The Portland daily press., 1892-11-25
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Abraham Lincoln, by Charles Carleton
Coffin, is a book that will be read by
thousands where more pretentious-and
for that matter, more thorough and more
acknowledgements will be passed by;
and rightly, too. for it possesses the
greatest merit that book can have.
readableness. Mr.. Collins limpid, easy
style lends itself readily to the purposes
of ma rative; and his theme is so large
that simplicity in treatment is the high
est art. One would not deck the pyra-
mids with banners, no matter how glori-
Gus and golden. The work is to be re-
garded, Mr.. Coffin tells us, as a sketch
of the life and times of Abraham Lin
cold, rather than as a biography; but the
one necessarily implies the other, for
Lincoln was always large part of his
time, and during the latter years of his
life 1.-THE foremost man of all the world
in different and wider sense than was
Caesar. The volume is profusely illus
trated. (New York: Harper & Brothers;
Portland: Loring, Short & Harmony
For more than year now the periodi-
cal publications of the Messrs. Harper &
Brothers, the Monthly and the Weekly,
have contained in nearly every number
articles, descriptive and statistical, of
the forthcoming Columbian Exposition
at Chicago, from the brilliant pen of
Julian Ralph. That gentleman has a
way of making even tabulations fascinat-
ing; and his descriptions of trifing incl
dents have more charm than many other
writing men can put into accounts of
coronations or other historic pageants.
These papers of his, with their multi
tude of accompanying illustrations, have
been gathered into book form, the chap
ters on the Exposition itself being col
lected from official sources and approved
by the Department of Publicity and
Promotion of the Worlds Columbian
Exposition. The book does not, the all-
thor explains, pretend to be a guide to
Chicago, or the great show whichis to
be held in one of its parks; it is rather
series of descriptions Of the peculiarities
and attractions of Chicago and of those
features of the Exposition of which it
has been possible to gain trustworthy in
formation at the present time-a book to
be read at home and before the big show
opens portland: Loring Short & Har-
mon.)
In a hundred and fifty graceful lines
of blank verse Alice Edwards Pratt,
once pupil of the Portland High School
and now post graduate student at the
University of Chicago, chants the praise of
the Golden State, the Ell Dorado of early
Spanish dreams. THE Sleeping Princess
of California" as she entities her poem,
evinces acorreet ear, a lively and ingen-
ious fancy, and adequate knowledge of
the technique of verse. To escape abso-
lutte failure in the most difficult measure
known to English prosody is in itself
success unachieved by more pretentious
aspirants than the modest author of this
handsome little volume; and she has
done more than that, as meritorious lines
that might be quoted do testify. The
book is beautifully bound, and contains
many illustrations of striking merit by
E. Mabel Dillaway. (San Francisco:
William Doxey; Portland: Stevens &
Jones.)
During the past year or two there has
in Harper's Magazine series
Of finely illustrated papers on the armies
Of the leading nations of the earth, each
written by high authority in the milf
Lary art-General and Viscount Wolseley
for example, treating Of the British |
troops; Gen. Wesley Merritt of the
American; General Lewas of the French;
Col Exner of the German; General the
Baron Won Kuhn of the Austro- Hunga-
cian; and Thomas A. Janvier of the
Mexican. These papers are now collect |
I'D into a large and imposing volume,
bearing as title 1.-THE Armies of To-Day"
and published with some timely addi- |
lions; the most important of which is an |
article by Col. Exner ON the existing |
military situation in Europe The work |
IS of great and very general interest, and |
5he handsome shape in which it is now
to the reading public gives it |
IN additional claim upon favor. port
an: Loring, Short & Harmony
STATE TOPICS or INTEREST