The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-03-23

Story of Ny Life" by Helen Keller A
great deal of the material used in the
book has been brought out serially,
but, nevertheless, the publication in
book form is worthy of note. Helen
Keller has never ceased to interest
scientists and psychologists since her
remarkable case first became known,
and her newly acquired power of
speech is only another evidence of the
wonderful development she has made
Those who have read her story will
recognize something more than the
story of a blind deaf mute. 1t has
rare literary value, aside from all this
Only the other day she made speech
before the Massachusetts legislature
which gave another view of her versa
Hlity. She made an appeal for legisla-
ton for the blind, and the appeal had
that quality of value which did not de
pend alone on her own sightleSsness.
When one stops to think that this girl
cannot see anything in the world and
cannot hear single sound, the Won
der over her remarkable intellectually
is most profound.
AT the present time Miss Keller is an
active student in Radcliffe college. She
spends seven or eight hours every
day reading and studying hard, and,
now that the strain of her first col
lege work is over, she is in first-rate
health and spirits. Her powers of en-
eagerness for study is the cause of
worry on the part of her friends. Her
autobiography was brought about
through the cooperation Of her teach
er, Miss Sullivan, and Mr.. John Macy,
one of the editors of the Youths Com
paniOn. Mr.. Macy is the authority
for the statement that the story is eX-
actly as Miss Keller prepared and APP
proved It, 1t is to be hoped that the
book will have a large sale, both be-
cause of the value of the book and be-
cause of the benefit which Miss Keller
would receive through a handsome re-
turn in royalties.
Unexpected Riches.
Now and then it is the good fortune
of the rare book dealers to secure at q
ridiculously low rate the rarest kind of
manuscripts or books. In nine cases out
of ten the owners of the old books do
rot know their value. Not long ago a
New York secondhand book dealer
bought for a song Confederate gov
eminent record book which was Sc
cured during the raid on Richmond.
1t has been stored away for more than
thirty years in an old warehouse. AS
a matter of fact two carloads of almost
equally valuable Confederate material
We're destroyed before the bookseller
learned of the matter. Now the for
tunate possessor of the record is Of
fered $4,000 for his find.
Once in a while even the wealthy col
lectors of books do not realize the
value of their possession. Not long ago
a. New York millionaire told his coach
man that he might throw away a bar
rel of old books that were stored in the
stable. The cOachman offered to sell
the books to secondhand dealer for
50. After the book dealer looked the lot
over, he told the coachman that if he
would get letter from his employer
authorizing the sale of the books he
would give him $50. This was done
and the book seller made a profit of
close to a thousand dollars in diSpoS-
ing of this one purchase.
A few days ago there was sold in
New York the first book printed in
English about New York city. The
book brought 1925. 1t is said that a
retired business man, who is a collector
Of Americana. Is the purchaser. No
copy of this book has been sold at auc-
ton in the United States in twelve
years, and the book so rarely comes
into the market that no price is quoted
on it in the current price reports. There
has been a report that dealer of this
city has been offering a copy of this
book for $4,000.
This is the books description Of it
self:
A Brief Description of New York:
Formerly called New Netherlands with
the Places thereuntO ADJOINING To-
gether with the Manner of it's Scitua-
ton, Fertility of the Soyle, Healthful-
ness of the Climate and the Commodi-
ties thense produced. Also some Di-
rections and Advice to such as shall go
thtther: An Account of what Com
modities they Shall take with them
Likewise A Brief Relation of the Gus
toms of the Indians there. BY Daniel
Denton. to PIP. "a q. Elegantly
bound in full olive-green levant with
orange levant double elavorately tool
ed in gilt, silk ends, rough gilt edges,
enclosed in morocco pull-off case by
Riviere.
Lond.: Printed for John Hancock
at the first shop in Pope's-Head Alley
In Cornhin at the three Bibles, and
William Bradley at the three Bibles in
the Minories, 1870.
Science for Boys.
Ray Stannard Baker, author of 1.-TWO
Boys Books of Inventions" is shortly
TO bring out another volume of the
same kind. His publishers discovered
an unusual demand for the sort of pop
ular scientific stories which Mr. Baker
writes, and persuaded him to add an
other volume to the stories.
During the past winter Mr.. Baker
has been in Michigan, hard at work on
novel of the Southwest. 1t will be
his first venture in long fiction, but. if
he can make novel as interesting as
ne has his short stories and his arti-
cIeS about the scenes of his novel the
success Of his venture is assured Mr..
Baker is one of the most faithful of
the younger writer's. He spends much
time in revision and rewriting. and is
hard 10 satisfy when it comes to judg-
ing his own work. Yet he has a way
of making a complex subject look ex-
ceedlngly simple. He explains so that
child may understand and a man may.
enjoy. AS soon as he has finished
some special magazine work in New
York city, where he is now, he will go
TO Arizona to complete his novel in its
own atmosphere. Much is expected of
the story, since Mr.. Baker gave up
trip around the world to write it.
A Short Review.
What is probably the shortest re-
view of book on record appeared
in the New York Sun last week. The
title and name of the author is here
omitted:
-, by ---, is a tale of politics
and finance, which clearly portrays the
necessity Of a commission to examine
the fnteuectuals of those who write
books
The paragraph is quoted merely for
the purpose Of saying a word about
the sort of publishers who bring out
DOCKS of an inferior kind at the au-
thor's expense. 1t happens in this case
that the publishers are not guilty Of
this fault, but the short review calls to
mind the increasing number Of volumes
which are published by men who are
not enltled to the term publishers
They are manufacturers of books AT
Of f1bo