The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-01-13
FROM DREAM BOOKS.
TIE IMPROVING LITERARY
T4STE

TASTE
OF the Italian In America His PartiaI-
tty for the French NovoIIsts-NeapoI-
ttan Dialect Songs Witch the COLI
ieEe-THught Reader Reads ia Vain.
With the recent great increase in
Italian immigration to this city there
has come a marked improvement in the
intellectual condition of the italian
population. This improvement is shown
in the increased demand for books. and
In the higher charasted of the books in
the Italian book stores. The time was
when the books most demanded by the
Italians were stories of crime, extrava-
CANT biographies of brigands and
thieves. dream books, books of magic,
few biographies of American worth
les, books that undertook to impart
English without a master. and certain
devotional works. All these are still
demanded. but other books also are sold
and read
Here, as elsewhere, fiction is the most
popular form of literature Nearly all
the modern French novelists, great and
small. are to be had in paper bound
italian translations-Hugo. Sue. Zola
Daudet and a score of others. Tolstoy
seems especially popular The long sto-
ries of SienkewicZ are sold in many
volumes. Few English novels are
among the TRANSACTIONS. Bellamy's
Looking Backward with the title
Nell ammo 1000. Romance Social!sta.' is
announced among the books that
socialistic italian newspaper sells to its
patrons. Modern Italian nOvelists are
less fully represented in these italian
libraries than their brethren of France.
Mauzonis I Premessi Sposi,' however.
is to be had in a half-doZen different
forms. There seem to be few German
novels among these books, though Cha
misso's Man Without Shadow is to
be had in a tiny paper-b?und edition.
Of works other than prose fiction
there are many little volumes Of popu-
lar songs, chiefly in NeapoIitan dialect.
These are on the cheapest paper. with
coarse sketchy illustrations. The dia-
lect for the most part defes the schOl-
rsIip of one who has learned his italian
at college. Occasionally, however, the
humor of the songs shows through.
They are interesting as curious Taga-
ries of popular language.
There are many Joke books" in Ttal-
ian, usually on cheap paper and crude
ly illustrated. A gay colored picture on
the cover serves to attract the eye of
the possible purchaser.
Every italian bookstore and even
some of the street stands keep the
great classics of the language. One
may have the Divine Comedy in many
forms, Tasso, Alfieri. Cantu. Petrarch,
and whatever else the educated 1tal-
ian holds dear. Along with these are
kept the great classics Of other Ian
guages-a few of Shakespeare's plays;
the works Of the great French masters;
Goethe and Schiller; Cervantes; and
TRANSACTIONS of Greek and Latin clas-
sizes. A special favorite is huge vol
.ume containing tales from the Arabian
Nights apparently translated from
famous and extremely decorous French
edition of the eighteenth century.
Most of the italian books are paper
bound. They have peculiarities of type
and binding that distinguish them from
the French cheap books IAN gray paper
with blunt type" and equally from
American paper bound books A few
are sold in cheap and flashy cloth bind
ing, and very few in leather The cloth
bindings are quite as characteristic as
are the paper bindings, although they
suggest the meaner Bindings used in
Germany. Most of the books are pub
Nshed at Florence, Turin, Venice and
Naples; a few at Genoa and elsewhere.
Prices on the whole are high-usually
At least double the publication price in
Italy. The smaller paper-bound books
sell for five cents to Italians, for what
ever can be exacted to English-speak-
ing persons.
Books are sold in the italian neWspo-
per offices, the italian banks, at some
of the newsstands, and at odd little
street stands, along with cigars, sweets
and what not. One finds such street
stands In the far uptown Italian quar-
ter, in Mulberry street, and occasional
ly elsewhere. The stands keep for the
most part the meaner sorts of books,
popular songs dream books, stories of
crimes and criminals. The bankers
keep thousands Of paper-bound VOL
umes, including all kinds Of literature,
and good deal that is not to be called
literature save by very loose employ
ment of the term. Indecent books in
italian seem to be less common than in
French, and are certainly less freely
exhibited to the general bublic.--New
York Evening Post