Excursions into Libraries. By G. H. Powell. (Lawrence and Bullen.) — "Retrospective
Reviews and Bibliographical Notes " is the sub-title which Mr. Powell gives to his book. His first paper is on "The Philosophy of Rarity." What makes a book rare what constitutes the value of rarity, what books are really rare, and why, are the chief themes on which he discourses, and this out of a plenitude of knowledge which few, we imagine, can equal. "The Hunting of the Myth" is a paper on comparative folk-lore. This is followed by one of Mr. Powell's!" retrospective reviews ; " so is " The Pirate's Paradise." " A Medley of Memories " takes the reader into a perfect maze of curious books. Of the other essays we may mention "Rabelais at Home" and " A Gascon Tragedy," the strange and piteous story which Froissart tells of how Gaston Phoebus, Comte de Foix, killed his only son. The volume is a mass of curious learning, of which it is quite impos• sible to give an adequate notice in any space that we can com- mand.
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