Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-13

THE BUILDING OF A BOOK. With an
Introduction by Theodore L. De Winnie.
Edited by Frederic H. Hitchcock. New
York: The Grafton Press.
| The claim on the title page that this vol
ume contains: "A series Of practical arti-
cles written by experts in the various de-
| partments of book-making and distributing
is an admirable, condensed statement of its
scope. Mr.. Hitchcock has gathered to-
gether thirty-eight short, pithy treatises on
the various activities comprehended In the
building of a book" The author, the lit
erary agent, the literary adviser, the illus
| traitor, the various processes of printing,
| the fine art of advertising, the multiform
arts and industries whose finished product
seems so simple thing to the uninitiated.
all find spokesman to inform as to the de-
tails of their various crafts.
The book is admirably adapted to appeal
to many classes. The collector Of books
| the cultivated reading public, the author
himself. will. each one. find matter for
pleasure or for actual, practical aid in his
specially Mr.. George Gable speaks for the
author, Mr.. Paul Reynolds, who is perhaps
the best-known exponent Of the new pro-
fession of literary agent, tells of the ad-
vantage to both author and publisher that
an intelligent middleman may be. Mr.
Charles Williams writes entertainingly Of
the work of the illustrator. Mr.. Vivian
Burnett has a clever and illuminating arti-
Gle Publicity Miss Amy Richards
writes Of cover designs. 1t is impossible to
suggest more than few Of the many
points covered by Mr. Hitchcock's publica-
ton. 1t Is book that no Htterateur can
afford to be without.
MIR. BARNES. AMERICAN. A SEQUEL to
Mr. Barnes of New York" By Arch
ibald Clavering Gunter, author Of 'Mr.
Barnes of New York" illustrations
by B. Martin Justice. New York:
Dodd, Mead & Co. Washington:
Brentano's.
Mr.. Gunter has seen At to re-entangle the
| untangled threads of his former successful
romance, to revive a feud which was ap-
parently extinct and to plunge into direst
stress of danger the two devoted couples
left so happily philandering by the last
page Of Mr. Barnes Of New York" On
the very day of departure from Corsica the
indefatigable Mr.. Barnes snuffs danger In
the salt breeze. Hitherto unknown inner
itors of the vendetta spring up as by
magic BY the time the four have landed
in Marsellle the hounds Of war are In full
cry The book exhibits the same qualities
that some years ago caught the puoilc
taste 1t shows. also, the same Impossible
crudities cheapnesses and mannerisms. 1t
remains to be seen whether America will
prove to be smiling patron saint to
Mr. Barnes as New York showed herself
decade or so ago.
THE FERRY OF FATE; a Tale Of Rus
sian Jewry By Samuel Gordon. au-
thor of Lesser Destinies.' New York:
Duffield 4 Co
This is grim and painful picture of
necessarily grim and painful subject.
Granted that his romance must inevitably
be somber. the author has shown great skill
in the creation of an individual atmos-
phere and much sweetness and tolerance OF
treatment. Two Jewish lads have grown
up side by side in of the dreariest OF
Russian towns. With equally fine mental
equipment and ambition, one, Nyman Lich-
tenburg, is ungainly and repellant, the
other, Baruch Volkmann, by some mys-
terious atavism of type, is replica Of
Apollo Belvedere in the flesh Together
they break away from cruel home condf-
lions. and succeed in making their way into
the university. Expelled in the course OF
a concerted movement against Jewish stu
dents, Baruch attracts the favorable no
tice of the project and his wife, Is allowed
to remain, and, ultimately becomes the
trusted secretary of the project.
The story shifts its course to Ottoman, the
early home of Baruch, where he returns as
the guest of the government house. The
Gen. Moratoff, the governor of the district,
who Is responsible for the death of Baruch's
old father and mother, Its complication be-
cause of the governors daughter, Alma, and
the tragedy Of Nyman's thwarted and
warped nature, form a dramatic and pow
erful plot
THE FIRST CLAIM. BY NJ. Hamilton,
author of Cut Laurels." New York:
Doubleday, Page & Co. Washington:
Brentano'S.
A childlke and tender little creature, Va
lerie leaves the old husband from whom
she shrinks, for the young man who loves
her mere child and undeveloped moral
w. she has been made to feel that she Is
merely drawback to her little baby Gwen
ME- and she deserts her, convinced that the
child Is in better hands than her own.
Within five years, in the midst of Nalerie's
own happy life comes the awakening of the
sense of responsibility, and the dawn of
the problem of the book The series of
events which lead up to startling climax
are of compelling interest. The develop
ment of Valerie's character is convincing
and consistent. The author has resisted the
temptation to make of the Gwennie of Va
lerie's later care an appealing and pathetic
child martyr Gwennie, the seven-year-
old is what the child would naturally be-
come under five years of such step
mother as Lady Palmer Is shown to be.
The only touch of the sensational In q
really absorbing novel is In the character
of this Lady Palmer. She is TRUE too
ghoulish to exist outside of folklore.
THE MIRACLE WORKER. By Gerald
Maxwell. Frontispiece by George F.
Gray. Boston: John w. Luce & Co.
1t is hard to see why a story in which
the medical profession, as protested by
the exiled prince of some country ION the
slopes of the Hindoo Koosh," plays the
part that it does in THE Miracle Worker"
is not to be classed as entirely absurd. Novel
readers have become accustomed to the
intervention, among the more decorous in
habtants of the field of romance, Of these
uncla ssified exotics that Ahmed Abdullah,
even though he takes back to share the
Monammedan throne of his fathers an ex-
trained nurse from the German hospitals.
presents no insuperabe obstacles to ere
dence. But the tricks that Ahmed Abdullah
plays with the human frame and with the
Russion hierarchy are almost provocative
of revolt. However, Gerald MaxwelFs ro-
nance is certainly a good story, and, in
certain moods, the reader asks nothing
but that. The plot is a most original one,
and the interest is exceedingly well sus-
tanned.