The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-27
BOOKS AND

That books are treated by the trade
very much as any other commodity is
evidenced n by the various reasons
ascribed by publishers for the dulness
Of the present book season, Some pub
fishers frankly attribute it to the condi-
ton Of the stock market; others to the
vast amounts Of money sent to San Fran.
CISCO. and still others to the great disaster
itself and the sadness and seriousness
1t has caused throughout the country.
There are those who admit that the books
themselves are poor. The output has
been great but the quality inferior, and
few important and greet books have been
brought out during the year. Still others
account for it on the ground that the
reading public Is tickle and that there is
no accounting for it at all-that the pub
Usher who wal a prophet as we'll and could
understand the situation would cease to
be a publisher and join the ranks OF the
multimillionaires "a,
One OF the books promised Tor autumn
publication will be entitled Madame de
Stael to Benjamin Constant -Unpublished
Letters and Other Mementos.' mo one"
said Lesmonde, could really know Nine de
Stael who has not seen her with Benjamin
Const ant and he was only at his best when
with her." A great-granddaughter Of Nine.
Constant has unearthed sone hitherto
unpublished letters written by Nine. de
Stasl, in which in the midst Of her keen
interest in politics and suggestions on
drawing up the Constitution breaks out
her passionate cry against her most in
constant OF Constants who has ruined her
life.
Julia Scott Vrooman's article In the July
Century on the friendship Of Robert Louis
Stevenson and Jules Simoneau, the keeper
Of q little Bohemian restaurant in Monterey,
adds fresh and interesting material to
Stevensoniana. NJ. Simoneau still lives in
Monterey and counts among his treasures
a set Of the authors works, each volume
bearing OIL the fyleaf a typical inscription
and autograph, and some priceless letters
written for the most part in French and
kept in an iron box. Among them is one
evidently written apropos Of some incident
Of in~ injustice in which Stevenson says: But
the race Of man was born tyrannical; doubt
less Adam beat Eve and when all the rest
are dead the last man will be found beating
the last dog
Howard A. Kelly, the writer of the new
book Walter Reed and Yellow Fever, " says
of Major Reeds life: THE inspiration Of
Reeds life lies in the fact that, though a
man of war, he ravaged no distant lands.
he destroyed no tens of thousands to make
his reputation, but by quiet methods when
there was no strife he "a we'd countless ives
and swept away a hideous plague which
from time immemorial had periodically
visited our shores, devastated our fair land
and too often snatched from the years Of
peace and plenty all their blessings"
The Bookmdn's July department devoted
to Education" sums up the arguments
that may be presented against the grant,
ing of academic degrees. The writer,
Edward L. Hale, Jr,, %pronounces college
degrees a product OF medimvaliem and
entirely in keeping with the general turn
OF the medi@val mind. He suggests that
university degrees, honorary and ordinary,
might be for the future %relegated to the
place where the evidential parchment is
usually relegated, namely, no one knows
where. The test Of a college education
will then be thai a man who has been to
will be different from one who has
not. II that difference can be really made,
he will not want a degree; If 1t cannot, he
should not have one"
Mabel osgood Wright dedicates her new
book, The Garden, You and l." to the
Literary Gardeners Of Redding," which
calls attention to the little Connecticut
to and it's literary colony. Albert Bige-
low Paine is said to have discovered it and
u..,al - forno Tor bia ho-,a tkaro oct /,
year Mark Twain bought a farm not far
from Mr.. Paine's home. Miss Glider Of
he Critic has a place in the reighborhood,
and Mrs. Kate V. Saint Maur, whose book
"A Self-Supporting Home has sent many
people to the country, lives on the road
that leads down from Mr.. Clemens's place to
the mill pond.
The question Of women's work and It's re-
lation to the labor market has been treated
in two Of the late novels, The Pathway Of
the Pioneer" and Ring in the New" Sir
Besant several years ago in "Tfe
Of the Daughter" urged it
a. the duty Of all parents to emula te
the French dot" system. 1t has been
said that Sir Walter did not carry out his
principles, an erroneous impression
arising from the fact that long before he
died he placed the larger part Of his savings
in the hands Of trustees for the benefit of
his wife and daughters. thus leaving only a
small sum in his will. Both the daughters
were we'll provided for and are now happily
Mr., Sidney Lee p~rophesies that Some
about 1915 America and Great Brit
ain will in all likelihood each own about the
number Of copies Of the Shakespeare
First Folio" Mr.. Marsden j, Perry OF
Providence and Mr.. H, c. Folger, Jr., Of
New York are now the keene L collectors
Of Sha~kespeariana in the world. Mr..
Folger is said to have acquired al many as
chit comics of the First Folio in the last '