Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. are publishing a thin-paper edition
of " Henry Seton Merriman's Novels?' The 6 at instal- ment consists of two, The Slave of the Lamp and The Sowers; the rest are to follow week by week till the number—fourteen—is completed. To the first mentioned a brief literary memoir of the author is prefixed. " H. S. Merriman " made hi, first appearance as an author with "Young Mistley." This w.. . 1888,—he was born in 1862. This work and its three successors were withdrawn from circulation by the author, at no small cost, we are told, to himself. He judged them to be unworthy of his powers, and acted with characteristic consistency. The Slave of the Lamp appeared in 1892; the date of The Sowers is 1896; but the interval between the two was filled up with work, which was continued up to the time of his premature death on November 19th, 1903. An unfinished story which had been fully planned—it was his habit to do this with quite unusual completeness—was found after his death and destroyed according to his wish. One most interesting thi g in the notice is the description of the energy and care with which he prepared himself for his work by studying the locale in which the scene of his story was laid. One only of his :novels was not preceded by this labour, a labour carried out in the most unstinting fashion. Here the scene was West Africa, and in this case he had studied the authorities available so successfully that every one believed him to be writing from personal observation. Happy man, he stood entirely apart from that world of letters in which he occupied so high a place. Of " H. S. Merriman's " literary merits we need say nothing. The present edition is attractive, admirably printed on thin paper which, if it does not absolutely equal the Clarendon Press ideal, is a very good second. The price is 2s. per volume in cloth and 3s. in leather.
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