The New York herald., 1922-11-12

COME day soon this department is going
~ to take up at length the subject of
mistakes in books about New York. Here,
for example, among the novels of the sea-
SON is Mr.. Charles Hanson Townes "The
Chain," frankly designed as a picture
of the New York of twenty years ago.
The most irritable critic could not accuse
the author of writing of the city with
merely superficial knowledge, yet Mr..
Towne is guilty of several curious little
slips. For example, he places THE New
YORK HERALD in 1902 opposite the old
Astor House. Of course, it never was
directly opposite the Astor House, and the
migration from the corner of Ann street
once Barnum's Museum, to Herald
Square, at the junction of Broadway and
Thirty-fifth street, took place early in
the 1905. Again Mr.. Towne describeshis
hero going to "Florodora" about 1906
A FEW years ago, when Mrs. Whar-
IA~>ton's "The Age of Innocence" ap-
peared, from all directions came correc-
tions of minor inaccuracies. Such and
such a style of hat was not worn in the
period with which the story was supposed
to deal. The boxes in the old Academy of
Music at Fourteenth street and Irving
place were not as Mrs. Wharton described
them. Patti did not sing in New York in
such and such year. All these correc-
tions were strictly legitimate, only the
writers offered them entirely too seriously.
The fact that Mrs. Wharton was OCCASION
ally ten years out of the way in introduc-
ing an event that is a matter of record
did not in the least affect the quality of
"The Age of Innocence as a novel.
Nicholas Nickleby" is not to be dismissed
forever because in one of the Dotheboys
Hall chapters Dickens makes Squeers
direct one boy to hoe the weeds in the
garden and the next minute order another
boy to break the ice in the pitcher.
ODDLY enough, these little curiosities
" of misstatement about city's topog-
raphy or history are invariably made by
the persons who really know, or at least
are qualified to know, of what they are
writing They are not to be found in the
stories of those who derive their local
color from books of reference. One of
the most curious of Typographical blum
ders appeared in Owen Johnsons Max
Fargus" of some years ago, curious for the
reason that at the time the writer was
under the influence of Balzac and emulat-
ing his model in the study Of streets.
From his office in West Tenth street, op-
posite the Jefferson Market police court,
the shyster lawyer Boffinger trails
woman, first southwark, then across
Washington Square, then northward along
the avenue, then eastward on Twelfth
street. So far so good. But then Mr..
Johnson went on minutely to describe the
pursuit leading from Twelfth street north
along Irving place. OF course, Irving
place does not, and never did, run below
the northern side of Fourteenth street.
u p. DUTTON G co. announce for
IL. early publication ITO Tell You the
TRUTH" a new volume in their edition
of the works of Leonard Merrick. Even
where a volume practically embodies
tales that have been published before,
this new edition has enabled the author
to introduce little refnements and
to smooth over what he considers the
rough edges. He has made number of
felicitous changes in names. For exam
pie, there was that very charming tale
nh