2 NOVEMBER 1895, Page 12

The World's Own Book; or, The Treasury of tI Kempis.

By Percy Fitzgerald. (Elliot Stock.)—Mr. Percy Fitzgerald begins with an account of the first edition of the " Imitatio Christi " (printed by Gunther Zainer at Augsburg), and proceeds to tell the bibliographical story of the book, giving also a thoughtful appreciation of its contents. Dr. Johnson, who had a keen sense of what is really good, greatly admired it, and quoted with assent to show its general acceptance, " the statement that it bad been printed, in one language or another, as many times as there had been months since it first came out." He seems to have been under the mark, for Pt)re Becker has discovered nearly six thou- sand editions. The reader will find here collected a number of curious and interesting facts.