New-York tribune., 1907-01-05

mendous activity of the holiday season In the
publishing world but, is shown by the weeks
record which we print in another column to-day,
fair number Of new books have Just appeared,
among them several OF Importance.
Mrs Russell Barrington's handsomely printed
Life Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton.
which the Macmillans publish in two volumes,
was announced for Christmas and the first
batch OF copies was receievd here in time. but
it was Immediately exhausted. second sup
ply has since been received. The work is not
only of special but Of miscellaneous interest
Leighton numbered among his correspondents
some of the most brilliant men of his time, and
letters from them are printed by Mrs. Barring
ton. Dipping at random into the book we come
upon letter of Burtons. containing this char
acteristio passage:
Syria is a poor Chilli; the Libanus is molehin
compared with the Andes-do you remember? am
on the brain and the public will curse her Ike our
army IN Flanders. Pilgrims see everything through
men when hsy @ sht the plain Of or
Sharon. as the case may be-
These volumes, to which shall return with
much interest, are lavishly illustrated with
reproductions of the artists paintings and
drawings, some of the plates being in coors.
others in photogravure, and others in halftone.
Another book which II is good to meet thus
early in the new year is Queen Margot: Wife
Of Henry Of Navarro" by II. Noel Williams.
1t is imported by the Scribners in luxurious
volume. similar IN makeup to the same
authors books on Madame de Pompadour,
Madame du Barry and other celebrated French
women AS we have before this had occasion to
remark. Mr.. williams may not be an imposing
historian but he is an accomplished gossip with
O positive gift for extracting from history those
amusing anecdotes which saturated with
human interest. In the present volume he has
an especially romantic subject His illustra-
tons are superb. most of them being from those
drawings by Clouet and his school which are
among the most interesting relics of early
European portraiture.
Three memoirs Of the Baroness Burdett-
Coutts were published in her lifetime. Our
London correspondent states that the author
tzed biogre ply of this remarkable English
woman will probably be written by her hus-
band. The plans of the English publishers for
the new year yet vague. Meanwhile
much new fiction is being brought out across
the water. a good deal OF It by new wrtters-
The most interesting announcement sent 70
US from Paris concerns q book just published by
FasQuelle, under the title of Les Souvenirs
dun Peintre" In this volume NJ. Andre Beau
nier collects episodes and anecdotes recounted
by Georges Clairin and others of Henri Reg
nault the brilliant artist who was killed at
Buxenval In 1870. one OF the cruellest sacrifices
made by France IN her war with Germany.
Regnaut was the friend OF Fortuny. but his art
was much broader and more powerful than that
OF the noted Spaniard. He showed IN that
somewhat sensational but justly famous picture
OF his AN Execution in Granada" now in the
Louvre a gift of which almost anything might
le hol NJ
Beaunier's volume will interest American as
we'll as French readers. They will catch
glimpses in 1t not only OF artists but OF men
like Victor Hugo Girardin Flaubert and Gam
BETA Another art work just forthcoming In
Paris from the house of Hachette Is Les
Maitres du Paysage." by Emile Michel. whose
writings on Rubens. Rembrandt and other mas
ters have won him a wide repute In his new
book he treats Of the famous landscape painters
Of the nineteenth century. his text being illus
trated by some two hundred reproductions.
The first important Offering of the buttons for
1907 is a new edition of the late Charles God
frey Leland's translation OF the works of Helm
rich Heine When Leland undertook the task
in 1890 he expected to put all the writings into
English, presenting them in twelve volumes, but
at the time of his death he had finished only the
prose. This fills eight volumes. The remaining
four In the present edition. which are given TO
the poetry, translated by Mr.. T. Brooks
bank who did 1.-The Book of Songs" and by
Margaret Armour CMrs. w. B. MacdougalD, who
did the New Poems" the Germany" the "Ro-
nlancero" and the Last Poems" The edition is
we'll printed, IN convenient form, and in every
one Of the attractive little volumes there is IL
frontispece portrait. several of these being por-
traits OF Hene at different stages OF his career.
We shall have more TO say about this publica-
ton on another occasion
Among the reprints OF the season Is Mr.. Hart
ley Coeridge's new, revised and enlarged edi-
ton, with illustrations, Of Byron's Don Juan"
The text. it is stated. has been revised IN COLA
tion with original MSS I'm the possession OF Mr..
John Murray and Lady Dorchester. and the foot
notes abound with illustrative quotations, eluci-
datory facts and references and variorum read
ings. The footnotes to Canto III contain the
prose materials of actual fact from which Byron
elaborated his poetic description of the ship
wreck. The fourteen stanZas of the unfinished
Canto XVII which were first published in 1902,
included in this volume.