New-York tribune., 1875-01-27

critical history OF tno Oruer oi Sos"n 's
has yet appeared in print should note' II ohy py
title the valuable documentary little volume Ia
France ct Rome, Rtmde Historiqne, etc, by jung
The value of the volume lies in the documents
many of them now FIRST printed, and others as I'M
portant and nearly novel to ninety-nine In hum
dred of living intelligent persons who are at present
interested in the now widespread outbreak OF the
old quarrel between old Rome and modern civiiza-
ton, The political character and import of the
earlier conflicts between the Papacy and France,
and their results in the Declaration of the Four Ar
tcles, the charter Of the GalEcan Church IN l6s9,
and in the Concordat of 1901 setforh with desira-
bic clearness. In telling contrast, M. Jung points
TO the overwhelming encroachments OF ultramon-
tanish on Gallican independence, favored and per-
mitted by the lmpoGcy Of later governments.
Among the official documents in the appendix OF Nj
Jung's volume, which will surprise most readers,
will be found statistics partly showing the remarka-
bic increase In France, under the Third Empire, OF
eligOus houses and communities, OF their numbers
material possessions and consequent powers.
NJ. Rousselets literary part in DInde des hVdHS n
an agreeable narrative of what that intenigeht
traveller saw and thought while travelling in Oentr
India and in the Presdencies Of Bombay ana
Benral, the other part of this largo quar'o
work resting on that literary substructure' con-
sists besides six maps, of moro than SOO ILLUSTRATIVE
wood-cuts most Of which have the two1oid meii'
of really illustrating the text and OF being excel
Ie,t snecirnens OF that form of art They are well
drawn. beautifully cut and fully impressed on NJ
paper In this volume Hachette d Go. have raised
the standard Of excellence to which they have ac-
customed us of late years in the series OF puDhea'
tions of which this is the newest. Bertall mas not
the pencil Of Gavarni, nor the exhaustless sparkling
wit Of Chamy, neither Of whom has the deeper
humOr Of Daumier. But the thousand and one
clever cute, with their accompanying smart le-
sends of this his second annual series of the Come
6 81 Notre Temps in largo octave, are most enter
oriro nroof hat he is artist and wit, and has the
snrt Of humor revealed to his Observant eye In the
daily life of modern Parls W. H. H.
TREAT FOR LOVERS OF FINE BOOKS.
FIRST EDITION OF THE WORKS OF JOHN hooAhA"
YRrRR-TTs EXCELLENT QUALITIES,
lRpoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRiDUNBJ
LONDON jan S-There came into my hands ny
chance the other day copy OF the first editlOn OF
the works of John Hookham Frere, published by MI
B. NJ. Pickering, son of that William Pickering
whose name has long been honored by lovers
| of fine books. This copy-and l hope not 10
scare off the general reader by the phrase-
is on large paper, and of such copies only y
| in all were printed. OF those on ordinary
paper the whole number if recollect rightly, did
not exceed 750 The book became scarce one soon
after its publication, for when it went out OF pre
! copies filtered back into the market very slowly
/ II was not a circulating-library book VINO
/ over cared for Hookham Frere at all would
care for him enough to buy his works, and having
bouebt them to keep them. The very fact that he
was not a yery popular kind of genius made him
more precious to those who valued justly bis rare
traits and accomplishments. His writings had long
been difficult to procure. Some Of them could not
| he obtained at all. His fame endured In the ira
ditions of past generation, in the memory OF Few
snryivOrs of it, and in the testimony of few great
cotemporares widely dissimilar III intellectual
characteristics; of COlerdge, of Byron OF Sir al
fer Scott of Sir James Macintosh aud of Sir George
Cornewall Lewis His own family, proud as they
were of his peculiar renown. seem to have made no
effort TO extend or perpctuate it. They left MS
writings to take care of themselves No EDITION OF
them was projected till Mr.. Pickering undertook to
repubsh such he could collect Some OF them were
already in type and memoir of Mr.. Frere had been
prepared, when Mr. Pickering desiring to make his
| collection more complete and his memoir as ac-
! curate as possible, applied to Mr.. Freres family.
These facts are stated in the preface ngenuously 1t
does not seem to have occurred to any one
that they cast certain reproach upon Mr.
Frere's relations. For his nephews, MIR.
W. f. Frere and Sir Bartle Frere, who finally
gave their cooperation to Mr.. Pickering the fact
that they had spent 35 years of active service In the
tropics may be accepted as an excuse. But there is
nothing to show why Mr.. Frere of ROydon Hall, the
heir of his uncle aud present head OF the family,
should not have taken more pous care OF the re-
| mains which bir. Hookham Frere left That the
work which his kindred so long neglected was finally
done at all is really due to a stranger. to the
~ pharif nf
his fathers zeal and taste. Both the Pickerings
have shown courage in giving to the public editions
of great writer's whom other publishers would not
touch. The public proved sometimes grateful and
sometimes ungrateful In other words. these issues
were not always profitable but scholars and literary
men and bbophiles OF all grades reaped the benefit
of Mr.. Pickerings enterprise. In the end may
add, the public has been made to pay handsomely.
Many books which the late Mr.. Pickering sold off at
fourth of their cost have of late years been bring
ing more than four times their published price. 1t
is pity that this appreciation of them came too
late to be cf help to him. In the case of Mr. Freres
works the demand proved so Unexpectedly great
! that second edition finally called for. This
has been printed In style slightly less luxurious
than the first, but s in point of elegance, superior
| to most of the books of the day.
AS there is still here and there publisher who
aims at excellence in book-making, he will perhaps
| allow me to suggest to him that he could not do
| better than examine with some care the work that
has been done the large paper Frere of the first
edition. The paper is handmade, and of a texture
Just suited to take good impression; not too hard
in surface, as the best Whatman paper sometimes is,
nor too rough of the best Of the Van Gelder
and other Dutch papers 1t certainly would not
answer for ordinary books. being too costly too stiff
for easy folding and otherwise ill-adapted to the