THE BOOKSELLER, FEB. 28, 1867.

But as this is a costly operation, involving the printing and gratuitous distribution of (say) a hundred thousand sheets, beside the wages of 'billing" the the men and boys engaged in " periodicals, the more general plan is to announce the issue of a new story by means of showy posting bills and handbills, which are exhibited outside the doors of the newsvendors, or given to their customers, with half-ounces of tobacco, In addition, the sheets of note paper, &c. principal number-sellers are supplied with copies on sale or return, and men regularly drive all over the town in little one-horse carts to see that the "number-traders" are properly attended to. Then, again, the wrapper of one story is made the vehicle of advertisement for another; and thus, if the story be sufficiently exciting, a large sale is presently secured. Nor does the first issue complete the circulation of the most suc In some instancescessful of these stories. notably that of "Black Bess" and "The Sailor Crusoe"-re-issue takes place regularly at about It sometimes happens, six months' interval. which under one too, that a story failed to obtain a sufficient body of readers, proves successful when re-named. It is no uncommon thing, therefore, for the Pirate's Bride of one year to come out as the BuccaAs to the rate neer's Daughter of another.

title

of remuneration received by the writers of these stories, we understand that two guineas for a sheet of eight pages is considered good payment, while in some few cases men are to be found who can provide enough writing to fill eight pages of close print, each number warranted to contain at least one murder, fire, ship

wreck, or seduction, for fifteen shillings! On
the other hand, two or three of the writers of
these sensation stories are likewise their pro-
been yearly netted from their sale in penny nuin-
prietors; and considerable sums are said to have
bers. One curious fact in connexion with the
publication of these tales remains to be men-
tioned. With very few of them is there ever
issued a title-page, nor are the vendors of them
often asked to bind the numbers at the com-
pletion of the tales. The conclusion is, therefore,
that as the several portions of each tale are read,
This is not com-
they are used as waste paper.
plimentary to the tales or to their writers; but
whether such base ingratitude on the part of
readers be poetically just, a slight examination
of the literary claims of the tales themselves will
enable us to determine.

Having read the several stories—or rather, such parts of them as are contained in the numbers purchased under the shadow of the Mansion House-we are enabled to arrive at a few general conclusions.

The majority of these publications are almost equal, in point of mere grammatical writing, ingenuity of plot, and variety of situation, to most of the three-volume novels issued by But the motive the Minerva Press publishers.

“Black Bess," and the rest of the thieving and pirate crews, are sold in penny portions, a halfpenny only is charged for the "Memoirs of an Actress," and its seductive companions. Nevertheless, we doubt if anything could be found in them to warrant the interference of the Lord Mayor, even if he should deem it part of his duty to keep the neighbourhood of the Mansion House free from the pollution of printed filth.

We may dismiss the whole of the pirate, smuggler, thief, highwayman, and Crusoe class of penny numbers in a few sentences. They have a strange family likeness, and are all evidently constructed on the models furnished by "Jack Sheppard," "Rookwood," Eugene Aram, "Paul Clifford," "Oliver Twist," and "Colonel Jack; though, of course, with infinitely less art and literary skill than were employed by Ainsworth, Lord Lytton, Dickens, and Daniel De Foe.

agency

66

OBITUARY.

Jan. 4, at Colombo, Ceylon, Mr. Henry Byerley Thompson, Puisne Judge of the island. The deceased was a son of Dr. A. Todd Thompson; he was educated at King's College, London, and Jesus College, Cambridge, and was appointed Solicitor-General of Ceylon by the Conservatives on their accession to office in 1859. Mr. Thompson was the author of "The Choice of a Profession," and other works in general literature, and "The Institutes of Ceylon," an important work on jurisprudence, just published.

Jan. 25, Sir John Villiers Shelley, late M.P. for Westminster, cousin to the illustrious author of "Queene Mab," and his son, Sir Percy Florence Shelley, of Castle Goring, Sussex. Sir John Shelley was born in 1808, and was educated at the Charterhouse.

It may be urged that there is not a single atrocity in any one of these stories that has not been employed, over and over again, by the great masters of fiction; and that if murder and deceit, seduction and robbery, and all other kinds of sins against society and human nature, are described in the penny-number stories, they are equally to be found in the pages of Scott, Dumas, Cooper, or even Charles Reade. there is this difference in the two cases-that, But | whereas the writer of genius employs the of crime and vice to aid the elucidation of his plot, and to point the moral of his tale, the inferior artist in words makes crime and vice attractive without attemptin, in the great majority of cases, to point any moral at all. It seems to us that no great objection could be urged against the pirate and thief stories, if their writers had only the ability and the honesty to tell the truth, and to show adventurous lads and romantic girls that "life" on "the road," or in the smugglers' cave," or in the "pirates' lair," furnished boudoir in the pretty little cottage or in the "exquisitelyornee," or in any other of the conventional haunts of sin, always was, always is, and always mast be, a life of fear and misery, squalor and disappointment, relieved only occasionally by gross animal indulgences, wild, unhealthy excitements, and the fallacious flickerings of pleasure, dearly bought at the price of peace of mind and pain of body. The pen that could write such a penny number, and write it well, would seldom without remunerative employment.

Jan. 26, aged 77, Mr. Jonathan Lowndes, manager of the Oxford Journal, with which paper he had been connected for sixty-three years. His father had also for many years conducted the paper, which has been connected with the family almost from its commencement, 114 years ago. A newspaper remaining in the hands of father and son for nearly a century is a circumstance almost without parallel in the history of English journalism.

Dr.

Feb. 1, at his house, Queen Street, Edinburgh. Dr. Robert Edmund Scoresby Jackson, an eminent surgeon and physician. He was author of a Life of his uncle, Dr. Scoresby, the Arctic traveller; a note book on "Materia Medica," and numerous treatises on professional subjects. Jackson was born at Whitby, and studied successively at London, Paris, and Edinburgh; he settled in this latter city, and married a daughter of Sir William Johnston, the eminent geogra phical publisher.

Feb. 5, at 30, Russell Square, aged 91, Henry Crabb Robinson, Esq., "the friend of Goethe, Wordsworth, and Lamb."

Feb. 8, at his residence, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, Mr. William Dargan, engineer and contractor. Mr. Dargan obtained the rudiments of his profession under Telford, when he was constructing the Holyhead Road. When that work was completed Mr. Dargan returned to Ireland, where, by steady enterprise, he laid the foundation of a princely fortune; but he is principally known as the founder of the first Irish Exhibition, held in Dublin, in 1853. Towards erecting the Exhibition building he made advances to the extent of nearly £100,000; but the Exhibition not proving so successful as was anticipated, he eventually lost about £20,000.

Among the modes adopted by some proprietors their readers, we may mention the fact, that of penny numbers to keep up the interest of cricket-bats, and fencing-sticks, tishing-rods and they offer ponies, dogs, watches and chains, pairs of rabbits, another boldly describes the war weapons, implements, and costumes of savage tribes, brought home by his veritable Crusoe, and offers them, together with "belts of wampum, ornamented with human teeth," and the "famous knife of fate," as prizes to be won by the readers of his startling adventures. Of a more healthy character are the Indian tales comprised in the "Library of Fiction," but we are told that their circulation in numbers is hardly enough to warrant their continuance. The last number on our list is " ings for Winter Evenings," consisting of verses 'Penny Readof a comic and sentimental character, original and selected -the original specimens being decidedly the least attractive. Of this periodical we may say-as Charies Lamb said of one of Barry Cornwall's epigramswe have seen

better werses, and worse."

Feb. 11, at his residence, Upper Lewisham Road, aged 58, John Shepherd, 20, Warwick Lane, music-seller and publisher.

Feb. 23, at his house, in Bedford Square, aged 91, Sir George Smart. This respected and clever musician, well known as a conductor and teacher, and also as the author of many glees, part-songs, &c, was knighted in 1811 by the Duke of Richmond, the then Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. He was one of the founders of the Philharmonic Society; musical director of Covent Garden Theatre, under the Kemble dynasty; director for many years of the London oratorios; and conductor of the Handel Centenary Festival, Westminster Abbey, in 1834.

Feb. 24, aged 70, Arthur George Hardy, for thirty-seven years manager in the printing office of Messrs. Gilbert and Rivington, St. John's Square.

Feb. 25, James Wallis, for many years superintendent of the printing department of Messrs. De La Rue and Co., Bunhill Row.

C

THE BOOKSELLER, FEB. 28, 1867.

RECENT FINE ART PUBLICATIONS OF MESSRS. DAY & SON, LIMITED. Peaks and Valleys of the Alps.-The orographical district here iliustrated by a splendid series of drawings, is that portion of the famous mountain range known as the Western Alps, a description of which is given in the first volume of the 'Alpine Guide.' This limitation, however, does not, we are told, impose a limited choice of subjects, for almost every kind of scenery which can be found in the other districts is equally well represented in this. Herein we have the rich glens which radiate around the Viso, the deep combes and wild crags of Dauphiné, the Gracans, varying from the dreariest sterility to the utmost luxuriance, and, finally, the vast snow-fields and glaciers of the Pennine chain, from among which rise the eight highest peaks in Central Europe." The drawings, wonderfully reproduced with little loss of delicacy and feeling, in chromo-lithography, by Messrs. Day & Son, are twenty-one in number. They are varied in their nature as to scenery, as to the seasons, as to the weather; and may be taken as representations of grand mountains under almost all aspects. It is hardly fair to particularise those draw. ings that give us most pleasure, inasmuch as they differ among themselves in kind, and are the property of different people; but we agree with Mr. Bonney that the artist's later productions-for we have a selection from Mr. Walton's portfolio for four years-show a more complete mastery over the difficulties of his task than his earlier. It must, however, be added that some of the sketches which appear to be less accurate reproductions of Nature are more pleasing to the eye, and even more artistic, than those in which we believe the artist has, with accurate skill, adhered to the physical forms and materials before him. The first, the Val de Tignes, chosen to represent the scenery of the Upper Isère, is a thing of great beauty. The August sun has just set-night is drawing on; and the new moon is just rising in the eastern sky. Form and colour are exquisite. The glow still lingers on the rocks and glaciers of the Ruitor, and the Isère is still to be distinguished through the thick mists, running through the rich meadows that form the level bed of the beautiful valley up which, in 1689, the Waldenses, scarcely eight hundred strong, having forced their way through a hostile country, marched to their native glens near the Viso. It is a splendid "Monte Viso," "The Mont scene, splendidly represented. "In the Valley of Aosta," Grand Paradis," Blanc, from the Col'd Anterne," "The Matterhorn," "The Weisshorn," and "The Glacier de Trient," are among the subjects represented by Mr. Walton's pencil; "The Dent du Midi," from the Valley of the Rhone, is a very triumphant rendering of a scene familiar to all tourists who have lingered on the northern shores of the Lake of Geneva, and the sketch will be valued by everybody as a faithful and poetical rendering of the view, which perfectly represents the geological features of the mountain with its pyramidal top flushed with the purple hues of

sunset.

66

The grandeur of the Matterhorn, the wild scenery of Chamouni, the bewildering crevasses on the Mer de Glace, the "Calotte" of Mont Blanc, and less familiar objects, have all had in Mr. Walton an appropriate interpreter, and in Mr. Bonney a learned, experienced, and thoroughly accurate

describer.

We thoroughly agree with the editor in his stric-
tures on ordinary landscape painting. Especially in
their representation of mountains do artists fail in
giving to their productions the character of the scene
"In nature," Mr. Bon-
they transfer to their canvas.
we can often pronounce
ney remarks very justly,
with certainty, even from a distance of many miles,
upon the character of the rocks which compose a range
of peaks; in art, we often not only are unable to offer
any opinion, but also are wholly at a loss to conjecture
of what possible rock they can be constituted." This
A strict
objection cannot, however, be brought against Mr.
Walton's Alpine drawings here collected.
attention to form and character seems to be his
characteristic. "Every stroke of his pencil," says
means something and means right."
Mr. Bonney,
We are glad of this testimony to the truthfulness of
the sketches from one who is perhaps the most com.

44

petent judge. As to their beauty and variety, we kno
no finer series of grand landscapes, nor a work
The book is
which scenery is more splendidly reproduced, than
"Peaks and Valleys of the Alps."
valuable memento for all Alpine travellers, and is
splendid example of the process by which it has bee
produced.

B

The Geographical Distribution of Mammals.
ANDREW MURRAY. 4to.-This is an important con
The object
tribution to an important science.

treats.

the author has been to classify and display the vas
To
amount of information which has of late years been
accumulated regarding the subject he
the arrangement of
a certain extent he follows
plants, and consi-
Dr. Decandolle in regard to
two aspects, equivalent to
ders the subject under
those which in zoology would be distinguished re-
spectively by the names of geographical zoology and
zoological geography; the former referring to the
range of species, the latter to the faunas of districts.
But whilst the work is thus mainly addressed to the
scientific naturalist, it is also intended for the general
have been avoided
But scientific names
reader.
wherever there are English words to express the
meaning; general information regarding the habitats
of plants or animals in which the educated reader is
likely to feel curiosity has been supplied, and the
author in his references has endeavoured to hit the
The illus
meaning between a burdensome display of learning
and a selection too meagre to be of use.
In addition to
trations will be found of great value.
the diagrams and maps of a general nature, designed
to assist the non-geological reader, there are more than
a hundred special maps to show the geographical distri
bution of mammals, which have the same merit of
being at once clear and intelligible. Introductory to the
subject which forms the matter of the work, we have
chapters of preliminary inquiries which will do much
to provoke the interest of the reader. Mr. Murray
is at variance with Mr. Darwin as to the origin of
species; the latter believes that in all organic beings
a certain degree of change is at all times intermit
tingly going on; and that, from that variation and
selection, through the struggle for life, new species
are being incessantly developed. He believes that the
portals of the manufactory of new species are con
stantly open, and the process always going on. Mr.
Murray, on the contrary, is of opinion that the gates
are habitually shut, but that they are always ready to
be opened to a greater or less width at a touch of the
key, and that that key is CHANGE in the conditions
under which species live. He thinks there must be
this
Upon
some law to arrest variation and secure a stability of
species, and that that law is INERTIA.
hypothesis he founds many ingenious views in oppo
sition to Mr. Darwin's notion that Nature, by trying
an infinity of experiments, rejects them all till she
We do not agree with
has hit upon the right one.
him in his opposition, but must do him the justice to
say that his theory does not vitiate hi scientific
labours. The work appears to us to be of much value
to all who are interested in zoology. The arrangement
is clear, and the style perspicuous.

A Visit to the Suez Canal. By T. K. LYNCH.-On the
5th of October last year, the author left London for
Suez, at which place he arrived on the 19th of No
vember. He says he does not pretend to offer a
detailed description of the Suez Canal, but merely to
record such incidents of travel as occurred to him, in
the hope that his experiences may possibly prove of
some practical advantage and interest to others who
may contemplate a similar tour. The work is well
printed on good paper, and has, moreover, the advan
tage of illustrations, and a sketch map of the Suez

Canal.

Mr. Lynch tells us that any statistical infor Imation that may be found interspersed throughout these memoranda may be relied upon, as being either the result of the author's personal observation or derived from good authority. He informs us that the French have already expended £4,600,000 on the great undertaking, and he seems to think they will bring it to successful issue. The author's style is far from being a pleasant one. It is generally jolty -newspaper-correspondentish, and the narrative is

124

interlarded with French phrases which take away much from the pleasure of reading what he has to say. The matter contains nothing of importance which is new, and Mr. Lynch appears to us to have seen but very slightly into the nature and habits of those among whom he spent his pleasant holiday.

1

The History of the Ti-Ping Revolution. By LIN-LE. (2 vols.)-Towards the close of the year 1851 a Chinese dynasty was proclaimed in the Celestial Empire, and a set of religionists theretofore known as God-worshippers, relinquished that title for the im perial designation Ti-ping-tien-kwoh. Sui-tshuen

was at the same time elected Emperor by the enthusi astic acelamation of his followers, and a vast organi zation was effected for the expulsion of the Manchoo dynasty. In England this organization is known as the Tae-ping rebellion; but in China itself it was regarded by Asiatic millions, from Mongolia to the southern extremity of the Empire, as a lawful and holy attempt to replace Tartar supremacy, which dates from A.D. 1611, by a native and more intelligent rule. The progress of the rebellion, and its suppres sion by aid of English and French troops, are events well known. The history of the inner life of the Ti-pings, however, has never been revealed to us with anything he accuracy. It is true we have had partial accounts furnished to us by English inissionaries, who, seeing in the rebels a confederation of Chinese Christians, bave endeavoured to convince us that the jumbling doctrines of Sui-tshuen were against idol worship. But little real, trustworthy, a protest anprejudiced information to establish this view was received by us from the partisans of either side. The missionaries favoured one party; our civil and mili tary anthorities supported the pretensions of the other. Here, at length-not, however, without very considerable leaning in favour of those whose history he has undertaken to write-Lin-le (probably a celestial euphuism for Lindley) gives us a very interesting and, as far as we can test his authenticity, a very accurate account of one of the most important national movements of modern times. The work is

in Her Majesty's service, executed in chromo-lithography, with a well-written explanatory text, by Robert French Me Nair, late assistant secretary and librarian to the Army and Navy Club. The author's object in issuing his work-which is published in monthly 5s. numbers-was to render the people familiar with the heroic deeds of their soldiery; and this he does by a pictorial and literary treatment of his subject that is every way commendable. After giving the flag of each regiment, he details the special devices of which they consist, and tells the story of the valorous deeds achieved by the men who bore and followed, the flags in every field, from Blenheim and Malpaquet to Waterloo and Sevastopol. The design is original, and the execution of it is admirable.

The three parts already issued of Examples of Chinese Ornaments, consist entirely of chromolitho graphs, selected by Mr. Owen Jones, from objects in the South Kensington Museum and other collections; to be followed, we presume, by an explanatory text, as examples of porcelain, shawl-borderings, carpets, wallpapers, &c. These elaborate and unique designs will be found of great assistance to art-students and pattern-draughtsmen. They are executed in facsimile, so far as concerns colour and form, and are remarkable for their grace, beauty, and elaboration. The Chinese in this, as in other departments of art, seem to have early discovered that the mission of ornament was not to directly imitate nature, but to make natural forms subserve the purposes of the designer. Thus, all their examples are flat, and without shadow; and where flowers are introduced, there is no attempt made to slavishly copy the disposition of such things from actual objects, but all are blended into what may be called a conventional style of decoration. In Chinese and Indian art-ornament, we never find such anachronisms as our manufacturers are too often guilty of-no figures of dogs, lions, or bears for hearth-rugs; no reproductions of pictures like Rosa Bonheur's Horsefair, twenty times repeated, for a wall-paper; no raised and shadowed figures on carpets to make the visitor fancy he is treading on an uneven surface; but instead, a geometrical arrangement of flat forms, which are pleasing to the eye, without unnecessarily overbearing the ordinary and proper furniture of the apartment. Though published in guinea parts, these Examples of Chinese art," should speedily find their way into every school of design in the kingdom.

written in accordance with instructions received from the leaders themselves of the great revolution. It tailed description of its leader, Hung-sui-tshuen, and contains a complete history of the movement; a de. his chiefs; the rise, progress, and circumstances of the revolt; and a general review of its bearing and influence, not only upon 360 millions of Asiaties, but upon the general interests of Great Britain, and especially upon its trade relations with the Chinese Empire. The author exhibits feelings of sympathy for the Ti-pings. He gives a very clear account, not only of their aims, but furnishes an admirable description of the people themselves, derived from an intercourse suficiently long to enable him to speak with authority. The battles fought, the towns taken, the successes achieved, the defeats experienced, the cruelties suffered, are all clearly and vividly painted; and the domestic and religious life of the people are also

exhibited in what we are

author's iteration of his opinion, that the Imperialists
colours. Our great objection to the narrative is the
show to disadvantage when compared with his late
friends The examples he gives, innumerable as they
, do not bear out his statements; for the Imperialists

willing to believe its true

are,

to whom he refers are

invariably the military, who in

They

In

Recollections of the East by a Subaltern.-There is a good deal of fun in these sketches. will serve as a memento for those who have seen service in India, and will give their friends and the public who have not visited the East, a better idea of the life of an English soldier at some remote station in Bengal or Bombay, than they can obtain from many big books on the subject. The drawing is never very excellent; but the artist has selected salient points for representation, and thus places before us, in a suggestive manner, a complete picture of Indian military life. There are twenty-four sketches. the first we see the subaltern newly arrived. He is surrounded by obsequious natives; a regiment of mosquitoes, deliberately overlooking his attendants, make a charge on him; and the sun, big, sly, and obtrusive, seems to enjoy the scene, promising himself intimate acquaintanceship hereafter with the unbronzed European, whom he appears to welcome. Then follow various representations of the pains, pleasures, and pastimes, inseparable from AngloIndian life, some of them extremely humorous. Among these we have "the Battalion on the March," in which nothing appears but the tops of the mens' heads and a forest of bayonets, the whole of their bodies being surrounded with dense balloon-looking clouds of dust; "the Cricket Club" at play, and after five "overs," in the latter of which situations, poor "long field off" lies his whole length along utterly exhausted, poor "point" is regaling himself with soda. water, and the whole field presents the appearance more of a scene of defeat than of a cricket field on which the engagement is to be renewed. "Our Ball" is very happy, The number of the fair sex -and these not very fair-being in the ratio of two to the whole regiment! At last we see "the Departure" of the

all countries are liable to the charges brought against the troops of the Chinese Emperor. The civilians he encountered, according to his own confession, were free from the blame attaching to the soldiers, against whom he is so justly wrath. The work does not contae itself to military and political questions: it deals freely with the social life of the Chinese, especially of the Ti-pings, and gives much interesting information regarding the character, customs, and position of one the most interesting races on the earth. Episodes fa very romantic character, and personal incidents adventurous travel abound; and, cum grano salis, we recommend these two volumes to all who are dispsed to make themselves acquainted with the subject which the author treats. Numerous chromo-lithoaphs and wood engravings of good character illus

trate the work.

Che standards, guidons, and flags of every regiment
The Colours of the British Army, consist of figures of