Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-03-27
% a Certain Book.

Who comes from noisy revcl meath the
To seek the quiet Of n cloisicrcd place
Blessed with cool silcEcc and WITH sh;td
And the fine welcome Of a much-lovcd
Pour me- your wine and wundrous. words
until
The thirsty mind and heart have had
their fIl
Break me the bread Of your philoso'
ply
This feast .llat ever of your kindly will
Awaits your faithful, whosoc'er they Dc
Thus frcm your presence may | go twice
blest
Back to :. world of laughter and unrest.
Eack to the lesser company of men.
An all too grateful, too reluctant guest
Who ever in his going turns again.
The Reader
The spring publishing season is just
opening, ana we may gather some idea
of its probable character. 1t promises
to be interesting. though, not. perhaps,
productive of quite as many books as
it. has ordinarily brought forth in re-
cent years. In England the political
campaign just closed seem To have had
IL restraining cfcut~upon the lists OF the
publishers. At any rate the latter
make fewer announcements than they
have CuStonlarily made i'm March.
Whether the printers strike here has
seriously curtailcd the activities of the
publishers remains to be seen, but in
the mean time the quantity of new
books is a trihc lighter than it has been
at the same stage of other seasons.
Fiction, of course, is getting itself
published as freely as ever For the
rest. biography and science are in the
ascendant. Science. especially, is gain
ing this year as it has been gaining
season after season. Biology and
psychology are almost as conspicuous,
we may add, as electricity.
During the whole of Sias X. Hook
ing's thirty years career as Il novelist
the sale of his novels has averaged n
thousand copies n week. This we arc
told in connection with new story
from his pen, "a Human Face" It's
scenes are mostly laid i'm East London,
and the work OF a clergyman and 4
doctor III that district is graphically de-
Scribed.
Although it is now eight years since
Anthony Hopes Rupert of Hentzau''
was published, there is still a constant
demand for it, and Messrs. Henry Holt
& CO. have just had to print it for the
twenty second time despite the fact
that cheaper unillustratcd author
lied eGition of $4,000 copies was put on
the market last year. Mr.. Gibson's
illustrations for the regular edition of
Rupert Of Hcntzau," and for "The
Prisoner Of Zenda," probably add no
little incentive to the demand for these
romanceS.
The book plate indicates a certain
love Of oStenta ton. says writer in
the Atlantic Monthly. Is it fitting that
an individual should suggest that his
library is so voluminous that he cam
not undertake the physical fatigue of
writing his name in each book he
possesses? Public libraries. large and
abstract collections may make use of
this mechanical means. Of identifying
property. but the private library should
be more modest, more personal. To the
critical observer A book plate seems to
cast suspicion upon the owners educa-
tional attainmentS. One wonders if,
after all. he can really read and write.
if his books are any more to him than
Lorke'S Essay on the Human Under
standing was to Lconora, who treas
urcd therein her party patches. May
there not be reasonable doubt Of his
ability to read, who thus, in place of
signing his name, resorts to the
illiteratc practice of. making his mark /?
1t is an obvious and regrettable fact
that this same man is 4 devotcc of
platitudes Otherwise he would not
permit the monotonous recurrence of
the same quaint device" in each vol
uIne. He loves. above all things. order.
symmetry. convention. and prefers in a
book nicely adjusted intellectual
formalitlcs; he cannot endure anything
not $t"rcriyped. Finally. this dcfacer
of books ia cruel. for he strikes a
mortal blow at one of the most iuno-
cent sources Of pride in the lives Of
bibli"philcs. No more will books COM
MANI a high price because some great
man had written his name there. No
more Will the imagination SEQ in a
volume the absolute proof Of the fam
Gus ownership, and delight in dreaming
of the days when hands that now are
dust turned those very pages. What
would have been the course or human
letters il William Shakespeare had
placed his book plate in that copy Of
Florio's Montaignc2
W. Beach Thomas. writing in "rhe
London Outlook" observes that "open
air books belong peculiarly to English
literature" and, aludinG to Whites
"Selbornc.' he speaks of the revela-
ton that it gives of "thc affectionat tc
care given in England to the earth and
air That are the surrounding and maxi
ing of home" That care explains
the superiority Of the English nature
book. and the point may well be COM
m"nded to the American publisher.
When We become interested in sub
j"ct we are apt, like the people of the
anccdote about culture in Chicago, to
make that subject hum. When we
started tn write nafpro ,,.o u,o.l