New-York tribune., 1901-11-30
BOOKS AND AUTHORS.
CURRENT TALK OF THINGS PRESENT
AND TO COME

CURRENT TALK OF THINGS PRESENT
AND TO COME.
This has been an exceptionally prosperous
year for publishers of books. The balance sheet
which will soon be figured up will show, IN most
cases, a wonderful increase of business De-
cember has always been our best month, saio
one publisher. who also has big retail store
but this year sales for October were greater
than those Of any previous December NO"
November has gone ahead OF october. and We
can only wonder what the December or thls rec
ord breaking year will bring. OF course, we are
fortunate in having half a dozen books that
have proved very popular, but l think that you
viii find that the same favorable conditions pre-
vail throughout the trade
Students Of art will be interested in Edward
t STRUTS Fra F'ilippo Lippi, winch is pun
lshed this week by The Macmillan Company
The author spent many years in Italy, "here
he enjoyed special advantages for the study OF
the life and works of the monk of the Carmine
He was enabled 10 search the Papal archl'es
for detail respecting the painters life as
monk. and regarding the unfortunate attach-
rnent which he formed for Lucrezia Butt Tne
cover design is by Christopher Dean. who in
troduces several of the artists devices as
iecting Fra Filippo Lippi the subject Of this
study writes the author, Il confess that was
attracted almost much by the human inter
est attaching to the theme as by its undeniapie
artistic importance. hitherto overlooked Tor
some incomprehensibie reason. by most writers
On art That Fra Filippo's merits should have
received such slight recognition and SO slender d
tribute Of study and praise is all the more re-
nlarlzab bic in an age when followers of the mod
of c-i+i digging
painters in their all-devouring thirst for noto-
riety. as ardently the parched Arab digs Tor
water in the sand"
"A book O. the sweet Of the year" is what Alice
Morse Earle calls her "Old Time Gardens"
brought out this week in two editions by the
Macmillan Company. 1t is book that VIII
hiring iov at no matter what time of the year.
TO any one who has ever felt the influence Of
Covers and of the gardens in which they grow
1t is elaborately illustrated from photographs
collected by the author An edition de luxe
consisting of $50 copies on large paper, with
many photogravure plates, is brought out with
the regular edition.
William Allen White has dedicated his latest
book --Stratagems and Spoils-Stories Of Love
and Politics" ro a Kansas City newspaper he
SAYS in the dedication that it is an honest news
paper and mentions four men who helped TO
make it so. The publishers say that this is the
first time that a book has ever been dedicated
In such way.
There is one publishing house In this city
which has a rule often bringing 1t into con-
Nict with its authors. It insists that the
preface Of every book shall contain summary
of the book written in such way shat pur-
chaser by reading the preface, can tell at
glance just what he is getting. When an author
sends in a fiowery preface full Of giittering gen
eralites and little else, it is promptly returheo'
with the request that the author write another
telling just what he has put into the work The
authors often rebel, but the required preface IL
always forthcoming in the end
Mrs Charles Basot has written entertainineiy
of people who prominent In Ensiano nan
a century since in her Links with the fas1,
which has just been published by Longmans
Green & Co. She has TO depend on hef hneihoiS
for most Of the matter which the book contains
and for a strange reason which is explained IN
her preface AT the time Of my marriage she
SAWS ..rnr husband asked to destroy the
Journals which I had kept during my earlier
youth. He had known much unhappiness and
dissension caused by such writings that ne en-
tertained both dislike and distrust for them"
This city is particularly interested just now In
certain phases OF SUNDAY observance, anu tiAiS
fact makes opportune the publication Of H K
CANDLES Sunday and the Sabbath" which is
brought out this week by E P Dutton & Co
The lectures were first delivered in a city
church during the luncheon hour. TO men in a
hurry. The author endeavors TO set fofth as
clearly and concisely as possible what ne De-
leves to be the only theory of Sunday that is
consistent with history and fact
raSti haS
one but never more so than to-day. The de-
nnand for books on the subject has forced Henry
Holt e. Co. 10 print new edition of Wallace's
Russia" which is one of four works on the
country OF the Car which they publish
Robin Hood and his merry men have always
been in the ranks Of children's favorites. but
Anna Uerupstead Branch has sought to make
them more popular than ever in her 'Old Bal
lads in Pros We merrie men" variously
picfured in this volume by Miss F. Y. Cory.
Houghtca Mifflln & Co. are bringing II out
AltAgaRh ssian literature has to be OF
pernna.s@n5 lrrest 10 the English speaking
world t.-ef. - been no history OF that subject
which f-ys ual attention 10 all of the periods
from thy nintt century to the present time The
Putnan4R promise TO remedy this with the pub
rcation early next year Of an Anthology OF
Russian Literature" by Leo Wiener. professor
OF slavic languages III Harvard University. II
will give extracts. but more often complete pro-
auctions from al the writer's who have had
import u part in the Development of Russian
letter r-cn earliest times up to the present.
These extracts viii be accompanied by bio
graphical and such critical and textual notes as