New-York tribune., 1900-10-13
BOOKS AND AUTHORS.
CURRENT TALK OF THINGS PRESENT
AND TO COME.

thing in the department of Shake
| speariana is the volume of Shakespeare Ser
| mons" preached in the Collegiate Church of
| Stratford -on-Avon on the Sundays following the
| poets birthday between 1894 and 1900 collected
by the Rev. George Arbuthnot, vicar of STRAIT
| ford-on-Avon Longmans, Green & Co. will
publish it soon.
The great interest taken in the selection of
names for the Hall of Fame in New-York
! University, as shown in The Trbune's reports
has given the idea to G. P. Putnams Sons Of
a volume describing the American Immortals''
there included, and their achievements. There
will probably be two volumes, fully illustrated:
the writer of the articles on each class of sub
jects, it is stated. will be some one specially in
sympathy with the group in question.
Is it really necessary to identify Robinson
Crusoe's island? The brothers Rhead have done
| So in their edition of Defoe's masterpiece which
! Is just now appearing, as the island of Tobago.
! Because Defoe took Alexander SeIkirks ad-
ventures in Juan Fernandez, off the west coast
| of South America not the southern extremity"
| of that continent, Mr.. Louis Rhead seems to
| think the basis of his story it has been
| generally assumed that he describing that
| island, and the fact has been overlooked that in
| the book, well the title page of the
| first edition, location "at the mouth of the
| mighty Orinoco 80 miles N. w. of Trinidad, an
| island lying just in the Caribbean archipelago"
| is specified. Except that Tobago is northeast
| and not northwest of Trinidad it fulfls this de-
| scription; but Mr.. Rhead seems to have over
| looked the fact that toward the end of the book
| Crusoe speaks of land which he perceived "to
| the w. and N. W. and which he afterward
| found 1.-The great island Trinidad"-which
would of course. make Crusoe's island lie to the
south and southeast of Trinidad. where there is
nothing but an empty space the map. The
only point Of consequence is the fact that Cru
soe's island tropical one, while Juan Fer
| nandez is a long way south of the tropics; and
the further fact that the brothers Rhead have
taken great pains to give tropical background
to the story in their pictures using sketches
made in Tobago for this purpose, and con-
tributing numerous ornamental borders show
ing the flora, fauna and tropical character of the
scenes described. They have also reproduced
portrait of Defoe from a print in the British
Museum. and have given a map in seventeenth
century style showing Tobago and the surround
ing islands.
R. H Russell will add two more to the series
of dramatic souvenirs he has published one Of
Annie Russell in 1.-The Royal Family" consist
ing of Photographic reproductions with prob
ably two drawings. and another of John
Drew in Richard Carvel"
William Morris. though dead has not yet de-
livered quite all of his message. Longmans,
Green & Co.. having acquired the copyright of
lis unpublished literary work consisting of
lectures and essays, and the use of the Golden
type, which Morris designed and used at the
Kemscott Press, are publishing these lectures
in a series of uniform volumes. The fourth of
this series will include two lectures, "Archi- |
lecture and History and Westminster Abbey" !
These little books, printed in Morris's type at |
the Chiswick Press, present an appearance that |
makes them not unworthy to be placed along |
side of Morris's productions.
William Dean Howells is often found at his |
desk in the big building of Harper & Bros. To |
Tribune reporter who asked him the other day |
about the work he has lately undertaken for |
'Harper's Magazine" he said:
Yes, 1 writing the Easy Chair
which George William Curtis made famous and |
which was suspended at his death. Mr.. Curtis |
made this department of the most delightful |
of the magazine, and it is with some hesitation |
that plan to follow in his steps, So far as !
know, the recent reorganization OF the house |
has placed it upon a more substantial business |
basis than ever before. Certainly, everything is |
bright for the future"
Mr.. Howells talked pleasantly about his va |
cation tours in Switzerland and Italy. To an |
inquiry about several characters in story of his
which appeared last year in a New-York maga- |
zine, he replied:
Couldn't you find delightful old Verviers?
It is lost little town. summing itself under white
mountains where the Rhone begins it's flight
from the glaciers. There it was that I met the |
old politician who was such a quaint and inter
esting theorist.''
"And you had to leave there because 1t grew
cold, and firewood is dear in the Swiss hilIs?"
asked the reporter.
Yes" said Mr.. Howells laughing I'VE left |
for Venice Do you know that at Venice my
wife and found our old apartments where we |
spent our first sojourn in Italy. A young couple
who just at the age were then, had the
apartment when called The young people
full of interest and sympathy, and our
visit very pleasant one indeed"
Textbooks on any kind of law are not general
ly found amusing reading, but Frank W. Hack
EFT, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy has
undertaken to make parliamentary law an en-
tertaining subject of study in his book The
Gavel and the Mace" just issuing from Nc
Clure, Phillips Co.'S press. 1t is a textbook
though there seems to be nothing of the formal
and repellent character Of a textbood about If
from the striking bright green cover through
the readable. sideheaded pages inside
The crisis in the Orient the war in South
Africa, and before them the Spanish American
War. have afforded publishers an opportunity
rush books upon the market dealing with
their subjects before they lost their suprerne in
terest to the public. But there seems to be soma
difference of opinion as to the desirabnitv of
this sort of enterprise. Said a representative