B (continued 2)
Reading edition
− +
N. Y. Times. 13: 252. My. 2, ’08. 350w.
Bennett, Ida D. Vegetable garden. (Country home lib.) **$1.50. McClure.
8–19599.
A thoroly practical exposition of vegetable gardening based upon experiment directed by science and furthered by sound common sense. Besides dealing with vegetables that form the staple of the small garden, the book includes chapters on fertilizers, insecticides and garden tools.
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 233. O. ’08. ✠
“The selection of vegetables here given might be improved in certain ways but, on the whole, the choices are good, and the hints for the kitchen are extremely suggestive.”
+ −
Nation. 87: 38. Jl. 9, ’08. 300w.
“The last word in vegetable gardening has surely been said by Miss Bennett.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 388. Jl. 11, ’08. 200w.
“Many practical directions which will be appreciated by the novice.”
+
R. of Rs. 38: 253. Ag. ’08. 100w.
29Bennett, James Robert S. Life of William Sterndale Bennett, by his son, J. R. Sterndale Bennett. *$3.50. Putnam.
8–6997.
The biography of an English musician who, while he does not rank among the masters, deserves a place among sincere artists. “Bennett was a man of mark in his time. He had a peculiarly winning nature, a gift for friendship. He was the intimate of Schumann and of Mendelssohn, and of many other nineteenth-century musicians, and their relations with him, their correspondence with him, as well as the part he played in the musical life of England, give a certain interest to these pages which the present importance of their subject would not.” (N. Y. Times.)
“The conversations, letters quoted, and other matters give a picture of the years especially connected with Mendelssohn more vivid than any which have been drawn by historians who gathered information solely from written records.”
+
Ath. 1908, 1: 138. F. 1. 600w.
“It is interesting at many points, and a contribution to the history of music in the England of Victoria.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 330. Je. 13, ’08. 850w.
“The task has been done once and for all with a discretion and a delicacy worthy of the subject, and with a filial piety that is never disfigured by hero-worship.”
+ +
Spec. 99: 1050. D. 21, ’07. 1600w.
Bennett, John William. Roosevelt and the republic. $1.50. Broadway pub.
8–17978.
A sketch of President Roosevelt as a public man and office-holder, with special emphasis given to the influence of his administration upon the republic.
Bennett, Rev. William Henry. Life of Christ according to St. Mark. **$1.75. Armstrong.
Aims to present the impression of Christ which would be derived from St. Mark’s gospel by a reader who has no other source of information and who knows nothing of Christian theology.
“His book is full of freshness and vigor, and is an interesting essay in interpretation.”
+
Bib. World. 31: 80. Ja. ’08. 40w.
“Is written with much of the beautiful simplicity that marks the gospel narratives themselves.” W. J. Davis.
+
Hibbert J. 6: 938. Jl. ’08. 180w.
“Unfortunately the reader is left with questions on every page, and the problems and difficulties presented by Mark’s Gospel are not squarely faced.”
−
Ind. 64: 588. Mr. 12, ’08. 100w.
“It is a most interesting and informing volume.”
+
Spec. 99: sup. 644. N. 2, ’07. 270w.
Bennett, William Henry. Religion of the post-exilic prophets. (Literature and religion of Israel.) *$2. Scribner.
8–19130.
The first of a series of ten volumes to be published upon the development of religion in Israel up to the time of Christ. “In the exemplification of this plan as worked out by Prof. Bennett, the prophets (Ezekiel, the later Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, etc.) are first treated individually, in chronological order; and in the second part of the work the general teaching of the literature described ‘is expounded in relation to the main subjects of dogmatics.’” (Ath.)
“Professor Bennett is persuasive, candid, critical, and withal never over-venturesome. He moves along the main line of the most recent cautious scholarly investigation, but at the same time has special views of his own on certain matters.”
+
Ath. 1908, 1: 319. Mr. 14. 400w.
“The book is a useful contribution to the popular knowledge of a period concerning which altogether too little is known by the average Bible student.”
+
Bib. World. 31: 478. Je. ’08. 80w.
“His book will be indispensable to Old Testament teachers, and to ministers who desire a scholarly treatment of the prophetical literature in this important period of Israel’s history. There is nothing however of a technical character in the book to debar its use from the layman.” Harlan Creelman.
+ +
Bib. World. 32: 289. O. ’08. 1150w.
“‘Respectable’ is the word for Professor Bennett’s volume. The occasion being given, the task is diligently and intelligently performed.”
+
Nation. 87: 53. Jl. 16, ’08. 330w.
“The book is neither exclusively doctrinal nor controversial, and if not touched by the spirit of the higher criticism tries at least to be in keeping with the development of scholarship.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 245. Ap. 25, ’08. 450w.
Outlook. 89: 85. My. 9, ’08. 250w.
“The chief complaint we have to make is that it is a trifle dull.”
+ −
Sat. R. 106: sup. 10. O. 24, ’08. 520w.
Spec. 100: sup. 647. Ap. 25, ’08. 300w.
Benson, Arthur Christopher. At large. **$1.50. Putnam.
8–30590.
At large once more in the realm of thought, Mr. Benson only continues to apply his well verified principles to new phases of life; achieving what may be called “Mr. Benson’s view,” for instance, of optimism, of shyness, of joy. Other essays bear upon contentment, friendship, humor, travel, specialism, our lack of great men, equality, Kelmscott and William Morris, literary finish, symbols and the love of God.
“His logic is as keen, his irony as delicate as ever; the flowing cadences of his style woo us like quiet music; and always we are conscious that our two chairs are quite close together, and that Mr. Benson has a very friendly and companionable arm thrown lightly around our shoulders.” M. A. Havens.
+
Dial. 45: 342. N. 16, ’08. 1350w.
“The unwholesome element of Mr. Benson’s convalescent optimism is its intense self-consciousness. He makes the pursuit of happiness a business. His flowers of felicity, like carnations, demand a hot-house culture, and exhale their perfume only in a specially prepared soil and climate.”
+ −
Nation. 87: 519. N. 26, ’08. 280w.
“Whether the essays be called sermons or otherwise, ‘At large’ is marked by the kindly, deliberate, tolerant wisdom which has already won him so many friends.”
+ +
N. Y. Times. 13: 579. O. 17, ’08. 700w.
“The essays get on pleasantly to the end, eked out with personal recollections and anecdotes and amusing stories.”
+
Sat. R. 106: 548. O. 31, ’08. 530w.
Benson, Arthur Christopher. The schoolmaster: a commentary upon the aims and methods of an assistant-master in a public school. *$1.25. Putnam.
E 8–323.
Published for the first time in America this book records frankly and candidly the results of impressions and observations gained during twenty years of teaching. Whatever recommendations it offers “have been deduced from experience and tested by practice.” It treats such subjects as training of teachers, discipline, teaching, work, intellect, originality, praise, the boarding-house, athletics, time, holidays, sociability, religion, moralities and devotion.
30“Will prove readable, suggestive and inspiring.”
+
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 233. O. ’08.
Dial. 45: 119. S. 1, ’08. 280w.
“The book is sure to be read with interest and profit on this side of the Atlantic.” M. K. Ford.
+
Forum. 40: 402. O. ’08. 200w.
“Though we have no Etons here, we have many schoolmasters who tend to fall into ruts, and who may receive from Mr. Benson’s suggestions a new glow of enthusiasm.”
+
Nation. 86: 511. Je. 4, ’08. 130w.
“Altogether ‘The schoolmaster’ is a very sensible and at the same time a very readable book.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 380. Jl. 4, ’08. 400w.
Outlook. 89: 350. Je. 13, ’08. 120w.
Benson, Edward Frederic. Blotting book. †$1. Doubleday.
8–23104.
“Describes the devilish ingenuity with which a middle-aged barrister of hitherto spotless reputation, contrived to cast suspicion upon his young client of having committed a murder which was in fact his own work. He was exceeding clever, but, as the event turned out, too clever for his own safety. Skillful detective work discovered the truth by means of the very things he had done to conceal his traces. The story deals chiefly with the crime and the trial.”—Outlook.
“Develops into a skilful portrayal of the character and self-deception of a hypocritical egotist.”
+
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 267. N. ’08. ✠
“Failing to hold us as a mystery, the tale fails of its purpose.”
−
Ath. 1908, 2: 234. Ag. 29. 120w.
“There is somewhat too much pretense of keeping up the mystery with the reader, somewhat too strong a contention that a man may lie, steal, and commit murder, and yet go about his cheerful way not seeing himself for the villain that he is, but these defects in no wise interfere with the interest of the story.”
+ −
N. Y. Times. 13: 478. Ag. 29, ’08. 270w.
“We wish the detection of the criminal had been treated in a less sketchy manner.”
+ −
Outlook. 90: 135. S. 19, ’08. 100w.
“The little story is exciting, it marches rapidly to its conclusion, and, further, it is singularly unlike the usual work of Mr. Benson, the student of social manners.”
+
Spec. 101: 337. S. 5, ’08. 160w.
Benson, Edward Frederic. Sheaves. †$1.50. Doubleday.
7–29434.
In this story are discussed the problems that arise from marriage entered into by a man of twenty-four and a woman of forty-two. “In this union there is perfect harmony of tastes and mind and a passionate mutual love; there is nothing to prevent its being an ideal coupling of two human beings except the great gulf between twenty-four and forty-two—with the seniority on the wrong side.” (Outlook.)
“He has a definite claim now to be considered among our serious novelists of rank.”
+ −
Ath. 1908, 1: 155. F. 8. 260w.
“Conversation and incident are alike natural, and the author’s contribution of comment and analysis is temperate and pleasing. The story is drawn out to tiresome length, and it demands much judicious skipping if it is to provide tolerable entertainment.” W: M. Payne.
+ −
Dial. 44: 133. Mr. 1, ’08. 250w.
“By the temper rather than the method of his treatment he has given new life to an old story.”
+
Nation. 86: 128. F. 6, ’08. 640w.
N. Y. Times. 12: 654. O. 12, ’07. 30w.
“Contains a story so full of the lyric joy of love and so strong with the mightier elements that go to make real love that, swept along in its fresh and beautiful current, the reader scarcely realizes how he is being charmed, page after page, by the minor incidents and characters that help to make the book complete.”
+ +
N. Y. Times. 13: 47. Ja. 25, ’08. 450w.
“Mr. Benson’s most admirable point as a writer is his hatred and clever setting forth of cant and priggishness and his clear contrasting of it with the real goodness it attempts to mimic.”
+
Outlook. 88: 40. Ja. 4, ’08. 210w.
“Well knit novel.”
+
R. of Rs. 37: 128. Ja. ’08. 40w.
“The author’s treatment of his main theme rises much above the level of the rest of the book. The humour which he extracts from Mannington society is very cheap, and he misses there and elsewhere all breadth of effect by a wearying insistence on insignificant detail.”
+ + −
Sat. R. 105: 112. Ja. 25, ’08. 950w.
“In his present novel he sets a problem, and then runs away from its solution.”
− +
Spec. 100: 267. F. 15, ’08. 220w.
Benson, Ramsey. Lord of lands. †$1.50. Holt.
8–24470.
Just how one man translated himself and family out of the cramped and artificial environment which the city on fifty dollars per month offered, into the free air of new Canadian country where they all labored and learned to find peace and plenty is told with pioneer simplicity and courage. The ethical value of country life is emphasized.
“Its interest as fiction lies in the sustained note of simplicity, in the fact that it is ostensibly told in the first person by a workingman, an Irish brakeman, who never rises above a certain honest and rather primitive outlook on life, and who tells his story with something of the grave importance that characterises the narrator of ‘The Swiss family Robinson.’” F: T. Cooper.
+
Bookm. 28: 381. D. ’08. 330w.
“If any rich man with too many ignoble dollars to his credit wishes to do the country a real service let him buy a hundred thousand copies of this book and distribute them among the poor who have not yet despaired.”
+
Ind. 65: 840. O. 8, ’08. 780w.
“Many, too, are the practical hints administered with an Irish twinkle.”
+
Nation. 87: 389. O. 22, ’08. 300w.
“Manner aside, the matter of the story is well adapted to its object. We congratulate the public upon having secured a bit of literature of new and not clearly definable flavor.”
+ −
N. Y. Times. 13: 508. S. 19, ’08. 1500w.
“The book gains its interest from its definite statement of difficulties encountered and the way in which they were surmounted.”
+
R. of Rs. 38: 509. O. ’08. 110w.
Benson, Rev. Robert Hugh. Lord of the world. †$1.50. Dodd.
8–7386.
A novel with scenes laid partly in London. “Mr. Benson sees the world, four or five generations hence, free at last from all minor quarrels, and ranged against itself in two camps, Humanitarianism for those who believe in no divinity but that of man, Catholicism for those who believe in no divinity but that of God.” (Lond. Times.)
“Judged as fiction, it shows that an emotional brain of a distinctive character is behind the writing; but its impassioned faith is the prevalent note, and everything else is subjected to this.”
+ −
Ath. 1907, 2: 683. N. 30. 250w.
“The most interesting story of the ‘Looking backward’ type that has appeared for years.” M. K. Ford.
+
Bookm. 27: 284. My. ’08. 700w.
Cath. World. 87: 396. Je. ’08. 700w.
Reviewed by W: M. Payne.
Dial. 45: 89. Ag. 16, ’08. 970w.
31“The whole thing is very well done and Father Benson is particularly happy in his graphic and convincing descriptions of the great inventions, now merely dreamed of, but then in common use.” M. K. Ford.
+
Forum. 40: 404. O. ’08. 260w.
“Mr. Benson may assure us that he knows what he is up to and that he is doing it with his eyes open, but we are left with the suspicion that his sensationalism comes more easily to him than it should.”
− +
Lond. Times. 6: 357. N. 22, ’07. 550w.
“Interesting it must be to all to whom the deepest convictions of a man’s heart are of moment. And in the artistic balance and taste of Father Benson’s literary power every reader will find delight.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 296. My. 23, ’08. 350w.
“Notwithstanding the imaginative and literary skill evinced in the construction of this chimera, it seems hardly more worth while than the entertainment of the breakfast-table with the report of a fantastic dream—except perhaps as a revelation of the absurdity of the Pope’s fanatical campaign against ‘Modernism.’”
− +
Outlook. 89: 313. Je. 6, ’08. 200w.
“It is the failure to endow all the characters equally with a definite and vital personality that makes the effect upon the reader somewhat indefinite. Yet the book as art is beautiful, delicately balanced, deeply inspired, intelligently executed.” E. L. Cary.
+ −
Putnam’s. 4: 616. Ag. ’08. 730w.
“His breadth of view really forms the most striking feature of the book.”
+
R. of Rs. 37: 767. Je. ’08. 50w.
“The whole story is frankly sensational, and the picture of the cult of humanity decidedly ingenious.”
+ −
Spec. 99: 1057. D. 21, ’07. 350w.
* Benson, Robert Hugh. St. Thomas of Canterbury. *80c. Benziger.
A brief life of St. Thomas of Canterbury which forms one of the St. Nicholas series of Roman Catholic biographies edited by Dom Bede Camm.
“It contains many picturesque touches, and will probably be welcomed by the younger and less learned members of the Roman obedience. His whole account is too biassed to deserve serious criticism.”
− +
Ath. 1908, 2: 573. N. 7. 120w.
“Enlivens the narrative with picturesque details that will impress the reader with the feeling that he is witnessing real events and observing real men, in contrast with the dry abstractions of his historical text-book.”
+
Cath. World. 88: 392. D. ’08. 130w.
“Father Benson tells the story of St. Thomas picturesquely and effectively. His point of view is not ours; but we have no wish to deny that some of the aspects of character and of principle which he presents to us accord with the truth.”
+ −
Spec. 101: 204. Ag. 8, ’08. 260w.
Bensusan, Samuel Levy. Velazquez. (Masterpieces in color.) *65c. Stokes.
W 8–31.
A brief but direct sketch including the conditioning facts of the life and time of this artist. “The author has pointed out that Spain, in spite of her recent great political decline, still exercises great influence in the art world thru Diego de Silva Velazquez.” (Ind.)
“By merely glancing thru the little volume under consideration it will be possible to understand something of this influence and the reason for it.” W. G. Bowdoin.
+
Ind. 63: 1466. D. 19, ’07. 140w.
“Without pretending to any great critical acumen the writer succeeds in presenting to the reader a clear notion of the characteristic qualities distinguishing the art of the great master of portraiture.”
+
N. Y. Times. 12: 835. D. 14, ’07. 160w.
Bentley, Arthur Fisher. Process of government. *$3. Univ. of Chicago press.
8–10462.
A study of the theory of social dynamics, whose purpose is to fashion a tool—“a tool which shall serve to analyze and measure all the varieties of cause and effect which make up those processes of control which are indicated approximately by the term government.... The first part ‘To prepare the way’ arraigns a series of theorists, and charges them with attempting to put into circulation each a particular variety of false and futile interpretation of what actually occurs in society. Part II, ‘Analysis of governmental pressures,’ contains the author’s substitutes for these mischievous explanations.” (Am. J. Soc.)
“This is a real book. It is more genuine than it would be if it were more attentive to the minor literary conventions.” A. W. Small.
+ −
Am. J. Soc. 13: 698. Mr. ’08. 3600w.
“Of value to the sociologist, but too technical for the general reader. Brilliantly written.”
+
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 234. O. ’08.
“The second part of the book is more extensive, more readable, and more useful than the introductory criticisms.” E: C. Hayes.
+ −
Dial. 45: 13. Jl. 1, ’08. 730w.
“Mr. Bentley’s volume is bulky and diffuse, and its style often flippant, but its acute and outspoken criticism ... should cause it to be welcomed by speculative sociologists as at least a rod of chastening.”
+ −
Nation. 87: 94. Jl. 30, ’08. 200w.
“Dr. Bentley’s analysis is no more satisfying than that of other theorists of the ‘group activity’ school, and less satisfying than some, by reason of its impatient, unjudicial tone, to say nothing of its utter elimination of the individual and of psychic elements as causal factors in the social process.”
−
Outlook. 89: 263. My. 30, ’08. 350w.
“Mr. Bentley’s attempt to get below formalism into the governing process as a manifestation of social pressures deserves serious consideration, even though he is at times tedious and at other times unnecessarily rude to his predecessors in the field of politics.” C: A. Beard.
+ −
Pol. Sci. Q. 23: 739. D. ’08. 700w.
Bentwich, Norman De Mattos. Law of private property in war. $1.80. Boston bk.
7–42501.
“In the main Mr. Bentwich’s essay is concerned with private property in time of war, whether on land or at sea; the writer giving a fair but not minute account of the present practice. His suggestions as to the ‘temperamenta belli’ are few and cautious. He expects but little from the action of conferences or from agreements between belligerents. He does not countenance either the abolition of the right of capture of private property or of contraband, the latter an ‘undesirable aspiration’ which, if adopted, would soon be abandoned in the stress of war. But he makes several suggestions as to minor changes, one being the establishment of a prize court of appeal, another the relaxation of the old rule as to enemy domicile and the adoption of the French rule as to nationality.”—Lond. Times.
“One weakness of this interesting volume is that it slides over many questions of moment. Another is that it gives paraphrases when a fastidious reader will ask for texts.”
+ −
Lond. Times. 6: 227. Jl. 19, ’07. 300w.
“Mr. Bentwich’s volume is quite thick enough to require, and should have, a general index in addition to its admirable table of cases cited.”
+ −
Outlook. 88: 607. Mr. 14, ’08. 670w.
+
Sat. R. 104: 212. Ag. 17, ’07. 200w.
32Berenson, Bernhard. North Italian painters of the renaissance. **$1.50. Putnam.
7–36958.
“Except for Mantegna and Correggio, the volume treats of hardly any artists approaching the first rank.... [Its] importance is that it is the negative end of Mr. Berenson’s demonstration of his theory of art, as its companion volumes were the positive end. He is now dealing with the absence of his three great qualities, tactile values, movement, and space-composition, as he has before dealt with their presence, and the burden is ever the same—these are the things that make serious art, and in their absence art ceases to become serious.”—Nation.
“Discriminating, suggestive, stimulating criticism.”
+
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 36. F. ’08. ✠
+
Ath. 1908, 1: 167. F. 8. 640w.
+
Ind. 64: 755. Ap. 2, ’08. 250w.
“The book has all the characteristics of its predecessors, but it does not deal with so interesting a subject.”
+
Nation. 85: 526. D. 5, ’07. 310w.
“[Has] many characteristically keen observations, expressed in a rather more categorical style than Mr. Cox’s or Mr. Caffin’s.”
+
Outlook. 87: 615. N. 23, ’07. 180w.
“Mr. Berenson has the artistic and not merely the archaeological outlook.”
+
Spec. 100: 901. Je. 6, ’08. 1550w.
Berg, Ernst Julius. Electrical energy, its generation, transmission, and utilization: lectures given at Union university. *$2.50. McGraw.
8–1719.
“Applications to engineering problems of the equations deduced from a theoretical consideration of alternating-current phenomena.... There are two sections to the book. Section 1 is devoted to the transmission line, and section 2 to the generating station. The former section contains what is probably the most easily applied accurate solution of transmission line problems available in textbook literature.... Section 2 relates to generators, stationary transformers and station instruments.” (Elec. World.)
“To the student or the designer of electrical transmission systems, the book will prove particularly valuable.”
+
Elec. World. 51: 266. F. 1, ’08. 270w.
“An authoritative book. The treatment is vivid for the theory is applied in every case to the problem at hand.”
+
Phys. R. 26: 545. Je. ’08. 80w.
Bergh, Louis de Coppet. Safe building construction, a treatise giving in simplest forms possible practical and theoretical rules and formulae used in construction of buildings and general instructions. **$5. Macmillan.
8–12772.
After twenty years this book has been thoroly revised to meet modern needs. It is “practically a treatise on engineering, dealing especially with those problems which the architect is called upon to solve. Its simple rules for ‘those who do not understand trigonometry,’ its diagrammatic illustrations, and its pages of tables will be attractive to many an architect and builder.” (Nation.)
“There is such unmistakable flavor of its early origin as to arouse regret that the revision did not extend to scrapping the old text entire.”
−
Engin. N. 60: 80. Jl. 16, ’08. 130w.
“There are a great many useful tables and diagrams, but it is a pity that so many of them relate to wrought iron, a material no longer employed in building.”
+ −
Engin. Rec. 57: 567. Ap. 25, ’08. 200w.
Nation. 86: 499. My. 28, ’08. 90w.
Berglund, Abraham. United States steel corporation: a study of growth and influence of combination in the iron and steel industry. *$1.50. Macmillan.
7–36147.
A study of the organization, the development and the policies of the steel corporation. “Mr. Berglund’s important conclusions are: that the company has never had—and is not likely to have—more than a qualified monopoly of the steel trade; that its policy in respect to prices has been one of moderation, but would probably not remain so moderate if monopoly were ever assured; and that such control over markets as the organization may wield in the future will probably be exercised ‘in association with independent producers’ through such agencies as pools or price agreements.” (Nation.)
“Mr. Berglund not only gives an excellent analysis of the world’s greatest industrial combination, but also gives many interesting points concerning the present and future of American iron and steel.” W. S. Tower.
+
Ann. Am. Acad. 31: 515. Mr. ’08. 350w.
“The book is a valuable one, in that it treats the well known facts in a different light than they have been treated in most works on the subject.” J: C. Duncan.
+
Econ. Bull. 1: 127. Je. ’08. 450w.
“There is often a vagueness of statement when he is writing of the plants and of labor at the furnaces. Dr. Berglund is on much surer ground when he is dealing with conditions in the iron and steel industry which led to the organization of the Steel corporation in 1901; and when he is tracing with much detail, and with admirable clearness, the developments which have marked the history of the trust in the first six years of its existence.”
+ −
Ind. 63: 819. O. 3, ’07. 580w.
“It is the sort of detailed study that should be made of each of the great industrial combinations—study that should have preceded much of the generalizing in which economists have indulged.”
+
Nation. 86: 159. F. 13, ’08. 200w.
Bernhardt, Sarah. Memories of my life: being my personal, professional, and social recollections as woman and artist. **$4. Appleton.
7–34323.
Descriptive note and excerpts in Dec. 1907.
+ −
Acad. 73: 188. N. 30, ’07. 140w.
“Versatile, whimsical, egotistic, vivacious, eccentric, singularly sincere, and always interesting.”
+
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 7. Ja. ’08.
+
Lit. D. 35: 917. D. 14, ’07. 80w.
“These memoirs leave us with a very vivid sense of the qualities that made their author what she was.” H. S. Krans.
+
Putnam’s. 3: 748. Mr. ’08. 900w.
“The vividness of the narration, the sure sense of what was worth telling and what was not, the sharp, salt vivacity of the style (which not even the slip-shod English of the translator can obscure)—all these virtues have to some pedants seemed incompatible with authenticity.” Max Beerbohm.
+ −
Sat. R. 104: 693. D. 7, ’07. 1650w.
Bernier, Louis Leon. Autogenous welding of metals. $1. The boiler maker, N. Y.
8–17741.
“This work is translated from reports of the National school of arts and trades of France, and describes the application of autogenous welding to the manufacture of tanks, boilers, piping, etc., together with its application to the manufacture of steel, brass, bars, plates, etc.”—Elec. World.
“The book lacks specific instructions on how to perform the welding operations and inasmuch 33as the oxyacetylene flame can be used for repairing and cutting metals, such information would be of value.”
+ −
Elec. World. 51: 1296. Je. 13, ’08. 170w.
“There is much useful matter in the pamphlet, but it is all on European practice. No mention is made of American apparatus and methods. In view of this fact and the size of the pamphlet the price seems far beyond reasonable bounds.”
− +
Engin. N. 59: 648. Je. 11, ’08. 300w.
* Bertrin, Georges. Lourdes: a history of its apparitions and cures; tr. by Mrs. Philip Gibbs. *$2. Benziger.
A book whose purpose is to set forth “with invincible clearness, the evidence that exists to prove, in the first instance, the indisputably miraculous character of the visions of Bernadette; and, in the second place, the equally miraculous nature of some of the most remarkable cures which have taken place at the Grotto of Lourdes, and in one instance, at a shrine of our Lady of Lourdes in Belgium. His method is to state the facts that are known to have occurred, to cite the eyewitnesses who testified to them, and then to take up successively the various explanations offered by those who refuse to believe in any miraculous intervention.” (Cath. World.)
“In many respects ... the most satisfactory work that we possess on the subject. In many others an excess of emotionalism spoils the value of their evidence to the miraculous.”
+ −
Cath. World. 88: 254. N. ’08. 820w.
“We shall say no more than that the book is a remarkable one from any point of view.”
+
Sat. R. 106: 616. N. 14, ’08. 250w.
* Besant, Sir Walter. Early London: prehistoric, Roman, Saxon and Norman. *$7.50. Macmillan.
8–28407.
The last volume in Sir Walter Besant’s “magnum opus.” He began with London of the eighteenth century and in six volumes has traced back to prehistoric times. This volume deals with London from the remotest times to the middle of the twelfth century, and contains numerous illustrations and a chapter on the geology of London by Professor T. G. Bonney.
“The work is thoroughly readable. Doubtless Besant, if he had lived to give the finishing touches to his book, would have made considerable alterations and he would have prevented his work from appearing with numerous misprints, especially in the Latin quotations, which are badly mangled.”
+ −
Ath. 1908, 2: 91. Jl. 25. 830w.
“The illustrations are numerous, and for the most part excellent, largely from manuscripts of the period described.”
+
Nation. 87: 523. N. 26, 08. 1300w.
“It is naturally full of out-of-the-way matter, giving an idea of the beginnings of the greatest of cities, which no Londoner at least can help but study with the most curious attention.”
+
Sat. R. 106: 56. Jl. 11, ’08. 450w.
“The story is made, as we might expect, highly interesting.”
+
Spec. 101: 474. O. 3, ’08. 440w.
Beven, Thomas. Negligence in law. 3d ed. 2v. $18. Canada law bk.
8–15769.
This third edition not only brings the material of former editions up to date but includes 1465 new cases. “A large proportion of, though not nearly all, the new cases introduced into this book, is due to the expansion of the subject and is the growth of ten years of active legal work. The residue is to be put down to what was improvidently omitted before, or what is material for new exemplification or is of historical interest.”
Beveridge, Albert Jeremiah. Meaning of the times, and other speeches. **$1.50. Bobbs.
8–12769.
A volume of Senator Beveridge’s addresses made during the past ten years. “Most of the subjects are current political topics, capital and labour, the trusts, the Philippines, forestry, child labour, nationalism and state rights. Mr. Beveridge’s main idea is an unlimited, unsectional United States with Indiana as the centre and the Republican party over all.” (Bookm.) See Cumulative book index for contents.
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 234. O. ’08.
“The work is full of ingenious pleas for the corporation interests that are calculated to throw dust in the eyes of unthinking and undiscriminating readers who are prone to accept without question presentations when made by statesmen who pose as Christian gentlemen.”
−
Arena. 40: 389. O. ’08. 500w.
“If Mr. Beveridge knew what his words mean and if he meant what they say, he would be a promising young writer.” J: A. Macy.
−
Bookm. 27: 490. Jl. ’08. 970w.
“A reading of it is a tonic of citizenship.”
+
Ind. 64: 1203. My. 28, ’08. 140w.
“The extracts from the debate in the Senate on child labor form one of the most interesting parts of the book.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 358. Je. 20, ’08. 170w.
+
R. of Rs. 38: 124. Jl. ’08. 260w.
Bianchi, Martha Gilbert. Modern Prometheus. †$1.50. Duffield.
8–7596.
A story in which a Jesuit priest tries to draw into the Catholic sisterhood an American girl saddened by an unfortunate marriage. “The background is like other Umbrian backgrounds of story, with its many touches of Italian life and its many figures of peasants, priests, and tourists, its incidental legends, art-histories, and church dogma, its landscape and birds, its fruits and flowers and stars.” (Nation.) The author “develops two concurrent ideas: faith through blind acquiescence and obedience conferring spiritual peace; doubt, accompanied by sturdy resistance, and independence condemning to internal tumult.” (R. of Rs.)
“The story itself is not commonplace, and the interest holds to the end.”
+
Nation. 86: 333. Ap. 9, ’08. 350w.
N. Y. Times. 13: 210. Ap. 11, ’08. 30w.
“The writer of this book has succeeded in creating an atmosphere, an atmosphere strong enough to distinctly affect the reader with its dreamy softness, its vague color.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 425. Ag. 1, ’08. 280w.
+ −
R. of Rs. 37: 766. Je. ’08. 50w.
Bielschowsky, Albert. Life of Goethe; authorized tr. from the German by W: A. Cooper. 3v. ea. **$3.50. Putnam.
5–36314.
v. 3. This concluding volume covers the period of Goethe’s life from the Congress of Vienna to the poet’s death, 1815–1832. “The biographer makes the daring assertion that without Goethe the Germany of to-day would not exist. ‘Without Goethe, no Bismarck; without Goethe, no German empire.’ He made the whole people feel spiritually one nation. But Prof. Bielschowsky does not claim his hero exclusively for Germany. He exists, beside Homer and Shakespeare, for the whole world.” (N. Y. Times.)
“Considered on the whole the most valuable biography of Goethe.”
+ +
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 167. Je. ’08. (Review of v. 1–3.)
“Containing much excellent matter together with a good deal of indifferent work.”
+ −
Ath. 1908, 2: 301. S. 12. 450w. (Review of v. 3.)
34“He fails too ... in humor or decorum; the two are one in this sense.”
+ + −
Ind. 65: 150. Jl. 16, ’08. 600w. (Review of v. 3.)
“We note a serious defect in Bielschowsky’s plan; there has been no provision for a separate chapter upon Goethe as critic.”
+ −
Nation. 86: 578. Je. 25, ’08. 1400w. (Review of v. 3.)
N. Y. Times. 13: 225. Ap. 18, ’08. 180w. (Review of v. 3.)
Bigelow, William Sturgis. Buddhism and immortality. (Ingersoll lecture for 1908.) **75c. Houghton.
8–30599.
An epitome of the teaching of the two Buddhist sects, the Tendai and the Shingon in regard to the immortality of man.
“The lecture is a simple and lucid exposition of the subject.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 703. N. 28, ’08. 100w.
Bindloss, Harold. By right of purchase. †$1.50. Stokes.
8–24466.
“Mr. Bindloss starts with a very hackneyed theme and familiar dramatis personae, the haughty well-born girl with the impecunious father and brother who force her into a marriage with a rich man of the honest, simple, rugged type. By degrees of course the honest farmer wins the love of the haughty wife, who endures in the most amazingly brave way the appalling dullness and monotony of life in a remote and lonely Canadian farm.”—Sat. R.
“Is little more than a replica of his earlier stories of life in the American Northwest.” W: M. Payne.
+ −
Dial. 45: 297. N. 1, ’08. 240w.
“The characterization is of the crudest simplicity.”
−
Nation. 87: 317. O. 1, ’08. 280w.
“There is no lack of action in Mr. Bindloss’s story, but we know so well what the ending will be that we do not very much care what happens along the road.”
−
N. Y. Times. 13: 500. S. 12, ’08. 120w.
“He is a better observer of nature than of men and women.”
− +
Outlook. 90: 135. S. 19, ’08. 100w.
“The story is made readable, though only mildly interesting, by pictures of Canadian life.”
+ −
Sat. R. 106: 180. Ag. 8, ’08. 90w.
“Mr. Bindloss is always interesting on the subject of his own country, but his present book does not quite reach the level of some of his former works.”
+ −
Spec. 100: 505. Mr. 28, ’08. 110w.
Bindloss, Harold. Delilah of the snows. †$1.50. Stokes.
8–15298.
“The nucleus of this story ... is the blindness of a young man to the sterling worth of a girl in his own class, his mad infatuation for another girl socially beyond his reach, and his final awakening to his folly when the other girl betrays him, as wantonly as Delilah betrayed Samson, into the hands of the authorities who demand his life. The scene of the story, at least of such part of the story as really counts, is the Klondike.”—Bookm.
“The author’s power and grip of his subject seem to have deserted him, and we miss his descriptions of colonial scenery and more particularly of colonial life and character.”
−
Acad. 73: 905. S. 14, ’07. 270w.
“The story begins at the wrong point; in other words, the lace pattern of his plot lacks symmetry.” F: T. Cooper.
−
Bookm. 27: 502. Jl. ’08. 300w.
“The narrative is vigorous and straightforward, without nicety of style, but wholesome in tone, and moderately interesting.” W: M. Payne.
+
Dial. 45: 88. Ag. 16, ’08. 130w.
“In spite of a heavy-footed gait and a superfluity of scene, the book is worth reading for the sincerity and picturesqueness of its adventure.”
+ −
Nation. 87: 163. Ag. 20, ’08. 280w.
“One expects picturesque incident, thrilling adventure, novel characters in a story that takes Northwest Canada for its setting, but one will scarcely find these necessary qualities in ‘Delilah of the snows.’”
−
N. Y. Times. 13: 381. Jl. 4, ’08. 250w.
Bindloss, Harold. For Jacinta. †$1.50. Stokes.
8–2379.
A story of love and adventure which portrays “the savagery, fever, damp heat, and general hatefulness of the coast where the hero is trying to get by salvage the cargo of a wrecked steamer, and thereby prove in his lady’s eyes his capacity to be something more than a dawdler and dilettante.” (Outlook.)
“Well told and wholesome.”
+
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 110. Ap. ’08. ✠
“An excellent story of incident and adventure, reminiscent in plot of Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne’s ‘The wrecker,’ and in scene and treatment of Mr. A. J. Dawson’s ‘In the bight of Benin.’ But Mr. Bindloss apparently will not take the trouble to do justice to his undoubtedly lively invention, and distinct feeling for the picturesque and romantic side of open-air life.”
+ −
Ath. 1907, 1: 786. Je. 23. 170w.
“The story is capitally told, and takes us to an interesting part of the world not much frequented by novelists. As in all the books by Mr. Bindloss that we have read, the money motive is forced a little too much, jarring the romantic sensibilities to which he particularly endeavors to appeal.” W: M. Payne.
+ −
Dial. 44: 133. Mr. 1, ’08. 280w.
“Certain passages are written with the requisite fire, but there are dead levels where the attention flags.”
+ −
N. Y. Times. 13: 158. Mr. 21, ’08. 100w.
“An almost too realistic and minutely drawn picture. The narrative of this adventure is too long drawn out, but there is some sincere effort at character depiction.”
− +
Outlook. 88: 512. F. 29, ’08. 100w.
“It is a straightforward, absolutely wholesome story of love and adventure. And neither the love nor the adventure is in any way commonplace.”
+ +
Spec. 99: 234. Ag. 17, ’07. 130w.
Bindloss, Harold. Long odds. †$1.50. Small.
8–32330.
The hero of this tale is dismissed from colonial military service for a fancied offence, and becomes stranded in the wilderness of Portuguese West Africa. His perilous adventures in righting the wrongs of a native bondswoman reveal many of the commercial and official conditions in that country which hamper good deeds and generous impulses.
“The vagueness of the descriptions and the want of individuality in the characters betray the writer, who depends upon his reading and his imagination to furnish forth his material.”
−
Cath. World. 88: 409. D. ’08. 150w.
“He has not a little of the incisive power of Mr. Conrad in dealing with this tropical material.” W: M. Payne.
+
Dial. 45: 297. N. 1, ’08. 340w.
“It is to be regretted that the style is marred by mannerisms evidently the result of sheer carelessness.”
+ −
Nation. 87: 526. N. 26, ’08. 200w.
“The love story is of minor importance and is not well managed, lacking warmth and color and impressiveness. But the story of the wilderness and the brutal things that harbor there and of the man’s grim fight with them is strong and realistic and vital.”
+ −
N. Y. Times. 13: 595. O. 24, ’08. 500w.
35Bindloss, Harold. Mistress of Bonaventure. *$1. Fenno.
Descriptive note and excerpts in Dec. 1907.
“It is a stirring story of real men and women, full of incident, and fairly well written, although the style is now and then disfigured by a slovenly touch.” W: M. Payne.
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Dial. 44: 44. Ja. 16, ’08. 230w.
Binns, Henry Bryan. Life of Abraham Lincoln. *$1.50. Dutton.
8–14339.
An intimate picture of Lincoln with only enough political history included to interpret his character and development.
“A valuable presentation of the life and character of the man.”
+
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 168. Je. ’08.
“One of the best-balanced and sanest of the innumerable lives of Lincoln.”
+ +
Dial. 44: 249. Ap. 16, ’08. 230w.
“Must therefore take its place among the essays rather than the lives. As such, and as the work of an Englishman, it is not uninteresting.”
+ −
Nation. 87: 98. Jl. 30, ’08. 600w.
“It is Mr. Binns’s merit that he has shown so clearly how firmly, reasonably, patiently, bravely, and wisely in the flood of these controlling events the President steered.”
+ + −
N. Y. Times. 13: 127. Mr. 7, ’08. 1450w.
“Mr. Binns has done a very creditable work in welding into a connected popular biography existing material about Lincoln’s life and career.”
+
Outlook. 88: 380. F. 15, ’08. 130w.
“Mr. Binns has evidently taken great pains to sift his facts, and has given a very full picture of Lincoln’s life before he became president.”
+ −
Sat. R. 105: 210. F. 15, ’08. 300w.
Birch, Walter de Gray. Seals. (Connoisseur’s lib., v. 19.) *$7.50. Putnam.
8–2185.
The author, a fully trustworthy guide in the field of antiquities, confines himself mainly to a consideration of the heraldic seals of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland; several concluding chapters turn to the Byzantine empire, Italy and France. “There is no mention of the seals and stamps of the remote East, so much in question in studies of Chinese painting and bronze casting; nothing about the engraved gems of Greek and Greco-Roman antiquity, except as they appear in a few mediæval settings.... The book [fully illustrated] has only four pages of index for over three hundred of text. There is a glossary, but the heraldic terms are not made plain—to the layman.” (Nation.)
“The book is so handsome and well produced as to make us regret that it was not written on a more definite plan.”
− +
Ath. 1908, 2: 75. Jl. 18. 340w.
“The complete history of the engraved stamp remains to be written; but to that history Mr. Birch’s volume is a very notable contribution.”
+
Int. Studio. 36: 80. N. ’08. 430w.
“The vast deal of interesting information in this work is limited in range and hardly made accessible.”
+ −
Nation. 87: 20. Jl. 2, ’08. 560w.
“The only defect one notes is that excessive attention is paid to English, or at least British examples, in contradistinction to those of the continent.”
+ −
N. Y. Times. 13: 99. F. 22, ’08. 280w.
Birt, Rev. Henry Norbert. Elizabethan religious settlement: a study of contemporary documents. *$4.50. Macmillan.
8–13679.
Six hundred pages of careful discussion resulting from the digesting of a huge mass of Elizabethan manuscripts, papers and documents, showing the true relation which the church held to the social development of the sixteenth century. The general purpose of the volume is to put the best face possible on the Roman side, and the worst face possible on the Protestant side, of the Elizabethan controversy.
“We should recommend those who desire to know the truth with regard to that memorable period to place this volume on their shelves by the side of those of Bishop Creighton and of Dr. Gee, and to use all three of them as correctives to Froude’s glowing, but untrustworthy volumes.”
+ +
Ath. 1907, 2: 574. N. 9. 2350w.
“Of first-class value, and must be given a place among books to be read and studied on the subject.” W. H. Frere.
+ + −
Eng. Hist. R. 23: 571. Jl. ’08. 2450w.
“Mr. Birt’s volume should be read side by side with Froude’s work on the same period. Mr. Birt is far more accurate than his brilliant predecessor in the field.”
+
Ind. 65: 494. Ag. 27, ’08. 330w.
“Welcome study.”
+
Nation. 87: 388. O. 22, ’08. 630w.
“His historical treatment of the Elizabethan settlement must be reckoned with by all careful investigators of that period.”
+ + −
Outlook. 88: 145. Ja. 18, ’08. 300w.
“Dom Birt’s volume might be a good deal more one-sided than it is, and it is a solid contribution to the literature of the subject.”
+ −
Sat. R. 105: 18. Ja. 4, ’08. 1220w.
“Mr. Birt has conducted his inquiry [in] a manner which we had hoped was obsolete. Mr. Birt writes history as Johnson wrote his Parliamentary debates, with a determination that the Protestant dogs shall not have the best of it. Mr. Birt is a controversialist first, and an historian only in the second place. His methods all through are those of the special pleader.”
−
Spec. 100: 22. Ja. 4, ’08. 1850w.
Bishop, Avard Longley. State works of Pennsylvania. (Publications of Yale university.) $1.50. Yale univ., New Haven, Ct.
“The monograph contains six chapters and an equal number of appendices, and there is also a good bibliography. The several parts of the study deal, in turn, with the transportation improvements made before 1823, with the popular agitation resulting in the state’s adoption of the policy of public works, with the activities of the state in constructing and financing the canals and railroads, with the many corrupt practices connected therewith, and with the difficulties in selling out the state works after they had shown themselves to be a burden instead of a profit to the state.”
“It has been carefully done, and the result is a chapter in our economic history which should prove very instructive reading to those now interested in the problem of government ownership.” C. W. Wright.
+
J. Pol. Econ. 16: 172. Mr. ’08. 470w.
“Dr. Bishop has made good use of the original material, still to be found in Pennsylvania.”
+
Pol. Sci. Q. 23: 561. S. ’08. 160w.
“The author has done his work thoroughly and most impartially. The sources of information have been amply drawn upon, and the subject has been presented with due conciseness and with good sense of proportion.” E. R. Johnson.
+ +
Yale R. 17: 239. Ag. ’08. 360w.
Bisset, Peter. Book of water-gardening. *$2.50. De La Mare.
7–22907.
Mr. Bisset, superintendent of Mrs. Gardiner Hubbard’s estate, Twin Oaks, Washington, D. C., places within the reach of amateurs the information necessary to establish and conduct an inexpensive water-garden. “It gives directions 36also for the cultivation of aquatic plants upon the large scale demanded by parks and estates.” (Nation.) “A chapter is devoted to gold and other fish for ponds, the different types of fish being carefully described and illustrated.” (N. Y. Times.) The book is fully illustrated.
“The value of a book of instruction and reference like this is much enhanced by a full index, and perhaps one may be given in a second edition.”
+ −
Nation. 86: 199. F. 27, ’08. 250w.
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 264. My. 9, ’08. 110w.
Black, Rev. Hugh. Christ’s service of love. **$1.25. Revell.
7–28618.
Urges Protestants to make more of the sacrament especially as a mark of Christian unity. “While Priestism makes too much of this sacrament, Protestantism makes too little of it, and is weakened thereby. Sensible of this, Professor Black lays needed emphasis on various aspects of the sacramental rite to secure it a more appreciative observance.” (Outlook.)
Am. J. Theol. 12: 675. O. ’08. 20w.
Ind. 64: 640. Mr. 19, ’08. 30w.
N. Y. Times. 13: 77. F. 8, ’08. 40w.
+
Outlook. 87: 357. O. 19, ’07. 170w.
Blackie, John Stuart. On self-culture. 75c. Funk.
Three scholarly essays written by the professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh. They are The culture of the intellect, On physical culture, and On moral culture.
Blackmore, Richard Doddridge. Lorna Doone; with introd. and notes by H. Snowden Ward. (Doonland ed.) $2.50. Harper.
8–28992.
An edition in which the principal new interest is topographical. Both introduction and scenic illustration afford the reader an opportunity to know his Doone-land well.
“Apart from the notes on the Doone controversy, this is an excellent edition of a favourite book.”
+
Ath. 1908, 1: 536. My. 2. 1350w.
“It is hard to see how the work could have been better done. The numerous views, even the wide landscapes, have an admirable clearness and finish. The editor’s lore will please the curious, and will be at least skimmed by the indifferent and careless.”
+
Dial. 45: 411. D. 1, ’08. 240w.
“This edition is particularly excellent.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 692. N. 21, ’08. 270w.
Blake, Katharine Evans. Stuff of a man. il. †$1.50. Bobbs.
8–8301.
A drama enacted among southerners, dealing with the negro question and revealing in the climax the “stuff of a man” which the negro possesses in common with all humanity. Mrs. Blake peoples her stage with a delightful group of men and women, whose inherited courtesy, grace, hospitality and sincerity of heart are capable of expansion into brotherhood magnanimity with which they face the vital racial problem. The phases of this problem set forth and analyzed are the phases confronting the entire South—negro lawlessness and crime that result in mobs and lynchings. Mrs. Blake’s solution is found in the development of the superman in black as well as white.
“It is one of the most wholesome, charming and human love romances of the year, while at the same time it is the best study of the negro question that has been made in fiction.”
+ +
Arena. 39: 592. My. ’08. 660w.
“An example of what Mr. Thomas Dixon, jr., might have accomplished had he possessed poise and the ability to present with equal judgment both sides of a question.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 188. Ap. 4, ’08. 350w.
Bland, Edith (Nesbit) (Mrs. Hubert Bland). Enchanted castle. †$1.25. Harper.
8–15327.
A fairy tale in which a group of natural, fun-loving children of very up-to-date characteristics discover an enchanted castle and a magic ring, instead of an Aladdin’s lamp, which once in their possession makes possible a round of most exciting adventures.
“In its general character it is decidedly above the average run of so-called juvenile literature.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 392. Jl. 11, ’08. 400w.
Sat. R. 104: sup. 8. D. 7, ’07. 130w.
Bland, Hubert. Happy moralist. *$1.25. Kennerley.
Seventeen short chapters containing comments and opinions on literature, art, music, socialism, love, marriage, manners, ethics, with a concluding chapter on Ibsen and Mr. Shaw.
“His work is characterized by a lightness and a certainty of aim which make it invariably pleasant reading, even when it is most frivolous.”
+
Ath. 1908, 1: 320. Mr. 14. 230w.
“Mr. Bland’s style is piquant, now and then a little cynical, characterized throughout by this-worldliness rather than other-worldliness, but never other than light and bright and breezy and thoroughly readable.” P. F. Bicknell.
+
Dial. 44: 337. Je. 1, ’08. 450w.
“His chapters amuse a little, persuade a little, but refuse to nourish and leave us somehow feeling emptier than we were before we read them.”
− +
Nation. 87: 184. Ag. 27, ’08. 180w.
“Each of the essays will have its charm for readers and particular ones their special appeal to the individual.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 334. Je. 13, ’08. 280w.
Bleackley, Horace William. Story of a beautiful duchess; being an account of the life and times of Elizabeth Gunning, duchess of Hamilton and Argyll. *$5. Dutton.
8–15741.
A sketch of the life of the good and beautiful Elizabeth Gunning whose story is to a great extent the story of English society during the latter half of the eighteenth century. “Her life, with a minute account of the famous Douglas cause and a fair picture of the times, is clearly end comfortably given in this volume.” (N. Y. Times.)
“He is particularly to be commended for his researches into the journalism of the eighteenth century, since, though his gleanings may not contribute much to the elucidation of truth, they show, at any rate, what was being said and thought by people like the ‘Tertium quid’ of ‘The ring and the book.’”
+ −
Ath. 1907, 2: 822. D. 28. 600w.
“After completing the book the reader is likely to ask if the author’s efforts have really been worth while.”
+ −
Dial. 45: 120. S. 1, ’08. 240w.
+
Ind. 64: 1404. Je. 18, ’08. 330w.
“It is a pity that honest industry should be marred by such ill taste. So many anecdotal memoirs of the eighteenth century are turned out these days upon the most superficial preparation that we should be glad to commend more heartily a book that is, at least, thoroughly documented, and, in its substance, not without human value.”
− +
Nation. 86: 148. F. 13, ’08. 460w.
“Mr. Bleackley gives us a good portrait of his heroine, enthusiastic, as behooves a man 37writing of a beautiful woman, but careful, and based on thorough research.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 116. F. 29, ’08. 450w.
“The story which extends to upwards of three hundred and fifty pages, is not unusually enthralling or entertaining. However, it is better than the ruck of modern six-shilling novels.”
− +
Sat. R. 104: sup. 10. N. 16, ’07. 90w.
“The book, though written in a too ornate and often awkward style, gives a spirited picture of a time abounding in curious interest. The book is very handsomely got up, and the portraits of the Duchess and members of her family are charmingly reproduced and most attractive.”
+ −
Spec. 99: sup. 752. N. 16, ’07. 270w.
Bligh, William George. Practical design of irrigation works. *$6. Van Nostrand.
Agr 8–246.
“The object of this work is the presentation of the principles which govern the design of irrigation works in such a manner that engineers not specifically conversant with this branch of practice may, by means of the information thus afforded, be enabled to solve suitable plans for such improvements. In order to accomplish this the author has adopted a novel procedure, which consists of analyzing the plans of existing and projected works, pointing out their good and bad features and then developing alternative plans in which improvements suggested by the critical study are incorporated.”—Engin. D.
Engin. D. 3: 191. F. ’08. 250w.
“The book is comparatively free from errors of consequence, except possibly in the complicated formula given for submerged orifices (p. 116), and the incorrect reference to orifice formulas (p. 139), and in the omission of an appropriate index. The author deserves the high appreciation of the profession, however, as having published the most important work yet issued on the design of irrigation works, and his book should find a welcome and useful place in the library of every engineer, and especially every designing engineer interested in the subject of irrigation.” F. W. Hanna.
+ + −
Engin. N. 59: 539. My. 14, ’08. 1700w.
Bliss, William Dwight P., ed. New encyclopaedia of social reform; ed. by W: D. P. Bliss, ed.-in-chief, and Rudolph M. Binder, assistant ed., with the cooperation of many specialists; new ed. *$7.50. Funk.
8–13953.
A new edition of a work which includes all social-reform movements and activities and the economic, industrial, and sociological facts and statistics of all countries and all social subjects. “This is a completely new book, save for a few purely historical economic articles, the subjects of which need no new treatment, but many even of these are either revised or completely rewritten. A comparison of this new edition with the old shows at once that a great improvement has been made. Every article has been written by some specialist on its particular subject.” (R. of Rs.) “The information is, as a rule, remarkably comprehensive, accurate, recent, and judicial.” (Outlook.)
+ +
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 168. Je. ’08.
“It is in fact an evolution, being a far more comprehensive and a vastly superior work to the preceding edition.”
+ +
Arena. 40: 120. Jl. ’08. 500w.
“It is useful in many cases, and we propose to mention, with a view to future improvement, only a few points in which it falls short.”
+ +
Ath. 1908, 1: 761. Je. 20. 330w.
“Clippings have been too freely used. Articles evidently compiled some years ago have not been revised so as to bring their dates up to the approximate present. It would be much more highly valued if it were really expert thru and thru.”
+ −
Ind. 65: 491. Ag. 27, ’08. 420w.
“All the excision, though at times detracting from the more permanent value of the volume, has made room for a great deal of new and up-to-date material, such as will greatly increase its usefulness for reference on all present-day social reform.”
+
J. Pol. Econ. 16: 636. N. ’08. 160w.
“In pithiness and objectivity the work shows a distinct improvement over the first ‘Encyclopedia of social reform’ prepared by Dr. Bliss several years ago. It ought to have a place in every reference library.” E. A. Ross.
+ +
Lit. D. 37: 161. Ag. 1, ’08. 500w.
“In its way will prove as serviceable as its predecessor.”
+
Nation. 87: 9. Jl. 2, ’08. 420w.
“The book fills a special place regarding subjects in the thoughts of almost everybody in active life.”
+ +
N. Y. Times. 13: 440. Ag. 8, ’08. 400w.
“It is true that in some cases what we might reasonably expect to find is wanting. We can think of no reference library to which it would not be an addition.”
+ + −
Outlook. 89: 532. Jl. 4, ’08. 400w.
“Altogether, this book is invaluable to the journalist or the writer upon sociological topics, and all who have occasion to read widely in this field will find its bibliographical references indispensable.”
+ +
R. of Rs. 38: 127. Jl. ’08. 120w.
Blok, Petrus Johannes. History of the people of the Netherlands; tr. by Oscar A. Bierstadt. 5 pts. ea. $2.50. Putnam.
pt. 4. Deals with the period intervening between the renewal of war with Spain in 1621 and the death of William III. in 1702.
“We are glad that Professor Blok shows throughout great judicial poise. His work is on the whole admirable.” W: E. Griffis.
+
Am. Hist. R. 13: 573. Ap. ’08. 700w. (Review of pt. 4.)
+
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 100. Ap. ’08. (Review of pt. 4.)
“Dr. Blok is neither a Motley nor a Macaulay, but for trustworthiness he is a leader beyond these masters of rhetoric and erudite scholarship. Happily, too, Dr. Blok’s decidedly modern Dutch style is strongly and felicitously rendered by the translator, Mr. Oscar A. Bierstadt, who, with his former collaborator, Miss Ruth Putnam, deserves very high praise.”
+
Dial. 44: 103. F. 16, ’08. 840w. (Review of pt. 4.)
“Professor Blok is an authority on questions of fact, and those in search of information can get it from him. But one needs to employ the cyanide process in extracting the ore.”
+ −
Nation. 86: 465. My. 21, ’08. 250w. (Review of pt. 4.)
“Altogether this is an admirable piece of historical work well deserving of being reproduced in English, as has been done by Mr. Oscar A. Bierstadt in a very adequate manner.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 174. Mr. 28, ’08. 300w. (Review of pt. 4.)
“As a rule, Professor Blok’s judgments on men, measures, and events are conspicuously fair and sober, though occasionally, in writing, of foreign relations, he is a Dutchman first and a historian afterwards.”
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Outlook. 88: 97. Ja. 11, ’08. 330w. (Review of pt. 4.)
Bloomfield, Maurice. Religion of the Veda: the ancient religion of India, (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads). (American lectures on the history of religions, 7th ser., 1906–1907.) **$1.50. Putnam.
8–5569.
Sketches “the motives and principles that underlie the remarkable chain of religious ideas 38that leads from the ritual worship of the great nature-gods of the Rig-Veda to the high theosophy of the Upanishads.” The author gives an account of the gods worshiped, gives various translations of Vedic hymns and philosophical works, then turns to the Upanishads or philosophical writings, of the seventeenth century B. C., and gives a description of the early search for truth in the development of the monistic idea.
“A worthy successor to the list of notable volumes thus far included in the series.”
+
Bib. World. 32: 80. Jl. ’08. 40w.
“The lectures, on the whole, while offering little that is new to the scholar, will prove a readable book to any one desiring to know the latest opinions on several points connected with the history of Hindu religion, and references are sufficiently frequent to enable the reader to find out for himself in what particulars Professor Bloomfield’s views differ from those of other scholars.”
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Ind. 64: 1201. My. 28, ’08. 500w.
“In his interpretation of the Vedic hymns the author is inclined to see only one side of religious expression. In the final lectures he gives a good account of the Hindu’s religious life and the goal of religious aspiration.”
+ + −
Nation. 86: 469. My. 21, ’08. 700w.
“Unlike many scholarly discussions, these lectures have a personal charm, for the author, despite the fact that he has devoted a lifetime to research, has not lost his common sense, his humanity, or his sense of humor. His quotations and his comments on them are always delightful.”
+ +
N. Y. Times. 13: 280. My. 16, ’08. 350w.
“The latest volume of a series of standard works [by] a foremost authority on his subject.”
+
Outlook. 88: 656. Mr. 21, ’08. 350w.
Bodine, William Budd. Some hymns and hymn writers; representing all who profess and call themselves Christians: short studies in the hymnal of the Episcopal church. **$3. Winston.
7–38889.
A book of hymns and information about them. “While the material is not sought outside of the choice hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal church, this is sufficiently representative of the church, ancient and modern, in the service of sacred song, in which all sectarian distinctions are ignored.” (Outlook.)
“The book contains much that will interest a lover of hymns.”
+
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 234. O. ’08.
“His grouping of the writers under the different denominations is not a wise grouping. It does not give a clear principle of division. But the book contains a great deal of material that will be prized by the lover of hymns.”
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N. Y. Times. 13: 82. F. 15, ’08. 500w.
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Outlook. 88: 146. Ja. 18, ’08. 100w.
Bogart, Ernest Ludlow. Economic history of the United States. *$1.75. Longmans.
7–41061.
Written for “high-school as well as college students.” The book contains four parts: (1) Colonial development, (2) The struggle for commercial and economic independence (1763 to 1808), (3) The industrial revolution and the westward movement (1808 to 1860), and (4) Economic integration and industrial organization (1860 to 1906). “The characteristics of the successive periods, the forces at work in them, and the various phases of this mighty development, which, as the author remarks, is the keynote of all American history, are saliently outlined.” (Cath. World.)
“For the general student it is the best on the subject yet published.”
+
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 100. Ap. ’08. ✠
“To the student specializing in any particular branch of economic history, the book is of less value than many others. Its value lies in that it presents, in a connected form, the chief events which constituted the economic development of the United States.”
+
Ann. Am. Acad. 31: 497. Mr. ’08. 350w.
+
Cath. World. 87: 113. Ap. ’08. 200w.
“Is the best text-book in its field. It stands the test of class-room use.” C: H. Hull.
+ + −
Econ. Bull. 1: 26. Ap. ’08. 1000w.
“Certainly great credit is due to Professor Bogart for having made a distinct advance over anything yet written.” C. W. Wright.
+ −
J. Pol. Econ. 16: 458. Jl. ’08. 800w.
“The treatment as a whole is unduly objective, burdened by a multitude of details, and it fails to convey the impression of organic development.” Katharine Coman.
− +
Pol. Sci. Q. 23: 332. Je. ’08. 450w.
“We may particularly mention the author’s treatment of the question of slavery, which seems to us admirably concise and illuminating.”
+
Spec. 100: 792. My. 16, ’08. 250w.
“The book is greatly needed. While there are certain respects in which it may show deficiencies, the wonder is that these are so few. It is the best history of its kind for college classes. The style is simple and plain, the explanations clear.” E. D. Fite.
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Yale R. 17: 352. N. ’08. 740w.
Boigne, Comtesse de. Memoirs of the Comtesse de Boigne; ed. from the original ms. by M. Charles Nicoullaud. **$2.50. Scribner.
v. 3. This last volume describes the latter part of the reign of Louis XVIII. and that of Charles X. and gives a first-hand account of the revolution of July, 1830, which made Louis Philippe king. The Comtesse de Boigne was closely associated with the courts of these times and writes interestingly of such men as Talleyrand, Chateaubriand, Guizot, the French royal family, Metternich, the Duc de Richelieu, and other important personages.
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 7. Ja. ’08. (Review of v. 1–3.)
“The translation is generally competent, although it might in many passages be improved.”
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Ath. 1908, 1: 126. F. 1, 700w. (Review of v. 3.)
“The entertaining author is wont to clothe the baldness of fact in the embroidery of fancy. Much, therefore, that she records is to be taken with reservations.”
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Dial. 43: 422. D. 16, ’07. 400w. (Review of v. 2.)
Dial. 44: 278. My. 1, ’08. 400w. (Review of v. 3.)
“She is so obviously honest a witness, so clearly desirous of telling the truth, that her inaccuracies, though abundant, do not detract from the value of her evidence. Her political sympathies were not strong enough to blind her to facts nor to tempt her to misrepresent them. The English translation is respectable and accurate. A book so interesting in substance remains attractive even when it has lost the graces of style and manner which charm us in the original.” P. F. Willert.
+ + −
Eng. Hist. R. 23: 179. Ja. ’08. 2250w. (Review of v. 1 and 2.)
“The author carefully restricts herself to being ‘the careful chronicler of the impressions of the moment,’ and resists the temptation to interpret events in the light of after history.”
+
Ind. 64: 975. Ap. 30, ’08. 250w. (Review of v. 3.)
+ +
Lit. D. 36: 765. My. 23, ’08. 400w. (Review of v. 2 and 3.)
“The third volume, completing the work, deserves less consideration [than the second]. The most vivid pages are those describing the circumstances 39connected with the death of the Duc de Berry, but for the larger part the volume is made up of small talk.”
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Nation. 86: 405. Ap. 30, ’08. 400w. (Review of v. 2 and 3.)
“They are all very charming and told with that intimate touch which French writers alone seem capable at all times of imparting to their narratives.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 125. Mr. 7, ’08. 2100w. (Review of v. 3.)
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N. Y. Times. 13: 337. Je. 13, ’08. 270w. (Review of v. 3.)
“There is a good deal of padding for a little lightness in these volumes, but on the whole one is repaid.” G. I. Colbron.
+ −
No. Am. 187: 773. My. ’08. 1500w. (Review of v. 1 and 2.)
Outlook. 87: 830. D. 14, ’07. 130w. (Review of v. 2.)
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Sat. R. 105: 476. Ap. 11, ’08. 70w. (Review of v. 3.)
Bolton, Reginald Pelham. Elevator service: operating conditions and proportions; with diagrams, formulas, and tables for passenger travel, schedule and express operation, with the relation of the elevators to the building, and proportions and loads of cars. *$5. Reginald P. Bolton, 527 5th av., N. Y.
8–7889.
“The book discusses in considerable detail the various features of the problem of elevator service as it is affected by the floor area of the building in relation to its height, the characteristic operating conditions that ordinarily obtain in business buildings and the effect of the personal equation of both operators and passengers upon the service, and many suggestions are offered as a result of careful studies of the problem.”—Engin. Rec.
+
Engin. D. 3: 529. My. ’08. 250w.
“It is to be regretted that a work of such range and value should be marred by minor blemishes which will no doubt be corrected in later editions. In spite of these the book is deserving of commendation.” W: H. Bryan.
+ −
Engin. N. 59: 436. Ap. 16, ’08. 1800w.
+
Engin. Rec. 57: 540. Ap. 18, ’08. 300w.
Bond, Beverly Waugh, jr. Monroe mission to France 1794–1796. 50c. Johns Hopkins.
7–22912.
Descriptive note in Dec. 1907.
“Altogether, it is an interesting bit of history, and the author has succeeded in shedding new light upon this episode.”
+
Ann. Am. Acad. 31: 264. Ja. ’08. 220w.
Bondurant, Bernard Camillus. Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus: a historical study. *75c. Univ. of Chicago press.
7–28562.
A dissertation offered for a doctor’s degree. “Dr. Bondurant begins by giving an analysis of the text; then comes a list of dates of important events connected with the career of Decimus Brutus after the death of Caesar—i. e., from 15 March 44 B. C. to September 43 B. C.—followed by a selected list of books, articles, and dissertations, while at the end of the work there is a good index of proper names. The work itself is a careful study of the period.” (Eng. Hist. R.)
“The work has been carefully done and the results arrived at are, in general, sound.” H: A. Sanders.
+
Class. Philol. 13: 212. Ap. ’08. 440w.
“Dr. Bondurant’s personal affection for Brutus has distinctly injured his critical faculty. The treatise will be valued by students of this period, on account of the scholarly care with which the authorities are given for every statement.” W. A. G.
+ −
Eng. Hist. R. 23: 192. Ja. ’08. 260w.
Booth, Edward C. Post-girl. (Eng. title, Cliff end.) †$1.50. Century.
8–20677.
A story set among the out-of-the-way cliffs of Yorkshire. To Cliff Wrangham there comes a young composer bent upon the task of finishing a concerto. He finds among the diverting natives a wonderful girl, Pamela Searle, who in babyhood, had been dropped into this corner of the world, and had grown to reflect, chameleon like, the glories of sky and sea, and to exult in her elemental strength. She carries the mail at six shillings a week; is the object of the somber passion of the schoolmaster. When the “Spawer” comes he teaches her the beauty of his world, the world of art which she has longed to know. The struggle between the old influences and the new, the love which comes on apace, and the mad determination of the schoolmaster to thwart it furnish elements for an unusually strong story.
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 244. O. ’08. ✠
“The book will suggest Barrie’s ‘Little minister,’ but it is in no sense an imitation.”
+
Arena. 40: 392. O. ’08. 1200w.
“The whole impression that you retain from the book, is of careful workmanship, sincerity of purpose and that deep insight which comes from a sympathetic interest in human life.” F: T. Cooper.
+
Bookm. 27: 578. Ag. ’08. 300w.
“He has a manner almost Meredithian in its richness, but without the Meredithian asperity.” W: M. Payne.
+ +
Dial. 45: 85. Ag. 16, ’08. 470w.
“The ‘Post-girl’ joins to freshness of atmosphere an artistic touch, a technical felicity, which, gracefully light in its comedy, lacks neither poetry nor strength in its sentiment.”
+
Ind. 65: 551. S. 3, ’08. 170w.
“There breathes no man or woman—or only the fewest at least admirable of our race—who will not be glad to read this sweet and tender story.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 387. Jl. 11, ’08. 520w.
“It is surprisingly fresh and fine. To our taste the author lingers too long over the talk of his characters, and sometimes the flow of good spirits runs rather thin.”
+ −
Outlook. 89: 956. Ag. 22, ’08. 160w.
Borsa, Mario. English stage of today; tr. by Selwyn Brinton. *$2.50. Lane.
8–9149.
A concise treatment particularly illuminating to foreigners. “Among the principal subjects which it passes in review, are the nature of English playgoers, actors, and actor-managers, the leading dramatists and critics, the Stratford-on-Avon celebrations; the work of the various independent theatres, the realistic and the literary drama, the Irish theatre, and the censorship.” (Nation.)
“Dr. Borsa’s survey of the contemporary British drama is a better book in its English dress, as edited and translated by Mr. Selwyn Brinton than it was in its original Italian form as published a year ago in Milan. There are still some minor inaccuracies which should have been corrected, but they are not sufficiently grave to destroy the value of the book as a whole.”
+ + −
Acad. 73: 250. D. 14, ’07. 460w.
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 254. N. ’08.
“Dr. Borsa’s book challenges attention. Dr. Borsa’s chapters are the merest journalism. Some of his judgments on plays have a certain piquancy as revealing an attitude of mind and a philosophy of life other than our own; but the bulk of his matter is ephemeral, while his criticism is too often marred by his tendency to exaggeration inherent in ‘impressionism.’”
− +
Ath. 1908, 1: 204. F. 16. 540w.
“An attempt, on the whole a successful one, to analyze present dramatic conditions and possibilities in England.”
+
Dial. 44: 248. Ap. 16, ’08. 300w.
40“Not for a long time has there been published a more pertinent treatise on current stage matters in England than that of Dr. Mario Borsa.”
+ +
Ind. 64: 1039. My. 7, ’08. 300w.
“He has written a most attractive, instructive, and clear-headed work, which will repay the study of all persons interested in theatrical affairs.”
+ + −
Nation. 85: 594. D. 26, ’07. 1200w.
“The book is the work of a man who understands the human heart and who can express himself with power. It is of value in excess of mere criticism, for it constructs and explains, bringing that fresh eye and open mind as necessary in life as in art. The translation by Selwyn Brinton is felicitous.” Hildegarde Hawthorne.
+ +
N. Y. Times. 13: 97. F. 22, ’08. 1500w.
“The book would be more helpful if its criticism were more constructive, but as an attempt to diagnose the malady which afflicts the drama in England it is singularly successful.” S. R. Cook.
+
Putnam’s. 4: 234. My. ’08. 400w.
Bosch, Mrs. Hermann. Bridget. $1.50. Dodge, B. W.
8–11700.
A prepossessing Irish girl is the heroine of this story. Her career from the landing with immigrant companions on Ellis island to the end of a romance with a footman in a millionaire establishment is sketched with special detail given to the pitfalls along the servant’s way to an honest living.
“Inartistic and exaggerated, but humorous, clean and rather unique.”
− +
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 267. N. ’08.
“The book remains wholesome and entertaining.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 296. My. 23, ’08. 200w.
Bose, Jagadis Chunder. Comparative electro-physiology. *$5.75. Longmans.
8–13638.
A work which is complementary to Professor Bose’s books on response in the living and nonliving, and plant response. “[He generalizes] that the responses of all living substances are similar, and that responses are to be found even in inorganic substances. The similarity depends on some common fundamental reaction of matter. The response is recorded largely by electrical methods. Motor responses are also considered, particularly in plants; but they are treated also rather less fully in animals.” (Nation.)
“The author has made a valuable contribution to the knowledge of the extremely difficult subject of electro-physiology, and whether or not his conclusions prove to be accurate in detail, there can be no doubt of their general truth. His observations, therefore, are useful alike to the physiologist (concerned with animals or plants), the physicist, and the psychologist, by all of whom his book should be read carefully.”
+ −
Ath. 1908, 1: 357. Mr. 21. 1000w.
“The author herein shows the same peculiarities as in the preceding volume. There is the same naïve interest in well-known phenomena, as though they were quite novel; there is the same lack of effort to connect his work with that of others, so far, at least, as citing their researches or results is concerned. There is much repetition of the earlier volume; the same tilting at windmills. This book shares with its predecessor, also, the confusion between energy and stimulus, a confusion that is possible because we know so little of plant energetics. Bose seems to ignore, if he is not ignorant of, the anatomy of the parts with which he is dealing. Out of these books we look for someone to rescue many good observations, now apparently gone awry.” C. R. B.
− +
Bot. Gaz. 46: 58. Jl. ’08. 1100w.
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Nation. 86: 222. Mr. 5, ’08. 250w.
“Prof. Bose has great ingenuity in device of experimental apparatus, fertility in initiating new lines of observation, and a clear style of setting forth his experimental results and theoretical deductions; nevertheless, we feel far from satisfied with his performance. The whole book abounds in interesting matter skilfully woven together, and would be recommended as of great value if it did not continually arouse our incredulity.” L. H.
+ −
Nature. 77: sup. 3. Mr. 5, ’08. 1500w.
Boulger, Demetrius C. de K. Life of Sir Halliday Macartney. *$6. Lane.
8–21787.
The story of forty-four years of useful service to the Chinese empire. Sir Halliday Macartney commanded Li Hung Chang’s trained force in the Taeping rebellion, founded the first Chinese arsenal, was secretary to the first Chinese embassy to Europe, and secretary and councillor to the Chinese legation in London for thirty years. The narrative is one of historical interest. The book is fully illustrated.
“Sir Halliday’s career was interesting, but not such as to furnish material for a volume of 515 pages. Mr. Boulger has been driven to surround his subject with essays on the political and other events touched upon, and to invest his hero with an importance which did not naturally belong to him.”
+ −
Ath. 1908, 2: 398. O. 3. 960w.
Nation. 87. 236. S. 10, ’08. 1100w.
N. Y. Times. 13: 380. Jl. 4, ’08. 460w.
R. of Rs. 38: 254. Ag. ’08. 60w.
“He was a voluminous writer of letters and despatches, to many of which Mr. Boulger has had access, and, which he quotes profusely in a volume which is somewhat too much expanded by their aid.”
+ −
Sat. R. 106: 302. S. 5, ’08. 1250w.
Bourget, Paul. Weight of the name. †$1.50. Little.
8–9812.
A French marquis who proclaims his divine right to power and fame thru his name and lineage, who has the pride and the religious veneration of his race and of old France, faces the fact that his only son loves the daughter of a provincial notary. Close in the wake of this discovery comes the appalling revelation that this son is the child of his dead wife and a trusted friend. The magic of lineage cannot set straight this irregular fact and as his pride is humbled he grows more amenable to influences that soften and lead to a more democratic outlook on life.
“His ideas are so pronounced that for friends of democratic and religious advance the book holds little or no interest.”
− +
Arena. 40: 269. S. ’08. 140w.
“Though the elements of the story are few, and there is nothing violent in the action, M. Bourget’s superb art and psychology construct an intensely interesting story in which there are two or three powerful situations.”
+
Cath. World. 87: 403. Je. ’08. 400w.
“This touching story keeps in its English dress much of the peculiar charm, the quivering intensity of emotion never verging upon mawkishness, of the original.”
+ + −
Nation. 86: 401. Ap. 30, ’08. 550w.
“The character of this finely tempered and uncompromising old nobleman is drawn with skill and affection; and while in the love passages the novelist does not escape his tendency to be didactic, the story as a whole gains immensely in vitality over his earlier work, because he has put his heart into it.”
+ + −
Outlook. 89: 84. My. 9, ’08. 200w.
“Monsieur Bourget sustains his reputation as scientific analyst by exhibiting both the value to a country of a stable territorial aristocracy and at the same time the evils springing from its ways of thought.”
+
R. of Rs. 37: 765. Je. ’08. 300w.
41Bousset, Wilhelm. What is religion? (Crown theological lib.) *$1.50. Putnam.
8–12833.
“Bousset’s work in eight chapters deals, after the introduction, with the religion of savages, with national, prophetic, legal, and redemptive religions, and with the nature and future of Christianity. It is an ambitious attempt, therefore, to review popularly all of religion as at present understood, to show its origins and development, its varieties, its present status and future prospects. It reaches the conclusion that Christianity is the acme of development in its union of the elements of morality, redemption, and assurance of the future life.”—Am. J. Theol.
Reviewed by G: W. Gilmore.
+
Am. J. Theol. 12: 322. Ap. ’08. 270w.
“This is an extremely interesting book.”
+
Ath. 1908, 2: 435. O. 10. 520w.
Reviewed by T. D. A. Cockerell.
Dial. 44: 213. Ap. 1, ’08. 130w.
“Professor Bousset is well equipped for his task, and writes here, as always, in a limpidly clear and graphic manner, enabling the reader to see a century in a sentence. He approaches his task sympathetically, which cannot be said of all students of religion.” W. Jones-Davies.
+
Hibbert J. 6: 682. Ap. ’08. 2300w.
“The book is not a thoro treatise, either in the philosophy of religion or in its history, but as an introduction to the modern science of comparative religion it is of much value.”
+
Ind. 64: 1403. Je. 18, ’08. 330w.
“As a rapid survey of the field of comparative religion and a concise and graphic description of the chief types of religion, Professor Bousset’s lectures are of merit. In its English dress the book scarcely does justice to the author of the learned and exhaustive history of the Jewish religion in the age of the New Testament.”
+ −
Nation. 86: 445. My. 14, ’08. 350w.
“The book is an excellent introduction to the study of the nature of religion and its development into the religions of the world.”
+
N. Y. Times. 12: 829. D. 14, ’07. 250w.
Boutet de Monvel, Roger. Beau Brummell and his times. **$2.50. Lippincott.
8–34712.
“It is a strange mingling of comedy and tragedy, this story of the Regent’s friend, the bully of society, the arbiter elegantiarum, and then the broken-down exile, brave against all his enemies save, disease and death.” (Nation.) “The book is a vivid picture of the brilliant heartless, and witty society under the Regent. We get glimpses of the court, its festivities, and its petty squabbles, wherever Brummell brings his imposing figure, the ‘sublime dandy,’ the ornament and leader of society.” (Ath.)
“This is an altogether charming book. The notes, drawn from contemporary sources, are brief and admirable, giving just the information needed. The attitude throughout is French, and, on the whole, sympathetic. There is no unnecessary moralizing.”
+
Ath. 1908, 1: 535. My. 2. 1400w.
“The author approaches his subject absolutely without prejudice. In his attitude there is neither admiration nor contempt, but a kind of blending of the two, and above all, wonder and sly amusement.” A. B. Maurice.
+
Bookm. 28: 268. N. ’08. 1800w.
“A delightfully picturesque and sympathetic study, etched on the background of contemporary English life.”
+
Dial. 45: 217. O. 1, ’08. 300w.
Ind. 65: 1176. N. 19, ’08. 60w.
“An entertaining brief account.”
+
Nation. 87: 314. O. 1, ’08. 200w.
“M. de Monvel’s work is exceedingly well done; it gives us strong and clear impressions of the famous London dandy and the folk among whom he lived his life.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 554. O. 10, ’08. 340w.
N. Y. Times. 13: 621. O. 24, ’08. 40w.
Bovill, W. B. Forster. Hungary and the Hungarians. **$2. McClure.
8–34714.
Mr. Bovill tells what the Hungarians are, what their resources and short comings are, and how their institutions and ideals make them “the most bewildering, fascinating, hospitable race in Europe.” He admits they are lacking in the genius for practical organization which insures a sound political basis for a government.
“A readable, and, above all, an informing book.”
+
Ind. 65: 1180. N. 19, ’08. 80w.
“W. B. Forster Bovill has performed a good service in writing his book.”
+
N. Y. Times. 13: 638. O. 31, ’08. 420w.
“Some very vivid descriptive writing about a comparatively unknown fascinating people makes this volume an unusually attractive work of descriptive travels.”
+
R. of Rs. 38: 639. N. ’08. 120w.
Bowen, Edwin Winfield. Makers of American literature: a class-book on American literature. *$2.50. Neale.
8–5135.
Not a history but a guide to the study of American literature. “It purports simply to discuss and consider the literary achievements of our leading American authors,—those who stand out most conspicuously in a general survey of our literature and who are recognized among the foremost makers of American literature.” There are informing chapters on Franklin, Irving, Cooper, Poe, Prescott, Hawthorne, Emerson, Bryant, Longfellow, Holmes, Whittier, Lowell, Lanier and Whitman.
Bowen, Marjorie. Sword decides. †$1.50. McClure.
8–10858.
The court of Naples in the 14th century is here depicted with much local color. The life and evil deeds of Giovanna, the queen, and her diplomatic relations with the principality of Hungary form a subject around which is grouped much incident having a wealth of melodramatic detail.
“Miss Bowen’s style has improved in directness and ease. It is still highly coloured and fresh and young; she has still little thought of restraint; but one accepts the wealth of material, and the profusion even of horrors, for the sake of genuine promise. Her strong point is not character, but she has one or two excellent portraits.”
+ −
Ath. 1908, 1: 506. Ap. 25. 150w.
“When all is said there is nothing remarkable about the story except the author’s youth, her evident reversion to type, and her extraordinary use of words expressing color.”
+
Ind. 65: 151. Jl. 16, ’08. 460w.
“Has none of the stiff, unreal quality of most very old-world tales, and looms as vividly before us as if it concerned the passing events of the present day. And still it never loses the spirit, never drops the phraseology, never forgets the air and glamour of the time in which it is set.”
+ +
N. Y. Times. 13: 253. My. 2, ’08. 250w.
“Not archaeological exactness and faithful portraiture of character constitute the indispensable elements to fiction of this class, but descriptive vividness and dramatic sharpness. These two requirements are certainly reached by Miss Marjorie Bowen.”
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R. of Rs. 37: 764. Je. ’08. 80w.
“What pleases us most in Miss Bowen’s work is her freedom from any pretentiousness in style or in reflection; she indulges but rarely in intellectual flights of general comment on the mysteries of life, and she is never precious.”
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Sat. R. 105: 634. My. 16, ’08. 400w.
Bower, B. M. (B. M. Sinclair). Lure of the dim trails. †$1.50. Dillingham. 7–32836.
Once again Mr. Bower writes a story of the west beyond the Mississippi “where the trails 42of men are dim and far apart.” His hero is a cowboy whose romance begins when the heroine of the tale calls him a coward.
“It may all have been done before, but probably there is little harm in that, and it is done here as well as anywhere else.”
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N. Y. Times. 13: 12. Ja. 4, ’08. 120w.
Bower, Frederick Orpen. Origin of a land flora: a theory based upon the facts of alternation. *$5.50. Macmillan.
8–19077.
A technical study presented by the professor of botany in the Glasgow university mainly concerned with the theories as to the origin of the leafy fern-plant and of the moss-fruit. “Starting with the hypothesis that the origin of our present land flora is to be found in an aquatic ancestry, the author’s main object is to ascertain to what extent the life histories of the higher plants justify such an assumption, and to trace as far as possible the methods by which aquatic plants specialised themselves in order to attain a land habit. Thus Professor Bower makes a comparative study of plants from the point of view of descent.” (Sat. R.)
“It should be read by everyone interested in the evolution and development of plant-life.”
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Ath. 1908, 1: 608. My. 16. 880w.
“The scope of the volume is very broad and its spirit is admirable. The volume is a monument to the research power and philosophical insight of its distinguished author.” J. M. C.
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Bot. Gaz. 46: 56. Jl. ’08. 1350w.
“All botanists owe a debt of gratitude to the author for the theory which he has so systematically worked out, as well as for the detailed investigations to which it has been the guide. No more important contribution to scientific botany has appeared in England since the revival of botanical research in this country in the seventies of the past century. Nothing can be better for English botany than the appearance of such a book as this, a full and most original treatise on an important branch of the science by one who is an acknowledged master of his subject.” D. H. S.
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Nature. 79: 1. N. 5, ’08. 2900w.
“Perhaps the most important contribution to the theoretical side of botany during the present generation.”
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Sat. R. 105: 732. Je. 6, ’08. 450w.
“It is in all ways a thoroughly satisfactory book.” C: E. Bessey.
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Science, n.s. 27: 618. Ap. 17, ’08. 950w.
“It is a remarkable contribution to botanical literature.”
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Spec. 100: 791. My. 16, ’08. 470w.
* Bowie, Augustus Jesse, jr. Practical irrigation, its value and cost; with tables of comparative cost, relative soil production, reservoir dimensions and capacities and other data of value to the practical farmer. *$3. McGraw.
8–19875.
“Chapters 1 to 7 deal in a brief and more or less elementary manner with some of the broad features of irrigation and the remaining nine chapters deal almost wholly with irrigation pumping plants and the construction of artificial reservoirs.... The book contains very little information concerning irrigation farming, although its title might be taken to indicate otherwise.”—Engin. N.
“From the viewpoint of the agriculturist the entire work will be found of practical benefit, and from the viewpoint of the engineer the treatment of pumping systems and of the artificial reservoirs will be equally valuable.” F. W. Hanna.
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Engin. N. 60: 189. Ag. 13, ’08. 560w.
“Throughout the whole treatment of these subjects the author is distinctly ‘practical,’ in that he dwells insistently on the cost of the different classes of work and on the total cost of the service they will perform.”
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Engin. Rec. 58: 531. N. 7, ’08. 500w.
Bowne, Borden Parker. Personalism. **$1.50. Houghton.
8–6100.
The N. W. Harris lectures for 1907, Northwestern university. Professor Bowne discusses the subject of personal metaphysics; shows the relation of sound philosophy to science and to common sense; points out that the field of science is empirical phenomena, while philosophy’s realm is that of causality and purpose behind experience; and agrees with Comte that abstract and impersonal metaphysics is a mirage of formal ideas which begin, continue and end in abstraction and confusion. He stands for a personal idealism in philosophy and the possibility of an enlightened orthodoxy in religion.
A. L. A. Bkl. 4: 169. Je. ’08.
“His metaphysics is likely to provoke amusement in many minds, rather than serious consideration.”
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Nation. 86: 559. Je. 18, ’08. 1150w.
“His style is beautifully, even amazingly, simple and lucid, and though of course his chapters are not what is called easy reading, that is the reader’s fault, not Dr. Bowne’s.”
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N. Y. Times. 13: 168. Mr. 28, ’08. 700w.
“For a thorough exposure of radical fallacies in philosophic and popular thought, and for clear pragmatic thinking toward the ultimate reality of an all-embracing Intelligence and Will, as the ground of this personal world, beginners in philosophy will find this an eminently serviceable book.”
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Outlook. 90: 43. S. 5, ’08. 300w.
Boxall, George E. Awakening of a race. *$2.75. Wessels.
7–32830.
Descriptive note and excerpts in Dec. 1907.
“We fully appreciate this writer’s legitimate discontent with certain aspects of our social life, and may agree with him, that it is ignorance of human nature that underlies much of the evil. But Mr. Boxall is himself not well informed, and his total inappreciation of the inwardness of great religious and social problems renders his book quite valueless for purposes of reform.”
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Spec. 100: sup. 125. Ja. 25, ’08. 430w.
Boyce, Neith, pseud. (Mrs. Hutchins Hapgood). The bond: a novel of modern marriage. †$1.50. Duffield.
8–11083.
A story of the clashing of temperaments. A young artist weds an idealistic young woman. Liking and interest seem to be the only requirements of their bond. These elements prove incapable of sustaining the two natures thru experiences of married life and they “quarrel, jar and nag, as no two persons outside a comic paper could ever be induced to do.” It is once more a study of the artistic temperament suffering amid unsubordinated crass experiences.