New-York tribune., 1885-09-21
NOTES ON BOOKS
:, oo,,x or TUE CRITICS OF BOOKS.

AND ON SOME OF THE ChiliNo o -.
phoA '"~ L.,NDoN, September l.
. .,a IN some of the English papers
-. ,ns ratiremsnt of Mr.. John Morley IRON ene
.a;,ors,in of AacmiIlan's Mdgaztne. lhey u'
.ourss ef IL as a future event, whereas IL s' a' !
-rote Won the other day. an sccompiisnou ~.
Thav assume moreover that this oetoSohS 'i''
Mo-lsv,s final abandonment OF all literary "oiA
and absolute devoti, IN to politics Inis ID an aioi
epce which the facts do not warrant INC io,y
- .o vh;cb vou have to look tor the adequate
..san;t,on of Mr. Morley's place III literature, ro-
-. him oh-hand to the next Liberal CABINET.
This again ia violent 1t is not yet known who VIII
=. oo,,d On TO form the next Liberal Cabinet an u
a. 4. little basty to speculate the compos'tioh
20 Cabinet the beadship of which is IN doubC MI
uorsv ia on the Continent and hare not seen nun
.;nc. his resignation. But do not believe DC mas
omitted literature for good. When he gave up
Journalism, one reason which led hlm 10 'na' e'op
was the desire to have more time Tor more pein"
nept work His success in politics, IL 10 'i"o' np'
been rap pid, and may have modineo MS pia"N -
4. not a man TO be dazzled by mere success. Wna'
ne cares for in politics is results Az 'ne s"in0 'o
a pol,tieai carer in England seems to possess
o,r;o,s fascination for men Of letters Mr. Ire
velyan ia another writer with brilliant future VINO
has bsss unable to resist the desire of helping make
history as well az write it, We shall have to walt
many n long day before read the story OF the
manhood of Fox. whose Early Life" is the most
splendid fragment Of the period.
The library of the late Rev. Mark Pattison.
Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, has been dls-
posed of by auction in London and has met the
usual fate of such collections. 1t was working
library. and IL sold for song Containing as it did
.F boo nlrp nn Is.
vould have been worth more to keep together than
70 disper,e and more to Mark Pattlson's own col
leee one would have thought. than to the iniscel-
laneens world don't know whether an effort was
made TO secure il for Lincoln. The Casaubon titles
alone were enough to give it an interest. But your
true book collector cares for none OF these things
He must have rarities, and not merely raIities
but raTitics which are wanted OF other men,
scarce book which IS not IN demand ID not scarce
Mark Pattisen himself WAS scholar cared more
for reading than for books. aud was In no wise
dandy about the condition Of the volumes he put
on his shelves He was indeed one of the greatest
readers of his time and his library bears witness to
the omnivorousness of bis appetite His reading
bears fruit in writing, though not much. HIS Lie
of Casaubon published in 1875. has long ranked
among the most difficult Of modern books to pro
cure Ii is the life of q scholar by scholar not
less critical than sympathetic, with gilt OF dis
cussng dry matter in fresh spirit and with much
entertainment to the reader. Few monographs OF
the kind are better done. In the sale of PatusonS
library occurred but a single copy Of this book
rather smartiy bound, as if to give away. But he
d,d not give it away. Most of his books bore
stamp, sometimes in color, sometimes in the still
more brutal form Of an impressed stamp almost
perforating a leaf of the innocent volumes too often
the title itself Ii s difficult to conceive OF true
lover of books as guilty Of such barbarity In a
public library it may be necessary; not in q
private. Why cannot the owner be content TO
signify his ownership by book piatei And even
q book plate is In many cases an offence to the
binding.
A new edition of Bayard Taylor's translation in
the original ileters of Goethe's Faust is pub
lished by one John Stark. Mr. Stark halls fro the
remoter regions of northwest London: an odd place
of business for a publisher. However. what Que
would like to know is whether the family or other
representatives of Bayard Taylor profit by this
ne enterprise of MI John Stark, or whether IT
must be cited as one more proof of the need for an
international copyright law. We are slowly COM
ing to see that such law Is wanted for Americans
as we'll as English. The stealngs are not all Oh
one side. Mr.. Stark may. and l hope does. recog-
nize the rights of the dead translator but there s
nothing in the advertisement before me TO indicate
that he does In any case the prediction of The
Westlninstr Leri<o in fair of being full
filed, and Bayard Tayors is becoming the &c
cepted translation of Faust for English readers.
There is to be one moro series of those half
crown books in which knowledge Of other days and
other is condensed for the benefit OF genera
tion too impatient to read anything but headlines
and paragraphs. The present ideal of literary
cookery is a pudding all plums. A diet of that
sort is pretty safe to bring Indigestion. But
who has time to think of what may happen five
minutes hencei The present series is labelled
"Engsh Worthies" -; title comprehensive enough
to include. as it actually does, Darwin, harl-
borough. Peterborough. Garrick, Raleigh. and Can
ming for not one of whom Is II really descriptive OF
apt. The editor is that most multifarious of NOR
tails Mr.. Andrew Lang. who for his part, besides
editing writes on Izaak Walton. II is even bet
ting that somewhere In the course of his half
crowns worth Of Walton, Mr. Andrew Lang will
introduce a sniff at America; probably at the i'm
perfect acquaintance Of Americans with Greek
and even with translations fIom Homer.
When an American book is praised. and praised
heartily by The Saturday EeUieiC. hardly knows
what to make OF it. II it history of the Con
federacy by some unreconstructed Southerner, or
paDegyric on stonewall Jackson, or libel OF
Grant. 1t would be all right, and eulogy on i
would be in place in those bitter columns. How
ever, il Is book of poltlcs and by New
Yorker none other than Mr.. Theodore Roosevelt
sSketches of Sport the Northern Cattle Plains
This The Saturday re-chrstens, much to its advant
age. Hunting Trips of Ranchman.P and pro
nounces one Of the rare books which sportsmen will
be glad to add to their libraries 1t is a luxuriOu
quarto, and nothing. assured can be in bet
ter taste than its thick, hand-woven paper, admir-
able type and spirited engravings. have not seer
the volume, but beg once moro to offer humble
protest against thick paper for books. Book
printed such paper difficult to handle ant
impossible to bind we'll None the less will all thi
unexpected praise from such source prove gratefu
to author and publisher in America.