GIFT-BOOKS.
The Girl's Own Annual. (56 Paternoster Row.)—The editors of the Girl's Own Annual have contrived to get a large list of con- tributors, and to make a more than usually varied number for the year. Serial stories, of course, still form the backbone, but these are quite up to the average, and include tales by Sarah Doudney, Sarah Tytler, Anne Beale, Alice King, Sister Joan, and others as good but too numerous to mention. But though good, we question if the Girl's Own Annual has quite the quality of material which we always expect and always find in the companion volume. The miscellaneous list, however, is a very extensive one. All kinds of descriptive articles of foreign countries, as Madeira and the State of Virginia, "Notes by an Artist Naturalist," "Art Student Life in the Forties," "American School-girl Life," and a series of hygienic articles by "Medium," &e. This brings us to many contributions on household work, dress, lace, laundry work, and hints on the construction of various knicknacks. "In the House- place" is a series of chapters on cookery ; "A Lady in the Laundry" explains itself. Then there are several articles on "Embroidery on Glass Cloth," "Dairy Work," " Flannel Tapestry," " Roumanian Work," &c. Besides these, there remain many smaller and single articles on all the preceding subjects. We are pleased to see the series of papers, "Girls who Work in the Fields." Music and poetry abound, and we recognise many well- known names on the scores and at the foot of many poems. Indeed, the music is quite a valuable portion of the volume. We must not forget to mention some capital chapters on Beethoven and his Symphonies. The young ladies of the day seem to have a passion for puzzles and acrostics, and we have much pleasure in recommending The Girl's Own Paper, which has a bountiful supply of the most baffling problems. The presence of a chapter or two on Logic gives an air of completeness to the volume, which is evidently becoming more and more comprehensive. The illus- trations are of course numerous and excellent.
Previous page
