18 JANUARY 1890, Page 23

The Sunday Friend. Edited by the Rev. G. H. Curteis.

(Mowbray and Co.)—This little magazine, a distinctively Church periodical,

may be safely reoommended to readers who prefer this special character. The illustrations are unequal in merit, but some are distinctly good.

Messrs. Field and Tuer give us, in The Christmas-Box, or New Year's Gift, another of their interesting reproductions of forgotten literature. It was published by the Religious Tract Society in 1825, and consisted of Christmas carols and hymns, and similar matter. Dr. S. G. Green gives, in an excellent introduc- tion, much interesting information about the early productions of the Tract Society and the growth of Christmas literature.