BOOKS.
THIS WEEK'S BOOKS.
OF the numerous volumes which have appeared this week, the percentage of appetizing, books is unusually high and includes a considerable variety. FromAlessrs.Longmans comes Vol. III. of Naval Operations of the Official History of the War. The author is the late Sir J.ulian Corbett ; theperiodeoveredextends from the Dardanelles Campaign in May, 1015, to the Battle of Jutland. The Saint. Catherine Press publishes A. History of the County of York, North Riding, Vol. IL, the latest addition to the magnificent Victoria History of the Counties-of England. Renaissance Art, by Elie Fauna (The Bodky Head), is the third volume of that writer's History of Art. It is well and copiously illustrated. The Tu.sitala Edition of the works of.R. L. Stevenson (Heinemann) ■ is a pleasant little complete edition of an almost pre-War cheapness.
Two inviting collections of essays are Pencillings, by J. Middleton Murry (Collins), and. I For One, by J. B. Priestley (The Bodley Head). Europe and Elsewhere, by Mark Twain (Harpers), contains, among other articles, some hitherto unpublished. Among philosophical.and critical work, Goethe, by Benedetto Croce (Methuen), is important ; and Freedom of the Mind in History; by Henry Osborn Taylor (Macmillan), author, among other work, of that admirable book, The Medi‘eval Mind ;.and A.Living Universe, by Dr: L. P. Jacks (Hodder and Stoughton)—three lectures by the editor of that excellent publication, The 'fibbed Journal—should both provide stimulating reading.
Of natural history and scientific works, I. select for mention Photographic Wild Life Across the World, by Cherry Kearton (Arrowsmith), a book full of enchanting photographs, and Atoms and Electrons, by J. W. n Sullivan (Hodder and Stoughton), a little book in The People'.s Library series.
Of Biography and Memoirs, Volume I. (1804-1815) of The Life. and Memoirs of Count Mole, edited by the Marquis de Noailles (Hutchinson), and Casanova in England, edited by Horace Bleitekley (The Bodky Head), look promising.
Perhaps the most important book of the week is "a play for mummers, which requires no theatre and no scenery," by Mr. Thomas Hardy—The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall (Macmillan) : the book contains two curiously attractive drawings by the author. There is also a new play by Mr. John Masefield—A King's Daughter (Heinemann)—of which it would be unsafe to prophesy anything more definite than that it may be admirable, middling, or lamentable.
Two beautifully produced books come from the Golden Cockerel Press—Adlington's translation of The Golden Ass of Apuleius and a selection from the prose of Jeremy Taylor ; and from the Hogarth Press comes a slim quarto—A Sampler of Castile, by Roger Fry—a book of Spanish impressions, illustrated in monochrome, delightful both in matter and production.
From a large number of novels I select Black Briony, by T. F. Powys (Chatto and Windus), whose book of stories, The Left Leg, attracted some attention ; A Perfect Day, by Bohun Lynch (Coffins), known both as a writer and a caricaturist ; Compromise, by Wilfranc Hubbard (Macmillan), whose book of dialogues, Shadows an the Palatine, was recently reviewed here, and Followers of the Sea, by that versatile person, Mr. Morley Roberts '(Nash and Grayson).
Three volumes of poetry deserve attention Birds, Beasts and Flowers, by D.' H. Lawrence (Seeker), The End of Fiammetta, by Rachel Annand Taylor (Grant Richards), whose last book, Aspects of the Italian Renaissance, was a very remarkable work, and Cherry Stones, by Eden Phillpotts (Grant Richards).
Certainly an unusual week for literature.
Txre LITERARY EDITOR.
Previous page
