LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 58, 8 March 1913, Page 14

LITERARY.

Messrs Longmans, Green, and Co. are publishing " The Story of the King's Highway," by Mr and Mrs Sidney Webb. Their object is to describe, vividly and picturesquely, the progress of travel from the earliest days to the present time. Mr F»her Lnwin announces Senor F. Garcia Calderon'e monograph upon "Latin America: Its Rise and Progress," to which M. Poiueare, the French Premier, has written an introduction. The book is a critical analysis of the Republics of South and Central America. According to the publishers, G. P. Putnam's Sons, Mrs Barclay's "The Rosary" is selling as well as ever. Four thousand copies were sold during the week preceding and following Christmas. The last edition, which the Putnams have just issued, makes the 50th printing. A practical study of the working of British, Continental, and Canadian tariffs, by Mr J. H. Higginson, has been published by P. S. King aud Son. The author concludes that a tariff which affords a basis alike for protection, negotiation, and preference is probably the tariff of the future. Mr H. Rider Haggard's "The Child of Storm" deals with the great struggle between the rival sons of Panda, Cetewayo, and Umbelaz, through which the former fought his way .to the throne of Zululand. Incidentally, it introduces a fascinating Zulu girl, whose irresistible charms even Allan Quartermaine is unable to resist, The publishers are Cassell and Co. A "History of India," in six volumes of about 600 pages apiece, is announced by the Cambridge University Press. The first of these divisions, edited by Professor E. J. Rapson, will deal with Ancient India; the second, conducted by Colonel T. Wolseley Haig, I.S.C. will cover the field of Mohammedan India; while the History of British India will fill the fifth and sixes volumes, for the editorship of which Sir Theodore Morison, K.C.1.E., is responsible., " The Justice of the Duke." by Rafucl Sabatini (Stanley Paul's Colonial Library), touches with romance certain incident* iv the life of Cesare Borgia. The author allows his fancy to play about this fascinating and terrible protagonist, presenting to us the real Cesare Borgia, as Mr Sabatini has already Visualised him in his biography, but depicts Cesare in settings purely artificial, and in circumstances wholly or partly fictitious, spun and woven with all the art of which this writer is master. Another volume devoted to Charles Dickens is being published by Messrs Chapman and Hall. The author, Mr Waiter Crotch, pictures Dickens as a vigorous reformer, who viewed with disgust the corruption existing in public places, and the cruel cynicism displayed towards essentials in national character. These evils he set himself to remedy, not only by creating such figures as Squeers, Jarndyee, Gradgrind, and the rest, but by a constant effort to, awake the social conscience to the imperious necessities of his age. "Paul BuTdon," by Sir William Magnay, Bart., is a strong story full of exciting incidents. The hero "is a farmer crippled for want of capital, which he finds quite unexpectedly. A thunderstorm and an irate husband cause a young banker to seek -refuge at the farm, from which a loud knocking causes further retreat to a big family tomb, which becomes his own when the lightning brings down and buries both. The banker's bag of gold falls into the hands of the farmer, who profits by its use. Other characters play important parts, and love interest adds its softening charm. The novel appears in Stanley Paul's Colonial Library. An important work by Dr. Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, is announced by Messrs Chapman and Hall. It is entitled "The Xew Freedom," and covers a wide field of modern life and politics. "It is an attempt," the author says, * to express the new spirit of our polities and to set forth, in large terms which may stick in 'the imagination, what it is that must he done if we are to restore our politics to their full spiritual vigour and our national life, whether in "trade in industry, or in what concerns us only as families and individuals, to its purity, I stTen<rth!" roSPeCt ' an<l '** Pri3tine Valuable v American technical works have reached us from George Robertson and Co., Melbourne. "Amateur Mechanics" comprises a large number of easily-made articles for the benefit of people who like to make things. The subjects dealt with cover a very wide range, from a home-made telescope, aquarium, steam engine, or wireless telegraphy, to tricks for parlour magic. The designs which illustrate the text are so simple that anyone with a mechanical bent and a little skill m the use of tools can follow the directions given. The other text book is "How to Make Mission Furniture" This also is well illustrated, and gives practical instruction regarding the home manufacture of many useful and ornamental articles. The third book, "How to Make a Wireless Set," describes so lucidly the construction of wireless apparatus that anyone familiar with electric appliances can understand it. Under the title, "The Englishman in the Alps," Mr. Arnold H. M. Lunn has published through the Oxford University Press a carefully selected collection of English prose and poetry relating to Switzerland. Some 15S separate extracts are given, forming a stirring testimony to the inspiration of the scenic wonders which have made the little republic the playground} of Europe. In his introduction, the editor says, "Every sport gets the literature it deserves, so that while pheasant shooting still awaits its Homer, mountaineering has attracted some of the finest literary talent in the country. And yet the literature of mountaineering has been very uneven. The prose is better than the poetry, but in both mediums those who have worshipped the mountains from below have usually missed their appeal, and their message has been most clearly unravelled by mountaineers. There are exceptions. Great writers have shown insight into the moods of the snows without giving the appropriate service of toil; but, speaking broadly, it has been left to mountaineers to interpret the hills, and the half century that saw the growth of the craft also witnessed the worthy recognition of the mountains in literature." "Vhe book is published at five shillings net.