I

Ibañez, Vincent Blasco.^[11] Shadow of the cathedral: a novel; tr. from the Spnish by Mrs. W. A. Gillespie. **$1.35. Dutton.

“The present mental and social decadence of Spain is set forth with startling force and vividness in the pages of this book. The hero, an idealist educated for the priesthood, abjures his faith and becomes a revolutionary. After a life of flight, imprisonment, and torture he comes back to the cathedral in the old, proud decadent city of Toledo and spends his last days under the shadow of this institution, which, with its splendor, its pride, its love of tradition, and its narrowness, so aptly typifies the condition of modern Spain.”—R. of Rs.

“A serious book this, with a most serious patriotic purpose. A book notable also, for its descriptions of the cathedrals, its splendid past, its obscure present, for its frank review of Spanish history as the world sees it. A picture and a sermon, but not a clarion call.”

+ Ind. 67: 548. S. 2, ’09. 350w.

“Mrs. Gillespie’s work is deserving of praise.”

+ N. Y. Times. 14: 550. S. 18, ’09. 380w.

“Judging by the pages we have compared, Mrs. Gillespie’s translation is reasonably adequate, though neither inspired nor free from blunders. Considered as a story, it must all be voted tedious. Yet one sees a marked and significant ‘tendenz’ running through the rather poor imitation of a story.”

− + Nation. 89: 380. O. 21, ’09. 450w.

“It is not often that the English-speaking world is permitted a glimpse into the soul life of another people which is so vivid and impressive as that given by the Spanish novelist Ibañez.”

+ R. of Rs. 40: 635. N. ’09. 140w.

In American fields and forests, by H: D. Thoreau and others. **$1.50. Houghton.

9–13942.

A collection of representative sketches by six eminent writers on nature: Henry D. Thoreau; John Burroughs; John Muir; Bradford Torrey; Dallas Lore Sharp; and Olive Thorne Miller. The subjects included are birds, beasts, frogs, and fishes; ponds, wild apples, the cow; forests and wild flowers; strawberries and trout-fishing; and the territory covered extends from Massachusetts to California, from the coast of Maine to North Carolina. “The book represents both the literary outcome and the literary inspiration of an important movement in American life.”

“Useful for supplementary school work and also attractive for general circulation.”

+ A. L. A. Bkl. 5: 170. Je. ’09.

“A good representative selection. It would have been difficult to choose more wisely.” M. E. Cook.

+ Dial. 46: 362. Je. 1, ’09. 800w.

+ N. Y. Times. 14: 278. My. 1, ’09. 220w.

Ingram, Eleanor Barie.^[10] Game and the candle. †$1.50. Bobbs.

9–28032.

Although the plot of this novel centers about the court of a nameless mid-European empire it is not of the swash-buckling order. The villain is kept in the background and his works merely serve to bring out more strongly the characters of the three who share heroic honors; the regent who is building a strong state only that he may turn it loyally over to his cousin, the heir, when he comes of age; the young emperor who keeps his heart true to the regent although enemies beset him with false tales of treachery; and a young Californian who serves them both at the risk of his own life. There is a double love story delicately handled, and there is much political intrigue cleverly worked out. The whole is pleasing reading for an idle hour.

“To be interesting is all that can be demanded of a story frankly impossible, and this demand is met by Eleanor M. Ingram’s novel.”

+ − N. Y. Times. 14: 724. N. 20, ’09. 250w.

Innes, Norman.^[10] Lonely guard. **$1.20. Jacobs.

Austria in 1743 under Maria Theresa is the scene of this tale of pretty sword play, wrongs righted, and love won. A young Scotch officer 225in the Austrian army is sent to Rohn on the lonely frontier to protect her majesty’s interests. Here he finds two beautiful young countesses in possession. The way he wins them to himself and his cause, the price paid and the risks run, form the plot of the story which involves numerous characters, much villainy, and many brave and gallant deeds.

N. Y. Times. 14: 598. O. 9, ’09. 180w.

International bureau of American republics, Washington, D. C.^[8] Chile: a handbook. $1. International bureau of American republics.

A thorogoing handbook covering the following points: Geography, area and population, boundaries, topography, orography, hydrography, climatology, flora and fauna; Government and constitution, citizenship, rights of foreigners, education, judiciary, army and navy; Political divisions, the capital, its resources, means of communication, banks, public buildings, etc.; Provinces and territory; Agriculture, government lands, land laws; Mining and metallurgy, mining laws; Manufacturing industries, immigration; Commerce, imports and exports, ports, etc.; Finance and banking; Means of communication.

“Packed with information and statistics.”

+ Ind. 67: 830. O. 7, ’09. 110w.

“The text, brief but to the point, has been thoroughly edited, and should prove of interest not alone to persons desiring a business knowledge of the country but to those who care to learn the vital facts about a most interesting land, and one whose development in recent years has been surprising.”

+ N. Y. Times. 14: 645. O. 23, ’09. 250w.

“A book to be commended.”

+ Outlook. 93: 9. S. 4, ’09. 270w.

“The work cannot fail to be very useful as a reference work to students and those who have a commercial interest in the Southern continent.”

+ R. of Rs. 40: 512. O. ’09. 50w.

International conference on state and local taxation.^[5] State and local taxation: second international conference under the auspices of the International tax association, held at Toronto, Ontario, October 6–9, 1908: addresses and proceedings. International tax assn., Columbus, O.

9–6973.

A volume which contains a discussion of methods of taxation and assessment, by officials and educators from all parts of the United States and Canada. Problems of administration and the economic effects of legislation are considered from different viewpoints. This volume and that published after the foregoing conference, represent the latest conclusions of administrators in regard to practical problems and the best modern thought.

“An examination of the volume ... impresses the reader with the variety of subjects considered, the varying degrees of excellence in the papers and the irrelevancy of a too considerable part of the discussion. The International tax association has given us two excellent volumes well edited well arranged and attractively printed.” F. L. McVey.

+ − Pol. Sci. Q. 24: 546. S. ’09. 1000w.

International congress of applied chemistry, 7th.^[8] Rise and progress of the British explosive industry. *$5.25. Macmillan.

“The joint product of a number of authorities on the subject which on account of this multiple authorship does not attempt to preserve unity of treatment. It is a series of papers, fairly consecutive, in which the hitherto hidden stories of the development of the explosives trade are given. The titles of the chapters, as follows, will probably give the best idea of the contents: History of gunpowder, Researches of gunpowder, Nitrocellulose, Nitro-glycerine, Permitted explosives, Percussion caps, Safety fuses, Fireworks, Legislation, Bibliography and Chronology. In the latter part of the book there are given short descriptions of all the public and private explosives factories on the British Isles.”—Engin. N.

+ Engin. D. 6: 430. N. ’09. 160w.

“The history of the early days of the industry will have much of interest even to the laity.”

+ Engin. N. 62: sup. 4. Jl. 15, ’09. 220w.

“It is one of the finest examples of what can be done by a committee of scientists and engineers co-operating with intelligence. As a reference book on the history of explosives, it has a unique and permanent value.”

+ Engin. Rec. 60: 448. O. 16, ’09. 220w.

“It hardly fulfils the expectation that its appearance arouses, for more than half the book is occupied with bibliographical and chronological tables and statistics of the governmental and private factories now existing in England, useful for reference, no doubt, but unreadable.”

− + Nation. 89: 82. Jl. 22, ’09. 160w.

“A valuable addition to the literature of explosives.” J. S. S. B.

+ Nature. 81: 190. Ag. 12, ’09. 930w.

“A large part of the text could have been omitted without serious loss, yet the research student must examine it in detail. The book is a disappointing one and most so in the matter of statistics.” C: E. Munroe.

− + Science, n.s. 30: 309. S. 3, ’09. 700w.

Irwin, Louise Godfrey.^[11] Secret of Old Thunder-head. †$1.50. Holt.

9–26808.

A story of a summer spent by a city boy and girl with cousins on a Vermont farm. To the joys of out-of-door life are added the interest of hidden treasure and the excitement of finding it.

Irwin, Wallace Admar. Letters of a Japanese schoolboy. †$1.50. Doubleday.

9–4915.

“I am a Japanese Schoolboy age 35 years & I come to this Free Country for some following reasons: (1) To save up money for old age; (2) To learn so much I can; (3) To wait on table 14 hours Daily at Boarding house of Mrs. C. W. O’Brien, honorable lady.” So the first letter opens. There pass under his scrutiny America’s practices, tolerated evils, fads and foibles. In his series of observations, included in some forty letters, he touches upon such subjects as The yellow peril. Lady suffergetts and how they do it. Hon. Niggers, was they freed by Lincoln, Hon. Simple life among ambassadors, Hon. Modesty: is it a disease. Hon. Gasolene, My conception of the presidency, High tariff on princes, The servant problem, The Hon. Bomb, The Alcoholic temperance movement, and Fall hats and the ladies inside of them.

“Clever, humorous, sometimes enlightening.”

+ A. L. A. Bkl. 5: 114. Ap. ’09.

“Their humour stands the test of continuous reading and survives the passing events that furnished the subjects. They belong to humorous literature as distinct from humorous journalism.” John Macy.

+ Bookm. 29: 311. My. ’09. 1050w.

“The book is wholesome in tone, as well as mirth-provoking.”

+ Dial. 46: 300. My. 1, ’09. 270w.

“In some of the later letters the Oriental point of view is quite lost sight of. For rapid or intermittent reading, it is not a bad book; it will add to the wholesome laughter of the passing hour.”

+ − Nation. 88: 309. Mr. 25, ’09. 400w.

226“Assisted by an eminent author, poor Togo lost the characteristic naïveté and charming simplicity of his own style, and these letters of his are burdened with words and phrases that he never dreamed of using. This, of course, is not to deny that the book is a fine example of what clever verbal jugglery can produce. Droll, grotesque, humorous, the book makes us merry as we turn its pages.” K. K. Kawakami.

+ − N. Y. Times. 14: 180. Mr. 27, ’09. 680w.

“Mr. Irwin knows his Japs as well as Mr. Dunne knows his ‘Mr. Dooley,’ and that is saying a great deal.”

+ R. of Rs. 40: 255. Ag. ’09. 100w.

Irwin, William Henry.^[12] Confessions of a con man: as told to Will Irwin. *$1. Huebsch.

9–21868.

A “con” man’s confessions with the value of a human document; for Mr. Irwin takes us into his confidence and tells us that they are real experiences of a real dweller in the underworld. The confidence man tells how he learned to cheat at cards; how the largest profits of a circus came from the confidence outfits and gambling games that accompany it, how new devices are unnecessary for catching the unwary, that three-card monte and the gold brick game are still perpetrated with success.

“The con man’s revelations of his life and the tricks of his trade are of much curious—and human—interest.”

+ N. Y. Times. 14: 525. S. 4, ’09. 600w.

Irwin, William Henry. Pictures of old Chinatown, by Arnold Genthe; with texts by Will Irwin. **$1. Moffat.

8–33429.

Dr. Genthe’s fifty-six reproduced photographs making a picture record of Chinatown as it was before the great San Francisco disaster, are supplemented by Mr. Irwin’s word pictures, impressions and recollections of “this bit of the mystic, suggestive East, so modified by the West that it was neither Oriental nor yet Occidental—but just Chinatown.”

“The pictures are remarkable for the artistic quality of their lights and shades, and of their composition, although the reproductions are not of the best. Mr. Irwin’s text is decidedly readable, but the mellow haze of memory coupled with the gift of words seem to carry him off his feet very frequently and set him floating in a roseate mist of things that never were.”

+ − N. Y. Times. 14: 20. Ja. 9, ’09. 260w.

Irwin, William Henry.^[11] Warrior, the untamed; the story of an imaginative press agent. †50c. Doubleday.

9–24019.

Upon the pegs of a well-nigh impossible lion story Mr. Irwin hangs some of the trials and tribulations of the publicity member of a circus aggregation. Warrior, the untamed, is a decrepit old lion, and he is used in a balloon ascension and a parachute drop to advertise the show and amuse the crowds. The comedy ends merrily in spite of a few serious moments that threaten catastrophe.

+ N. Y. Times. 14: 598. O. 9, ’09. 120w.

Isham, Frederic Stewart.^[8] Half a chance. †$1.50. Bobbs.

9–25179.

Deals with the regeneration of a debauched but unjustly convicted man, who tho of good New England stock, had battled from pillar to post since childhood. In the hard school of life he had learned one lesson,—“Fight or be beaten.” His soul’s awakening came thru the compassion of a little English girl. The confidence and innocent faith placed in him by this child, caused the good in his nature to take root when by shipwreck he was saved from a convict’s exile in Australia and made an inhabitant of a solitary island. Rescued, he returned to London and became a criminal lawyer sharing his happiness with the girl who had been his good angel.

“A story of interest for its plot rather than its psychology.”

+ A. L. A. Bkl. 6: 91. N. ’09. ✠

N. Y. Times. 14: 598. O. 9, ’09. 200w.

Ivins, William Mills. Control of public utilities; in the form of an annotation of the public service commission’s law of the state of New York. *$7. Baker, Voorhis.

8–33023.

“Gives the Public service commission law of New York, together with the text of the Interstate commerce act and the Rapid transit act of New York, all carefully annotated, with citations of leading American cases. The whole is a bulky volume of nearly 1200 pages, which, with its full indexes, cross-references and judicial precedents, is itself an obvious public utility.”—Nation.

“To legislators as well as lawyers, this work is of timely interest.”

+ Nation. 87: 652. D. 31, ’08. 170w.

“It is possible to praise Mr. Ivins’s presentation of his thesis without assenting to his conclusions.”

+ − N. Y. Times. 13: 790. D. 19, ’08. 1650w.