Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-08-20
Books and Authors

The crime of making n book without
an index stirs to wrath the paragra-
| pher of THE London Sphere" He
would fam revive the Inquisition for
the benefit of the publisher who issues
biography or memoir unindexed.
The thlmbscrcw," says this critic.
would D" too mild a torture for him.
But not all indcXing is ideal. as in
stance tn" case in the law book Of
Mr. Justice Best; His Great Mind"
The lawyers. who had the poorest
opinion Of tn" judges mind, We're be-
Wlldercd until they had turned to tho
page in which is was recorded that
Mr. Justice Best said he had q great
mind to commit the witness for con-
tempt. The two happicst, or I'M
happi"st, records of library catalogu-
ing are the one Of mill on Liberty"
do. on the Floss" and the other on
Lead Poisoning" DO, Kindly Light"
The daughter of the late Lord
Lytton COwen Meredith" the poeD
has edited his Letters. Personal and
Literary" and the work is to be pub
lished soon in two volumes. This
Lady Betty Balfour is said to have in
hcrited her fathers literary gifts. -.
The autumn list Of new publica tons
To b" issued by Houghton. Mifiin &
60. includes about fifty titles in the
various departments Of fiction,
biography, travel, religion. poetry,
juvenile and illustrated holiday books.
In accordance with their rule Of recent
seasons. they are doing their best to
stem the tide Of over production in
novels, and as Il result of their efforts.
they announce but five new works, of
fiction. These are The opened Shut
tcrs. tale of the experiences Of a
Western girl on Il farm near Casco
Bay by Clara Louise Burnham; THE
Man in the Case" story of human
love and devotion by Elizabeth Stuart
Phelps; THE County Road" by Alice
Brown, comprising thirteen short
stories of New England life;
"Montivet." a tale of the early trading
days Of Michigan. by Alice Prescott
Smith; and "BleaChnd Kecls," three
novelties of sea-going life along the
eastern Maine coast. Other books on
their list are a bogra phical and
optical study Of Walt Whitman. by
Bliss Perry; a biography Of Charles
Godfrey Leland. by Elizabeth Robins
Fennell; 4 life Of John Sherman. in the
American Statesmen series. by
Theodore I. Burton: the Life and
Letters Of Lafcadio Hearn. by Eliza
beth Risland; memoir IF Bishop !
Huntingdon Of New York. by ARIA :. |
Huntington; Through Man to God"
by Rev. George a. Gordon; Friends
on the Shelf" by Bradford Torrey:
and Realities Of Christian Theology"
by Clarence \. BcakWith
The Dickens Fellowship has now
10000 members in England and abroad
and it is now to be honored with an
edition Of the novelists' works dedicat |
ed to those members. Messrs Chap |
man and Hall. who are Dickens's |
original publishers, are to issue a
tWenty-one volume edition, to be sold
only in sets.
A tribute to Henry Fielding has re-
Gently been erected at Bath in the
shape Of q memorial tablet bearing the
inscription: Here lived Henry Field
ing. &. 1907. d. 1854; and Sarah Field
ing. b. 1710. d. 1861" 1t was unveiled
by that inventive romancer Of our own
day. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. and it
stands on the ridge Of a hill hard by
old WidComhe." the lodge where
Fielding and his sister dwelt. It over
looks tranquil bit Of old English
SCcnry, in the midst of which dwelt the
great nOvelist's friend. Ralph Allen.
mem"ralized for all time as Squire Al
worthy in Tom Jones" At lun-
ch"on given Immediately following The
unveilinE. Sir Conan recountcd in an
entertaining style the salient points III
FIelding'S career. giving at the same
time an appreciation Of his noyitiun in
the literary world. at vas in 174HI
when Fielding came to the city where
his sister lived" he said "and then
bishop Hurd. who met him at Ralph
Aliens table, described him as Il poor,
cnlariated, Worn-out rake. whose govt
and infirmiticS have got the better Of
his buftoonerieS' He WAS only FORTY
seven when he passed away. and yet
in those few years, despite disease ana
frailty. he managed to make an i'm
perishable name. He was the con-
temporary Of Pope. Sternc. Hogarth.
GainshCrough. Pitt, Richardson and
Smollett. With the last two he should
be associated, for the three n"velists
reacted on each other. In 1910 ap-
reared Richardson's Pamela a land
mark in English literature. Fielding.
with his cynical wit and satire. took
Richardson's very characters and wovc
them into fresh romance-a rapacious
proceeding. as if Thacknray had taken
'Pickwick and David Cnpperfeld' and
written novel round them for tie pur-
pose of holding them up to ridicule
He called his novel Joseph Andrews
and it's hero was supposed to ne the
brother of Pamela, and exposed to
similar temptations. In 1749, the year
when Fielding was appointed a magis-
trate of Westminster and Middlesex
he published Tom Jones' appraised by
many good judges as the summit of
British fiction" Though personally
Sir Conan differed from this estimate.