New-York tribune., 1879-03-19
LITERARY NOTES.

As an illustration of the way IN which auc-
ton sales of rare books enable collectors TO coinpete
their special acquisitions, it may be mentioned that a
the late Brinley sale the Antiquarian Society OF Wor
eester Mass-a most respectable assocation-invested
about 500 in the works Of Cotton Increase and Samuel
Mather These added to suoh as we're already IN the
possession Of tue socety MAKE e. 'S ne rid
The first part of an elaborate work called
"Ness and Eggs Of American Birds" comprise three
volumes OF twelve parts EACH has just been pubshed
by s E. Casino of Salem, Mass Ernest Ingerson. VINO
has been frequent contributor TO the New-Nork ana
other magazines, being the author The first part COM
prses twenty-fo ectavo pages we'll printed on large
paper and two pages of beautiful colored lthograpmc
plates which represent the eggs birds No book has yet
been printed in America by which birds eggs can be
identHed and in addition to supplying this needed IN
formation Mr. ngersol will bring into prominence Ger
tain interesting phases OF bird life on which previous
hooks OF ornithoogy have touched only lncldeh-
tsy Mr Ingersol has had large experience TO mt him
for his work. and his habits OF close observaon ms en-
cagng style and his thorough sympathy with the SUP
ject promise to make this book both useful ana oe-
iightfuL
Brief items from many sources: The MIN
volume OF the superb Edinburgh edition OF Burns Is s)ust
ont II contains the spoDdence between 1877 and
1897 including the Carnda letters and has two land
scape engraviDgs by the late Sam Bough In note the
editor mentions the pleasing incident that Mr. Bough
was fond Of telling his friends that his mother ~he
child had OF her mothers occasional visits
at the poets Dumries been noticed by the poet
and dandled on his knee....A drama adapted from
ghakespeare's Romeo and Juliet" and called Ajay-
sintha ana Vlasvau" has lately appeared in the Ben
gall language. and translation of the Tempest de
scribed rs "stif and occasionally unintchgiole IS III
Fugitive literature Of the time Of Elizabeth
and James IL much sought after by collectors ana the
library Of the late MI Huh OF London. is SAID TO be
snguary rich in t....AmODg fashion periodicals Is
sued by clothing and furnishing houses EhrchS fG'on
Ouarterl il probably the largest. The first number OF
volume ", recently issued. contains 1O2 pages OF
which about onefh devoted to original stories aud
lar ge part of the remainder TO fashion plates Lee
Shepard, Of Boston, bave in preparation Lie Ol
General Benjamin F. Butler. The illustrations to
BvrOn's Lara" just published by the London ART
Union when Judged from high critical standpoint"
are pronounced by The EIGD,iner "ambitious" and
poor works Of art. An American recently sent
COPY OF poem which he had written on the civil war 10
The Bookseller. Of London, with note SAYING he was
"nOt arrogant as TO declare this me nnest poeIca
production Of the century" but that 1t has It's equa
In beauty Of thought and expression lie wOuld thank
anyone who would be 80 kind as to show II To nm me
bookseller prints the following lines from the poems
"a tale OF those dark bloody days, when within TINS
land arose a.
That fraricda war; 80 grim, from It's beginning TO us
close"
The "Bay Psalm Book" which sold at the
Brnley sale for 81 200, not alone remarkable III the
fact probably the first book printed In Amer
ica and is very Moses Colt Tyler, IN ms Ills
tory Of American Literature" 1t Will be forever
a
ductions of our first period-"a poetic phenomenon,
happily uudue we may hope. in all the literaures OF
English speech" 1t the Joint production OF the
chief dvnes OF the country each OF whom took sep
arate portion Of the original Hebrew for translation
Richard Mather one of the famous Mather family wrote
the preface which is characteristic bit OF Puritan
prose- very Hebrac learning very heroic In coDscien-
tiousness, sharp and minute IN opinion, quaint III
phrase" II is the "appslling sincerity" Of these men
which must in Professor Tyers opinion cover the null
titude of sins they have committed in their use
of the English language There are in it "sen-
tences wrenched about from end to end, clauses
heaved up and abandoned in chaos, words disem-
bowclled or split quite in two in the middle"
The verses seem to have been hammered out on an
anvil by blows from blacksmiths sedge" I" Let US
now read, for our Improvement" continues the pro
fessor, "a part of the Fifty-eighth Psalm:
1.-THE wicked estranged from
the womb, they goe astTay
A. 5 ever they are borne;
uttering lyes they
Their poysOn's like the serpenfs poyson;
they like deafe aspe, her care
that stops. Though Charmcr wisely charm,
his voice she Will not heare.
Within their mouth doe thou their teeth
break out, God most strong
break OF the lions young"
In the preface Richard Mather remarks that II the
aTe not always so smooth and elegant as some
may desire let mem G9nSaei SnS % 1IG ti h W. SID
in Boston winch originally belonged TO Richard Mather
and contained his autograph.
said 10 increase about 20 per cent when complete
indie. Of il is given The English lord who proposed in
Parliament that no author should have the benefit of the
copyright unless he made an index for his books knew
very well what trials to patience many libraries are
English and German books are noteworthy Tor thelr
want Of findexes-German partcularly-and not lnfre-
uuenty has II happened that English work OF great
intrinsic value reproduced in this country without
remedying this omission. or late Henry Holt d Co.
have begun good work for the ameioration OF human
ufT.rng that springs from these causes. When they
bring out English book they have an index msde for
IT, provided It has already which s often the case
Fanny Kembe's book, made up as it is OF dsionted
sketches comments and anecdotes came 10 them with
its six hundred pages wanting not only an index but
table OF contents, and even the ordinary
head lines Of chapters. The work was CIV en-
10 an accomplished for lndexlng, and as
printed it contains nearly three thousand references
The same true Of Mrs. Brasseys book. An important
English work which they now have in press is III the
hands of the index maker whose instructions are TO
make 1t full and accurate. Thomas Carlyle laOo-
rlous searcher for historical facts that he has BEEN
knows, as perhaps few other men know, the
value of indexes VINO that has read his Cromwell "
will ever forget the story he has given OF his trials
The records OF English last OF all our Hero
isns" lies as good lost he says, "to the extent OF
tons and square miles, shOp-ruobisA. unedted un-
sorted. much ndexcd" "Thcre arc,' he add',
"from thirty to fifty thousand unread pamphlets OF the
civil war in the British Museum alone; huge piles OF
ouldering wreck wherein, at the rate of perhaps one
pennyweight per ton, lie things memorable" Some OF
these have been printed, but edited only as YOU edit
wagon loads OF broken bricks ana dry mortar simply by
tunblng up the wagon. Not OF these monstrous cid
volumes has much as OH available index" Their
sound Is not voice; IT is widespread lnaruculate,
slurnberous mumbcmcnt. issuing as from the lake Of
eternal sleep" Carlyle did not suffer his own works to
enter the world until they had indexes aud thorough
ones His Cromwell" has twentv-Ole closely printed
pagcs in double columns; his "French Revolution
iincteen and his Frederick the Great" l. well sup
piled. More than this, lie has published one volume
4. lll his eLLlLIe MnIhs. lANLnG