Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed, and O f ficial Classes, 1903.
(Kelly's Directories. 16s.)—A rough calculation brings out the number of names included in this " Handbook " at between twenty-five and thirty thousand. Nothing could give a better idea of the labour involved in keeping such a volume up to date. The scope of the volume is, it must be understood, a large one. The limits are not easily defined. "Official" is a somewhat vague word, and so is "Landed." It will be found that, on the whole, the list is as well put together as could be expected. That, indeed, is hardly enough to say. One wonders that the including and excluding line can be so judiciously drawn, and the informa- tion kept at so high a level of accuracy. This is certainly as convenient a volume for all practical purposes of general reference as could be found.---The Clergy List (same publishers, 12s. 6d.) ;must contain about as many names as the volume just noticed. The in- formation relating to them is in some respects more difficult, though in others easier, to obtain. The emoluments of benefices constitute one complicated question. The population, on the other hand, is a matter about which accurate information is forthcoming sooner or later. The editor of the Directory has been able to include in this volume the Census returns of 1901; as to the benefices values he seems, as far as we have been able to test the returns, to have got as near the truth as practicable. The corrections have been brought down to a quite recent date.—The Literary Year-Book, edited by Henry Gilbert (G. Allen, 5s.), contains much that is outside the range of an ordinary directory. The essay on "The Year's Work" is an expression of opinion on many matters of importance. " The Crown and the Author," " Authors and their Societies," both put some truths with sufficient force. What is said about reviews and their influence on sales is, of course, especially interesting to those who review. Whatever may be the actual truth in this matter, we can vouch for the fact that both publishers and authors are very anxious to have books reviewed. A well-established author is scarcely affected. It is when the unknown man comes to the front that the review is likely to be useful.
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