The Washington herald., 1907-07-07

NtcOlette. did not get the money but my van |
ity fattered while my respect for human wis |
dam was lowered. To-day however. the book col |
lectoTs show signs Of returning common sense /
There Is terrible slump" in my first editions; |
about 81 6s Is gwen where FIVE glineas used 10 be
paid. ! daressy the books Will fall 20 par ihve |
shillingsl or even below par and l advise holders
to cut losses and sell bear Of me- while there is |
yet time.
One comfort Is that les petits camaIades not |
more In demand than myself Even Mr. Matthew |
Arnolds first editions weak a falling market !
Poems by A and 'Empedoclcs Etan" very |
lat and sluggish; and all the early editions
Of Victorian singers except the earliest and rarvst
things Of Tennyson and Browning l have not Oh |
served that the carly first editions Of Mr. e.. H. |
Shaw are quoted, but very specGl books only oo7u
az rare intervals | have remarked only che copy
Of the "Odes" Of l7s which Collins burned because
nobody would buy them. From the original price
q onc shilling they have SCARED TO $50, 20 am
glad that secured a fine large COPY for GO
D. Appleton & Co. have secured for |
their fail list: "Wilhelmina. Margarine |
of Baireuth," biography Of the sister of
Frederick the Great; "Who Killed Lady |
Poynder?" a new novel by Richard Marsh;
THE Adventurer.' which has been run |
ming as a serial. and which will be pub !
lished In book form: also a beautiful |
quarto gift book devoted to the life Of
| Mary, Queen OF Scots" by Walter Wood |
Illustrated with pictures in color by James |
Orrock, r. l.. and Sir James Linton, II. l. |
The method pursued by Mary E. WI |
kins Freeman In writing her stories Is |
different from that Of most authors Be
fore beginning a story. whether it is to be |
short OF long. she plans it 10 the very end /
Not only the consecutive scenes of the !
story are in her mind before she begins |
the opening paragraphs. but she has alsg I!
decided upon the tenor OF the converse /
tion and much OF the actual language.
The new volume by Alfred Noyes, The |
Flower Of Old Japan" which the Mac
milan company has just published, re-
! veals this remarkable young poet in a
new light to his American readers. The |
poems contained in his earlier volume /
striking and original as they were !
scarcely gave a hint Of the spirit that |
turks in these new poems. The two most /
/ important pieces In the new volume are |
The Flower Of Old Japan" and Forest |
of Wild Thyme" Both Of these are ex- |
qulslte fantasies OF child-llfe airy and |
unsubstantial in form, but full Of a deep |
seriousness underneath. Mr. NOyes him |
self speaks Of them as follows in a brief |
preface: 1T is. perhaps because these !
poems are almost light enough for non /
sense book that / feel there is something /
IN them more elemental more essential. |
more worthy Of serious consideration |
than the most ponderous philosophical |
poem I could write They are based on
the fundamental and very simple mystery
Of the universe-that anything. even a |
grain OF sand should exist at ALL" In |
the light OF this volume, Il is easy % |
understand why the English critics, and !
not a few American readers as well look |
upon Alfred Noyes as the rising hope Of
English poetry.
In the Nepoleonic period the British !
Minister at the court Of Hesse-CasseI. Mr.. |
Brook Taylor, was charged by the En-
peror with being implicated IN a plot to
procure his assassination. A lively quarrel
between Napoleon and the elector turned
upon the formers demand for the dismis-
sal of Taylor A Mr. Ralph Heathcote was
! at that time secretary TO Taylor and his
letters, which are said 10 deal at some
to be published by John Lane. They
will be edited by the writer's grand |
daughter, Countess Gunther Droben.
The Story of the Other Wise Man" by |
Henry Van Dyke, has already been trans |
lated into many foreign languages. in |
cluding such unusual ones as the Arme- !
nian and Turkish. and last week the pub |
fishers Of the book, the Harpers. received |
an application from India for permission |
to translate II into Bengal.
Gerald Stanley Lee, the editor Of Mount |
Tom. the little all outdoors" magazine |
published at Northampton, Mass, went
to New York the other day and visited a /
department store. Il put in my time |
looking behind the counters-all those /
busy, pale, yellow-nghted people in little |
holes or stalls trying to be human and |
natural In that long. low indoor street OF /
theirs. crowds of women staring by them |
and picking at things Always that NOV |
ing sidewalk of questions, that dull. eager |
stream of consciousness sweeping by. No |
sunlight, just the crowds of covetousness |
and shrewdness.
Il always wonder about the clerks and |
what they would be like at home or under |
an apple tree, or each with a bit Of blue |
sky to go with them. They seemed. as | !
looked, mostly poor underground crea- |
lures living in a sort OF subway of Things /
in a hateful, hard, little world of clothes, |
each with his little study or trick OF |
knack Of appearances. standing there and /
selling people their good looks day after |
day at so much a yard. l suppose II is |
not so. and that they are not really as
they look-all those rows Of pleasant |
half-polte, half-enduring, pale, yellow
lighted people But l did feel like going |
along and handing them out a Mount /
Tom apiece"
"The Memoirs Of Madame Ristori," one |
Of the forthcoming summer publications |
Of Doubleday Page & Co, contains some |
interesting and valuable illustrations IN |
the way Of photographs Of Nine. Ristori's |
famous contemporaries, Tommaso SAL |
vini, Cavour, Alferi. Dumas pere, and |
many others. This book will be issued |
the early part of August, in a translation |
of Mr.. G. Mantellini. Another volume Of /
Importance to collectors Of stage litera- |
ture Is "Antonette Sterling and Other |
Celebrities" prepared by NJ. S. MacKin- |
lays. the son Of Nine Sterling 1t has |
been running serially In the Strand 1
Magazine, and is to be published In this |
country by d. Appleton a. Co.
The examples cited by Francis Gribble /
in his article on The Comedy Of Literary |
Log-rolling." in the Strand Magazine, |
arouse some suspicion IS to their ALSO |
lutte authenticity, but are amusing enough, |
whether true or not. Sainte-Beuve in |
creased the circulation of his hooks By /
insisting upon fighting a duel in the rain |
with an umbrella over his head. Gerard |