New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-03-20
BOOKS IN LONDON.
THE NEW sELwYN-CELLlNTS MENOA"'-
CRUIKsHANKS UNCLE TONI

IrRoA rbe hh"VLA" 00i'" oNnoS February IL.
The new edition of Jesse's GEORGE seINln ~"
His Contsmporaries" has come into the " "'i" ",
void Of nearly everything thar BOOK r',i"'l,
IT. proper introduction. 1t has no taole w 'V,
40 bst of mates no index and no editor Mt'''S'
Bckprs 4 SON who Issue IT, appear u |
unrely commercial view OF their reIauoh 10 i'.'"
e. The old plates or some of them, reaNpear II.
,h,s EDITION after having done duty IN the orH'h'.
;ssne Of Jessc'S hook in Cunninghams eul''ou -
Horace Walpolc's Letters, and | Know ho' VIZ
!, e rcrfectlv true. as the present publishers
cav that Jessc's Selwyn had become one VI ,"o
scarccst and highest-prccd OF mouerh oo'N'
Whether that be a sufficient reason lot reP,o""''n7
!, in all this nakedneSs Is a question to when '"o
nuhlishcrs and the public may give dihereh' ""-
swers Remonstrancc would be thrown away y"
NessrS Bickers nor would they, suppose. raw the
least heed 10 the bbhOmaniac who should u'aAe
known his preference for uncut edges 10 'u' sI''i"
MARGINS with which these volumes are sent iotlh'
on the norris of the book itself hardly word
con he rcoured. Jcsse's Selwyn to use the h"i"o
Inv which it Is commonly mentioned was one VI
the worst edited and most delightful nooNs III
modern literature No criticism can he too snatP
for Iesses clumsineSs, inaccuracies, ana general "
capacity for the work he undertook. Ot MS many
books dealing with the seventeenth m" tIsAlc'"'"
centuries not one is even moderately wen uo'e'
The man had q slovcny mind and heavy hahu'
His great merit is to ha re done them at ",'
Selwyn, at any rate. is book one cannot Go WIN"
ont II belongs on ones shelves by the sue Va
Walpole: from whom, indeed, no small part o. II j.
borrowed No single book contains so goou pc
ture of the splendid dsSoluteness OF the HE 'nal
went on under George Second and George Ih'Iu'
Selvvn and his set were among the most entertain
ing people who ever lived, ut least III tngiano'
They write letters 10 each other OF perfect ha''A
ness often witty often picturesQuely descriptive
often of much literary merit. but their greatest
merit is that they hold the mirror mp TO q society
which has passed away never to return an ails'oo-
raey of the most brilliant and frivolous Nnd' ae-
complished elegant, superior to any pu"lc "p'h'on
but their own animated by an undisturoed coh''c-
lion that their duty in life was to amuse 'he"-
selves In this serious age that company seems
almost as remote as the age OF Acibiades. but IL Is
English and lot Greek, and 1t will never cease 10
have n charm for those who most disapprove II.
We must take Selwyn we take his edtor;
neither has lived up to the standard OR pooS sous
would set for them, but the book to which they
have Jointly contributed has fascination when Is
probably the greater for the contrast between us
spirit OF polished trfing and the practical virtue
virtue it De, of to-day
Imav rs we'll correct mistake made the other
day in speaking of the English translation OF the
Memoirs of Benvenuto Celni as Roscoes 1t Is not
Eoscoes but Dr. Thomas NugentS, which seems 10
have been first published IN III What hoscoc
did was to reissue Nugent's version IN le-5 omit
ting Nngents name from the title page, aud put
ting in his oWn-onc of the most misleading title
pages to he found anywhere, and as such worth
t1onscrlipr; Memoirs of Bcnvcnuto Cellni,
TIorentine Artist, written by Himself, containing
variety of Information respecting the Arts, anu the
History of the Sixteenth Century. Third Edition.
Corrected and Enlarged from the last Milan kdl-
ton With the Notes and Observations OF u. T.
Carpan. Now First Translated by Thomas Roscoe
ESQ" ETC., etc. / presume most people would inter
from tins that Roscoe the translator OF the
Memoirs and not merely. as is the TACT of Carpanls
notes If you look in Loundes you lind, as usual
that he is either wrong OF ambiguous. The entry
is: "Cellipl Benvenuto. Memoirs written by him
self The third edition. vised from the Italian
with Notes (by Thomas Roscoe" Observe the
characteristic parenthesis the effect Of which IS to
render 10 doubtful whether the translation OF tue
Notes are by Roscoe.
And vet Roscoe did not mean to impose on any
body In the very first sentence OF his Preface he
assigns the translation to Nugent. A title now
ever makes so much more impression than a Pre-
face that Roscoe's name has come to be associated
with the translation Itself. l observed, not With
ont satisfaction that Mr. CongdOn. writing on
Cellini soon after did, and referring to my letter.
did not detect the error. When | reviewed La-
clancbe's French translation was in Whltby, and
10 make sure of the reference to Roscoe being accu-
rate got his edition from the Whitley Library a
very good collection of books There was the title
page with now first translated by Thomas Roscoe
Esd" in capitals; which followed, not too eau
tl,uely admit, but what one do when one has
no means of comparing copies 7 The Preface which
would have set matters right torn out. This Is
n long story about point of no great Importance.
But accuracy is always important.
Publishers continue to rush into the market one
after the otber-I don't say like the sheep OF IA
nurge-with sixpenny editions OF welI-known books
The latest | have heard of is Messrs. Macmillan's
issue of Tom Browns School Days at Rugby" OF
which they have printed 10000 copies at this
price. and sold over 1000 before publication.
find on talking with one OF the firm that they don
regard this as an edition likely to compete with any
existing edition; with the book, that is. as book,
and not as a broadsde They think 1t may adver-
tse the work at best or at worst 1t will circulate
among class who would not or could not buy 1t III
a more expensive and permanent foim That Is a
view which expressed at the beginning OF these
sixpenny experiments Nor do MesSrs. Macmillan
intend to keep the broadside Tom Brown in stock,
or TO republsh It, or to stereotype il. If there be
10000 pebble who like literature in newspaper
form. they can buy Tom Brow n in that form once
for all and not afterward Enormous as the num-
Der printed is the thing Is pershabe that 1t may
well enough become scarce in time. The scarcest.
The only really rare, edition OF Browning 10 ms, Is
Bells and POmegranates,' issued some forty years
AGO a. a folio pamphlet at p shilling, and now TO be
bought once year at go or more
One of the scarce Cruz kshanks, for example is
the edition of Uncle Toms Cabin" illustrated by
him, published IN twopeDny numbers by Cassel,
London. 1852. The thirteen numbers were after
oIrt OF braa ia