The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-08
RECENT LITERARY NEWS.
'RECoRD-UNIoN" NOTES OF
BOOKS AND AUTHORS.
Historic Matters New Works
Bookmen of the World
Critical Comment

Rudyard Kipling has been at work Tor
two years on a novel which he has en-
titled IA Days Work"
A new biography of Havelock, one OF
the immortal heroes Of the Sepoy mu-
tiny in India, is in course of prepare
ton from a great quantity of material
left by the late Sir Henry Havelock
Allen, the hero's son.
Lady Burne-Jones will, it is thought,
write a biography of her late husband.
New York Times. To cut or not to
cut, that is the question" and the
London Publishers Circular discusses
the matter, and urges on the abolition
of the paper knife. And pray what is
to become of the paper-knife industry:
Andrew Lang inveighed long ago on
that troublesome implement, and he
went so far as to state that an uncut
book would be an unread book as far
as he was concerned. We do not know
what is Mr.. Lang's family status.
whether he is married and has any
daughters but if he be so blessed he
has learned long ago how utterly I'M
reliable women are as far as cutting
leaves go. The most imperative COM
mandS of the master never are obcyed,
and the first thing you know is.that the
volume confided to her care ito be cut,
you understand" is being read. And
yet as we know, the hairpin or the hat
stiletto is such handy instrument 1t
looks as if the public are still conserv-
ative, and want their books and mag
azin2s uncut. Nevertheless a portion
of the readers are for having the pages
cut as the books leave the publishers.
and SO volumes might be issued cut Or
uncut to suit the wishes of purchasers.
If book is we'll put together by the
binder, and the presswork accurate,
modern machines will cut very fine
silver from the page.
Notes and Queries furnishes a tet-
raglot epigram on those who borrow
books and don't return them:
Sc luom che deruba un tomo
Trium iterarum est homo,
Celui qui derobe trois tones
A man of letters must become.
George Wightwick, a Plymouth archi-
tect and author, had a printed copy
of the following verses inserted in each
of the books belonging to him:
To w1omsoe'er this book 1 lend,
i give one word-no more;
They who to borrow cOndeScend
Should graciously restore.
And whosoe'er this book should find
(Be't trunk-maker or critick,)
I'll thank him if he'll bear in mind
That it is mine-George Wightwick-
Eugene Field must have had very
strongly developed the collectors ma
MIA. He had a collection of envel-
opes used during the civil war, and all
the sheet music of the time that once
stirred the heart of the nation. He had
a collection of bells, of mechanical toys.
When in Amsterdam QSS9 he fire.
quented the curio shops. He found
there queer old books, some good auto
graphs, and he prided himself on pur-
chasing "one of those famous axes with
which Mr.. Gladstone hews down trees
in the forest of Hawarden." Mr. Glad
stone in a postal card informed Eugene
Field that the ak was genuine, and
this ak and the editorial scissors pre-
sented to him by Charles A Dana were
the most valued articles in his collec-
ton
Bjornson, as described by Mrs Hans
son, in her volume I'VE Women and
Our Authors" shows an amiable van
ity. You see," said he, exhibiting the
silk lining of his overcoat, II am fond
of fine clothes. When / get a new suit
from the tailor I spend half the day
in front of the looking glass, but for all
that never for single instant forget
the great work of civilization to which
we must devote our whole energy
Naturalism is dead in France, AYERS
NJ. Rene Doumic. It remains only a
memory, he adds, though that is an
instructive one. he admits. 1t has
shown what becomes of literature in
the hands of those who have no respect
for literary traditions. mot only do
recent novehsts withdraw from the for
saken school, but those who We're most
Intimately connected with it wish no
longer to be known as belonging to it.
Even lola himself seems to
be uncertain. and to be giving up pure
~ literary means to produce his effects,
to figure henceforth as the literary
representative of the public con-
science"
This passage from a chapter on the
long Parliament in the hitherto unpub-
lished collection of Carlyle's unfinished
studies shows the spirit in which he
approached his task of dealing with
Cromwell:
The thing that thou actually lowest,
choose that, even as thou art minded:
It IS the voice of thy whole being that
speaks then. Paint that, sing it, cele-
brate it, work toward doing it and pos
sessing it, deaf to all else 1t is rich