New-York tribune., 1901-12-07
BOOKS AND AUTHORS.


CURRENT TALK OF THINGS PRESENT
AND TO COME.
Interest in the old furniture used by the fore
fathers has never been stronger In the Uniteo
States than Ii is to-day. ana collectors are al
ready finding difficulty in securing new pieces
Old houses. from Maine To Louisiana, have been
ransscked from cellar to garnet In search Vi
quaint belongings. and the end Is not yet
Doubleday. Page & Co will bring out next week
the first volumes Of an extensive work
called The Furniture of Our Forefathers'
which is being prepared by Esther Singleton.
The author has travelled extensively through
the older parts Of the country collecting mate
rial never before brought together. The volumes
which will be Issued at this time deal with
Virginia and the South, Seventeenth Century;
Carved Oak and Walnut" and Phflaoelphla
and the South from 100 to 1f16." Each part
viii contain from thirty to forty Illustrations
most Of which have never been reproduced be-
fore. Historical pieces Of furniture receive par
ticular attention There is a critical description
OF the various plates by Russell Sturgis. There
win be two extra numbered editions besides the
regular edition. There viii be fifty numbered
copies of an edition de luxe, printed on Japan
paper, with plates colored by hand and ilumi-
mated initials and decorations OF the large pa
copies
The historical method of the study of religion
is advocated in Professor Morris Jastrow's THE
Study Of Religion" which is published this week
10y the Scrihners He discusses religion in connec-
ton with ethics philosophy. mythology, psychol-
ogy. history and culture. Professor Jastrow is
a member of the faculty of the University of
Pennsylvania.
Congressman Theodore E Burton, of Cleve-
land Ohio in the city this week looking
the proofs of his Financial Crises and Pc
RODS Of Industrial and Commercial Depres-
sion" which viii be brought out early in Janu-
arg by D. Appleton & Co. Mr.. Burton is chair
OF the Rivers and Harbors Committee. has
had long experience as lawyer and is con-
nected with large business interests. His work
might be said to be a practical handbook on
the pathology of the body financial. One very
interesting chapter will be that which treats OF
export and import statistics their varying rela-
ton and their significance as an index to pros
perity. There is also chapter the indica- |
tions of the approach of financial crisis or de-
preston
The long expected biography Of Eugene Field /
ny Slason Thompson, of The Chicago Record |
Herald" Eugene Field: A Study In Heredity |
and Contradictions is published this week by |
q
friend of the man whose life he has written and /
has endeavored to follow Fields own ideas of |
biography writing He says in his preface: !
Not as other memoirs are written would Eu- |
gene Field, were he alive have this study Of his |
life. He would think more Of making il reflect |
the od6 personality of the than rehearse
the birth, development. daily life and works of
the author. If he had undertaken to write his
own life, as was once his intention, it would
probably have been the most remarkable work
Of fiction by an American author that ever
masqueraded in the Quaker garments Of facts.
From title page to coophon-on which he would
have insisted-the book would have been
studied effort TO quiz and queer Ca favOrite word
of his) the innocent and willing to- be- deluded
reader. Fields idea of perfect memoir was that
IL should contain facts that might. interfere
with its being novel and interesting reading
both to the public and its subject. He set little
store by genius, he tells in of his let
ters. and less by that nonsense called useful
knowledge.
The latest contribution TO the Of Ma
poleon literature IS a collection Of letters which |
Napoleon wrote TO Josephine between the years
1796-1S31. They have been collected and trans
lated by Henry Foljambe Hall. and will be pub
lshed before the end of the year by E. P. Dut-
ton & Co. Most of the letters were written at
odd moments during Napoleon's campaigns, and
reflect the scenes Of action with which the
writer was surrounded. His love for Josephine
is poured out in many passages. There are ex-
tensive historical, social and chronological notes
from contemporary sources.
The output of the various publishing houses
for this year Is practically at end, and only |
few volumes yet TO be brought out. mostly /
those which have been delayed for various rea-
sons The circulation departments of course
are rushed with the work Of distributing the |
years product OF the presses but the publishing |
department is not idle. Il expected to find you |
doing nothing said who called on a
publisher whose books for the year have all been
sent to the sales agents. 1t the coolest and |
most wintry day Of the season, and the publish
surrounded with half finished task Of |
some magnitude. Spring is coming" said the
through the snow spotted windows. and said
that he supposed it was. You see now why
rushed" said the publisher. Spring is
surely coming. and We will have more books
than ever before. Just because the Christmas
work has left the shop is no excuse for a holi-
day. A publisher works all the time"
Mrs. Anne Besant sometimes called THE
Prophecies of Theosophy,' is the author of |
book which IS about to be published by
John Lane, under the title "Esoteric Christian
fly: or, The Lesser Mysteries" The author
takes up many questions which there is
vexed current discussion. from the marriage law
the paradoxical influences of advancing CIV
iiization.
Ella Noyes has put much good style into the
retelling Of old legends which surround the
Saints of Italy, and Z. 2. Dutton & Co. have
produced attractive book There are Illus
trations in color from the works of old masters
and although the book was made for young
people their elders will doubtless find it inter