New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-17
CLASSIC FICTION.
Ne7o Editions of Thackeray, Tur-
genief, Poe and Others.

THACKERAY , Kensingt9,n Edition In Thirty
xxi. Charles Scrbner's Sons.
THE NOVELS AND STORIES OF IVAN TUR-
Isabel F Hapgood. International Edition In
Sixteen octave Volumes. With Frontispieces.
Vols xii-xvi. Charles Scribner's Sons.
THE TALES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE. Illus
treted. In Five Volumes. 12mo PIP S4s. S4s, 1856.
34l. 345. G. P. Putnams Sons.
No holiday gift is ever more welcome than a
good edition of some master of fiction. and
always look with special interest at this time
of year for publications of the sort. We are not,
on this occasion, disappointed Conspicuous
among the Christmas offerings is the "Kensing
ton Edition" of Thackeray which the Scribners
began to issue a few months ago and have COM
pleted in time for the holidays We have
ferred to the edition before, but 1t is pleasant
to return to the subject, for Thackeray has
never been printed with better editorial judg
ment in a attractive form. One OF the
pleasantest things about these volumes is that
they contain intimation to who has pre-
pared them for the press 1t is not that
undervalue the merits of the anonymous edi-
tor. 1t is the contrary, that we value
much his appreciation of the precise amount OF
editorial machinery needed in the circumstances.
The signed introduction has been done to death.
So many classics have been accompanied in lat
ter day reprints by essays devoted to the
is pleased to think of mis- betters. that the critic
and the laymen have both come to feel resentful
of the whole explanatory business. Why should
Thackeray. for example be explained at this
time of day? The question answers itself and
the editor of the "Kensington Edition knows
it. All that he does is to prefix to each volume
note explaining when and where the contents
were written the dates of first publication, and
such miscellaneous data as may be made to
]
lions.
Let take, in illustration of the discretion
shown in the preparation of this edition. the
note in the volume devoted to THE Four
Georges" The English HumOrists" and the es-
says Thackeray wrote on Crukshank and Leech
The first delivery of the famous lectures on the
humorists at Willis's in London, in the
! spring of 1851 is briefly recorded. The names
Of some OF the celebrated people who listened to
| Thackeray at that time are given and ailusion
is made TO the abundant contemporary COM
ment which may be traced. Says the editor:
described from Mrs Kembles account OF his
of the admirable delivery and quiet power that
succeeded when he had once faced his hearers
sense Of effort and reluctance that never quite
esft him was convincing to him as TO others: and
bridge and IN Edinburgh. and led to his decision
livery there of which again there are contemporary
accounts almost without number besides the unIi-
sually fun story in Thackeray's published letters
! they were published in volume in ls53 as "a
Series Of Lectures Delivered I'm England Scotland
and the United States"
The history of the Georgian lectures and of
the other material in the volume is summarized
with the same terseness and good sense, leaving
the PREDATORY note model. There has been no
tampering with the text Save for the correc-
ton of certain typographical errors and one or
two amply justified arrangements of specific
productions, as in the placing of the last OF the
Roundabout Papers where It chronologioaIlv
belongs. 1t has been left absolutely untouched
All of the well beloved illustrations which the
novelist himself drew are given here and these
with the others have been beautifully repro
duced The new illustrations consist of I'M
familiar portraits Of Thackeray and views of
his homes and the places associated with him or
with his works. Thus in the volume Of BAL
lads the frontispece is drawing showing the
present appearance Of the spot on which Thack-
cray found The restaurant of which he sang in
that immortal Ballad of Bouillabaisse." In
another frontlspiece we have sketch OF the old
Punch Office in Bouverie-st., a capital souve-