Hazell's Annual, edited by E. D. Price (Hazen, Watson, and
Co.), which appears this year for the fifth time (it is revised up to November 25th), has taken its place as a book of reference. It is described as a " cycloptedic record of men and topics of the day." All the information, it may be explained, is given in articles ranged in alphabetical order. All the difficulties of classification are thus avoided, and the necessity of an index, always so difficult to make complete, is done away with. In fact, it is hardly possible to miss the information wanted. The completeness with which this is supplied is worthy of much praise. We may not always approve of the selection of names for biographical notice. Without disparaging, for instance, Mr. James Payn, we do not see why he is preferred to Mr. R. D. Blackmore, whose "Lorna Doone " is certainly a standard novel, or to Mr. David Christie Murray, or to Mr. Thomas Hardy. But this matters little. For such matters as Parliamentary, diplomatic, and official guides, statistical and geographical information of all sorts, and the like, Hazell s Annual is all that can be desired.
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