New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-11-26
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.
SOME ADMIRABLE EXAMPLES.

fine art Dumas the younger is an artist. ana
his letter predatory to the new holiday edition
of THE Three Musketeers' Gppleton 4 COZ
proves that he is worthy Of his ilustrious
parent He praises him not timidly. not with
apologetic qualifications. but with the funess
and gusto which the creator Of the immortal
Three demands by right. "Do you believe
said Dumas pere to his son, some twenty-five
wears ago, that anything | have written VIII
survive me?" Much indeed. will survive you,
replied the younger man. and ii is in this tone
of assurance that he passes from his 1atner
deathbed and the tender rec collections surround
ing II to the consideration Of his fathers pres
ent fame. That il untouched of time. as falr
and as firm founded as it ever was. and the new
edition of the great novclist's masterpiece IS as
timely and acceptable a holiday book as could
be desired. Maurice Lelor has provided the
illustrations for the two tall volumes. and say
ing that the paper used is flimsy and trans
parent. the publishers have given his pictur-
esque designs fair treatment The blocks are
we'll printed They deserved to be. for NJ
I,eloir is a capable draughtsman. who knows
well the period described in this romance ana
he has Illustrated il with much animation OF
spirit as fidelity to historical facts. 1t Is obNl-
ous!y the seventeenth century he portrays the
century of the great King and the greater
Cardinal: and. though The matchless heroes OF
the book have somehow not quite the faces IN
these pictures that every reader of Dumas IS
bound to imagine for himself. the port and car
riage of them all happily caught. and they
are entirely convincing in the sketches when
show them in action The distinction between
those Illustrations and a design like that on
page 1874 for example. which illustrates an
episode Of relaxation and quiet. testifes to NJ
Jeloir's keen sympathy with the text He Is
aware that the magnificent fighters Of Dumas
were never so vivid never true as when their
swords were out Of their sCabbards. IT is the
inevitable the first observation on Dumas. and
we wonder that the translator of this edition
has not felt its force deeply as has NJ Lelo'r
Like the latter, he is accurate; but unlike 'he
latter he misses the indomtable eXuberance or
Dumas the lusty music that rings out from the
rapid writer's prose and communicates itself
TO the reader with such swift sureness. MT
Robsons equivalent for his authors rhetoric
will pass but he has not caught his author
style-that easy, nervous play or language
which is no style at all. if you compare it with
classic models but that is very nearly classic
itself in its suficency and warmth. Unin-
spred as this translation Is. it remains a pleas
ure. and it comes not any too soon after the APP
rearance Of the edition already familiar IN
France.
We have spoken Of TIE beauty Of NJ. Leloirs
sketches the vitality Of his personages cails for
high praise, and there is much to admire in the
BACKGROUNDS he has given them But the text Is
the thing. and it Is hard to leave ii even for the
artistic embellishments We have no successor
10 the genial Hercules Of French romance q
romance anywhere. Mr.. Wey man's books make
him nearer kin to Scott than to Dumas. and no
lover of those masters needs to be told That each
was UNIQUE that in spite of what the Frenchman
he a ma "A H.
tary. in the heart Of his bountiful genius Scott
never lost the fragrant freshness OF the wind
eWept lochs and hills even when he went abroad
end gave us Quentin Durward.' Dumas was
equally natural. but he had in him an intense
Southern sympathy fo~ pageantry, for life that
was also a spectacle: and II is one Of the prime
elements in his spell that he appeals II the eye
with a perfect food Of color. Of picturesqueneSs
Of an art that would be theatrical Were 1t not
so true That is why this new edition wins IN
slant recognition. WITH Dumas in the text and
Ielor in the pictures. one gets the most haunting
glimpses Of fairly irdescent romance.
This element Of color comes curously 10 the
surface in a work the very antithesis Of the
novel by Dumas To turn from his echong pages
10 the stiffness Of Omar Khayyam is like passing
from noontidc into sunset glow. Yet the life
blood Of literature. its rich hues and burning
vitality exist as potentially in the RuDaiyat
as in any work OF prose fiction. and more than
ever does it seem so in the edition which liough-
ION. Mifnn & Co. publish the edition accompa-
MED by Vedder's illustrations. Therein you get
the varied CLINT Of Omars verse. brilliant In it.
self as it has always been, and with its many
sided burden expressed subtly In the drawings,
Though tie latter are in monotone. The secret Of
Vedder's success in putting this feeling Of rain
how color into his drawings is that MS concep-
ton of form his statuesque outlines never make
him too concise. never land him too hXcdiy IN
the concrete when the whole beauty of MS poet
lies in clarifying the actual with the imaginative
and the ideal Omar one Of the hrst OF the
realiss one Of the first 10 question life win eyes
wide open But his realism is all shot through
with the golden threads Of Eastern fancy ana
metaphor il is all suffused with the rosy vapors
If Oriental dream Mr. Vedder's illustrations,
faithful 10 the spirit of the poet suspend each
eroup Of quatrains which they incose in an at
mosphere Of as indeterninate significance as their
own. His figures interpret vagueness into forms.
vet they preserve the illusion which is full half
Of Omar The recurrent swirl alone that lovely
symbol which seems carry a new meaning
every time appears, yet never t. lose It's org
tnal import. is one Of tho most exquisite accom-
paniments to a poets thought which modern IL
Illustration has produced And It's value IS that 1t
IS not in the least arbitrary. The motive is re-
nevod on every page. and by mere force OF repc-
tidon conveys the certain definite Impression oi
lie and death Of which Il is emblematicaI; but
like the Rubaiyat themselves, 1t never de-
prives the reader % the privilege Of rca'lh% MS
own conception Of Omar's philosophy INTO omar
lines 1t fixes impression. but the impression
itself is subtlety transmoGrhed' Fragrance al
emotion. the suggestion Of a suggestion me
u,ifb
Mr. Vedder's ought 10 contribute generously 10
The extension Of Omar's and F.tzgeralds glory.
The original print is too bulky for easy use ana
-. 1.,or. 81 {, 1et it lie idle on their shelves,