture their names, for the French laws strictly forbid the employment, either on stage or in story, of the name of a living indi- ual who objects to its use {n that way, The ‘rench author is therefore obligea in self- defense to rely on his imagination, and even when doing so he ruus the risk of getting into trouble, for only a few years ago a French play, in which the leading character was a convict who was designated by his prison number, fell under the ban of the censor, who compelied the authorand manager to change the number of the felon, because an ex-convict, who while serving his term had been known by that num- ber, objected to its use as personally offensive to himself. This may seem like straining a point, but in France law islaw, and even an ex-convict has rights which novelists and dramatists are bound to respect. The fathers of dramatic composition could bring public men on the stage by name and satirize their actlons, mimic their language and even copy their peculiarities of countenance, attitude and gait, but the sons must be careful. Bal- zac manufsctured the greater part of his names, but even that fact did mot save him from trouble, and he was on more than one occasion annoyed by finding that he had unwittingly made & name and created a char- acter, bott of which fitted, as though made to order, some irascible fellow.Gaul. The Chuz- zlewits and the Nicklebys and the Fagans of London relished no more than the Cleons of Athens the use of their names by imaginative writers, and it is quite likely that after Caine hears from the Storm fimily he will wish he hed gone further back into antiquity for a name to bestow on his hero. THE FLAG OF THE HELLENES. (Blue and White.) Fly, O our Flag, across the foam, ‘White angel ’twixt blue depth and height; From heart to heart, from home to home, From Greeco to where her children fight. Tell thou our brothert not more fast Stand their eternal rocks than they; The future presses back the past And night is hastening to the day. Take thou our love to those dear hills Where soul of man was yet ne’er cowed; Where & Greek hand a Greek land tills, Where chalns are worn but heads unbowed; ‘Where still the self-same fight is fought That once our fathers fought and won When they the whole world’s freedom bought Upon thy sands, O Marathon| Our fathers—e’en the same that gave The equal clasp of hand and hand ‘Who scorned the earthward bending slave, ‘And bade the man in manhood stand. Fly, O our Flag, since thou canst fly man’s unconquered spirit, freel ‘Each sea-bird thou, against the sky, And thou esch sail upon the sea. E. MARTINENGO CESARESEO. —The Spectator. MARK TWAIN'S EARLY LIFE. Amid surroundings, says Charles Miner Thompson in his article on Mark Twain in the April Atlantic, which were curiously Ameri- can, if not ecially apt to nourish literary genius, Mark Twain, ““a zood-hearted boy,"” says his mother, but one who, although “a great boy for history,” could never be persuaded to g0 to school, spent a boyhood which, it ap- pears, was ‘‘a series of mischievous adven- tueh’ Whon ba WeA 12 yeass 0ld Risfaiher died and the circumstances of his mother were lluuh that he had 10 go to work as printer's ap- prentice in the office of the Hannibal Weekly Courfer. “I can see,” he said once at & printers’ banquet in New York, “that print- ing office of prehistoric times yet, with its horse bills on the walls; its ‘@’ boxes clogged | with tallow, because we always stood the candle in the ‘&’ box nights; its towel, which was never considered soiled until it could stand alone.” For three years e worked in this delectable establishment, and thew, at the age of 15, ran away from home sp- parently without a penny of money. Until he was 20 or thereabouts he seemed to have wandered through the eastern half of the country as & tramp printer. Then, suddenly changing his vocation, he became a pilot on the Mississippi River. Five years later, the railroads and the Civil War ving made piloung an impossible oc- cupation, he enlisted as a three months’ volunteer in the Confederate army, and was captured, but succeeded in escaping from the tobacco warehouse in St. Louls, where he was held prisoner. He fled 1o the West, the West of Bret Harte, swarming with adventurers, with whom the fashionable or- naments of the day were “an eight-inch re- volver, an Arkansas toothpick and jack boots.” As miner, journalist and lecturer he led a rough and impecunious life in Nevada and Californis, until in 1867 he published his first story, “The Jumping Frog of Cala- veras,” and sailed by way of Panama to New York. A littie later he jound the opportunity to go to Europe and the Hely Land asa newspaper correspondent, and so obtained the material for his “Inno- cents Abroad.”” After many difficulties and with much misgiving, the book was finaily published. The next morning Mark Twain, then 34 years old, awoke like Byron to find himselt famous. HERE AND THERE. Dr. Nansen has been unanimously momi- nated as professor of zoology at the Christiania University. The Churchm: has lost its editor, the Rey. ‘paper from small beginn ings. Thelife of the late Lord Tennsson, by his son, the present Lord Tennyson, is finished and on the press of the Macmillan Company. It wilt be pubii-hed on October 6, in two 1args volumes, illustrated. A new one-volume edition of Boswell’s «Johnson,” now preparing in London under he editorship of Percy Fitzgerald, is to have | afeature unknown hitherto in the literature | of the subject. There is tobe s biographigal dictionary of all the names mentioned 1n the “Life.” M. Osirfs hasannounced that on the oceasion | of the Paris Exposition in 1900 he will give & | prize of 100,000 francs for the best book which treats on arts, industry or publie util- ity. The Parisian Prass Syndicate is to be the { judge. Have the gods of the Egyptians come | t0lite agata? Of Dbooks recently ssued by the Century Company ‘Quotations for Occasions,” by Katherine B. Wood, and “Somny,” by Ruth McEnery Stuart, have gome into third edi- tions. Second editions of ““Without Preju- dice” and of “The Catand the Cherub” have just been issued. The Russlan authorities have placed upon their list of prohibited books Leroy Beaulieu's «Empire of the Tsars and the Russlans.” Asa consequence the complimentary copies for- warded to certein officials connected with the St. Petersburg Library and with the Depart- ment of -Education have been returned by the St. Petersburg Postoffice, the delivery being forbidden. The authorized English transla- tion of the work, by Mme. Ragozin, is pub- lished in this country by Messrs. G. P. Put- nam’s Sons. Max Nordau, the latter-day Schopenhauer, 13 not lacking'in the caustic wit which distin- guished that other eminent pessimist. He also evinces tho most marked'irait of {nmates of bedlam in regarding himself as the only sound mind and every one else in sight as being more or less cracked. The author of “Degeneration,” having shown that the yreat men of our time are merely so many mani- festations of the human mind diseased, was Dbluntly ssked by a critic to define the differ- ence between genius and insanity. “Well,” replied the incorrigible Max, “‘the lunatic is at least sure of his board and clothes.”—Les- lie's Week'y. The London Morning Advertiser usas the following ingenious poster to attract public sttention. It will be noticed that the idea is a play on the names of the leading papers of the English metropolis THE MORXING ADVERTISER, Never behina the Times, Always up to the Standard, Most readable Daily News Post. Daily Graphic, Chronicle of Truth sll over the World. Sportsman's Record ot Sporting Life. The poster is well displ; don and attracts conside Andrew Lang gives a new instance of the deadly literalness with which compositors sometimes follow what they take to be the author’s intention: “Lately, in & magazine article of my own, I found this mystic phrase, ‘the want of histori- cal perspective, which makes the moment hide the great Shakespeare of time.’ Can you suggest & meaning, or an emendation? [ was baffied. Then I remembered that I wrote ‘the great abysm of, time." The printer, or proof- reader, or editor, or somebody queried ‘abysm.” I wrote on the margin, ‘Shake- speare,’ as my authority for ‘abysm of time,’ and ‘abysm’ was taken out, and ‘Shakespeare’ was inserted. Probably no mortal could have conjecturally emended the passage correctly or shuwn how Shakespeare came in.” “The most expensive book ever published in the world {s said to be the offictal history of the War of the Rebellion, which is now being 1ssued by the Government of the United States ata cost up to date of about £477,000. Of this amount £236,858 has been paid for printing and binding. The remainder was expended for salaries, rent, stationery and other con- tingent and miscellaneous expenses, and for the purchase of records from private individ- uals. It will require at least three years longer to complete the work, and the total cost 1s expected to resch nearly £600,- 000. Itwill consist of 112 volumes, inciuding an index and an atlas, which contains 178 plates and maps illustrating the impor- tant battles of the war, campaigns, routes of march, plans of forts and photographa of in- teresting scenes, places and persons. Only 51,000 copis the book have yet been sold.” We clip inis news from the London Westmin- ster Gazette. LITERARY NOTES. At the reeent exhibition of pictures by Charles Dana Gibson among the most popular were those illustrating ‘‘Urban Dialogues,” Just publishea. Mr. Gibson and Mr. Shipman worked peculiariy well together, as the stories contained in the book are-all skeiches of bits ot New York life. In the April number of Current Literature, George W. Cable, who has recently assumed Dr. George 8. Mallory, who had built up the | President McKinley's Cabinet; s beautifully by Telegraph and | | gives us a new department which he calls the “Editor’s Symposium.” in this, through four pages, he chats pleasantly and instructively of books and criticisms and kindred subjects. A very delightful department is the result. General Horace Porter's articles in The Cen~ tury, “Campaigning With Grant,” are being translated into Spanish by command of Gen= eral Weyler, for his benefit, month by month, as they appear. Messrs. Daniel Appleton & Co. have found 1t more couvenient to become 1mcorporated as 2 company under the title of D. Avpleton & Co. This inyolves nochange in the manage- ment or ownership of the business. As in the case of the Macmilian Company of London and Messrs. Harper & Bros., the change is simply a formal one. A new editjon of Mr. Harold Frederic's novels is to be published by the Messrs. Serib- ner, uniform with “The Damnation of Theron Ware.” The name of this edition is “In the Sixties.” and it includes “The Copperhead” and “Marsena and Other Stories,” “Seth’s Brother’s Wife,” “In the Valley’’ and “The Lawton Girl.” Bernard Queritch of London announces that he will soon publish a biographicat dictionary of eminent Chinamen, comptled by Mr. Giles, lately English Consul at a Chinese port. There will be between 2000 and 3000 articles, including detailed accounts of the Emperors of the present dynasty, the leading statesmen, authors, artists and soldiers, and of the lead- ersof the insurrection of the last ceutury or so. Miss Julia M. Colton, & niece of Rov. Walter Colton, author of “Ship and Shore,” “Sea and Sailor,” “Three Years in Californie,” Constan- tinople and Athens,” which were well known & generation ego, is writing “The Annals of Switzerland,” to be published by A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. She will make it & textbook for supplementary work in history, while fur- nishing the general reader with such a story of Switzerland as will be entertaining and re- liable. The book will be illustrated with many half-tone engravings of life and scenes from the land of heroes and mountains. Portraits and sketches of the members of illustrated article on the new Congressional Library; pictures and text both by F. Hop- kinson Smith; careful editorial estimates of the incoming and outgoing Presidents; & his- torical review of the progress of civil service reform which awards praise and blame impar- tially—tnese are some of the special features which go tomake up the “Washington Nume ber” (March magazine number) of the Out- look. The Outlook Company, 13 Astor Place, New York; §3 a year. The 1897 edition of Barnes' “Popular His- tory of the United States” (A. €. Barnes & Co.) is now ready. It has the advantsge of being complete down to date in one volume. It is valuable {n school or home libraries for refer- ence, and for awakening, particularly in the young, a love for the study of American his- tory. The book fs handsomely printed and bound. and forms a most attractive volume. Asto its timeliness Mark Hanna writes the publishers from uleveland, Ohio, February 4, 1897: “I desire to assure you of my high appreciation of the just chronicle of the re~ cent campaign. Your history is & very valua ble and interesting one.’” The Century is about to print a new short serial story by Mary Hartwell Catherwood, “The Days of Jeanne d’Arc,’” the result ofa very careful study of the history of the maiden warrlor of France, and of s pilgrimage to the places she made famous. The story has been in the bands of the editors of the Century for some time, but its publication was delayed on sccount of the recent appearance of Mark Twain’s novel on the same subject in Harper's Magazine, Mrs. Catherwood is said to treat Joan of Are inafresh way,and the story is thought to be her very best work. In the April Century, which contains the first chap- ters, will appear two new portraits of Joan of Arc, which have been discovered recently in Alsace. Ex-President Harrison, whose articles in the Ladies’ Home Journal are creating such wide- spread interest, will write about ““The Social Life of the President” in the April issue of that magszine. The ex-President will tell of the dinners, receptions, etc., that are given by the chief executive and detail the great sogial demands made upon him. He also gives a peep into the White House dining-room and silver closet and notes the beauty ot the ser- vice used for state dinners, which was bought at second hand. It issaid that he also pays heed to the oft-repeated question, “How much of his salary can a President lay aside?” A new edition of Lever’s novels is an- nounced. During his last visit to England, says the Athenmum, the autbor intended to Tevise his novels, with the aid of his daughter, Mrs. Neville, but the task was interrupted by his death. The text throughout is now being most carefully scen to. The publishers have secured the original 600 plates etched by “Pniz"” and George Cruikshank for the first edition. In addition several of the later volumes are illustrated with wood engravings by Luke Fildis and other ariists, all of which will be included in this edition. A few of the thirty-six volumes were originaily published without illustrations and for these arrange- ments have been made under which Gordon Browne will contribute & series of drawings. The interesting prefaces written by Lever snortly before his death will be included. The Messrs. Constable of Edinburgh have had & bold, clear type specfaily cast fur the WwOrk. The following books are to be published by the Century Company early in April: “Prison- ers of Conscience,” by Amelis E. Barr, to which the author has edded very considerably since 1ts appearance as a short serial in the Century Magezine; “The Stand-by,” a novel of the day, by Edmund P. Doleof Hawaii; “One Man Who Was Content” and other stories, by Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer; “Na- ture in & City Yard,” by Charles M. Skinner, & book which is said tobe “one that Thoreau might have written if -transported from Waiden Pond to the made soil oi & Brooklyn back yard”’; “For the Country,” a collection of poems by Richard Watson Gilder on patriotie subjects, voloing the soldier sentiment since the war and upholding the ides of good citia zenship in time of peace; and two books by the Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst, D.D., “Talks to Young Men’ and “Talks to Young Women,” All who are interested in the study of domestic service should read Miss Salmon’s new book based on iniormation obtained by sending out through a perfod of two years s series of blanks, one to bo filled out by em- ployers, one by employes and one asking for miscellaneous informaiion from many who are supposed to bave exceptional opportuni- tles for forming judgments on the subject. The book deals with such_topics as the follow- ing: The History of Domestic Service im Tnis Country, With Its Cbanging Aspects; The Beales of Wages Paid to Domes- tic Servants;’ Difficulties in Domestic Serv- ice from the Standpoint of the Employer; from the Standpotnt ot the Servants; Advan- tages in Domestic Service; its Social Disadvan- tages; Doubtful Remedies which have been proposed and occasionally Tried; Possible Remedies and General Principles underlying them. Inconclusion the book makes a strong ples for & further scientific study of the in- dustry and for the recognition of its place in the industrial field on the part of statisticians nd economic specialists. The Macmillan editorial charge of that excellent magazine, | Company, 66 Fifth ayenue, New York. A | |