The San Francisco call., 1903-01-21
FROM
LONDON WORLD
OF LETTERS

King Edward must surely rank as
among the most masnanimous sover-
eigns. 1 believe it is fact he has writ
ten to Sidney Lee expressing himself as
entirely well pleased and gratified with
that author's life of Queen Victoria. Yet
the extraordinarily frank remarks 70 pu-
II mildly. which Lee makes about the
late Queen almOst cause the reaoer u
gasp at times First Of all. one IS re-
minded that it was by the merest accl-
dent her Maiestry was not born in Ger
manv and that through her earliest years
she always spoke with an Englsn Ger
man accent and that her mother coulo
never speak English at all. II is mar
rated that her father wanted to call her
Elizabeth and that she very nearly as
cended the throne as Elizabeth II. al
though she had always violent ahli-
pathy to that Queen.
Lee also says that first class hterature
never greatly appealed to the late Queen,
and also that had her uncle. William ~.
had mis- way she would have been mar
ried to Alexander. the son of the Prince
of Orange so that the country she was
10 rule over would have been thus assocl-
ated thencefOrth with Holland ratheF
than with Coburg. II is also very plalnIy
to her cousin Albert of COburg she nad
very little personal inclination for him.
Most people cannot. OF course. remen-
ber. and will, therefore. read for the nrst
time about the worries she had IN tlS
early sixties, and will be astOnished az
the amount of republican fervor tnat
seems 10 have been kindled IN these
years. Mr.. Lee might have added thar a
journal entitled the Republican was float
ed IN England for a time.
As had been expected. the number or
new books issued during 1902 turns out 70
be considerably larger than the narves-
of 1901. While the war lasted II was a
distraction and did much harm % the
book trade When it ended new books
poured forth. and in counting Up tne
| figures the Publishers Circular nnCs
there were issued $3.50 new books. as
against 1855 in 1901. There have also
been more new editions Theology mas
increased slightly, though the greatest IN
crease was In fiction. History and Di0g-
raphy have been in a stable condition Tor
the last three years.
Now the novel season has begun again
Prominent among the publishers OF this
/ class Of literature to get into the neld Is
| the firm OF Methuen- They announce be
/ tween next week and the middle OF
I March some twenty-five novels by vari-
/ Gus authors Among them are such writ
ers as w. Z. Norris. Miss Adeline Ser
I
7 Shaw. F. Bullock, Mrs. Rhys, Henry
\ James ard j. Bloundelle Burton. Fisher
i Irwin Is 10 publish in his Red Cloth
I Library new novel. entitled THE Long
/ Vigil" by +. Jenna Taylor. / believe that
I St John the Evangelist is TO be intro
/ duced into what is considered a present
\ day story When one remembers that
\ some tine ago Taylor wrote book with
/ the title Wanted a Hero one naturally
/ wonders if this second book Is the soiu-
/ ton of the problem
/ What tSir Henry Irving has done for
I Shakespeare on the stage, the well known
/ educatiohal publishers. Collins. Sons q
4 Co. of London and Glasgow, are doing for
/ him in book form They are about 10 be
\ gin the publication Of his plays in shH
/ ling numbers. one volume being devoted
| to each play. To work out the special
/ idea, they have engaged Austin BreretOn,
one Of the leading authorities Of Shake
/ spearian literature. to edit the work and
J write the Introduction TO each play. The
/ edition will be called 1.-The Stage Shake
/ speare," to emphasize the fact that
[ Shakespeare wrote his plays for the
Z theater. In the intrOductiOnS to the plays
will be found the cream Of comments By
great Shakespearian critics. such as Haz-
/ lftt, SchlegeI. Gervinus and DOwden- But
the particular novelty will be found in
the illustrations, which will include in
many cases cOlOred reproductions OF fam
Gus Shakespearian paintings from the
art galleries of England and Germany.
I and portraits of all the celebrated repre-
I sentatives or chief characters on the
English and American stage