Images de page
PDF
ePub

APRIL 15, 1867.

safely that evening! I do not know whether M.
Timothée Trimm, who was one evening in his life a
dramatic author at the Delassements Comiques,
remained on the stage the evening his piece was
played; if he did not, if he remained in the theatre
that night, I pity him!
I remain, DUPIN."

| been appointed by the Italian government to go to Vienna to claim the Venetian archives carried away by the Austrians. He will claim two hundred and forty-nine Venetian pictures, above five hundred registers, packets, volumes and manuscripts of the archives and libraries, and five hundred and thirty-four works of art belonging to the Museum of the Arsenal. He has been instructed to claim all the manuscript relating to Venetian history; it is alleged the most important collections relating to the history of the old republic are now at Vienna, as the Austrians did literally despoil the Venetian archives of everything precious... M. Philarete Chasles has discovered in the Mazarine Library a curious autograph. No one knew the Christian names of the unhappy Marshal d'Ancre. M. Chasles has discovered the Marshal's own handwriting, traced on a copy of Euripides of the 16th century, published by Plantin with this denomination in Greek-Ktema palaion. The Marshal signed his name there Cosme Antoine Baptiste Concini. The same volume likewise contains in the same handwriting a series of quotations from Euripides's tragedies, translated into Latin, which form a sort of decalogue of an ambitious man, and which Concini seemed to have made the rule of his life.

Here is the latest pen-and-ink portrait of M. de Lamartine: "That old man you see sitting in an arm-chair, sad and silent, is he. So recently as ten years since, when he walked about the streets of Paris, straight, thin, and buoyant, he looked, with his threadbare clothes, like a nobleman on whom fortune had not smiled, and who shielded himself by extreme cleanliness from the results of poverty. Now age has marked him distinctly; every feature, every sinuosity of his epidermis bears age's claws. If the head retains the Grecian smallness which was once admired, it is no longer in harmonious proportion with the face. The cheek bones and jaws have increased; the eyes have lost their lustre, and that eloquent mouth, which calmed storms and pacified angry mobs, has lost some of its teeth and undergone age's deformity. He speaks with so much difficulty he commonly keeps silent." It is said M. de Lamartine's debts amount to $400,000, and his income is set down at $16,000 a year, of which $6,000 come from the Sultan (who settled some years since this annuity on him), and $6,000 from his wife's estate. If these statements be true, M. de Lamartine requires $24,000 a year to keep down the interest on his debt; and it is said he cannot manage to live for less than $20,000 a year, consequently his income is just $28,000 a year below his expenses. But it must be noticed that his copyright is not included in this estimate of, income. I stumbled the other day upon a singular memorandum of account, namely, the publisher's account of M. de Lamartine's "History of the Restoration." Here it is:Paid the author for the manuscript, $30,000 00 many kind messages to him. Irving gave me a 5,089 85 very interesting account of a visit to Sunnyside by 528 15 Prince (now the Emperor) Napoleon III. 12,799 56 what theme was not Irving interesting? 1,392 96 Your obedient servant, 1,561 89

Printing,

Stereotyping,

Paper,

Stitching,

Bills and advertisements,

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]

G. S.

NOTES ON BOOKS AND BOOKSELLERS.
BYRON AND IRVING.

PHILADELPHIA, March 11, 1857.

Editor American Literary Gazette:
SIR: To my note published in your paper of the
1st inst. I should add, Mr. Irving told me that
whilst at Moore's lodgings, from time to time, wait-
ing for him to dress for dinner, he would read By-
ron's MS. Journal. He (Irving) quoted some of it
(certainly not proper for the public or private eye)
to me as late as 1857. He said that Moore had sent

But on

A. B. C.

MR. H. E. TUDOR, New York, has issued neat photographic copies of Mullen's portrait of the late Artemus Ward, with characteristic sketches illustrative of the choicest and most comical subjects of this humorist.

MR. W. T. LINTON, of New York, proposes to issue, by December next, a complete History of 729 59 Engraving on Wood, with numerous illustrations. The work will be in one volume, large quarto, on thick English paper, and printed in England in the best possible manner. By the merit of the text, and beauty of the illustrations, it will constitute a handsome as well as instructive addition to our art-literature. No one in the country is more competent to do justice to the subject than Mr. Linton. The prospectus thus announces the scope of the work:

812 30

$52,912 82

A curious coincidence of ideas and expressions of two authors has just occurred here. It led at once to a charge of plagiarism, but the accused author, M. Ch. Dollfus, has given his word of honor he never read or so much as heard of "Les Amants," by M. Hector Malot—and he is a gentleman whose word may be relied on.

M. Sardou recently told one of his friends he always felt he could achieve fame and fortune, and in the deepest of his poverty he was so sure of the future he often amused himself drawing plans of his study and of his park! . . . M. Cibrario has

"There is certainly as yet no satisfactory history of Engraving on Wood-the oldest and not the least important of methods of engraving. The only modern work, that by Chatto (unfairly attributed to Jackson), learned and excellent as is its account of the ancient practice of the art, is singularly deficient in all that relates to the modern schools; and the supplement to a recent edition by Bohn, does not give even a notion of what has been accomplished in late years; the criticisms being without knowledge, and the specimens generally poor and ill-chosen. The work now proposed is intended to supply this deficiency; its object being, while giving a succinct history of ancient

APRIL 15, 1867.

times, to go thoroughly into the modern schoolsbeginning with Bewick and Branston: to fairly review and criticize their characteristic merits and defects; and to illustrate both history and criticism with proofs of the best engravings of the best masters-engravings not merely taken haphazard, or to suit the advertising needs of publishers (as has been the case in what reviews have hitherto been put forth); nor yet mere reduced or other copies, worthless as specimens of engraving (like those copies of old cuts given by Chatto); but carefully selected examples of the different styles of different men-proofs on India paper from the original blocks, when available, and when the blocks are worn or cannot be obtained, photographs from early proofs, In addition, it is proposed to show the manifold capabilities of wood engraving by giving some original subjects, such as fruit, fish, shells, feathers, &c. &c.-so far as possible, to make the book a sufficient manual of instruction for all really earnest professors of the art. The proposed work will therefore comprise: A faithful History of the Art of Engraving on Wood, as practised from the earliest time until now, in England, Germany, France, America, &c., with some account also of the principal Engravers; A choice collection of the best specimens of the art (including only the best, except where it may be desirable to point out errors in style); A manual of criticism, with examples for instruction. The edition will be limited to three hundred. Mr. Linton is now prepared to receive subscriptions."

man can read a single number of it without recognizing the fact, that industry, independence, and force are brought to bear in all its departments. We think it was Fuseli, who, when asked by a brother artist, what he mixed his colors with, replied-" With brains, sir!" So whatever one may think of the "Round Table," in every respect, he cannot help admitting that it is, at any rate, edited with brains. There is in the world so much dreary common-place and leaden conformity that the mere spectacle of vigorous life and intellectual briskness is, of itself, gratifying. We need just such a journal, and it deserves to be well conned by the ambitious young gentleman who rashly contemplates premature authorship. In it, like the Apostle's natural man beholding his face in a glass, he may ofttimes discern his fate, and thus be forewarned lest he himself become the Ucalegon next to burn. We are glad to hear that this journal is permanently established, and that the circle of its influence is constantly expanding.

inform me whether any public library in Philadel ED. PUB. CIRCULAR.-Will some of your readers phia contains a set of the "Revue Contemporaine," say for the last ten years?

N. D.

DICKENS'S DEALINGS WITH AMERICANS.-Mr. Chas. Dickens has always been loud in his complaints against what he calls the "piracy" of American publishers. We see it announced in the "New York Tribune" that, when Ticknor & Fields issued the first number of their Diamond edition of

Dickens, they sent him two hundred pounds, in order that he should share the profits, and that Mr. how high and far beyond the money's worth I Dickens wrote back, saying, "I think you know

have never derived greater pleasure from the receipt of money in all my life." No doubt, he was surprised as well as pleased at receiving £200, which he had not bargained for, but the above statement, and particularly the quotation from the letter, might convey the idea that it was an unusual thing for Mr. Dickens to receive money from the United States on account of his writings.

MR. C. P. CULVER, of Crawfordville, Taliaferro County, Georgia, has in course of preparation a work, to be entitled "The Distinguished Civilians of the late (so called) Confederate States of America; or, The Inside and Outside View of Se-esteem this act of manhood, delicacy, and honor. I cession." The work will open with a review of the causes which led to secession, presenting some new and interesting features on this point. 2d. The organization of the late Confederate Government. 3d. Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet; with biographical sketches, letters, speeches, anecdotes, &c. 4th. Members of the Confederate States Senate and House of Representatives, with biographical sketches, letters, speeches, anecdotes, &c. 5th. Governors of the late seceded States and their Legislatures, private civilians-embellishing the whole with steel portraits, engravings of Confederate bonds, treasury notes, and other devices of the

late Confederacy. It is not yet announced by

whom the volume will be published.

THE "ROUND TABLE."-The service rendered to our literature by unshrinking criticism is the thought impressed on our mind as we lay down the last number of the "Round Table." The art of criticism is studied among us to a limited extent, and is properly practised to a still less extent. Our leading literary organs, or the publications which claim and are supposed to be such, belong, for the most part, to particular schools or interests, and their judgments are too often determined by their sympathies and antipathies, or by a supposed sense of duty. The most critical of our newspapers is certainly the "Round Table," and though we frequently read and hear animadversions upon some of its articles, yet criticism, even if it is sharply conducted, is of such great benefit, that we cannot help commending any literary journal which has teeth and claws as well as eyes and ears. Our impression of the "Round Table," derived from a pretty constant reading of it, is that it means to be fair, and, as a general thing, is correct and judicious in its expressions of opinion. That it is conducted with marked ability is universally admitted. No

Such an impression would be entirely erroneous, for Mr. Dickens has derived a considerable part of his income from moneys paid him for advance From the very first sheets of his various works. —that is, as far back as the great hit he made with the Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club,”

66

nearly thirty years ago-Harper Brothers of New

York, desirous of securing and retaining in their own hands the exclusive sale of his works, have paid him large sums for each as it appeared. Since the first issue of "Harpers' Magazine," and, subsequently, of "Harpers' Weekly," each new work by Dickens has been published in these periodicals, by special arrangement with the author, almost simultaneously with their appearance in London. Impressions of the illustrations, chiefly on steel, were sent over here, with the advance sheets, and put in the hands of good artists, who copied and reproduced them on wood. In the instance of "A Tale of Two Cities," which appeared in London without any illustrations, Harper & Brothers had sixty-four original designs made for that work and engraved on wood, at a cost of $2,000. Yet, in recent notices of a new edition of that story, the newspaper critics of New York and Boston rarely said more than that it had "some cuts." New designs were also made by Mr. McLenan for "Great Expectations," and paid for on the same liberal scale.

After Harper & Brothers had got their money's worth out of Mr. Dickens's successive works, by

APRIL 15, 1867.

issuing them in the manner above mentioned, they less cases in point. Smiles's "Self Help" is a transferred the engravings and their interest in the work which, in its subject and treatment, is pecuworks, to T. B. Peterson & Brothers, of this city, liarly suited to American ideas and feelings: yet, who shared their payments to Mr. Dickens and the while the English edition sold over fifty thousand cost of engraving the illustrations here. It is well copies, the American reprint, although at a lower known that, in this manner, Messrs. Peterson have price, has probably not sold more than a fifth of acquired a possession, which was generally ac- that number. The same author's "Lives of the cepted, until lately, as equivalent to a copyright, of Engineers," an elaborate and high-priced book, Dickens, and under this they have published vari- sold extensively in England, but no American pubous editions. lisher ventured to reprint it, although free of copyright, and with its numerous drawings and engravings prepared to his hand. The "Heaven our Home" books, a series of well-written religious essays, have reached their seventy and eighty thousand each in Great Britain, and their six or seven thousand in America. The Globe Edition of "Shakspeare" is a marvel of compactness, neatness, and cheapness, and reached at once a sale in the English market of fifty or sixty thousand copies. A Philadelphia house imported the work, but some two or three thousand are all that have been distributed in the States, although a far cheaper and neater edition than any of our own. The English periodicals are also far more numerous than ours, and as a rule have larger circulations. There is, perhaps, no one English magazine that has a circulation greater than that of Harper's; but there are several which nearly equal it. But nothing exhibits more conclusively the difference between the two countries in this particular than a comparison between London and New York trade-sale returns. While in one case the volumes sold number by hundreds, in the other they number by thousands. Mr. John Murray, indeed, will often sell at his annual trade-sale several thousand copies of a

Mr. Dickens, who is overcome with the "greater pleasure" of a £200 gift, knew how to drive a pretty hard bargain with Harper & Brothers, and (through them) with T. B. Peterson. He has received many thousand pounds, in gold, for advancesheets. Not having access to Messrs. Harpers' books, we cannot name the exact amount, but happen to know that, for his last three books alone, he was paid £3,250, in gold. The sums he received were £1,000 for "A Tale of Two Cities," £1,250 for "Great Expectations," and £1,000 for "Our Mutual Friend." At the average price of gold while these three works were paid for, and at the rate of exchange, the sum disbursed to Mr. Dickens, for these alone, was over $24,000 in greenbacks, and we dare say, the various sums remitted to him, for advancesheets only, by Harpers and Petersons, from first to last, will be found, when added up, to make a total of over $60,000. But any one reading his letter would naturally fancy that the £200 sent him from Boston was all that he had ever received from American publishers. The sum of £3,250, in hard cash, for advance-sheets of his three latest works, tells a very different story.-Philadelphia Press, April 12.

at all.

These facts alone refute the prevalent

tastes, an error arising, probably, from our larger consumption of cheap daily newspapers.

INTERNAL REVENUE.-The new changes in the book which cannot safely be reprinted in America Internal Revenue law, superadded to those pre-notion of our greater book-buying and book-reading viously made, puzzle the public as well as the United States assessors, but much trouble is saved by a very complete and convenient "Guide," just published in Springfield by Samuel Bowles & Co., and for sale here by the American News Company. It is prepared by Charles N. Emerson, Internal Revenue Assessor for the Tenth District of Massachusetts, who has carefully codified and digested the laws of 1864, 1865, 1866, and 1867. Taxpayers will find in the pages of this handy volume full answers to all difficult questions.

BOOK-MAKING IN AMERICA.-Among those who have to do with books very radical differences of opinion exist not only as to the literary culture of the American people, but as to the condition of our book-making as an art. In reference to our consumption of books, very erroneous ideas seem to prevail. We are constantly described as peculiarly a reading public, and nine men out of ten will assert, with vast complacency, that our superiority to our benighted English brethren in this particular is due to the advantages of free institutions. Now the facts of the case are that many more books are published in England than in America, and an English book designed for popular circulation obtains a much larger sale than a similar issue with us. Moreover, the English have their extensive and widely-diffused circulating libraries, to which ours are utterly insignificant. Where the Mercantile Library of Astor Place will take a hundred copies of a book at about a dollar and a half, the famous Mudie's Library of London will take three thousand copies at some four or five times the price. Mudie's will, in fact, often require for its customers a larger number of copies of a book than can be sold in the entire Union, even when reprinted at a low popular price. As examples of the comparative demands in the two countries there are number

It

Our population, however, daily increases, intelligence spreads, wealth accumulates, and the making of many books must characterize all our future. is not too soon to ask, How are we preparing for these increasing wants? Is there any real concurrence between the demand to come and the measures to supply it? Do book-buyers and bookmakers understand each other? Are we pursuing a course whereby not only an active and able American literature shall be encouraged, but the literary tastes of the public stimulated as well as supplied? Is our skill in book-making as an art equal to the English or continental? In reference to the last of these interrogatories it would be pleasant to indorse the complacent assertions on the subject which are so current, but the fact is very apparent that American book-making is far behind European. We have printed a good many creditable volumes, it is true, and occasionally there has been an issue that might boldly challenge comparison with anything of the kind abroad. But these have been exceptions, produced as samples, and cannot be accepted as truly representative of the average art. Our books are inferior in all those details and nicer qualities the observance of which constitutes the art. Take up what you will, an English periodical, pamphlet, or book, whether cheap or costly, and you will find it to possess a certain quality of elegance which in nine cases out of ten a corresponding American publication will lack. It is hardly unfair to say that to the eye of the connoisseur every American book will exhibit in the neglect of some detail its cis-Atlantic origin. We have made efforts at illustrated books which have been moderately successful, but the last three or four years have exhibited a decline in this branch

rather than an advance.

APRIL 15, 1867.

book like Doré's Bible would be an impossibility in America.

The production of a fact. When you drop u from color you seem in some way to extract all the color and heart out of the word. If the idea is fanciful, why is it that the u is almost universally retained in Saviour, it being distinely felt that to deprive that word of even a letter would be to sacrilegiously despoil it of its sacred completeness? But every bibliopole appreciates and admits the value and significance of styles in type. Of late years there has been a rage for what is called Old Style, which, unlike many fashions, is deserving of all the favor it receives. But in employing this style the long s's should be dropped altogether, as they are a hindrance and a vexation to a majority of readers. If the object were merely to make fac-similes of antique books, then of course this peculiar s should be retained. But the type has not been revived, as some suppose, with the idea of imitating the old because it is old, but for the reason that the type is singularly pleasing to the eye, its slight irregularity and quaintness of form adding to its charms. It can be read, moreover, with more ease and at a greater distance than the ordinary formal-cut type.

Nowhere is our deficiency greater than in binding. We have two or three binders who give us excellent workmanship, but they are utterly unequal to the demands upon them, and hence the majority of our books are unspeakably vulgar in appearance and poor in execution. Even our best binders are unable to supply themselves with elegant designs for tooling, and must either copy the foreign or content themselves with such new combinations of old forms as they can make. Certain books require elaborate and artistic ornamentation, and in Europe there are men specially educated in this branch of art who continually surprise us with unique and often exquisitely beautiful designs, which unite grace, delicacy, character, invention, harmony of proportion, and unity of effect. There is not an artist in the whole breadth of the Union of any skill or experience in this department; and consequently anything like originality or artistic beauty in designs for book-covers is not at present possible.

We can make good paper, but we seldom use it. There is a certain class of American novels which never fail to remind one of a man in a fine coat over a soiled shirt. Take up a copy of one and you will observe its gayly-gilded and highly-colored binding; open it and you are startled and disgusted by its coarse and yellow paper and its wretched printing. Better paper and better printing are often put in our daily newspapers. This class of books does more to bring into contempt American taste and culture than any other. The square, inelegant, and clumsy proportions of these books are also noticeable. Almost all American books have trimmed edges; almost all English ones, unless bound in leather, have their edges uncut. There has always been considerable discussion on this point, and in England at present there is, as we have before mentioned, a strenuous advocacy of the American plan, headed by no less a personage | than Mr. Charles Dickens. It is not easy to couvert a connoisseur to this opinion. A trimmed book is in his eye an abomination; and it is really the case that, apart from any considerations of convenience, there is a style and elegance in the virgin margin of a folded sheet, before the knife has touched it, which is peculiarly charming. This charm is partially injured in American books, when bound with uncut edges, by the fact that, either from inequality in the size of the paper or imperfect register of the sheet on the press, the signature rarely folds with the regularity and neatness which characterize the English books. This point is very noticeable in periodicals. There is another difference between English and American books which may be referred to here: our books in muslin are all bound with firm and tight backs; the English with free and open backs. The English book will, therefore, lie flat and open in your hand; the American, on the contrary, requires some leverage to keep it open. One method is more durable and sightly, the other more agreeable.

An interesting consideration in book-making is the style of type. There is a settled connection between the form of the letter and the thought of the author which is more easily felt than analyzed; in one style of type an author's language will seem compact, in another diffuse; in one metal garb it will appear obtuse, and in another sharp and clear. There is what might be called an aesthetic quality not only in the form of type, but in the spelling of words; and the opposition to Mr. Webster's innovations often arises from a vague perception of the

The most important question concerning American books is, after all, their cost. There is pressing need for a class of issues which shall combine neatness with cheapness and compactness. The Messrs. Harpers supply us pretty well with the better English novels in a cheap and fairly readable form; but in the whole range of English or American clas sics one must either purchase more costly copies than he needs, or content himself with those which are vilely printed from worn-out plates. No man, says a Frenchman, whose income is less than five thousand dollars, can afford to buy a book; because, he explains, no man buys one book-he buys a hundred or none. Cannot the publishers make some effort for the benefit of the large class which have literary taste and scant pocket-books? The true economy of book-making-the largest result from the smallest expenditure-has been rarely studied. There is too much waste in the ordinary book—too much weight in the paper, too much margin, too much cost in the binding. Thick paper and wide margins are well enough for those who can afford sumptuous editions for their grand libraries, but become wasteful luxuries for those whose means are small and needs many. Why, moreover, when one seeks to buy a Shakspeare or a Milton, must he be compelled to purchase so much extra weight of paper, thereby paying to the publisher seventy or eighty cents a pound for a material worth about twenty? A thin paper renders a book more flexible and free to the hand, and, so far, more agreeable than the heavier volume. It is only necessary that the paper should not be so thin as to be transparent. Again, why must we have wide margins and large type save when a luxurious elegance is confessedly designed? The type, of course, must not be so small as to strain the eye; but small, though perfectly clear and legible type, narrow margins, and thin paper are great economies in book-making, and all three are perfectly compatible with neatness and attractiveness. It is desirable, also, to make a radical change in the binding of books. There are, in fact, only two proper styles-one in substantial leather, morocco, or calf, which may be graced with all the appointments of art; the other simply in paper. Muslin binding, so much in vogue, has nothing to defend it. It is paltry, perishable, and at the same time expensive, an as every different work is bound in an independent style and of an independent size, it is far from suitable for libraries. A row of books in faded, many-colored muslin covers, variously gilded, and no two volumes alike in height, pre

APRIL 15, 1867.

sents a motley and distasteful confusion. We wish, cation of his former book on the same subject, but therefore, that the continental plan of binding the new material he has procured will enable him books in paper covers were more common; they to make it essentially new. Mr. Reed was recently are more pleasant to handle, easier to read, far elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy. cheaper, and they enable the purchaser to bind | THE export of books from England last year, in them in permanent form and uniform style at his weight, amounted to more than five million pounds. convenience. The book-buyer would soon find no Their value, as registered at the Custom House, small pleasure in collecting his books in paper was £602,177, a little over 26d. sterling per pound. covers, classifying them according to subject, and binding them in styles which should bear the mark which has for a number of years been preparing in THE first volume of a new Biblical Cyclopædia, of his taste. Every man's collection would by this means have its own individual character. The the able hands of Rev. Dr. McClintock and Rev. James Strong, has just been issued by the HarRound Table, New York, March 30, 1867. pers. The first volume includes the letters A and B. There are to be five others, all thoroughly illustrated; each volume will contain one thousand pages. In the preparation of this great work Messrs. McClintock and Strong have had the assistance of a number of scholars and theologians. They aim to make it a complete manual of Biblical literature, theology, church history, religious biography, and ecclesiastical terms and usages; scholarly and thorough in its method, but not repulsive to the mere English reader by an unnecessary display of technical language.

D. APPLETON & Co. will shortly issue an interesting new work, entitled "The History of the Navy during the Rebellion." It will be complete in two elegant octavo volumes of about five hundred pages each, embellished and illustrated with some ten full-page engravings in chromo tints, and with the same number of full-page woodcuts, portraits on steel of distinguished officers, and numerous vignettes from sketches made by Commander M. B. Woolsey, U. S. Navy, and with numerous maps and charts from government surveys and official plans, furnished for this work exclusively.

THE LITERARY EDITOR of the "New York Times" notices that the taste for "private editions" is on the increase in this country. Within a short time, a gentleman of this city has caused seventy copies of Halleck's "Fanny" to be printed at his own expense, and enriched with original notes by the author; the same amateur has produced a beautiful impression of Hicks's "Eulogy of Crawford," limiting the number to one hundred. The "Bradford Club" have had eighty copies of a valuable historical monograph struck off at Munsen's press, in the most exquisite style; and they are about to prepare a private edition of the letters of Col. John Laurens. The little quarto, of which one hundred and fifty were published by subscription by Putnam, a few years since, under the title of The Character and Portraits of Washington," now commands a high price when a stray copy finds its way into an auctioneer's catalogue-and several collectors, of Knickerbocker proclivities, are busy illustrating the "private edition of Dr. Francis's Old New York." By the handsome specimen of typography and binding called the "Magnolia," a privately printed Boston book, we perceive that this expensive and recherche taste is active in that city also. A lover of the somewhat coy but always emphatic and pleasant muse of Dr. Thomas William Parsons has collected and embalmed in this beautiful casket some of his late and uncollected pieces.

Rev. Dr. George B. IDE, of Springfield, has nearly ready a volume of sermons to be published under the title of "Bible Pictures."

CROSBY & AINSWORTH republish Professor Craik's “English of Shakspeare, illustrated in a Philological Commentary on his Julius Cæsar."

MR. JOHN MEREDITH READ, Jr., of Albany, is engaged in writing a new "Life of Henry Hudson,” with the aid of original documents drawn from the rarest sources in England, Holland, France, and Spain. This interesting work is to be illustrated by Albert Bierstadt, who sails for Europe in May for the purpose of making studies for the series of drawings delineating the exciting events in the career of the renowned navigator, as well as for the great picture of "The Discovery of the North River by Henry Hudson," one of the two national pictures ordered for the Capitol at Washington by the government. Mr. Read's work will be an amplifi

[ocr errors]

A COMPANION Volume to Mr. Longfellow's translation of Dante, the first volume of which, containing the "Inferno," is announced for immediate publication, will appear before long, in the shape of a version of the Vita Nuova," by Mr. Charles E. Norton. We hear, too, that Dr. Parsons's translation of the "Inferno," the first seventeen cantos of which were published a number of years ago, is passing through the press. His last volume, "The Magnolia," a collection of original poems, is winning "golden opinions" from the best judges of poetry.

tracts from which were a feature of the "Atlantic THE journals and note-books of Hawthorne, exMonthly" during the past year, are about to be published complete in two volumes. If we may judge by the portions already printed, and which are exceedingly interesting from the light which they shed 'upon the genius of the delightful writer and his methods of literary labor, they will be a valuable addition to our scanty stock of intellectual autobiographies.

༢.

An old and acrimoniou controversy is reopened by the publication of a volume entitled "An Inquiry into the Origin of Anesthesia," written by exSenator Truman Smith, and issued in Hartford by Brown & Goss. Mr. Smith goes over the whole ground, reviews the evidence in the case, rejects the claims of Dr. Morton and Dr. Jackson, and contends that Horace Wells is entitled to the sole credit of the discovery.

William Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible" has apTHE first number of the American edition by Dr. peared from the press of Hurd & Houghton. It will be published in thirty parts by subscription, and is revised and edited by Professor H. B. Hackett, with the co-operation of Mr. Ezra Abbot, Assistant Librarian of Harvard University. The illustrations are numerous and good, and the text clear.

[ocr errors]

GOULD & LINCOLN announce a publication of the Progress of Doctrine in the New Testament," by Thomas Dehany Bernard, of Exeter College, England. It is one of the series of Bampton Lectures.

THE proposal that a royalty should be paid the author of a book on each copy sold by the publisher is Mr. James Spedding's contribution towards the settlement of the ancient quarrel between authors and publishers. To this "The Spectator" wants a rider added in the interest of the publishers, and, considering the vexations which the present system imposes on the genus

« PrécédentContinuer »