The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-11-12
An American Magazine. y

Volumes XXI and XXI of Scrlbner
| Magazine include the monthly issues of that
| admirable periodical from November, 1880,
| to October. 1881. In these two handsome
volumes may be said to be comprehe nded an
epitome of the best thought of the time
They are little library in themselves.
Some of the best serial novels, the best short
stories and sketches, and the most delight
full bits Of verse that have appeared in this
country during the year, are in these attrac
tive covers A list of contributors would
simply be list of the best names familiar to
students of the literature of the day. Among
those who have contributed to the magazine
during the publication Of the two volumes
under notice are: Mrs. Frances Hodgson
H. Boyesen, Eugene Schuyler. DR.. ]. G.
Holland, John Burroughs, Theodore Thomas,
Richard Henry Dana, E. G. Stedman, Ralph
Waldo Emerson, Sir Julius Benedict, George
E. Waring, Jr., Joel Chandler Harris, (Un-
Gle Remus), R. W. Glider, and great multi
tude of men and women eminent in letters,
and gifted with the faculty of ornamenting
every subject that they touch. No other
magazine designed for the instruction and
pleasure of the English-speaking people, we
are confident, embraces iE its scope SO vast
a Vi riety of topics which come home to the
business and home life of its readers.
Indeed, it is one of the proudest boasts of
Scribner's that its citholicity of judgment
and taste has opened its pages to many
classes of topics, which, before its advent,
were not considered suitable for current dis
cussion in a literary magazine. The wonder
full success of this venture-something phe-
nomenal in modern times-has amply justi-
fled whatever may have seemed like new
departure in the art of editing. 1t is great
deal to say that in one magazine has been
found such papers as Prof. George P. Fish
er's admirable article on s'The Revised New
Testament, Theodore Thomas's 'Musical
Possibilities in America" Bishop Doane's
Father Hyacinthe," Bjornstjerne Bjorn-
sons "Norway's Constitutional Struggle"
Ralph Waldo Emerson's 'sThomas Carlyle"
Sir Julius Benedict's Jenny Lind" E. c.
Stedman's sPoetry in America" and the
discriminating papers on "Actors and Act
ing" that ha 1e appeared, from time to time,
in the hospitable pages of Scribners. More
than this, the conductors of the magazine
may justly claim that they are, in some
sense, discoverers as well as Inventors. How
great service to the cause of American de-
yelopment in art and literature, a wise and
patient fostering of hidden and unknown
power, has been rendered by the editorial
control of this magazine, it is impossible to
estimate; but it is very great service.
Looking through the two volumes that are
now given to the public in substantial form
one sees the names of artists and author S
who have first reached the world of readers
through the pages of Scribner's.
In art, especially, the conductors of the
magazine have created q complete revolu-
! ton Much has been written, much more
might fairly be said, about the change and
the improvement wrought in American art,
| as illustrated in wood-engraving and print
ing. since the establishment of Scribner' s
Magazine. Whatever may be said TO the
credit of American magazines and illustrat-
| ed newspapers, we are rightfully
proud of these,--it should never be forgot
ten that the fresh impetus given to this de
partment of art is greatly due to the labors
| of the conductors of Scribner. What maya
zine in the world, before Scribner's appear
| ed. would have thought it worth while to
publish sets of its best engravings, in separ-
| ate sheets, as works of art, to be enshrined
in portfolios and studied as masterpieces
| That there has been popular demand fol
these proof impressions, and that their beau
ty and excellence have amply justified theil
publication, is gratifying testimony to the
worth of the work accomplished. Some d
the more notable pictures in the volumes
for the year last past are worthy of higl
praise. The full-page portraits of Gladstone
Beaconsfield, DIR. D0llinger, Father Hya-
cinthe, and the frontispieces, are really tri
umphs of art, of which those who have fur
pished them to the world of readers ma!
well be proud.
In the volume before us, Eugene Sch ny
ler's history of ''Peter the Great" Geo. W.
Cables Madame Delphine," Mrs. Fran
ces Hodgson Burnett's "a Fair Barbarian,
w. D Howell's "a Fearful Responsibility
and other equally important works, SOM
destined to take their place in permanen
literature, havejust appeared. Of the pa
pers which are of immediate and contempor
aneous interest, space will not allow us t.
speak. These, like the delightful thing
that are found in the editorial departments
of the magazine, are known of all men, a
least of all men and women who read. Th'
freshness of the monthly pages of Scribneri
has been subject for the admiration anC
pleasure of its readers; and now that We
have those pages in enduring form, it is
satisfaction to find that they have not be
come stale BY the passage Of the months.