The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-04 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

New Editions of Famous Novals.
THE " CHARLES DICKENS" EDITION of " Oliver
Twist," "Dombey and Son," and "The Old
Curiosity Shop." Chapman and Hall.
As the third, fourth, and fifth instalments of tbe
New Edition of Charles Dickens's works—begun $
few months since by the reissue of " The Pickvileit
Papers," and followed a month later by the
publication in a companion volume of Marti°
Chuzzlewit" —we have now placed before ill:
to range side by side with those two celebrate'
fictions upon the same bookshelf, three otho'
of the famous stories of the once mysterious
Boz. Each of these three other stories attesting
a remarkable manner the extraordinary orent°:
power with which their writer has been gifted as;
delineator of character. In illustration of which
is only necessary to take them ono by one into n°11;
sideration—it hardly matters how casually. Tiler
is " Oliver Twist," for example, thanks to "ivh°/3:
or rather to which (speaking of it simply as b°°'
)
we have, years ago, made the acquaintance, an3°l3°,
others, and that very intimately indeed, of flit.
Bumble (the very archetype or model-exemplar 0
Beadledom), of Bill Sykes, of Fagin, of Nancy'
of Charley Bates, of Noah Claypole, of Charlotte?
of the Artful Dodger, and of little Oliver himself
Again—there is " Dombey and Son," a book BO,•
elated with how many a tender and tearful recor
lection and with how much hearty laughter, poPied
as it is among others by Little Paul and his sister
Florence, by Major Bagstock, and Captain Cnttlie:i
and Cousin Phoenix, and Mrs. Pipchin, and Sios
Nipper, and Mr. Toots, and Dr. Blimber, and 31,1%
Feeder, and Miss 'Fox, and the Toodles
and Mr. Carker, and Mr. Dombey, and Edith, ss
Mrs. Skewton, and all the rest of them! Lastly.,
there is the " The Old Curiosity Shop," with itset
many wonderful creations, whimsical, beautiful,
grotesque—. creations as widely contrasting as Little
Nell and Quilp—comprising, among their nualbe;
Sampson and Sally Brass, Kit, and Jacob, and tirill,
baby, and Mrs. Nobbles, Barbara and Whiskery tj
Garlands, the Single Gentleman, Short 3nr,
Codlin, 'Mrs. Jarley, the poor Schoolinastebe
Toni Scott, Dick Swiveller, and t,e
Marchioness ! The mere enumeration of tb°ll%
old familiar names, affords a notion a t,a
astonishing wealth of imaginative power squandell
upon the pages of these wonderful books—book'
b,
accessible now to the thriftiest purchasers, Plo
lished, as they are, in so many forms and at,,
many prices, from the original (guinea) edition
the Library (seven and sixpenny) edition, t° tb
l'
double columned popular edition, after wards moditrr
in form and yet further reduced in price, as the ch:e,
edition ; until these books that we have all so o'3vt
laughed and cried over to our heart's conten r, are no
being issued from the Press, at last, in this nunui,,os
of all the English Editions yet out, the " (1--e
Dickens" Edition, as it is called, in other WordS 3r;
autograph edition of the writings of Charles Dickeos
,55
Each work complete in one volume, the letter-Pro
adorned with eight of the original illustrations, 300
the book itself purchasable, on the average Wilco,
more formidable sum than three and sixPe

Sir Brooke Fossbrooke. By Charles Lever. SI
Edition in One Volume. Win. Blackwood 311-
Sons.
it is the distinguishing merit of Charles 1-4°teir
(recently dubbed by a slashing and merciless 33:1;
rist calling his satire " Flaying Alive," the 11.;3
" Smollett of our age")--it is Charles Lever's dist'll);
guishing excellence that, as a writer of fiction, his St): ;,
in the best among his later works, is a wonderfalve,
provement upon the harum scarum dash and eAirier
lessness manifest in the composition of his earl
stories, without these later works of his cvidence.lit;
any falling off whatever in the effervescent vivto
so delightful in such records of fun and frolic as t'ci
relating the adventures of Charles O'Afallei9ooo
Harry Lorrequer. Ile, at any rate, has not vir"„
himself out. Industrious though he has bei,
through all these years during
he has catered so successfully for our
ment he has still retained those aboupull;
animal spirits, that perennial freshness, that WI)
haustible flow of anecdote and repartee, svb,
coupled with a capacity for the delineation in
ing colours of whimsical characters like giiie,3i
Free and Corney Delaney, better known as tirt-er
Corney, have made his various works, no 013
or
whether those of his earlier, those of his middlet,,
those of his later style, repertories of exhilarate 7
and laughter-moving literature. Here, for exaoPeri
in one of the very last as it is also one of the I:, of
best of his humorous narratives, in this On of
" Sir Brooke Forsbrooke," we have the aut'„- of
" Charles O'Malley," of " Harry Lorrequer,tbst
" Tom Burke," of " Jack Hinton," we have io
new Laughing Philosopher (a better 00°,,,ce
his way than Heraclitus ever could Poe
been) " Cornelius O'Dowd " we bay° the
droll historian of " The Dodd Family,' tof
celebrant of the " Barringtons" the al:lOUser
"The Knight of Gwynne," we have Charles L° 03
id a word, still at his best and happiest, as vii°oo
the whole tale of Sir Brooke Fossbrooke, but, the
especially as witness his inimitable portraiture lerov,
course of it of the testy and vain-glorious Chief 13%
Sir William Lendrick. As fine a character, that
the character of the Lord Chief Baron Leedriee
ya
as any that Charles Lever has ever drawn sin, ; the
began his career as a novelist. And, if onl.Y f°i oatsake of Sir William Lendrick, the admirerso
r
author—now more numerous than ever--. 91,
jii
be congratulated on the re-issue of the sveltioa
the form of this beautiful and compact e ref
of it—an edition portable enough for the ifoo
and yet handsome enough for the booksile
of any library.

Alec Forbes, of .Howglen. By George Macciet;:
New Edition, in one volume. Hurst and Blackatia
As another volume of the Messrs. 111115; et°
Blackett's excellent "Standard Library" We 11:1,- 0110
one of the ablest productions of a true man bAci
—George Macdonald, Poet and Novelist. If
never written anything but "Alec Forbet,oltt
would be remembered because of that one be'
nay, wo will even say, because of one characli die
cause of one creation, in it. Those who have r° biro
work will understand at once that I'vech.3lo'
alluded to old Mr. Cupples—a soddened title
drinker, only comparable in •fiction (at tile toe),
when he is first introduced to the reader's 33c!apd'
to the Naughty Child in " Our Mutual so,
that miserably degraded old drunkard save
often and so vainly taken to task, with the. "oiLle°
a delicate little finger and the shake of a of tl3°,
head, by the Perhou of the House. flew 'l;s lift"
sake of another—his pupil—Old Mr. Llll3l3lclete„
himself at last, by a wondrous effort of nioriess o'4;
ruination, out of his hitherto seemingly lIPP.e cidev
gradaticn, is one amongthe most affecting 113 It is
related in the whole range of modern rieti°l3'.ogl°'
delineation worthy of a God-fearing, In
eorge AO'
tare like that of our poet-novelist
donald.

The
Edition.illill on the Niel
Nest Sons. v.floss. By George .
r_oci a
Onethe olune. Win. BlaEciLli:ut. and
gob
All
to her peerless "Adam Bede," an3°- -I°'
the works of George Eliot, there stands "'titbit' 3'14
general. excellence—" The Mill on
cording to our view at least, as second tier I'oo'
In it, if we have not (what Was 1131.1 e°ll'
panion creation to that of the
reason to be looked for) any indivdu3
comp``
rd►Y
ia
iDeoulfaille
llrs. Poyser, we have at any rate that cvohdet`ip of
fe-like and humoristically pourtrayed ii.,c) iitl
sisters, the Dodsons- —Mrs. Glegg, irs- I)°,.7tV '
°f
note, to say
Mrs. Tulliver. Besides whom,' have Nye n°tortl'r,~jt•
and Maggie, other characters espeo4lllY "I) a 'l'l
Clegg, and Bob Jakins, and Mrs• Alo.s, :t
of tlio
the rest of them. As might be said als° ire oiV
general effect of " Adam Bede" as a nov.l, 1 tll5
mot oo .0.
say riot the less distinctly of " Die " itY
nothing of Mr. Tulliver, tutod Al
Floss," that it has about it the incoogrns sod
separable from the perusal of a hit©
0301°
with a tragic close to it• Despite tll3:,ALla,ilt,s
iuerradicable incongruity, peculiar alike to i di
o,v
Bede" and " The Mill on' the Floss," hotttoo the,
masterly fictions have taken a lasting hold
popular imagination. Satisfied of which, l_colatitettLi
but feel certain that this charming 01;evide, lie
edition of each will be welcomed far and ' read t 1
will tend in no inconsiderable degree
fame, here of Airs. Poy,er, the.° of tne,',ool ail
Sisters, now of Iletty and Dinah, now of '
Maggie Tulliver. to sP voLpola