Volume 2 — Book Review Digest Devoted to the Valuation of Current Literature Digests of Reviews appearing in January-December, 1906 magazines (continued 2)
Reading edition
“It is a book of striking interest, and the rendering is tolerably well done, though it retains French idiom too much, and gives us occasionally but jerky English.”
+ –
Ath. 1906, 1: 262. Mr. 3. 70w.
“The proof of the merit of Mme. Barine’s work lies in the fact that one is eager to read it in spite of the very bad translation. To a subject replete with picturesque interest Mme. Barine has done full justice.”
+ –
Critic. 48: 471. My. ’06. 220w.
16“The narrative has all the vivacity of fiction, though at the same time its historical care and accuracy are evident at every turn. The translation, which is anonymous, is easy and unaffected.”
+ +
Dial. 40: 96. F. 1, ’06. 250w.
+
Ind. 61: 41. Jl. 5, ’06. 250w.
+ –
Nation. 82: 10. Ja. 4, ’06. 100w.
“Is, to say the very least, vastly entertaining.”
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 66. F. 3, ’06. 1280w.
+ +
Outlook. 82: 324. F. 10, ’06. 270w.
+
R. of Rs. 33: 116. Ja. ’06. 70w.
“There is a lack of delicacy in some of the passages, which the translator would have shown better taste either by omitting or toning down, but the sketch given of the court and its manners is admirably drawn, and the pathos of the often ridiculous adventures of the heroine is well brought out.”
+ –
Sat. R. 101: 757. Je. 16, ’06. 880w.
“The story may be read at length in these pages, admirably told by the author, so far as a deplorable translation permits us to appreciate it.”
+ –
Spec. 96: 265. F. 17, ’06. 470w.
Barnard, William Francis. Moods of life: poems of varied feeling. $1. The Rooks press.
A hundred and some poems which portray the grave as well as the gay moods of life.
Reviewed by William M. Payne.
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Dial. 41: 208. O. 1, ’06. 310w.
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 434. Jl. ’06. 50w.
Barnes, James. Outside the law. †$1.50. Appleton.
“A detective story with the detective left out.” (Outlook.) Lorrimer, a man of great wealth, imparts to an old servant the secret process by which he can reproduce the works of old engravers with great fidelity. The servant’s treachery in joining a band of counterfeiters starts a series of situations which implicate the innocent Lorrimer, and weave a relentless mesh about him.
+
N. Y. Times. 10: 897. D. 16, ’05. 330w.
+
Outlook. 82: 46. Ja. 6, ’06. 90w.
Barr, Mrs. Amelia Edith Huddleston. Cecilia’s lovers. †$1.50. Dodd.
A companion book to Mrs. Barr’s “Trinity bells.” New York life of to-day is portrayed, but Cecilia’s “Quakeress benefactor and Quaker home are the most pleasing and realistic features of the book. Her worldly friends and lovers are by no means satisfying to the reader.” (Outlook.)
“As regards the literary quality of the book there is not much to be said, but it is bright and pleasant, and likely enough to find readers.”
+ –
Ath. 1906, 1: 662. Je. 2. 170w.
+
Outlook. 81: 380. O. 14, ’05. 60w.
Barr, Robert. Speculations of John Steele. †$1.50. Stokes.
“There is not a dull page in the story. It moves on to a happy ending and the situations are so well handled that the reader’s attention is held from the beginning to the end, while as he reads he begins to understand why the mere pursuit of unearned wealth in this country is so absorbing.” Mary K. Ford.
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Bookm. 22: 366. D. ’05. 1020w.
“We cannot believe that Mr. Steele really did that which he is alleged to have done.”
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Pub. Opin. 40: 153. F. 3, ’06. 140w.
Barr, Robert (Luke Sharp, pseud.). Triumphs of Eugene Valmont. †$1.50. Appleton.
“Eugene Valmont is an addition to the large number of private detectives who have betrayed the confidence of their clients by recording their achievements.” (Ath.) His exploits carried thru a group of stories frequently reveal a deviation from English legal methods, and hence an opportunity for other than machine made results. “The story of how the famous diamond necklace brought ill fate to every one connected with it from Marie Antoinette down is capitally told and helps to explain why Valmont lost his place as chief of detectives in Paris.” (N. Y. Times.)
“The creation of Eugene Valmont may, indeed, be counted one of Mr. Barr’s best achievements.”
+
Ath. 1906, 1: 475. Ap. 21. 200w.
“The stories are readable but not absorbing.”
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Critic. 48: 571. Je. ’06. 90w.
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N. Y. Times. 11: 219. Ap. 7, ’06. 280w.
“Some ingenious and amusing detective stories.”
+
Outlook. 82: 859. Ap. 14, ’06. 60w.
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Spec. 97: 23. Jl. 7, ’06. 150w.
Barrett, Alfred Wilson. Father Pink. †$1.50. Small.
A wily tho good-natured priest enters a fight to secure for his niece, Lucretia, money and diamonds which, by right of an unsubstantiated claim, go to the heroine of the tale, a young French girl. Interested in righting the much-tangled up affairs of fortune is a young bachelor who, tho outwitted on several occasions and who sees Father Pink disappear thru a tiger’s cage with the coveted diamonds, none the less wins the heroine and restores to her her wealth.
Barrington, Mrs. Russell. Reminiscences of G. F. Watts. *$5. Macmillan.
“The author of this affectionately fashioned memorial reveals no critical qualifications for her task.” Royal Cortissoz.
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Atlan. 97: 277. F. ’06. 540w.
Barrows, Charles Henry. Personality of Jesus. **$1.25. Houghton.
Mr. Barrows is a successful lawyer who was formerly president of the International Young men’s Christian association training school. The author discusses the personal appearance, growth and education, intellectual power, emotional life, will, and unwritten principles of Jesus.
“This indifference to the large lessons to be learned from recent historical study of the Gospels is the more to be regretted, since the author proves himself so well qualified, in his general knowledge and by his warm religious feeling, to discuss the high theme upon which he has expended so much patient labor.”
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Ind. 61: 1056. N. 1, ’06. 310w.
Lit. D. 32: 690. My. 5, ’06. 850w.
“The author has done as well as anyone could be expected to do without the aid of criticism.”
+ –
Nation. 83: 87. Jl. 26, ’06. 740w.
“Its practical common sense, its freedom from theological predilections, its sincere spirit, and its unpretentious style combine to make it a useful aid.”
+ +
Outlook. 83: 335. Je. 9, ’06. 170w.
+
Putnam’s. 1: 128. O. ’06. 110w.
R. of Rs. 33: 765. Je. ’06. 50w.
Barry, J. P. At the gates of the east: a book of travel among historic wonderlands. $2. Longmans.
“The information contained in the volume was not obtained from other books of travel, but derived at first hand. The places were visited 17in separate circular tours ... both in the spring and the autumn. The volume opens with descriptions of the capitals of Eastern Europe ... Cairo is the next city dealt with, after which come the cities of Southern Greece ... the eastern Adriatic towns ... and in the Western Balkans, Cettinje and the Provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A chapter on ‘Ways and means,’ in which the author tells the prospective tourist how to plan the trip outlined in his book, where to start and at what time of the year, what places to see, a word concerning costs and money, guide books, etc., closes the volume.”—N. Y. Times.
“When the author becomes eloquent or sentimental, as he often does, he is apt to show imperfect knowledge, and make statements which jar on the educated reader. Yet ... the book is pleasant and often instructive.”
+ –
Ath. 1906, 1: 418. Ap. 7. 410w.
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 467. Jl. 21, ’06. 590w.
Barry, John D. Our best society. †$1.50. Putnam.
“It lacks Mrs. Wharton’s subtlety and finish, and is far from evincing great sophistication but it is none the less an accurate portrayal of certain phases of New York life.”
+
Bookm. 23: 341. My. ’06. 340w.
“A sprightly and acute narrative. Considered as a novel, the book lacks conventional structure and plot, but so does the life it discriminatingly portrays.”
+ –
Critic. 48: 92. Ja. ’06. 120w.
“Is written with some skill.”
+
Sat. R. 101: 23. Ja. 6, ’06. 220w.
Barry, Richard. Sandy of the Sierras. $1.50. Moffat.
Sandy, true to his name, is a red-headed Scotch lad who goes from the Sierras down to San Francisco to make his fortune. He rises from the lower rounds of the ladder to the heights of political fame. He “becomes boss of the Pacific coast, and is not above the tricks of his trade. You leave him happy in having at one stroke won his love and made his father-in-law Senator.” (N. Y. Times.)
“The author has a better command of journalistic slang than of literary English.” Wm. M. Payne.
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Dial. 41: 116. S. 1, ’06. 120w.
Ind. 61: 699. S. 20, ’06. 180w.
“Those who are familiar with the word-painting and lurid touches of Mr. Barry’s ‘Port Arthur: a monster heroism,’ will not miss them in his new story.”
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Lit. D. 33: 283. S. 1, ’06. 330w.
“Mr. Barry, no doubt, could write a better novel now.”
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N. Y. Times. 11: 451. Jl. 14, ’06. 440w.
“Much as I like Sandy I should like him better if his creator liked him less.”
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Putnam’s. 1: 111. O. ’06. 440w.
Barry, William (Francis). Tradition of Scripture: its origin, authority, and interpretation. *$1.20. Longmans.
“This is a volume of the ‘Westminister library,’ a series intended for the use of ‘Catholic priests and students,’ presumably ecclesiastical students.... The author’s preoccupation is theological, not scientific; and in his treatment of critical questions, he inquires, not what are the conclusions established by the evidence, but what proportion of these conclusions can be reconciled with the pronouncements of Roman authority.” (Acad.)
“The book is no doubt well adapted to those for whom it is intended, many of whom will learn from it much that they do not know, particularly about the Old Testament; and it will serve well enough as material for sermons. But priests and students will be well advised not to rely on Dr. Barry’s treatment of the critical problems of the New Testament, should they ever be called upon to discuss those problems with persons having a real knowledge of them.”
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Acad. 70: 294. Mr. 24, ’06. 250w.
“It is an encouragement to find a Catholic writer thus generously and intelligently treating the critical study of the Bible, and thus ready to welcome the results of honest and truth-loving scholarship.”
+ +
Cath. World. 83: 265. My. ’06. 390w.
Spec. 96: 227. F. 10, ’06. 3250w.
Bashford, Herbert. Tenting of the Tillicums; il. by Charles Copeland. [+]75c. Crowell.
“Tillicums,” the Indian word for “friends” is adopted by four boys who ran the round of camping adventure on Puget Sound. Their fearlessness is put to the test by wild animal as well as desperado, and is the real keynote to the spirited tale.
Bashore, Harvey Brown. Sanitation of a country house. $1. Wiley.
“This little book would form a useful, popular and non-technical guide on sanitary matters to anyone about to build a country house.”
+
Nature. 73: 437. Mr. 8, ’06. 50w.
“A clean-cut, authoritative little exposition.”
+ +
R. of Rs. 33: 128. Ja. ’06. 120w.
Bassett, Mrs. Mary E. Stone. Little green door. †$1.50. Lothrop.
“The story is pretty in its pale, anemic way, but there are so many lustier blossoms to be gathered.”
+ –
Reader. 6: 727. N. ’05, 200w.
Bastian, Henry Charlton. Nature and origin of living matter. *$3.50. Lippincott.
“For the past thirty-five years Dr. Bastian has consistently upheld the doctrine that life not only in the past originated, but does at the present time originate, from dead matter—the doctrine once generally known as that of spontaneous generation.... The present book ... dwells particularly on the importance to medical science of proof that disease germs may arise de novo.... Our boards of health are proceeding on the assumption that one typhoid germ, for instance, is always the offspring of another similar germ, and that if we can exclude these germs we can exclude the disease.... If it be true that a typhoid germ may under certain conditions arise where no such germ existed before, our precautions, tho necessary, will often be unavailing. And that they are sometimes failures for this very reason is Dr. Bastian’s belief.”—Lit. D.
“That the author is convinced of the truth of what he sets forth in his book none can doubt, but that it will succeed in making converts among men of science is not to be expected.” W. P. Pycraft.
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Acad. 69: 1350. D. 30, ’05. 1420w.
“Whatever one may think of the group of opinions which Dr. Bastian has maintained for a generation, consistently and almost alone, he is at least a learned man and a skillful writer, so that his discussion of the general problem is most illuminating.” E. T. Brewster.
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Atlan. 98: 420. S. ’06. 370w.
“The observations and experiments are absolutely inconclusive.”
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Dial. 40: 392. Je. 16, ’06. 440w.
“No one will suggest that of the two hundred and forty-five micrographs reproduced in this book, a single one has been falsified; yet it will be almost universally held that the interpretation put upon them by their author and the inference drawn from them are incorrect.”
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Lit. D. 32: 624. Ap. 21, ’06. 750w.
18“Dr. H. Charlton Bastian re-expounds his well known biological heresies with a vigour and industry worthy of a better cause.” J. A. T.
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Nature. 73: 361. F. 15, ’06. 1130w.
“Dr. Bastian’s work is an interesting one, both scientifically and, so to speak, psychologically. One cannot but feel in reading the work that the author is a man with an extraordinary amount of learning and industry, and it is not unlikely that the learning and industry will be useful at least, in drawing more attention to the subject of heterogenesis.” Charles Loomis Dana.
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N. Y. Times. 11: 424. Jl. 7, ’06. 1740w.
“If this author is not quite a Huxley, he is more readable than Haeckel: we wonder that it never struck him that proper ‘contents,’ page headings, and side summaries are indispensable accompaniments of a serious scientific book.”
+ –
Spec. 97: 405. S. 22, ’06. 610w.
Batten, Rev. Loring W. Hebrew prophet. $1.50 Macmillan.
“His treatment is interesting, fresh, and skillfully related to modern life.” John E. McFadyen.
+ +
Am. J. Theol. 10: 316. Ap. ’06. 410w.
“The closing chapters, on the prophet’s relation to the church and on the prophet’s vision, are somewhat one-sided and disappointing. As a whole, gives an excellent portraiture of one of the most remarkable figures in the history of religion.” Kemper Fullerton.
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Bib. World. 28: 155. Ag. ’06. 440w.
“It speaks well for the American pulpit that a work of such ability comes from the rector of an important city parish.”
+ +
Ind. 60: 1044. My. 3, ’06. 370w.
Battine, Cecil. Crisis of the confederacy: a history of Gettysburg and the Wilderness. $5. Longmans.
“Captain Battine is a clever, a vivid and an engaging writer. But his judgments, both of men and of events, are often airy and unbased.”
+ –
Ind. 61: 638. S. 13, ’06. 270w.
“A confessed Confederate bias does not interfere with impartial treatment, and the work is quite worth study by those who are interested in our history as well as by professional soldiers.”
+ + –
Nation. 83: 284. O. 4, ’06. 140w.
Baughan, Edward Algernon. Music and musicians. *$1.50. Lane.
The twenty seven articles included in “Music and musicians” are reprints of the author’s contributions to English periodicals. He treats such subjects as “The obvious in music,” “Richard Strauss and his symphonic poems,” “Richard Strauss and programme music,” and “Wagner’s ‘Ring.’”
“He has a way of his own in looking at men and things, and it is therefore not surprising if one cannot in all points agree with him. There are many excellent comments and criticisms in the volume.”
+ –
Ath. 1906, 2: 167. Ag. 11. 540w.
“He has ideas of his own, and his lucid style enables him to convey them to the general reader even when they relate, as they must now and then, to matters technical.”
+ –
Nation. 83: 268. S. 27, ’06. 820w.
“In all these matters, Mr. Baughan writes interestingly and gives frequent fillips to thought and discussion, even if he has not all the conviction of an aggressive advocate.” Richard Aldrich.
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N. Y. Times. 11: 762. N. 17, ’06. 1260w.
+ –
Spec. 96: 1039. Je. 30, ’06. 1720w.
Baxter, James Phinney. Memoir of Jacques Cartier, Sieur de Limoilou: his voyages to the St. Lawrence, a bibliography and a facsimile of the manuscript of 1534; with annotations, etc. **$10. Dodd.
“This volume contains a new translation from the original French of Cartier’s ‘Voyages’ in 1535–1536 and 1541, and the first translation of the manuscript discovered in 1867 in the Bibliotheque Nationale, of the voyage of 1534. A bibliography and a collection of all the pertinent documents thus far discovered in the French and Spanish archives and included, as well as an exhaustive memoir of Cartier.”—Am. Hist. R.
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Am. Hist. R. 11: 745. Ap. ’06. 90w.
“Dr. Baxter has given us what may almost be regarded as the last word on the great navigator of St. Malo. His work is authoritative.” Lawrence J. Burpee.
+ + +
Dial. 40: 260. Ap. 16, ’06. 1600w.
“This volume, which seems to have been a true labor of love, is a worthy tribute to his memory.”
+
Nation. 83: 150. Ag. 16, ’06. 480w.
“His book is distinctly valuable and an important addition to any library aiming to keep up with the development of the knowledge of American history.”
+ +
N. Y. Times. 11: 239. Ap. 14, ’06. 350w.
Bayliss, Sir Wyke. Seven angels of the renascence. **$3.50. Pott.
+ +
Ath. 1906, 1: 487. Ap. 21. 1560w.
+ +
Contemporary R. 88: 903. D. ’05. 1230w.
“Unfortunately, however, it can scarcely be said that he has really contributed anything new to the vast mass of literature on the same subject already in circulation.”
+ –
Int. Studio. 27: 278. Ja. ’06. 170w.
Bazan, Emilia Pardo. Mystery of the lost dauphin, tr. with an introd. essay by Annabel Hord Seeger. †$1.50. Funk.
With a dramatic power which is moving in its forcefulness this Spanish author has written the story of the lost dauphin, the little son of Louis XVI, who was long supposed to have died in prison. It is a book of such realism that the reader feels thruout that it is the dread hand of fate and not the author who relentlessly orders the unhappy life of Naundorff, and forces him finally to give up voluntarily the recognition he has struggled a lifetime to gain. The story of his lovely daughter Amélie, whose happiness is sacrificed, gives to the book a deeper human interest.
+
Critic. 49: 284. S. ’06. 110w.
“This particular version of the imagined history of the Dauphin has a romantic atmosphere of hopeless unreality, and arouses only a languid sort of interest.” Wm. M. Payne.
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Dial. 41: 113. S. 1, ’06. 210w.
“Her literary style is remarkable for clarity and simplicity.”
+
Ind. 61: 398. Ag. 16, ’06. 260w.
“It belongs to the highest type of the historical novel, drawing its inspiration from authentic sources and rich in those elements which invest the dry bones of history with flesh and blood.”
+ +
Lit. D. 33: 157. Ag. 4, ’06. 550w.
“The novel is so well constructed, there is so much rich color in the landscapes, and so much clever character drawing that, at first sight, it seems strange that it does not interest one particularly. But the reason is not far to seek. It is a novel of propaganda.”
+ –
Nation. 83: 141. Ag. 16, ’06. 360w.
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 384. Je. 16, ’06. 130w.
19“Generally speaking, the English will do well enough. For the story, in spite of Senora Bazan’s reputation, it does not in the present version afford those thrills which one demands in fiction of the lost Dauphin school.”
+ –
N. Y. Times. 11: 454. Jl. 14, ’06. 410w.
+
R. of Rs. 34: 382. S. ’06. 90w.
Beach, Rex Ellingwood. Spoilers. †$1.50. Harper.
A story which breathes the “wild west” atmosphere of Nome and the outlying mining camps, one whose brutality (of the daring Jack London order) proves the truth of Kipling’s “there’s never a law of God or man runs north of Fifty-three.” The plot involves a conspiracy against the joint owners of the Midas, the richest mine of Anvil Creek. A charming girl is the unconscious agent of the villains, and is also the cause of bitter rivalry between one of the owners and one of the conspirators. There are brawls, shootings in the streets, riots, battles at the mines, and murderous hand-to-hand fights—all of which show elemental savage man free from moral restraint.
“The only trouble with his method is that it results in an absolutely false picture of life.” Edward Clark Marsh.
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Bookm. 23: 433. Je. ’06. 1100w.
“He mistakes vulgarity for strength and brute force for manliness; and he discusses without reserve matters which emphatically demand discreet treatment.”
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Critic. 48: 571. Je. ’06. 100w.
“Grips us by sheer brute strength, and almost makes us forget how devoid it is of anything like grace or delicacy of workmanship.” Wm. M. Payne.
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Dial. 40: 364. Je. 1, ’06. 220w.
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Ind. 60: 1547. Je. 28, ’06. 280w.
“In turning his material into the form of the novel, however, the writer has won no success other than that of maintaining a high sensational tension.”
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Nation. 82: 407. My. 17, ’06. 250w.
“He is chiefly intent on his story. That’s a thing full of dramatic incidents and dramatic figures. If the hero and heroine are less effective than the others, that is one of the proved penalties of the dignity.”
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N. Y. Times. 11: 242. Ap. 14, ’06. 600w.
“The young novelist knows the men he writes of, and he knows, also, the place in which he has located them.”
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N. Y. Times. 11: 244. Ap. 14, ’06. 600w.
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N. Y. Times. 11: 382. Je. 16, ’06. 270w.
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Outlook. 83: 501. Je. 30, ’06. 190w.
“It is distinctly a man’s book, just as the north was a man’s country.”
+
Pub. Opin. 40: 604. My. 12, ’06. 210w.
Beach, Seth Curtis. Daughters of the Puritans. *$1.10. Am. Unitar.
“No one can read these lives without being renewed in spirit, and for young women we know of no works so instinct with spiritual virility or so potential for good as the ‘Daughters of the Puritans.’”
+
Arena. 35: 221. F. ’06. 390w.
“A collection of brief biographical sketches, characterized by a real interest of subject-matter and a pleasantly unconventional manner of treatment.”
+
Dial. 40: 160. Mr. 1, ’06. 250w.
“The author has used pretty faithfully all printed matter relating to his subject; but there is absolutely no evidence of that added exploration of manuscript material which is now demanded by the thoughtful reader.”
+ –
Nation. 81: 530. D. 28, ’05. 940w.
“The author’s style and treatment are sufficiently fresh and original to justify publication.”
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Pub. Opin. 40: 153. F. 3, ’06. 90w.
Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli. Lord George Bentinck: a political biography; new ed; with introd. by Charles Whibley. **$2. Dutton.
“It seemed timely, amid the great free-trade electoral campaign just closed across the water to bring out on behalf of the losing side a new edition of Disraeli’s political biography.... It opens on the eve of the repeal of the Corn laws, of which it gives the Tory view. Bentinck forestalled Chamberlain in thinking that England’s commercial policy should be not free trade but reciprocity.” (Nation.) Mr. Whibley in his introduction “leads thru unsparing denunciation of Cobden and Peel up to a parallel between the leader of the Protectionists in 1846 and the leader of the Protectionists to-day. Thus it trenches so closely upon present politics that we, being non-political must leave Mr. Whibley’s opinions to speak for themselves.” (Ath.)
“An eloquent, not to say vehement, introduction. Frankly partisan in tone.”
+ –
Ath. 1905, 2: 610. N. 4. 150w.
“Mr Whibley has certainly managed to compress into a few pages an exhibition of a lack of political judgment and foresight, along with a degree of supercilious cocksureness which will not conduce to recommend his work to the reading public.”
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Ind. 60: 804. Ap. 5, ’06. 450w.
“Mr. Whibley has written as if he had lost at once his temper and his sense of historical perspective.”
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Lond. Times. 4: 348. O. 20, ’05. 1100w.
Nation. 82: 200. Mr. 8, ’06. 190w.
“From the historical standpoint, too, there is ample room for criticism. The sweeping statements common to campaign documents abound.”
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Outlook. 82: 276. F. 3, ’06. 210w.
“Disraeli sums up the character and career of Peel with an impartiality and a penetration that make this biography an English classic. It is the only instance we know of contemporary history being written with a due sense of perspective. But Mr. Whibley is more than sympathetic: he is discerning.”
+ +
Sat. R. 100: 617. N. 11, ’05. 1330w.
Bearne, Catherine M. A queen of Napoleon’s court. **$2.50. Dutton.
A sketch of Désirée Bernadotte whose interest centers in “the picture it gives of her times rather than of her life, for she seems to have been an exceptionally dull product of a brilliant age.” (Acad.)
“Miss Bearne has put together a book which will appeal to the reader who is not particular in the matter of strict accuracy.”
+ –
Acad. 69: 1342. D. 23, ’05. 200w.
“No more interesting book of gossip about famous and infamous people has appeared in recent years.”
+
Ind. 60: 1044. My. 3, ’06. 460w.
“A book that has caught something of the glamour of that extraordinary age. Mrs. Bearne is not always correct, she repeats herself, she will drag in a fine tale, gallantly regardless of any right it has to be there; but she is pleasant gossip, full of mirth and entertainment.”
+ + –
Lond. Times. 5: 62. F. 23, ’06. 1390w.
“It will please a class of readers unacquainted with Bourrienne and Madame Lenormand, indifferent as to criticism and judgment, unskilled in matters of grammar and rhetoric, intent merely on promiscuous anecdote and cheap sentiment.”
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Nation. 81: 524. D. 28, ’05. 110w.
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Outlook. 81: 1081. D. 30, ’05. 160w.
“Out of these persons and adventures the author has made a readable volume.”
+
Sat. R. 100: 630. N. 11, ’05. 130w.
20“Mrs. Bearne’s amusing book gives a capital picture of Napoleon’s France.”
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Spec. 96: sup. 121. Ja. 27. ’06. 380w.
Bearne, Rev. David. Charlie Chittywick. 85c. Benziger.
The tale of a resolute little lad who battled against a whole family of idle, shiftless, worthless members, and step by step becomes a self-respecting bread-winner.
Beaumont, Francis, and Fletcher, John. Works. Cambridge English classics; text ed. by Arnold Glover. 10v. ea. *$1.50. Macmillan.
An edition of Beaumont and Fletcher in the series of “Cambridge English classics.” It gives the text of the second folio, which contained the thirty-four plays of the first folio with the addition of the wild-goose chase and all other known plays of the authors published previously to 1679. All the variant readings appear in the appendix, but there is no critical apparatus provided.
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Acad. 69: 1169. N. 11, ’05. 1380w. (Review of v. 1.)
+ +
Acad. 70: 376. Ap. 21, ’06. 460w. (Review of v. 2.)
Ath. 1906. 2: 250. S. 1, ’06. 950w. (Review of v. 2 and 3.)
“Does not seem to us to possess any advantage over the Variorum edition ... except that of greater cheapness.”
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Nation. 82: 344. Ap. 26, ’06. 350w. (Review of v. 1.)
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N. Y. Times. 10: 809. N. 25, ’05. 340w. (Review of v. 1.)
“Within its restricted limits it seems to be well done. But it is not the twentieth century edition of Beaumont and Fletcher which is wanted by all students of the history of the English drama.” Brander Matthews.
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N. Y. Times. 11: 222. Ap. 7, ’06. 170w. (Review of v. 1.)
“The text ... is that of the second folio ... which causes us both wonder and regret.”
+ –
Sat. R. 101: 662. My. 26, ’06. 410w. (Review of v. 1.)
“The work has been executed with scrupulous care, but the result is far from satisfactory.”
– +
Spec. 96: 260. F. 17, ’06. 190w. (Review of v. 1.)
Beaumont, Francis, and Fletcher, John. Works. Variorum ed.; ed. by A. H. Bullen. 12v. ea. *$3.50. Macmillan.
Mr Bullen’s variorum edition of Beaumont and Fletcher was some years ago announced to “include all that was of importance in the work of previous editors, together with such further critical matter as the investigations of the past half-century supplied, and also a fuller record of the variant readings of early texts.... It follows in the main the lines laid down by Dyce, and offers an excellent reading text, while much learning is accumulated in the notes; textually, however, it is hardly what the modern philological scholar will regard as altogether satisfactory.” (Spec.)
“Where all the old editions are unanimous in one reading, but that reading is to modern editors inexplicable, the Variorum edition does not hesitate to change it.”
–
Acad. 70: 376. Ap. 21, ’06. 460w. (Review of v. 2.)
Ath. 1906. 2: 250. S. 1, ’06. 950w. (Review of v. 2.)
“The most striking of its deficiences is that it appears in what the general editor terms ‘modern spelling.’” Brander Matthews.
–
N. Y. Times. 11: 222. Ap. 7, ’06. 430w. (Review of v. 1 and 2.)
“There is no astonishing amount of erudition displayed in the very concise introductions.”
+ +
Sat. R. 101: 662. My. 26, ’06. 150w. (Review of v. 2.)
+ –
Spec. 96: 260. F. 17, ’06. 910w. (Review of v. 1 and 2.)
Beavan, Arthur H. Fishes I have known. $1.25. Wessels.
The author’s many and varied experiences in landing strange fishes in out-of-the-way abodes are given instructively enough for cyclopedia information and entertainingly enough to captivate the most indifferent angler. “Dolphins, turtles, pilot-fish—very seldom caught it seems—the Australian barracouta, the Murray cod, the catfish and other antipodean fishes, have been among his prey.... After experiences in faraway waters he comes back to England, and always an entertaining guide, conducts us to more familiar scenes.” (Spec.)
+
Dial. 40: 302. My. 1, ’06. 140w.
“A pleasant non-technical little volume upon fishing in general and particular—from the British standpoint.” Mabel Osgood Wright.
+
N. Y. Times 11: 406. Je. 23, ’06. 320w.
“It is a book which any intelligent reader might presumably enjoy if he enjoys animate life, travel and adventure of any kind; but we imagine the average ten year-old boy would read it with keener interest and more profit than the angler.”
+
Outlook. 82: 269. Mr. 29, ’06. 160w.
+
Spec. 85: 764. N. 11, ’05. 180w.
Beck, (Carl) Richard. Nature of ore deposits; tr. and rev. by Walter Harvey Weed; with 272 figures and a map. 2v. $8. Engineering and mining journal.
The work “has that temper which has marked the Freiberg work for a century, and which took shape in the like work of his predecessor, Von Cotta, and the many successive scholars of that school.... The aim of the treatise is to give a compendium of what is known as to the origin and distribution of all those deposits which afford important metallic elements, with a measure of attention to each in some proportion to its economical importance, and by the means of a systematic classification of the occurrences.”—Engin. N.
“Coming to the matter of this work, it may summarily be said that within its limits it is almost beyond praise. What is essential of all the important metalliferous ore deposits of the world is briefly, yet clearly, set forth, and this with a surprising evenness of presentation. The present writer knows of no other treatise dealing with as varied and wide-ranging features which approaches it in its accuracy and sufficiency. The work of the translator in his emendations as well as his renderings from the German is generally excellent.” N. S. Shaler.
+ + +
Engin. N. 55: 191. F. 15, ’06. 2120w.
“The subject of ore deposits is treated in an exhaustive way.” E. W. S.
+ +
J. Geol. 14: 659. O. ’06. 160w.
Becke, (George) Louis. Adventures of a supercargo. †$1.50. Lippincott.
“Given a setting which includes a man or two, a ship and a stretch of the Pacific, Mr. Louis Becke may be relied upon to reel off yarns of adventure to any extent.... The young hero is caught by a ‘southerly buster’ while sailing in Sydney harbour, and driven out between the towering ironbound Heads which guard the entrance to that famous haven, we settle down with confidence to the perusal of a string of adventures in which no break is likely to occur.... A [story] that should find much favour among boy readers.”—Ath.
21“The opening part of the present book inclines to dullness. The critic may quarrel with such books for their lack of any artistic scheme of construction, and upon many other grounds. But it is a fact that the adventures do not halt.”
+ –
Ath. 1906, 1: 510. Ap. 28. 300w.
“To enjoy the book to the full one should not be more than seventeen.”
+
Lond. Times. 5: 133. Ap. 12, ’06. 400w.
“We imagine that ‘The adventures of a supercargo,’ although disappointing from the viewpoint of Mr Becke’s old admirers, will prove an enjoyable book to boys and those fond of taking their travels in such fictional form.”
+ –
N. Y. Times. 11: 304. My. 12, ’06. 610w.
Bedford, Randolph. Snare of strength. †$1.50 Turner, H. B.
A tale of Australia which “shows intimate acquaintance with Australian miners, politicians, company promoters, and prodigal sons.” (Ath.) The atmosphere of vitality, of invincible youth greedy of life and domain is fairly heroic. Three young men “run their race with extraordinary vigor and leave the reader breathless, as was the way of the early Australian novels of the bushranging days. Modern worship of athletics has resuscitated the old type of wild rider and bold lover, but he has the modern touch of self-consciousness and knows himself for the man he is.” (N. Y. Times.)
“But because there are signs of power in Mr. Bedford’s book, we would beg him not to squander his language as Ned the prodigal squandered his life.”
+ –
Acad. 69: 1155. N. 4, ’05. 340w.
“In the matter of style he sometimes errs through striving after force of expression, but there are passages in the book that are admirably written. Taken as a whole ‘The snare of strength’ is a remarkable book.”
+ –
Ath. 1905, 2: 467. O. 7. 230w.
“If you can forget its shortcomings, you will find in it no small measure of rugged human nature, and you will get some new and interesting impressions of Australian life, physical, social and political.” Frederick Taber Cooper.
+ –
Bookm. 24: 117. O. ’06. 330w.
“No more man-book has appeared since Theodore Roberts gave us ‘Hemming the adventurer’ in ’94.”
+
Ind. 60: 1488. Je. 21, ’06. 190w.
N. Y. Times. 11: 153. Mr. 10, ’06. 150w.
“Is in its very being a book ‘worth while.’”
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 274. Ap. 28, ’06. 460w.
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 387. Je. 16, ’06. 130w.
“While the book is defective in proportion and literary art in some respects, the author has a genuine knowledge of human nature, and often writes acutely and with a real grasp on his characters and their motives.”
+ –
Outlook. 82: 811. Ap. 7, ’06. 50w.
+ –
World To-Day. 11: 766. Jl. ’06. 130w.
Beebe, C. William. Bird: its form and function. **$3.50. Holt.
An untechnical study of the bird in the abstract, which, the author believes, with an earnest nature-lover, should follow the handbook of identification. Among the phases of physical life discussed are features, framework, the skull, organs of nutrition, food, the breath of a bird, muscles, senses, beaks, and bills, body, head and neck, wings, feet and legs, tails and eggs of birds. The book is handsomely made and copiously illustrated.
“A valuable contribution to nature study, for it is both scientific and popular.”
+ +
Ind. 61: 1405. D. 13, ’06. 40w.
“It is to the fascinating drama of the evolution of bird life that he devotes most attention, and it is this feature of the book that will probably be found the most interesting.”
+ +
Lit. D. 33: 913. D. 15, ’06. 120w.
+ +
R. of Rs. 34: 761. D. ’06. 180w.
Beebe, C. William. Log of the sun: a chronicle of nature’s year; with 52 full-page il. by Walter King Stone; and numerous vignettes and photographs from life. **$6. Holt.
Fifty-two short essays form the text of a chronicle which deals with interesting forms of the twelve-months’ life including plant, fish, insect and the neighbor in fur and feather. The sketches are direct invitations to enjoy the wild beauties of out-of-door life, and the illustrations fully second the call. The volume represents perfection in book-making combining strength with artistic points of excellence.
“The most sumptuous nature book of the year. Anyone who absorbs this book will become in his own person a fairly accomplished naturalist, besides having a very good time in the process.” May Estelle Cook.
+ +
Dial. 41: 387. D. 1, ’06. 420w.
“A most useful handbook.”
+ +
Ind. 61: 1400. D. 13, ’06. 140w.
+ +
Lit. D. 33: 858. D. 8, ’06. 100w.
“We find only one false note in the present volume, and this was sung by a ‘bob-white’ in January.”
+ + –
Nation. 83: 520. D. 13, ’06. 540w.
“His words should reach a larger audience than holiday buyers and recipients.”
+ +
Outlook. 84: 890. D. 8, ’06. 380w.
Beebe, C. William. Two bird-lovers in Mexico. **$3. Houghton.
“A simple, unforced and delightful narrative.”
+
Acad. 70: 149. F. 10, ’06. 290w.
“They have made one of the most delightful of nature-books.”
+ +
Critic. 48: 123. F. ’06. 120w.
+
Ind. 59: 1347. D. 7, ’05. 120w.
“Mexico is an attractive country, and the account of the profusion of bird life, especially in the marshes of Chapala, is vividly written. But the book is not a work of great literary merit.”
+
Spec. 95: 1128. D. 30, ’05. 180w.
Beecher, Henry Ward. Life of Christ: without—within: two sermons. $1. Harper.
Two of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher’s strongest and most inspiring sermons. Christ’s life from without is sketched as it appeared to pharisee and publican; from within, as the greatest moral force the world has ever known.
Beecher, Willis Judson. Prophets and the promise. **$2. Crowell.
“The real strength and interest of Dr. Beecher’s book lie in the second part, ‘The promise.’” Kemper Fullerton.
+ –
Bib. World. 28: 154. Ag. ’06. 340w.
+
Ind. 61: 101. Jl. 12, ’06. 280w.
Beet, Joseph Agar. Last things. *$1.50. Eaton.
A reprint, carefully revised and partly rewritten work published in 1897. The principal topics discussed are “The second coming of Christ,” and “The doom of the wicked.”
Beethoven, Ludwig van. Beethoven, the man and the artist, as revealed in his own words; compiled and annotated by Friedrich Kerst; tr. into Eng., and ed., with additional notes by H: E: Krehbiel. *$1. Huebsch.
+
Critic. 48: 285. Mr. ’06. 110w.
+
Dial. 39: 449. D. 16, ’05. 30w.
22“Of real value to the student of musical history.”
+
Ind. 61: 999. O. 25, ’06. 90w.
+ +
Nation. 81: 524. D. 28, ’05. 280w.
Reviewed by Richard Aldrich.
+ +
N. Y. Times. 11: 237. Ap. 14, ’06. 190w.
Beldam, George W., and Fry, Charles B. Great batsmen: their methods at a glance. *$6.50. Macmillan.
“We think [its value] considerable from every point of view save the pictorial.”
+ + –
Acad. 71: 178. Ag. 25, ’06. 780w.
Bell, Lilian Lida (Mrs. Arthur Hoyt Bogue). Carolina Lee. †$1.50. Page.
An ardent Southern girl brought up abroad refuses to be comforted when her father dies. “How can you believe in a God who punishes you and sends all manner of evil on you while calling himself a God of love” expresses the burden of her distracted mind. She loses her fortune, she falls from a horse and becomes a cripple. Life looks hard and bitter. To her, in this state comes the healing truth of Christian science with its deep revelations of the power that can bind up the broken hearted, make whole and restore harmony.
Bell, Nancy R. E. Meugens (Mrs Arthur Bell) (D’Anvers, pseud.). Paolo Veronese. $1.25. Warne.
Outlook. 83: 332. Je. 9, ’06. 250w.
Bell, Nancy R. E. Meugens (Mrs. Arthur George Bell) (N. D’Anvers, pseud.). Picturesque Brittany; il. in col. by Arthur G. Bell. *$3.50. Dutton.
The text and illustrations work out a unity of presentation interesting from a descriptive, historical and artistic standpoint. It is the record of a summer holiday in Brittany, and the observations include scenery, people, their homes, customs and manners, with now and then a dip into the religious and political aspects.
“We think [Mr. Bell’s drawings], indeed, better than those of any other colour-book on Brittany that has yet been issued. Mrs. Bell reveals in the arrangement and proportion of her book the skill of a practised writer, if in the loose style we are sometimes allowed to see the author almost ‘en déshabille.’”
+ + –
Ath. 1906, 1: 636. My. 26. 400w.
“To journey through this romantic region with such accomplished guides is indeed a privilege.”
+
Dial. 41: 244. O. 16, ’06. 360w.
+
Ind. 61: 754. S. 27, ’06. 120w.
“The text is agreeably written, and the pictures ... are sober, truthful, and sufficiently able, and are without any of those extravagances of color that have grown, of late, somewhat too familiar.”
+ +
Nation. 83: 241. S. 20, ’06. 80w.
N. Y. Times. 11: 425. Je. 30, ’06. 280w.
N. Y. Times. 11: 530. S. 1, ’06. 420w.
+ R. of Rs. 34: 382. S. ’06. 110w.
Bell, Ralcy Husted. Words of the woods. **$1. Small.
Verse, “ranging from patriotic addresses to our country, through appreciation of nature in many moods, and eulogiums of friends, to impassioned love-songs.” (Outlook.)
“Conventional verse of a rather commonplace kind, devoid of anything like originality and not noticeably felicitous in diction.” Wm. M. Payne.
– +
Dial. 41: 207. O. 1, ’06. 240w.
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 434. Jl. 7, ’06. 290w.
“An impression is left upon the mind that prudent pruning would have made the volume smaller and saved the reader from occasional commonplaces both in thought and phrase.”
+ –
Outlook. 82: 522. Mr. 3, ’06. 70w.
Benn, Alfred William. History of English rationalism in the nineteenth century. 2v. *$7. Longmans.
Mr. Benn’s book “includes intelligent summaries of the various systems of philosophy which have influenced English thought, and gives much detailed consideration to the influence of Coleridge and the neo-Platonists, to utilitarianism, and Benthamism, to the Oxford movement, and to all literary work of distinction which has influenced the spread of rationalism or tended to curb its spread.”—N. Y. Times.
“His book strikes us as neither amusing nor particularly instructive.”
–
Ath. 1906, 2: 268. S. 8. 440w.
“It is a singularly interesting and well written account of the movement of theological (and, to some extent, of philosophical) thought in England during the last century. The fulness and accuracy of Mr. Benn’s information regarding the books and writers whom he passes in review makes his survey instructive and suggestive even to those who dissent from the barren negativity of his conclusions.”
+ + –
Lond. Times. 5: 198. Je. 1, ’06. 2820w.
“The discussion is necessarily far less simple than Sir Leslie Stephen’s account of the eighteenth century, and its dramatic unity correspondingly weaker; but it has a richness and variety that are not without their compensating interest.”
+ –
Nation. 83: 145. Ag. 16, ’06. 2230w.
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 411. Je. 23, ’06. 660w.
Sat. R. 102: 301. S. 8, ’06. 1800w.
Bennett, John. Treasure of Peyre Gaillard. †$1.50. Century.
While Jack Gignillatt, a young civil engineering student is recuperating among his Southern relatives, an old box is found at the end of a secret stairway which contains the legend of treasure buried in an adjoining swamp by an ancestor in the Revolutionary days at the time of a Tory raid. Jack’s nimble mathematical wit, aided by a cousin’s intuition, is put to the test of unravelling a cryptogram’s secret, which when once revealed starts an excited group on its way to the sure unearthing of a fortune.
“A remarkable ingenious and vigorous yarn of mystery.”
+ –
Nation. 83: 485. D. 6, ’06. 420w.
“The manner of the book is unconventional, and its combination of poetic imagination with rugged, somewhat broken style gives it a peculiar charm. The author’s one love scene, although it is told with poetic beauty and elevation of feeling, is a serious fault in construction, because in it he makes the sole departure from the first person in which the rest of the book is written.”
+ –
N. Y. Times. 11: 863. D. 8, ’06. 440w.
“Will certainly hold a high place among tales of modern treasure-trove.”
+
Outlook. 84: 712. N. 24, ’06. 190w.
Benson, Arthur Christopher (T. B. pseud.). From a college window. **$1.25. Putnam.
Eighteen essays whose subjects “are exceedingly diverse and unless they can all be brought under the heading, ‘criticism of life,’ there is no real bond of connexion amongst them.” (Ath.) The author writes upon religion, education, and literary subjects.
“He is always suggestive, and writes in a style that must commend itself to every lover of letters.”
+ +
Acad. 70: 445. My. 12, ’06. 1550w.
23“We find an ease and withal a grace, in these essays that charm out of the reader his sense of the pettiness of their reflections.”
+ –
Ath. 1906, 1: 606. My. 19. 420w.
+ +
Critic. 49: 90. Jl. ’06. 260w.
Reviewed by C. H. A. Wager.
+
Dial. 41: 33. Jl. 16, ’06. 770w.
+ +
Ind. 61: 157. Jl. 19, ’06. 320w.
Ind. 61: 1161. N. 15, ’06. 80w.
“After reading ‘From a college window,’ it is still possible to hold that ‘T. B.’ is a more engaging and even a more ‘convincing’ person than Mr. Arthur Christopher Benson.” H. W. Boynton.
+ + –
N. Y. Times. 11: 393. Je. 16, ’06. 1570w.
“There is nothing musty about these essays. They are characterized by good sense, clear discrimination, and sane judgment, but they were written with scholarly ease, and they are invested with the atmosphere of well-bred leisure.”
+ +
Outlook. 83: 481. Je. 23, ’06. 240w.
“The interesting and attractive personality of the author stands out from the discussions, which are clothed in the best of modern essay style.”
+
R. of Rs. 34: 254. Ag. ’06. 90w.
“The chief fault one finds in these agreeable papers is here and there a touch of sentimentalism.”
+ –
Sat. R. 102: 21. Jl. 7, ’06. 260w.
Spec. 96: 741. My. 12, ’06. 1360w.
Benson, Arthur Christopher (Christopher Carr, pseud.). Peace and other poems. *$1.50. Lane.
Critic. 48: 96. Ja. ’06. 60w.
“Mr. Benson does not seek verbal felicities, and he has few lines that stand out from the rest, but all his writing is at a high level of thought and style. Sincerity and simplicity are too rare endowments at any time for us to pass them by lightly.”
+ +
Spec. 95: 192. Ag. 5, ’06. 130w.
Benson, Arthur Christopher (Christopher Carr and T. B., pseuds.). Upton letters. **$1.25. Putnam.
+ +
Outlook. 84: 716. N. 24, ’06. 550w.
Benson, Arthur Christopher (T. B. pseud.). Walter Pater. **75c. Macmillan.
A life of Walter Pater written for the “English men of letters” series. The biography “is arranged chronologically in seven chapters; each chapter stands as a complete story either of events or of mental development. Pater’s early and long-forgotten writings are recalled, the raison d’etre of his Oxford life is clearly defined, the authorship of ‘Marius the Epicurean’ is analyzed with much care, and, finally, the fifty-odd pages devoted to ‘Personal characteristics’ are an achievement in graphic and intimate personalia which will doubtless be generously cited by reviewers of the book.” (N. Y. Times.)
“The life of Pater could not have fallen into safer, kindlier, or more sympathetic keeping than that of Mr. Arthur Benson.”
+ +
Ath. 1906, 1: 659. Je. 2. 1700w.
“The biographer has entered so thoroughly into the spirit of his work that he writes of Pater with almost Pater’s own felicity.”
+ +
Critic. 49: 206. S. ’06. 860w.
“On the whole, however, the book is to be counted among the best of this excellent series.”
+ + –
Dial. 41: 119. S. 1, ’06. 330w.
“Mr. Benson writes with the most scrupulous self-effacement. Throughout, he walks warily, reverently, seriously, decorously, and his admiration is so constant that in one or two passages, as in the opening pages and the last chapter of the book, he falls somewhat into the manner of the master. Pater has been given into uncommonly sympathetic hands.” Wm. T. Brewster.
+ +
Forum. 38: 102. Jl. ’06. 1000w.
+ –
Ind. 60: 1543. Je. 28, ’06. 490w.
Lit. D. 32: 869. Je. 9, ’06. 1220w.
“It does not perhaps dig very deeply into Pater’s curious mind, and it has certain definite limitations; but it is a living sketch, vivid, tender, engaging, taken from a particular point of view, and touched off with real grace and ease.”
+ +
Lond. Times. 5: 190. My. 25, ’06. 1220w.
“It is quite an ideal biography.”
+ –
Nation. 83: 14. Jl. 5, ’06. 1530w.
“His book is readable. He has marshaled his facts and given them to us in an interesting style.” James Huneker
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 349. Je. 2, ’06. 3420w.
“Is, so far, the best expression of the life and mission of that Oxford dilettante in Roman English art and letters that we have.”
+ +
N. Y. Times. 11: 382. Je. 16, ’06. 140w.
“Mr. Benson, with extraordinary skill, has caught the butterfly, and yet produced the impression upon our minds that it is still free and alive, still floating in the air that gave it being.”
+ +
Outlook. 83: 386. Je. 16, ’06. 460w.
“This little volume is the best summary of Pater’s life and work we have yet seen.”
+ +
R. of Rs. 34: 124. Jl. ’06. 50w.
“With a fine and delicate reserve he refuses to do more than to suggest how and in what spirit we should approach so lovable, so reticent, so shy a man. Just this, so it seems to us, is the chief value of his work.”
+ +
Sat. R. 102: 146. Ag. 4, ’06. 1220w.
Benson, Edward Frederic. Angel of pain. †$1.50. Lippincott.
The hero of this new tale by the author of “Dodo” is a fine young Englishman, inheriting wealth and strength, but “a man with an iron hand who did not always remember to put on the velvet glove.” He proceeds in much too business-like a manner with his courtship, but is accepted by Madge Ellington chiefly through her ambitious mother’s persuasion. On the eve of the marriage, Madge finds that she loves a poor painter, and so begins a series of tragic happenings which lend hurried action to the story. There is a character worthy a Maeterlinck, Tom Merivale, who can give and receive messages from bird and beast.
+ –
Acad. 70: 381. Ap. 21, ’06. 560w.
“We have no patience with the chapters in which the hermit appears.”
– +
Ath. 1906, 1: 445. Ap. 14. 290w.
“The book is full of clever satire, trenchant analysis and a certain underlying vein of symbolism that is full of suggestion, but it lacks heart. There is not quite enough human nature in it, of the better sort, to make the characters convincing.” Frederic Taber Cooper.
+ –
Bookm. 23: 31. Mr. ’06. 370w.
“Mr Benson has gained much in solidity; he can no longer be called merely clever. But he has lost in vitality.”
+ –
Critic. 48: 483. My. ’06. 190w.
“He has simply spoiled a story of genuine human interest by a reckless indulgence in sensational imaginings.” Wm. M. Payne.
– +
Dial. 40: 264. Ap. 16, ’06. 220w.
“Is a good story and is something more.”
+ –
Ind. 60: 458. F. 22, ’06. 350w.
“Leaves us with the impression that, for all its laboured length and solid paragraphs, the book is the result of incomplete imagination and undigested thought.”
+
Lond. Times. 5: 116. Mr. 30, ’06. 480w.
“The book is undeniably a little disappointing at first, because somewhat lacking in the amusing qualities which we have learned to expect from its author but it grows upon one 24as the characters slowly develop and the theme is worked out through the medium of their lives.”
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 117. F. 24, ’06. 600w.
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 387. Je. 16, ’06. 190w.
“A singular mingling of the attractive and the disappointing. It is in its plot and situations distressing, but in its pictures of English society it is extremely interesting, and there are several characters worth knowing and rather carefully worked out.”
+ –
Outlook. 82: 475. F. 24, ’06. 230w.
“It is unusual, and well executed in a way but it is decidedly not a cheerful tale.”
+ –
Pub. Opin. 40: 410. Mr. 31, ’06. 260w.
“Mr Benson would do well to shun the supernatural: it does not suit his style.”
–
Sat. R. 101: 529. Ap. 28, ’06. 160w.
Benson, Edward Frederic. Paul. †$1.50. Lippincott.
Paul Norris and Norah Ravenscroft who had played together since childhood find that they love each other after Norah marries Theodore Beckwith, a mean-spirited shrivelled up specimen of mankind. Paul becomes Beckwith’s private secretary and incidentally is compelled to be a modern type of court fool, tho sacrificing none of his dignity and courage in playing an entertainer’s rôle to amuse a pagan, sensuous nature. Paul’s hatred for the man tempts him to run him down with a motor car, he repents at the last moment but too late to avert the tragedy. The second part of the story shows Paul’s remorse which would drown itself in drink, his conversion, his marriage with Norah, and his final reparation to a “calm, un-angry, inevitable justice” by saving the child of Theodore and Norah from certain death.
“An unpleasant laboured story.”
–
Acad. 71: 398. O. 20, ’06. 150w.
“We are disposed to rank this novel as Mr. Benson’s best work accomplished since the public ear was captured by the specious cleverness of ‘Dodo.’”
+ +
Ath. 1906, 2: 543. N. 3. 280w.
“The writing is hardly less slovenly and involved than usual, and, as usual, the minor characters are delightful.”
+ –
Lond. Times. 5: 353. O. 19, ’06. 290w.
“The villain is too villainous to be true, and the hero too amiable to engage sympathy; the heroine is simply a nice girl in an awkward position.”
–
Nation. 83: 513. D. 13, ’06. 360w.
“It would be a safe prediction that the people who have liked Mr. Benson’s other books will like this new one even better.”
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 779. N. 24, ’06. 170w.
N. Y. Times. 11: 796. D. 1, ’06. 210w.
“There is just a tinge here of that diabolism toward which Mr. Benson seems to have a bent.”
+ –
Outlook. 84: 941. D. 15, ’06. 120w.
“Mr. Benson is a writer who never quite gets the effect at which he seems to be aiming. The book would be twice as interesting if it were half as long.”
+ –
Sat. R. 102: 682. D. 1, ’06. 210w.
Benson, Godfrey R. Tracks in the snow: being the history of a crime; ed. from the Ms. of the Rev. Robert Driver. †$1.50. Longmans.
The rector of an English country parish has recorded the story of the mysterious murder of his friend and neighbor, Eustace Peters and the unravelling of the mystery to which certain tracks of heavy boots found in the snow furnish the chief clue. It is from this manuscript that the present thrilling detective story with its mazes of suspicions, its strange adventures and narrow escapes is supposed to have been edited.
“We do not remember reading such a clever murder story since Grant Allen’s ‘The curate of Churnside.’”
+
Acad. 70: 429. My. 5, ’06. 440w.
“The book, in short, shows considerable crudeness, but also an imaginative faculty by no means contemptible.”
+ –
Ath. 1906, 1: 634. My. 26. 130w.
N. Y. Times. 11: 371. Je. 9, ’06. 240w.
“It is the history of a crime set forth with much artistic literary ability.”
+
N. Y. Times. 11: 384. Je. 16, ’06. 130w.
“A good detective story of a somewhat novel kind. The book is really interesting.”
+
Sat. R. 101: 698. Je. 2, ’06. 220w.
Benson, Rev. Robert Hugh. King’s achievement. $1.50. Herder.
A piece of controversial fiction which portrays Elizabethan times and doings, and which specifically deals with the suppression of the monasteries and the proclamation of the Royal supremacy in religious affairs. “Father Benson frankly takes sides.... The good is all on the side of the monasteries, the bad on the side of Henry and Cromwell and their creatures.” (Acad.)
“An exceptionally good historical novel, as such things go. It is a clever, a thorough, and a powerful work; but, in our opinion, it was a mistake to write it.”
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Acad. 69: 1080. O. 14, ’05. 340w.
“The story, which is long, is mainly used as a vehicle for expressing the author’s decided views upon the religious and political matters of the day, and is rather overweighted by the historical detail which obtrudes itself too persistently in the foreground.”
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Ath. 1905, 2: 794. D. 9. 170w.
“The work does not, on the whole, show as much careful elaboration as its predecessor [‘By what authority?’]. In compensation, however, the story has more unity and proportion, chiefly because there are fewer characters to claim the attention.”
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Cath. World. 82: 848. Mr. ’06. 460w.
“He draws his characters with ease and sympathy, but not with that intensity of insight which creates a type and yet gives it the force of an individual. But they are not complete and striking human beings; and this is the flaw in what is a really beautiful and sensitive piece of work.”
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Lond. Times. 4: 359. O. 27, ’05. 500w.
“We gladly recommend the book not only as a romance but also as history, inasmuch as it gives a far more truthful picture of the great sacrilege of the sixteenth century than most of the (so-called) histories of the period.”
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Sat. R. 101: 369. Mr. 24, ’06. 240w.
Benson, Rev. Robert Hugh. Queen’s tragedy. $1.50. Herder.
The court setting is a prominent feature of Father Benson’s portrayal of Queen Mary, against which background he outlines her as “human and a woman.... First love, a passion for Philip of Spain in the breast of a woman of thirty-seven, is tragedy in suspense from its commencement, and the novelist makes her foolish heart flutter before us till we need the annalist to reduce the temperature of our pity.” (Ath.)
“Whatever else may be thought of Father Benson’s latest historical novel, no one will fail to find it fresh, suggestive and interesting.” J. H. Pollen.
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Acad. 71: 63. Jl. 21, ’06. 1090w.
“The writing at the end of the book is fine and grandiose.”
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Ath. 1906, 2: 37. Jl. 14. 310w.
“Though it is a creditable piece of work is scarcely on a level with either ‘By what authority?’, or ‘The king’s achievement.’”
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Cath. World. 84: 270. N. ’06. 360w.
25“It is first and foremost an engaging book. The author has what is called ‘a way with him’ ... his humour is fresh ... then, too, though the style is firm and good, it is all so easy, so limpid, so light.”
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Lond. Times. 5: 259. Jl. 20, ’06. 790w.
“Two historic scenes are depicted with great power, the marriage of Mary and Philip at Winchester, and the burnings of Ridley and Latimer at Oxford.”
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Sat. R. 102: 433. O. 6, ’06. 220w.
Benton, Joel. Persons and places. $1. Broadway pub.
“Mr. Joel Benton came into casual contact with many people we want to know about—Emerson, Thoreau, Matthew Arnold, Horace Greeley, Barnum and Bryant—and he chats about them in a pleasant way, tho without contributing anything very novel or important to our knowledge of these men.”—Ind.
“Writing largely of things a part of which he was and nearly all of which he saw, Mr. Benton can by no means be accused of producing merely the echo of an echo.”
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Dial. 40: 50. Ja. 16, ’06. 300w.
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Ind. 59: 1113. N. 9, ’05. 90w.
“Most of the papers are not of serious importance.”
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Nation. 82: 200. Mr. 8, ’06. 310w.
Benziger, Marie Agnes. Off to Jerusalem. *$1. Benziger.
A happy account of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem during which the narrator gained “many graces, deep and holy impressions, and an enthusiastic love for the Holy land.”
Berard, (Eugene) Victor. British imperialism and commercial supremacy; tr. by H. W. Foskett; with a pref. to the Eng. ed. by the author. *$2.60. Longmans.
Mr. Foskett says: “At the present time, the antagonistic opinions of free trade on the one hand, and the protection, fair trade, preference to the colonies on the other, are shaking to its very foundations the economic structure on which commercial Great Britain has rested and flourished undisturbed for the past fifty years. Under the circumstances the comprehensive survey made by M. Victor Bérard of the commercial and industrial situation of Great Britain among the leading communities of the day must undoubtedly appeal to the intelligence of all thinking Britons.” The translator’s aim is to emphasize the necessity for a thoro application of modern scientific methods.
“The analysis of the book is keen, its style lively, and it is interesting reading.”
+ +
Ann. Am. Acad. 28: 173. Jl. ’06. 140w.
“On the whole, the translation is meritorious, and pains have been bestowed upon the book.”
+ –
Ath. 1906, 1: 228. F. 24. 880w.
J. Pol. Econ. 14: 522. O. ’06. 160w.
“The figures are now so far out of date that an appendix bringing them down to within the year—if it be impossible to recast the text—is necessary. The translation is excellent.” Edward A. Bradford.
+ + –
N. Y. Times. 11: 237. Ap. 14, ’06. 1410w.
“Suggestive and entertaining.” Alvin S. Johnson.
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Pol. Sci. Q. 21: 718. D. ’06. 420w.
“M. Berard is at best an able journalist juggling with second-hand knowledge and snippets from Blue-books and consular reports. Seriously, M. Berard’s English friends ought to have revised this undoubtedly interesting volume before it was allowed to appear before the English public.”
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Sat. R. 102: 19. Jl. 7, ’06. 1860w.
“M. Bérard is a charming writer, but of English politics, of the English temperament, of Imperialism, of the personnel of English government, his conception is wholly farcical. The English version, in our opinion, might have been better done, for it is full of misprints, and many of the phrases are awkwardly rendered.”
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Spec. 96: 536. Ap. 7, ’06. 1240w.
Bergamo, Rev. Cajetan Mary da. Thoughts and affections on the passion of Jesus Christ for every day of the year taken from the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the fathers of the church; new tr. by the Passionist fathers of the U. S. *$2. Benziger.
“The principal object of this new translation is to rescue from oblivion a valuable work for many years out of print.”
Bernheimer, Charles Seligman, ed. Russian Jew in the United States: studies of social conditions in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, with a description of rural settlements. **$2. Winston.
“All are written out of a wealth of precise information and, though deeply sympathetic, exhibit a perfectly sane and fair minded spirit.” Frederic Austin Ogg.
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Dial. 40: 259. Ap. 16, ’06. 340w.
“The book could still be rescued for the mass of American people who ought to read it, by careful editing, by the elimination of one third of its material, which is useless repetition, and by giving it that typographical dress in which the average reader expects a book of such popular value to appear.” Edward A. Steiner.
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Yale R. 15: 106. My. ’06. 440w.
Bernstein, Hermann. Contrite hearts. †$1.25. Wessels.
“In its pictures of facts and conditions the book is entirely convincing, but as a story is not signally impressive.”
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Critic. 48: 571. Je. ’06. 60w.
“The story has a curious interest, as an interpretation, from the inside, of a theory of life utterly foreign to the average reader’s ideas.”
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Dial. 40: 20. Ja. 1, ’06. 140w.
“Is a simple, affecting tale of Russian-Jewish life.”
+
Nation. 81: 510. D. 21, ’05. 120w.
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N. Y. Times. 11: 32. Ja. 20, ’06. 230w.
Bertin, L. E. Marine boilers: their construction and working, dealing more especially with tubulous boilers; tr. and ed. by Leslie S. Robertson, with a new chapter on “Liquid fuel” by Engineer-Lieutenant H. C. Anstey and a preface by Sir William White. *$5. Van Nostrand.
A second edition of this work by a Frenchman appears with such revision and extension as the strides in marine practice, make necessary. The editor says that “progress has been rather in the direction of concentrating practice, along well acknowledged lines, than by the introduction of any noticeable departure in the design of boilers. Considerable development has taken place in the application of steam turbines to marine propulsion, but it has not called for any change in the types of boilers already in use.” A notable addition to the volume is a chapter on “Liquid Fuel.”
Ath. 1906, 2: 218. Ag. 25. 620w.
“On the whole, the book is to be commended as the most satisfactory treatise on water tube boilers from the historical and constructive standpoint of which the reviewer has knowledge.” Wm. Kent.
+ + +
Engin. N. 56: 51. Jl. 12, ’06. 700w.
26Besant, Walter. Mediaeval London, v. 1. Historical and social. *$7.50. Macmillan.
This division of the posthumous work of Walter Besant on “The survey of London” will be complete in two volumes. “Mediaeval London, historical and social” to be followed by “Mediaeval London, ecclesiastical.” “The first volume discusses the history of the city in relation to our kings, whose dealings with the capital are succinctly recorded. The social condition of the town is also exhibited in its many and varied phases.” (Ath.) “The numerous and excellent illustrations are not the least attractive feature of the book. Many are taken from manuscripts in the British museum and elsewhere.” (Nation.)
“The great charm of these volumes is the individuality of the writer.”
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Ath. 1906, 2: 65. Jl. 21. 1200w. (Review of v. 1.)
“His notes are exceedingly valuable, and no future historical novelist of London will, we imagine, ever pass them by.”
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Lond. Times. 5: 233. Je. 29, ’06. 990w. (Review of v. 1.)
“Parts of the whole volumes are suggestive rather of a collection of materials than of the production of a literary artist.”
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Nation. 83: 101. Ag. 2, ’06. 1270w. (Review of v. 1.)
Sat. R. 102: 424. O. 6, ’06. 1280w. (Review of v. 1.)
“It is impossible here to do justice to the ability with which this picture of the past is drawn. Sir Walter left out nothing that could help us to realize the vigour of the great city, its pride of patriotism, its wealth, its far-reaching commerce. His name will be linked with it in such a fashion as we can hardly find paralleled in the history of the world’s capitals.”
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Spec. 97: 541. O. 13, ’06. 1320w. (Review of v. 1.)
Betts, Ethel Franklin. Favorite nursery rhymes. †$1.50. Stokes.
Some of the oldest and the best nursery rhymes are grouped here and charmingly illustrated in black and white with six full-page colored plates.
R. of Rs. 34: 766. D. ’06. 90w.
Bible for young people: arranged from the King James version; with twenty-four full page il. from old masters. $1.50. Century.
A need of the day is supplied in this volume of Bible stories which is a new and revised edition of a book originally issued at double the price. In making the text interesting to young readers, genealogies, doctrines and the hard-to-understand passages have been omitted. The illustrations are fine reproductions of the work of old masters.
“The present edition is in more popular form than when it first appeared.”
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Ind. 61: 1406. D. 31, ’06. 30w.
“The compiler has shown discrimination and taste in her selection of material. While primarily appealing to young people, this admirable compilation will interest grown readers as well.”
+ +
Lit. D. 33: 645. N. 3, ’06. 190w.
Bible—Proverbs; tr. out of the original Hebrew and with former translations diligently compared and revised. $1. Century.
This little volume uniform with the “Thumb nail series” contains for introduction a chapter on “The proverbs of the Hebrews” from Dr. Lyman Abbott’s “The life and literature of the ancient Hebrews.”
Bible. Book of Ecclesiastes: a new metrical translation, with an introduction and explanatory notes by Paul Haupt. 50c. Hopkins.
“The translation here presented is a good one—accurate, fresh, suggestive, and rhymical. The conclusions embodied in this work ... seem to rest upon too uncertain and subjective grounds.” Ira Maurice Price and John M. P. Smith.
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Am. J. Theol. 10: 323. Ap. ’06. 190w.
Bielschowsky, Albert. Life of Goethe; authorized tr. from the German by W: A. Cooper. 3v. ea. **$3.50. Putnam, v. 1, ready.
A three-volume life of Goethe, with full critical estimates, designed for the student rather than for the general reader. The author devoted a life-time to the work and based it upon material made accessible by the opening of the Goethe archives and by recent philological investigation. The first volume covers the period from 1749–1788,—from Goethe’s birth to his return from Italy.
“Mr. Cooper approves himself a competent German scholar, and a writer of sound English as well. His rendering is now and then a trifle loose.”
+ + –
Ath. 1906, 1: 321. Mr. 17. 1660w. (Review of v. 1.)
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Critic. 48: 364. Ap. ’06. 2180w. (Review of v. 1.)
“Bielschowsky’s book, by reason of its fuller and more accurate information will now take the place in our libraries that Mr. Lewes’s held so long. Professor Cooper’s translation is, in general, a very satisfactory piece of work. The language is usually well-chosen, and renders the thought, and in some degree the style, of the original.” Lewis A. Rhoades.
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Dial. 40: 85. F. 1, ’06. 1840w. (Review of v. 1.)
“Is remarkable for the impartiality with which, as a general thing, it keeps the balance between literature and scholarship.”
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Ind. 61: 1163. N. 15, ’06. 100w. (Review of v. 1 and 2.)
“Bielschowsky has brought to his task the two indispensable requisites: on the one hand, familiarity with the details of Goethe research, a world of scholarship by itself; on the other hand, the ability to think and feel and enjoy independently and to write with clearness and charm.”
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Nation. 82: 430. My. 24, ’06. 2250w.
“Two things seem defective in this volume: Bielschowsky has been no more successful than his predecessors in getting at the details incident to Goethe’s administration of public office at Weimar, and less even than others has he appreciated the dramatic significance of Goethe’s first touch with Schiller when Goethe visited the military school in Würtemberg, which he disposes of in two lines.” J. Perry Worden.
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N. Y. Times. 11: 136. Mr. 3, ’06. 1620w. (Review of v. 1.)
“Is probably the most complete and authoritative life of Goethe.”
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R. of Rs. 33: 118. Ja. ’06. 120w. (Review of v. 1.)
“The story of the years covered by this installment—1749 to 1788—is told clearly enough, but with all his study, all his industry, all his admiration of Goethe’s genius Bielschowsky has not written a great biography.”
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Sat. R. 101: 826. Je. 30, ’06. 210w. (Review of v. 1.)
+ + –
Spec. 96: sup. 640. Ap. 28, ’06. 2040w. (Review of v. 1.)
Biese, Alfred. Development of the feeling for nature in the middle ages and modern times. *$2. Dutton.
“It has been the author’s endeavor to trace 27in this volume the development of human thought in regard to the phenomena of nature from the introduction of Christianity downwards, in the same way that was done in a previous volume for the time of the Greeks and Romans. This has been done mainly by the study of writings, both in prose and poetry, in which natural phenomena, whether connected with scenery, weather, birds, or flowers, are spoken of with admiration.” (Nature.) “Ample quotations, pertinent notes, and a good index give point to Herr Biese’s discussions.” (Outlook.)
“The vague and unsatisfactory impression left by his generalizations is, no doubt, due in some degree to his style, though for this the translator may be to blame. On the whole, however, the translation is workmanlike.” C: H. A. Wager.
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Dial. 41: 235. O. 16, ’06. 1850w.
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Nature. 74: 293. Jl. 26, ’06. 450w.
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Outlook 83: 672. Jl. 21, ’06. 260w.
R. of Rs. 33: 511. Ap. ’06. 50w.
“Useful and comprehensive handbook.”
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Spec. 95: 505. O. 7, ’05. 210w.
Bigelow, Melville Madison, and others. Centralization and the law; scientific legal education, an illustration, with an introd. by Melville M. Bigelow. **$1.50. Little.
Eight lectures delivered before the Boston university law school “on various recent occasions ... as part of the plan of legal extension now on foot there.” “The main lines of thought centre around the ideas (1) of Equality which according to the author, was formerly the dominant legal force in American life; (2) of Inequality, which is characteristic of present conditions; and (3) of Administration, which is the supreme end of legal, and, in fact, of all education intended to fit men for the practical affairs of life. Specifically, the more important subjects discussed are the extension of legal education, the nature of law, monopoly, the scientific aspects of law, and government regulation of railway rates.” (Dial.)
Dial. 40: 333. My. 16, ’06. 130w.
“The economic philosophy underlying these essays is of a somewhat conventional, if not dangerously superficial order.”
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J. Pol. Econ. 14: 329. My. ’06. 1080w.
“The book is one that can be recommended to the general reader as well as to the lawyer and the law student. The historical presentation is excellent, and the citation of modern cases gives to the conclusions an immediate interest which either presentation by itself would not possess.” Worthington C. Ford.
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N. Y. Times. 11: 48. Ja. 27, ’06. 1880w.
“As an exposition of law regarded as a progressive science, ‘Centralization and law’ is a valuable contribution to real progress, and in a department where that contribution is greatly needed.”
+ +
Outlook. 83: 478. Je. 23, ’06. 600w.
Bigelow, Poultney. History of the German struggle for liberty, v. 4. **$2.25. Harper.
“In the details of book-construction the volume is unusually faulty. A large proportion of the text, probably a third, consists of quotations worked in with so little skill that the volume suggests the note-book rather than the finished production. The worst feature of the book, however, is its unfortunate tone.” Frank Maloy Anderson.
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Am. Hist. R. 11: 711. Ap. ’06. 490w. (Review of v. 4.)
“It contains the same slap-dash miscellaneous kind of matter as do its three predecessors, and does not deserve, any more than they, to be ranked as history according to any established canon, nor as literature if grace of style and a clear thread of consecutive narrative are to be regarded as necessary.”
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Critic. 48: 191. F. ’06. 160w. (Review of v. 4.)
“The tone of the work is throughout journalistic, often hysterical; but some later writer will doubtless find in this mass of material abundant matter for a single volume that will clearly and logically present the subject without sacrificing what has evidently been Mr. Bigelow’s paramount aim—the readableness and popular character of the narrative.”
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Dial. 41: 73. Ag. 1, ’06. 200w. (Review of v. 4.)
“Occurrences are treated rather in accordance with their picturesqueness or with the degree of attention which they excited at the time than with their permanent significance.”
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Nation. 82: 301. Ap. 12, ’06. 460w. (Review of v. 4.)
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R. of Rs. 33: 113. Ja. ’06. 120w. (Review of v. 4.)
Bigg, Charles. Church’s task under the Roman empire. *$1.75. Oxford.
“They are delightful reading, fresh and breezy in their manner, with an ease of handling the material that speaks of long familiarity. The footnotes add very much both to the size of the book and to its value.” Franklin Johnson.
+ +
Am. J. Theol. 10: 337. Ap. ’06. 630w.
Bigham, Madge A. Blackie, his friends and his enemies: a book of old fables in new dresses; il. by Clara E. Atwood. †$1.50. Little.
Thirty-five stories made new with the furbishing suggested by the “Story lady’s” imagination are told a little street boy by way of compensation for his pet rat that died.
“An animal book which children will find very charming.”
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N. Y. Times. 11: 895. D. 22, ’06. 60w.
Bindloss, Harold. Alton of Somasco. †$1.50. Stokes.
“It is interesting to compare with Mr. Beach’s novel the somewhat similar ‘Alton of Somasco.’ Here the scene is British Columbia instead of Alaska, and there is no political deviltry to impel the action, but otherwise the situation is the same, being evolved out of the conflict between legitimate settlers and unscrupulous schemers for the possession of valuable ranching and mining properties.”—Dial.
“A novel which is terse, powerful yet graceful, showing intimate knowledge and acute observation, never overweighted with description yet containing many delightful pictures of colonial life and manners.”
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Acad. 69: 881. Ag. 26, ’05. 330w.
“We have no hesitation in pronouncing this his best story, nor in recommending it particularly to the attention of adventurous young England.”
+ + –
Ath. 1905, 2: 235. Ag. 19. 400w.
“The interest of the plot is fairly well sustained, but the book is carelessly written.”
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Critic. 48: 571. Je. ’06. 50w.
“An admirable novel is the result, and one which introduces us to a territory hitherto almost unexploited in fiction.” Wm. M. Payne.
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Dial. 40: 364. Je. 1. ’06. 120w.
“In ‘Alton of Somasco’ Mr. Bindloss is seen at his best.”
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Lond. Times. 4: 279. S. 1, ’05. 380w.
N. Y. Times. 11: 386. Je. 16, ’06. 110w.
Bindloss, Harold. Cattle-baron’s daughter. †$1.50. Stokes.
The transition-period when the boundless cattle-lands 28of the Northwest were first opened to the home-steader is well handled in this story of the cattle-baron’s daughter and her divided loyalty to her father, the champion of the old order, and to her lover, the leader of the homestead boys. The characters are well drawn Western types and the scenes of feud and riot, of miniature war and revolution, are stirring, because behind the hero is the spirit of the times, the steady march of the settler leading to the final triumph of the plow.
+
Ath. 1906, 2: 67. Jl. 21. 180w.
“A tale of thrilling adventure with plentiful humorous relief.”
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N. Y. Times. 11: 626. O. 6, ’06. 240w.
“The interest is well sustained to the end of the story, which is much above the average and is well worth reading.”
+
Spec. 97: 237. Ag. 18, ’06. 180w.
Binns, Henry Bryan. Life of Walt Whitman. **$3. Dutton.
In Mr. Binns’ biography and interpretation it has been the aim to write about Whitman rather than to give Whitman’s work with running commentary. The author is an Englishman “who ‘loves’ the United States,” and thinks the time is not yet ripe for a final and complete biography, and therefore his work is suggestive rather than conclusive in the sense of literary decisions. “It is as a man that I see and have sought to describe Whitman. But as a man of special and exceptional character, a new type of mystic or seer.” (N. Y. Times.)
“As a biography, it will easily take its place as our most exhaustive and authoritative record of Whitman’s career.”
+ +
Acad. 69: 1285. D. 9, ’05. 1520w.
Reviewed by M. A. DeWolfe Howe.
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Atlan. 98: 849. D. ’06. 1280w.
“Both in biographical detail and in critical comment the book is an excellent piece of work, perhaps the fullest and best study of the poet’s life and writings that has yet appeared.” Percy F. Bicknell.
+ + –
Dial. 40: 145. Mr. 1, ’06. 850w.
“A book of some interest and value, which yet has a few of the faults common to most biographies. In the first place, it is too long.”
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Lond. Times. 4: 401. N. 24, ’05. 2880w.
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Nation. 81: 469. D. 7, ’05. 840w.
“The poet’s work is, indeed, vindicated simply and naturally by Mr. Binns, with no violence of argument, and it is a pleasure to acknowledge the fine quality of spirit which he displays.” Jessie B. Rittenhouse.
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N. Y. Times. 11: 110. F. 24, ’06. 970w.
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R. of Rs. 33: 380. Mr. ’06. 150w.
“Mr. Binns’ book, granted a few somewhat soulful peculiarities, is not at all bad.”
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Sat. R. 101: 20. Ja. 6, ’06. 1760w.
Birney, Mrs. Theodore W. Childhood. $1. Stokes.
Believing that “discord in the home is in most cases due to a lack of comprehension of child nature and its needs,” Mrs. Birney offers parents and teachers the benefits of her earnestly acquired experience. “She is singularly free from fads; does not write as if she were the whole Law and the Prophets on the subject of children.” (Critic.)
“A careful perusal of the book should bring help to many households.”
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Critic. 48: 378. Ap. ’06. 90w.
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Outlook. 82: 807. Ap. 7, ’06. 130w.
Birrell, Augustine. Andrew Marvell. **75c. Macmillan.
“Very little is said of the poetry upon which his reputation rests.”
+ –
Dial. 40: 51. Ja. 16, ’06. 260w.
R. of Rs. 33: 119. Ja. ’06. 100w.
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Spec. 96: 582. Ap. 14, ’06. 1720w.
Birrell, Augustine. In the name of the Bodleian, and other essays. **$1.50. Scribner.
“A collection of short essays on a great variety of subjects by a writer who is, by nature and training, a spectator and commentator of the school though not of the genius of Charles Lamb.” (Outlook.) “He opens his service, so to speak, in the name of the Bodleian, and goes to tell us of book-worms—the literary bookworm, not the one with spectacles—confirmed readers, first editions, libraries, old booksellers, collecting, and some score of similar things of value to the bibliophile.” (Acad.)
“If his work is always slight, it is very nearly always agreeable.”
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Acad. 69: 1191. N. 18, ’05. 1360w.
“Represents him favorably enough as a critic none the less stimulating because he touches his topics with a light hand.”
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Ath. 1905, 2: 833. D. 16. 230w.
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Critic. 48: 189. F. ’06. 310w.
“Is characteristically full of quaint fancies, brilliant sallies of wit and humor, keenly-calculated judgments of men and things, and an erudition that pointedly avoids beaten highways to cull its treasures from old nooks and dusty corners.”
+ +
Dial. 40: 159. Mr. 1, ’06. 260w.
“Without being in any sense of the word a great essayist, Mr. Augustine Birrell is a brilliant and lucid writer.”
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Lond. Times. 4: 426. D. 8, ’05. 1520w.
“It would be a limited taste indeed that could not extract from [these essays] several half-hours of entertainment.”
+ +
Nation. 82: 41. Ja. 11, ’06. 640w.
“None of them will seem really trivial to lovers of ‘Obiter dicta’ and its successors. For they are all marked with the good-humored acuteness, the animated nonchalance, which engaged us in him long ago.” H. W. Boynton.
+
N. Y. Times. 10: 879. D. 9, ’05. 1400w.
“This volume is more fragmentary and discursive than the earlier books from the same hand, and the papers are, on the whole, less valuable.”
+
Outlook. 82: 46. Ja. 6, ’06. 120w.
“These essays, aside from the Arnold fling, are charming in tone and in their literary quality, which ranges from Baconian formality to a very effective use of modern slang.”
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Reader. 7: 566. Ap. ’06. 450w.
R. of Rs. 33: 256. F. ’06. 40w.
“It is always easy, but not always comforting, to read Mr. Birrell. When he is writing about books he is commonly delightful, though even here he cannot resist the temptation to ‘get his knife into’ something or somebody that he dislikes.”
+ + –
Spec. 96: 97. Ja. 20, ’06. 1160w.
Birukoff, Paul. Early life of Leo Tolstoy, his life and work. **$1.50. Scribner.
The work of a man who was a friend of Tolstoi’s and in his employ. The outlines of M. Paul Birukoff’s biography were filled in by notes furnished by Tolstoi himself which fact lends a serious and authoritative value to the work. This first volume gives an account of the origin of the Tolstois, the novelist’s childhood, youth and manhood, and ends with his marriage. “A great deal of attention is devoted to the moral development of the young prodigy and very little to those amusements and external interests that probably were of far more importance in shaping his character.” (Acad.)
“It is indeed a most serious work and suggests that the author was much more anxious to exhibit Leo Tolstoy as a prophet and teacher than as a literary artist whose province it is to hold the mirror up to nature.”
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Acad. 70: 498. My. 26, ’06. 2030w. (Review of v. 1.)
29“This most interesting publication ought to find many readers.”
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Ath. 1906, 2: 178. Ag. 18. 1360w. (Review of v. 1.)
“There can be no doubt that this work will be a mine of information to the more critical biographer as well as in itself of much value.”
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Critic. 49: 188. Ag. ’06. 260w. (Review of v. 1.)
“It is an exhaustive analysis of the youth and early manhood of a personality of exceptional interest, with whose later years of achievement the reading-public is generally familiar.” Annie Russell Marble.
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Dial. 41: 59. Ag. 1, ’06. 1530w. (Review of v. 1.)
“When completed bids fair to become one of the important contributions to our biographical knowledge during recent years.” Wm. T. Brewster.
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Forum. 38: 97. Jl. ’06. 1350w. (Review of v. 1.)
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Ind. 61: 1163. N. 15, ’06. 70w. (Review of v. 1.)
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Lit. D. 33: 357. S. 15, ’06. 50w. (Review of v. 1.)
“One can pardon somewhat his lack of literary skill, in view of his transparent honesty, and modest attitude toward his work as ‘material’ for the use of more competent workers hereafter.”
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Nation. 83: 60. Jl. 19, ’06. 600w. (Review of v. 1.)
“There is in his attitude towards his literary master a certain servility of indiscriminate admiration, a too thoroughgoing sympathy. The net result of which simplicity is that the eminent Russian’s worst enemy could have wished him no other biographer.”
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N. Y. Times. 11: 368. Je. 9, ’06. 910w. (Review of v. 1.)
“The undisguisedly autobiographic portions are exceedingly frank in places, and always intensely egotistical.”
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N. Y. Times. 11: 800. D. 1, ’06. 340w. (Review of v. 1.)
“The book is thus chaotic and almost incoherent, yet most of the material is of intense interest.”
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Putnam’s. 1: 110. O. ’06. 510w. (Review of v. 1.)
R. of Rs. 34: 124. Jl. ’06. 90w. (Review of v. 1.)
Black, Rev. J. F. Bible way: an antidote to Campbellism. *50c. Meth. bk.
An argument in dialogue form which presents arguments against the doctrine of so-called Christian or Campbellite church.
Black, John Janvier. Eating to live, with some advice to the gouty, the rheumatic, and the diabetic: a book for every body. *$1.50. Lippincott.
“Forewarned is forearmed” might be said to be the watchword of Dr. Black in his present work. He aims to save from pitfalls the mortals who eat and drink from instinct rather than from reason. He discusses the economics and values of different foods and gives dietary advice to people variously afflicted.
Blackmar, Frank Wilson. Elements of sociology. *$1.25. Macmillan.
“On the whole, the author has furnished us with a very serviceable text. It is a logical development of the principles of the science and the different branches have been brought into proper correlation. Its style is sufficiently simple for easy comprehension and the student will find it a working manual of great value.” George B. Mangold.
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Ann. Am. Acad. 27: 243. Ja. ’06. 440w.
“Is a singularly ineffective and eminently mediocre book. It affords no real penetrating insight into the nature of society. It has no intrinsic coherence.”
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Atlan. 97: 852. Je. ’06. 230w.
Bookm. 22: 535. Ja. ’06. 60w.
“In general it may be said that Mr. Blackmar has made effective use of the new sources of material and new developments of theory that have become available since the publication of Mr. Fairbanks’ book.... Many pages of Mr. Blackmar’s book are marred by English not merely faulty, but incorrigibly and persistently so to such an extent that the sense may be recovered only with difficulty.” Robert C. Brooks.
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Bookm. 23: 100. Mr. ’06. 910w.
“The chapters on social pathology bring the science down to earth, and constitute probably the most valuable part of the book.”
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Dial. 40: 202. Mr. 16, ’06. 210w.
R. of Rs. 33: 123. Ja. ’06. 100w.
“Will serve a useful purpose ... for intelligent general readers and social workers who wish to gain a social attitude of mind in relation to all varieties of man’s activities.”
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School R. 14: 542. S. ’06. 200w.
Blair, Emma Helen, and Robertson, James Alexander, eds. Philippine islands, 1493–1898. 55 v. ea. *$4. Clark, A. H.
“In eight volumes just under consideration, ninety documents ... are produced in translation, as are parts of the whole of seven old printed works. The editorial work upon these documents shows painstaking care and much discrimination. The translations—and this is important—appear generally to deserve the same commendation.” James A. LeRoy.
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Am. Hist. R. 11: 681. Ap. ’06. 2900w. (Review of v. 21–27 and 29.)
Reviewed by James A. LeRoy.
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Am. Hist. R. 12: 143. O. ’06. 1390w. (Review of v. 28–38.)
“The volumes of 1905 are, all in all, the best edited and most carefully arranged and translated of the series thus far.”
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Ind. 40: 927. Ap. 19, ’06. 1090w. (Review of v. 21–27.)
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Ind. 61: 695. S. 20, ’06. 730w. (Review of v. 28–38.)
Ind. 61: 1171. N. 15, ’06. 70w. (Review of v. 28–32.)
Blake, Katharine Evans. Hearts’ haven. †$1.50. Bobbs.
“A stirring romance, rich in lights and shadows, full of human interest and possessing the peculiar charm of new scenes and surroundings. Another excellence of this work is the remarkable knowledge of psychology displayed.”
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Arena. 35: 108. Ja. ’06. 1310w.
“The author of ‘Hearts’ haven’ has made clever use of her material, and the admission that the book leaves behind it a sense of depression is in itself a tribute to her strength.” Frederick Taber Cooper.
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Bookm. 23: 30. Mr. ’06. 160w.
Blake, William. Poetical works: a new and verbatim text from the manuscript engraved and letter-press originals; with variorum readings and bibliographical notes and prefaces by J. Sampson. *$3.50. Oxford.
“‘Blake’s final version is uniformly adopted as the text, while all earlier or cancelled readings are supplied in foot-notes.’ All the poems are arranged exactly as they are found, and each group is given, as far as is known, in chronological order. The two main MS. sources, the Rossetti and the Pickering MSS., are now printed for the first time from careful and accurate transcripts, made by the present owner, Mr. W. A. White of Brooklyn, N. Y.”—Ath.
30“If it be desirable to possess a scholarly and complete edition of Blake, it would be impossible to imagine anything more suitable to the purpose than the edition before us.”
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Acad. 69: 1325. D. 23, ’05. 830w.
“Mr. Sampson’s edition of Blake is a masterpiece of editing and Blake, of all modern English poets, was most in need of a good editor.”
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Ath. 1906, 1: 100. Ja. 27. 2150w.
“We cannot be too grateful for this beautiful and scholarly edition of the great mystic.”
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Dial. 40: 160. Mr. 1, ’06. 110w.
“Mr. Sampson has compiled texts, compared different readings, grasped and illuminated obscure points, with all the tact and insight of the born commentator. His book should become the standard authority for all Blake students.”
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Lond. Times. 5: 129. Ap. 12, ’06. 4030w.
“Is in point of laborious research and painstaking arrangement, one of the most admirable pieces of editing that we have lately seen.”
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Nation. 82: 99. F. 1, ’06. 280w.
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N. Y. Times. 11: 298. Ap. 21, ’06. 3240w. (Reprinted from the Lond. Times.)
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Spec. 96: 259. F. 17, ’06. 1760w.
Blanchard, Amy Ella. Four Corners. †$1.50. Jacobs.
The three Virginia acres on which the somewhat impoverished Corner family lived formed the center of the stage upon which the four little Corners, Nan, Mary Lee, and the twins, a cousin, an old mule named Pete, an angora cat, a mongrel dog, and a few delightful grownups, act out a little family drama. In it, sad little economies, sickness, and trouble bravely met, are contrasted with the joys of healthy girlhood with homely adventures, and happy little surprises. It is a story that will make careless little girls thankful for their blessings.
“It is a peasant, homy sort of tale.”
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N. Y. Times. 11: 895. D. 22, ’06. 50w.
Blanchard, Amy Ella. Little Miss Mouse. †$1. Jacobs.
Miss Hester Brackenbury in days of affluence adopts two little waifs, a small boy and a girl, and when a few months later, she becomes poor she refuses to give them up but moves into a cottage and supports them by making buttonholes. It is a pretty story for grown-ups as well as children, for in the background is an old love-story which throws a mellow light upon the children in the foreground, their joys, their contentions and their troubles. In the end, thru little Miss Mouse and an old receipt, Aunt Hester is restored to her old estate.