New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-12-12


iudicious and painstaking account OF the
mountainous region between India and Eastern
Turkestan Another volume of exploration 10
Mr. Douglas w. Freshfeld's Round Kangchen-
tunga." which is mainly narrative OF mountain
climbing among the highest Himalayas' pul II
also has a hearing upon the frontier disputes
and the invasion of Thibet. There is also book
on Nyassaland by Mr. II. l.. Duff with an &C
count OF what has happened under the IRE
sponsible administration of the British forelsh
office. Another book in the Christmas stalls is
Italy To-day" by Mr.. Bolton King ana MI
Thomas Okey. to which the recent revels at
Windsor have lent adventurous aid. Mr.. Albert
f. Calvert's Impressions of Spain" is fresh
contribution 10 the literature of travel and II Is
supplemented by a new edition of Mr.. John
Hays "Castilian Days" with admirable illustra-
tions by Mr.. Joseph Pencil. Mr.. Rufus B.
Richardson's Vacation Days in Greece has
been favorably reviewed and accepted as the
work of an experienced American arch@olOgist
The first two volumes of the Mary Kingsley
series of reproductions of old works of travel,
The Golden Trade" and "Coryats Crudi-
ties" designed for collectors, are extensively
printed on japanese vellum and the finest hand
made paper. Contrasting almost Enthusiastically
with these quaint memorials of bygone travel
and adventure is Mr.. Arthur Symons's Cities"
ent are excluded and in which the authors emo
tions. reflections and small experiences in IA
nous places are recorded in detail.
Among the historical works which offered
to holiday buyers are two volumes relating to
the United States One is Sir George Trevel-
vans impartial yet markedly Whiggish account
of the American Revolution. and the other is
the volume devoted to the United States and
Canada in the Cambridge Modern History series
planned by the late Lord Acton. The last vol
ume. with its admirable exposition of the fiscal
questions which involved the separation of the
thirteen colonies from the empire and with its
vivid recital of the events of the slavery conflict
and the Civil War. supplies Englishmen with a
comprehensive history OF the American Com
monwealth. There is also a library edition
of the historical writings of John LOthrop Mot
ley, OF which the first Of nine volumes is on the
Christmas counters. In English history there is
Mr. Edward Jenks's Parliamentary volume in
the Story of the Nations series; in French
affairs there are Mr. Z. {. Seaton's account of
Napoeon's captivity in relation to Sir Hudson
Lowe. and Mr.. A R. Walters selections from
Mr. Anthony b North Peat's vivid letters about
the Court Of the Tuilerfes during the Second
Empire: there is a luminous history Of Italian
unity of Mr.. Bolton King and there is also an
admirable handbook of the Art of the Italian
Renaissance by Mr.. Heinrich W6lffiin; there is
Mr. Strine's Expansion of Russia. 1S15-l9O0 -
and there are scholarly works. such as DR. Rob
inson SOuttar's Short History of Ancient
Peoples; Professor Sayce's Early History Of
the Hebrews; a edition of Mr.. Theodore
Andrea Cooks 'Old Touraine"; Mr. Horatio F.
Browns Historical Sketch of Venice; DR..
Budge's exhaustive work on the Gods of the
Egyptians" and Professor Diceys STORY of the
khedivate."
The lists Of religious books are large, but as
the writer's and commentators are mainly in re-
tirement at oxford and Cambridge, and out Of
touch with the realities Of everyday life, the re-
suits of their eruditon are not likely to be help
full to either country parsons or city Wears
Among them are dissertations on the Gospels as
historical documents. The Principles Of Evolu-
ton Applied to the Christian Scriptures" THE
Virgin Birth" and Original Sin" The literature
of the Free Churchmen is of a more practical
order.
Mr.. Kipling is apparently the only popular
poet in England His Five Nations" has run
into the fortieth thousand in the course of a few
weeks. and seems destined to be read through
out the empire Mr. Watson's For England
certainly cannot compete with it in popularity
and the verses Of Mr.. w. J. Keith. Mr.. Laurence
Binyon, Miss 3. F. Baughan Mr. Alfred Noyes
Mr.. Valentine Ash MI Laurence Hope, Mr.
Maurice Barring and other minor poets have
failed to command public attention There is a
new rendering of the "4Eneid" by a Cambridge
scholar. Mr.. Henry Smith Wright. and there are
fresh TRANSACTIONS of the Athenian dramatists
and the Homeric hymns into English verse
There are new editions of Wordsworths and
Mrs Brownng's poems for the Christmastide
and Mr.. Austin Dobson's Ballad of Beau Bro
cade" and other eighteenth century pieces are
reprinted most tastefully. OF works of fiction
there is no end hundreds of writer's being rep
resented in the holiday stalls. and their wares
selling from a shilling, even siXpence, to ter
shIlings. Whether it be Sir A Conan Doyle
whose works have been digniied with the hon
ors Of special authors edition limited to a
thousand sets; Mrs WigEin whose last book
"Rebecca has gained immediate popularity in
England; or Mr. Bran Stoker, whose Jewel OF
the Seven Stars" ends so mysterousy that he
will have 10 bring his characters TO life again IN
a new book; or Mrs Cookers vivid character
sketches in Her own People; Mrs. Annie
Swan, whose decoroUs platitudes have not been
misunderstood by a hard headed Scotch educator
each has a public and contributes regularly
for its entertainment How many distinct
classes Of novel readers there are in England
one begins to understand after lingering for an
hour over the fiction shelves in Piccadily
bookshop.
one may find in the holiday stalls the plain
living and high thinking which Wordsworth
favored; and while recognizing the Limitations
Of moderate means he may console himself with
the reflection that a rich man at an intellectual
feast can only enjoy he little that he is able tc
digest. The cheapness of the best books enables
the poorest scholar To be happy in the Christmas
stalls. for with few shiIlings in his pocket he
cannot be deprived Of the benefits of culture
good letters and the satisfaction of the intellect.
tIlrrn IL.