New-York tribune., 1886-03-31
NOTES ON BOOKS.
DEMOCRACY IN PUBLISHlNG-AMERlCA
BOOKS-KNOCKOUTS.

mre as well as in English politics The English
publisher most conservative OF EnGhsh h"ilah
beings has al last woke to the fact that there Is
reading public in this country which VIII neither
nav him eighteen shilling a volume for his wares
nor Nude guinea wear for inc privilege vi
being supplied with a greasy book to be selected oS
MulicS clerk. An attempt at cheap Issues was
made some time ago. Messrs. Smith ~ Elder
Messrs Macmillan and other leading houses
printed some excellent authors in siX-penny broad
sides; big double-columnei pamphlets, not pleas
ant to read and about as likely to he preserved as
Yesterdays newsI apcr. Very large editions OF
these were sold The experiment was SAID to be
profitable but has been discontinued
4 new deplrtnre has now been made. Mcssr'
CasSell x Co. took the lead with National
Library" Mossrs. Routleigo Il sons, enl"rgng
their horizon, follow with "WoTld Library.
Each series is at the price of thrceprnce u cents
n volume or siXprnce if You like it bound IN cloth
They are fairly well printed. and the cloth volumes
can he kept without imminent risk of being used
to Eoht the kitchen fire The vice-chancellor of
the University OF oxford so far as TO say that
Messrs. Cas,ells books are beautifully printed
OF extraordinary chcapncsS as he adds. they
certainly are have never seen one of your New
York Ten Cent books most of which. apprehend'
are excluded from circulation in this country. Inc
English ,opyright law shows Il certain jealousy OF
free literature when 1t is free that the anthors
rights are not taken iuto account But believe
the Ten Cent volumes are in paper covers. so that
the English at SIX cents seem cheaper than the
American.
Messrs. CaSsel have launched their new venture
under what is here called distinguished patronage
A number of most eminent persons have written
letters IN praise of their threepenUv publications.
The Oue.n is one Sir Henry Ponsorby is com
e., nj. Mp-G
for those they have sent. "The Queen was much
plea,ed WITH this selection of books published at so
small a price" Mr.. Gladstone was easily drawn.
I think Ouoted the contents of his post card IN
former letter fac-simile of il now appears az al
advertisement and a very good isement II is'
Mr. Gladsione's victorious antagonist Professor
Huxley, man much less prone to rush INTO PRINT
appears not less strongly Your proposal to DrhS
out the gems of English Literature, in very cheap
and at the same time good form, appears to me IN
every way commendablcn And there are half
dozen others including Mr.. Henry Irving,
The editor OF Messrs. CaSsells Library Is lroleS-
sor Henry Morley. mau very competent ioi the
work. widely known as a student of English litera-
1ure. of which he is Professor at University and
Queens Colleges London long practlsed IN the
husiness of editing lie has written much and
lcarnedlv on his subject. and his name IS guar
autee that this series. though cheap, shall not he
nasty The selections from wide held.
Macaulavs essay on Warren Hastings was the hrst'
Professor Morley being undeterred by the tact that
Lord Wo>eley classes it as fiction and that SIR
James Stephen. whose Judgment is IA welghty one,
does not much differ from Lord WolSeey. National
tboupb the Library be- it is not limited to English
writers. @My Ten Years Imprisonment" by
Sllveo Pellico came next and soon after the ever
admirable autobiography of BcuJamin Franklin a
Ir,fr1 Il
torch is another foreigner who has been laid under
contribntion Bishop Latimey's Sermons on the
Card in the same list with Lord ByIon's Childc
Harold show how various are the tastes which this
collection is meant to suit.
The editor of ROutleige's Worlds Library is n
man of very different stamp the Rev. H. K HawelS'
lately a visitor TO America and lecturer on AlHer-
can platforms. His bearers will have formed th'r
own Judgment of Mr. llaweis. TO those Vho have
NOT heard him It may he enough TO say that MS
reputation as a scholar Is yet 10 make Ills 1ooh
ON American Humorsts is one oil the Ieast goo"
books published of late years But he l8 raushe
and pushing; breaches to a large congregation
every sunday; might perhaps he described by an
uufrlrndlv critic a. British Ialmagc' but III a
minor kew His measure may be taken from the
Preface which be has published TO this Worlds
Iibrary "The editor" says the Rev. Mr. Have :,
.will keen his eye on famous writers, ancient ana
modern. dealing with stirring. profitable, mstIuc-
tive and rccIeatvc subjects Biographies, Travels
Cbooters pD Social Science Political Economy. His
tory. Fiction. Poetry, AMI the Drama" II he
should add a little treatise on English Grammar IL
might prove useful; if not to the Subscribers 10
the Editor. Meantime, perhaps lie VIII try hls mana
AT parsjnq the sentence have quoted. The whole
Preface in the most approved style OF pulpit clap
tran. Two volumes OF this Library have appeared.
AZ . "A
version which is spirited and not devoid Of poetca
QUALITY but is OF all English adaptations Of Faust
the least like Goethe's. Aliens Life of Nelson Is
the second a hook of which | confess | never
heard MI Hawes no doubt has reasons OF his
own for prcierrng it to SOuthey's; which has long
ranked as a classic.
Three American books reviewed III the last
Saturday and all of them are praised triple com
cidence perhaps without precedent in that peculiar
periodical. The first is MIR. Stednans " Poets Oi
America The praise in his case. Is not without
alloy MI Stedman is mildly Iebukcd for h!s con
fdence in his own nfaliblity, for bOmbas'lc laud-
ations, for patriotism ian offence which Ih@ SdtW-
dan can excuse IN no American. for hIs defence Of
Poe and for some other sins Of 10 serious import
ance But his criticisms are assured, are gen
erally far and candid. his eulOges nearly always
generous and sympathetic. The >atToay writer
offers us in passing specimen Of his own critical
mowers To him It is at sad and amusing 20
see how Mr. Lowell ana Nh Whittier "exulted in
the slaughter of their Southern cOuntrymcn, who
ONLY claimed the same right 10 sccedc from the
I'nion which tho whole country had previously
claimed 10 sccede from the rule Of George Third
One Knows not whether more to admire the historl-
cal accuracy of this outburst the aptness of 1t in
a piece of literary criticism. However our re-
viewer winds up with the opinion that Mr. Sted-
mans book, with its few and superficial defects
and with its many solid merits, Is one which most
persons OF taste and culture will like to possess.
The Life and Correspondence Of Agassz, edited by
his widow is the second book praised by Tie Sdtur-
dam Mrs Apassjz SAWS the English critic, has full