New-York tribune., 1901-01-05

|
Christian art" This series will be made access
sible to Durer's admirers in a set of fac-similes
that r. H. Russell is about to publish in a
volume. with accompanying text which affords
a description of Them chosen from the Revela-
| tion of st. John. Mr.. Fitz Roy Darlington will
| supply introduction.
| Messrs. Henry Holt G. Co. expect to add the
| twenty-second, twenty-thrd and twenty-fourth
| volumes to their convenient English Readings"
series this month. They will be, first. ''Selec-
| tions from Pope" edited by Dr. f. b. Reed, Of
Yale, containing representative pieces by an au-
| thor better known nowadays by reputation than
| from reading, together with a selection from his
| letters Then there will be Burke's Speech on
| Cancellation with America edited by d. V.
| Thompson. of New-York, and. third, a selection
| from Swift's prose works. including 1.-The Battle
| of the Books" THE Modest Proposal" "The
| Abolishng of Christianity" some of 1.-The Dra-
| piers Letters" and parts of "The Tale of a
Tub" edited by Professor Frederick Prescott,
of Cornell University.
Il have just strongly recommended for pub
licaton a book of which the manuscript was the
| worst that can come to a publishers office"
| said a man influential in the councils OF a great
New-York house the other day, $50 / don't think
| you can say that am influenced unfavora bly,
| by bad manuscript. But If il has no effect on
the judgment. 1t has a great deal on the pa
tience mental equilibrium and general happiness
of the reader, every may imagine. No.
typewritten manuscript / should not prefer to
any other. l should rather have most of ALL a
moderate sized. good handwriting. written in
black ink on white paper OF medium size. not
bound or stitched together Typewriting is apt
to be rather faint. even IL the abomination is
| not committed Of sending in a carbon COPY
Then, very few authors can use the typewriter
without endless and exasperating errors-re-
dundant letters and all sorts OF wrong spelling
omitted words. words wrongly cancelled when a
change was made, lines left out or overlapping
the edge OF the paper. and all the other annoy
ing peculiarities OF the typewriter In unprores-
sional hands.
"A very fine handwriting is also Objectionable
| except whereas in the case OF book that we
| recently published. the author has made every
thing almost plain and we'll formed as I'm
print-a most rare phenomenon. We object TO
| having manuscript bound, because for various
reasons it is often desirable TO use only a part
Of it at time. and it must be torn apart for
| the printer anyway. 1 will not speak OF the
manuscript held together by pink ribbons-I will
almost take back what 1 said In the beginning
| and admit that that might be the cause OF
prejudice against the writer. Finally there are
decipher each word; manuscripts that have TO
be copied by the reader In careful collaboration
! with a typewriter, and then compared with the
original manuscript with the help OF a third
person. / needn't say that such consideration
| is extended only to manuscripts OF men whose
work is very much desired"
1t is fitting that a negro should write the au
thoritatlve book on the American negro; that is
what the Macmillan Company believe has been
done by the Hon. William Hannibal Thomas in
The American Negro: What He Was What
He Is and What He May Become" which thew
will publish by the middle of the month Mr.
Thomas is now lawyer of Everett Mass: he
served with distinction in the Civil War and
afterward a member of the South Carolina
Legislature during the Reconstruction period
Trained in theology and law he became a sue
cessful practitioner in the South Carolina courts
and afterward established himself i'm Massa-
chusetts. 1t is asserted that no such complete
and detailed information exists elsewhere than
lin this book about the American negro his
physical and mental qualifications and capaci-
ties his vices and crimes. his religious beliefs
his possibilities as economic and political
factor in American life Mr.. Thomas frankly
comedies the negro's inferiority and convincingy
controverts the adequacy of the reformatory
agencies already instituted but also forcibly in
dicates how the mental, moral social Industrial
and political elevation of the negro may ration
| ally be achieved. A discussion of this sort is
| bound to serve nigh purpose in these days
| when the vehemence of passion is being relaxed
| on both sides
Edward Dowden has written a book on Eng
| lish literature of the seventeenth century
| which the Holts are about to publish under the
| title of Puritan and Anglican" In ii Mr. Dow
den treats of 'Puritanism and English Litera-
t"re Sir Thomas Browne. Hooker Herbert
| Vaughan, Milton, Jeremy Taylor Baxter Bun
yam, Butler. THE Transition to the Eighteenth
Century" etc. He is said to have given a vivid
personal tone TO the book through his frequent
use of the thoughts and phrases of the authors
| discussed.
The Rev. Morgan Dix published the first VOL
| ume of his History of Trinity Church" some
| time ago. which interested the corporation or
| the Church so greatly that II has taken up the
book and given it its official assistance in fur
nishing material from its records. etc The sec
ond volume will now shortly appear from the
| press of c. p Putnams Sons
II any doubt the Importance of the part played
| IN American history by the Scotch-Trisb
| families who have settled here they will no
speedily undeceved by contemplating the two
| large volumes comprising Charles Hanna's hook
| ''Scotch-Irish Families In America" The book
| is genealogical In its arrangement but the su-
| thor also takes up the work and influence OF the
| descendants Of the families described-they in
| clude Mckinley and Bryan for instance and a
| large number of the most prominent general,
| on both sides in the Civil War to go no further