The Best Books : a Reader's Guide to the Choice
of the Beat Available Books (about Tmenty.five Thousand) in every Department of Science, Art, and Literature. By William Swan Sonnenschein. (Swan Sonnensehein and Co.)—It would be difficult to exaggerate the use- fulness of this book, or to praise too highly the industry of the compiler. It belongs to that class of works which every reader finds of service, but uses, as Johnson said, without gratitude. Turn to what subjects of study we may, it is possible to find here the current books the student may consult and the prices at whioh they are published. The authors may be, and often are, old, but the editions given of their works are modern. English authors, therefore, who have not had the good fortune to appear in a new dress are not to be found in this Guide. Bat there are few branches of knowledge, and none certainly of consequence, which are not adequately repre- sented; and so clear is the arrangement, that the student will find little difficulty in gaining the information he requires. That informa- tion is well-nigh exhaustive. The more the Guide is examined, the more struck will the reader be at the thoroughness with which Mr. Sonnenschein has done his work. Let him look, for instance, under the heading " Mythology and Folk-Lore," and he will find separate sections devoted to "Serpent-Worship," to "Astronomical Myths," to " Medicine in Folk-Lore," to " Weather-Lore," to the works in all languages on this class of subjects, arranged according to countries, and, in the case of England, according to counties. Under the general heading "Philosophy," are to be found also a great number of sections, every school having its representative writers, and a list also of the works of the critics of those writers. It should be remembered that here, and throughout the Guide, the price of the books is given, the names of the publishers, and the date of publication. Now and then a subject seems misplaced,—as, for example, when, under " Sports and Recreations," we find a list of books upon "Duelling and under " General Collections of Poetry," Mr. Minto's " Characteristics of English Posts." In a work so com- prehensive, it is possible, of course, to discover errors of omission and commission. Glancing at the literary sections, we observe that the particulars given of Messrs. Elwin and Courtlaope's "Pope" are inaccurate ; and it is surely an error, in the cane of poets, not to mention the best editions of their works. It may be possible to buy Moore's poems for 3s. 6d., Crabbe's for 3s. 6d., and Southey's for 14s. ; but hook-purchasera should be told that the best edition of Moore's poetical works is in ten volumes, of Crabbe's in eight, and of Southey's in ten. It is scarcely necessary to add that The Best Books is a rather misleading title, and that no man, however vast his knowledge, can put his seal of approval to twenty-five thousand volumes. Mr. Sonnenschein—conscious, no doubt, of the objections likely to he made to his Guide in this respect—states that he has endeavoured to interpret the word " beet" in its most catholic sense.
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