The Portland daily press., 1877-06-23
Recent Publications.


Art Education Applied to Industry, by
George Ward Nichols, New York: Harper
Brothers; Portland: Loring, Short & Har-
mon,) is the practical and suggestive title of a
volume alike excellent in its design and
fortunate in its execution, literary and
mechanical. 1t is intended to emphasize the
principle that art is not merely the inspiration
of the sculptor or the picture painter, but is
equally to be sought by the maker of house
hold ware, even by the inventor of machinery
and tools. In brief, art is not merely luxury,
it is necessity. The pitcher of symmetrical
and beautiful shape is likely to hold water and
pour it out better than the ill-designed pitcher;
q chair that is modelled after the laws of pro !.
portion will be better balanced on its four legs,
and so on through an indefinite list, embracing
indeed, every manufacture that is capable OF
artistic possibility. Mr.. Nichols has availed
himself of various good authorities TO whom
he gives credit for the aid afforded him in his
work; and his comparison of the state of art
instruction in the various countries of Europe
is very interesting and valuable. The style OF
the author is exceedingly good; it is unaffected,
spirited and scholarly; and there is pleasing
lack of mannerism, or tendency to exalt
"culture" above usefulness, which in the
present rather ambitious stage of art aspra-
ton in America, writers are too frequently
led to adopt. The numerous engravings OF
vases, of objects in faience, enamel, pottery,
etc., etc., give additional value aud beauty to
the work; and Messrs. Harper have issued the
volume in an exceedingly elegant form. 1t is
an admirable attempt to popularize genuine
art in our country in the only practical and
desirable way, by general instruction OF youth
and of the classes who have occasion to
employ good designs in their daily labors,
The Mythology of Greece and Rome, from
the German of o. Seemann; edited by G. d.
Banchi, NJ. A., (New York: Earper Brothers;
Portland: Loring, Short & Harmon belongs
to the Students Smaller Series. and is COM
pact, philosophical and pleasant work on the
myths, ancient and ever~young as the sun.
The design of this elegantly written volume is
to give a neral idea of the mythical and
legendary lore which is indispensable, even in
the present day, to the comprehension of art,
of poetic imagery, even of our daily phrases.
The superb strength aud sunlike radiance and
warmth of the olden myths-born of the aerial
and earthly forces, of the powers of light and
of darkness-never die out of mans mind, or
has progressed beyond the great physical
forces thus typfied to their creator But the
old gods man made, are the dear nursery-tales
of the worlds childhood, never wholly out
worn and forgotten in the ripper knowledge of
elder years. Prof. Seemann relates these stories
clearly and we'll, without overmuch insistence
on their typical meaning; and the volume is
illustrated by many engravings, Identical with
some of those in Prof William Smiths ex-
cel.ent Classical Dictionary, also published by
Messrs. Harper.
Mr.. Anthony Trollope's American Senator
New York: Harper Brothers; Portland Lor-
ing, Short g. Harmony is an attempt to portray
the impressions given and received by an Am
erican, we'll grounded in his political aud ma
tional faith, in English society. The result is
very entertaining, and Mr.. Trollope's Senator
is neither the serio-comic man of noble impulse
and prosaic utterauce that our American DE
Mile has drawn, neither is he the lank and
sallow "jack-kuife- stranger" OF con-
ventional fiction. Indeed, the American abroad
is beginning to have little justice accorded
him; witness the Gilead p. Beck Of Messrs.
Besant and Rice in their Golden Butterfly,
character designed with genuine enthu-
siasm and appre citation of the pictur-
esque quality of the American nature;
and now we have Mr.. Trollope's
Elias Gotobed, senator from the state of Mi
kewa, drawn with the careful repetition OF
touch and quiet impar tiality that.are character
istic of the author. 1t is evident that Mr.. Troll
lope designs to aid good feeling between his
countrymen and ours by his work, appreciating
certain differences of thought and sentiment
that are in degree irreconc!lable with each
other. The Senator is drawn with strength
and much quiet humor. Tie is surprised at the
abuses of English society," at the impunity with
which the rich man may hunt over his poorer
neighbor's turnip-feld, and that there Is no
redress when the necks of the poor mans
geese are untimely wrung by the protected fox.
At the same time, the English acquaintances
of Senator Gotobed are little alarmed at his
peculiarities, incisiveness and copiousness OF
speech, apt to overstep the limits of even the
privileged guest. 1t is not strange that the
Senator's lecture in st. James Hall upon the
Irrationality of Englishmeu, though benevo-
lently intended, was not kindly received. Mr..
Trollope thus sums up the case of Elias Gotobed
versus the kingdom on (which the sun never
sets:
"'Goodnght, Mr.. Gotobsd," said Lord
Drummond. Il csnnot tell you Low much
respect your purpose and yoar courage; but
4 o.. F.- ,o xuig fnro m IN
any other man, much less nation, of all his
faults
you English tell US of ours pretty often,
said the SENATOR
Dot and Dime. Two Characters in Ebony.
BY One who Knows all About Them. Boston !:
Loring & Co; Portland: Loring, Short & Har-
mon.) This is funny and graphic little story
of Southern plantation, the happy life OF the
children, white and black-and particularly OF
the twins, Dot and Dime. Their pranks are
indescribably quaint and amusing; their capers
and caprices must be read to be appreciated,
for no secondhand description would convey an
idea of them. The time of the civil war Is
passed over without more than the bare men
tion, it is story without sectional bias; SIM
ply series of merry little black figures that
are the literary parallel to Paul Konewka's
silhouettes.
Norston's Rest by Mrs. Ann S. Stephens.
philadelphia; TIL Peterson & Co.. is novel
quite well written, entirely unobjectlonable,
and of sustained interest. The many readers
who enjoy Mrs. Stephens's works will find
Norston's Rest one of her best novels.
Josh Billings Trump Kards. With Illus
trations in Natural History by F. S. Church.
New York: G. w. Carleton & Co.; Portland:
Loring, Short s. Harmony Josh Billings is
a new American version of the court jester of
foreign monarchs of old. Like them, he wears
the cap and bells to disguise his philosophy,
and PLAYS the fool to mask a biting wit It is,