LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 36, 10 February 1917, Page 14

LITERARY.

ftni-th, Kkler and Co. p-tftilah Xbeodore Watts- Duntua't poathum o a» sovei, "Veeprie Towers.-" Mr Henry Ihigard is the -writer of an excellent oocount of fcb« vitad DatUe orf Verdun up to May 10, of wibich Hutchison has published a tnuwlation. Dr. Biffoaxni Fraud's psychological! study of humour is being published In English by Fiaher Unwiu under the title "Wit and IU Rnlatioai to the Unoonecioua," Mr Hugh Elliot is coo tribirting a mono graph on Herbert Spen.wa- to Coneta-blc'u "M-aJteiß of the Nineteenth Century" series. The MacniiH&ns are issuing an TBngH«h translation cf Marcel Prevost's story of the Ftenah eoldier in the present war, *"X>enoit Caetain." Mi* Louis Raemaekere has illustrated a short mystery play by Emile Cammaerte, "The Adoration of the Soldiers," which, the Longmans and the Fine Art Society announce. Mr Jack London, wjtoee death is announced from Am-orica, has left a dozen or so short stories, which are announced under the title, The Turtles of Taaman." Mr Hugo de Seiineotrrt ha* c aew story appeaxfhg with fonsta-We, "A Soldier of Life," the narrative of a young ollk-er crippled in the w«.r and forced to live at iioQiis. Tlhe lady who writee aa "Christopher Hare" ia now about to give us, through Stanley Paul, a. boo.k o>u wh-ich she via long been engug-ed, "A Great Emperor: Charles V., 1519-1556." Mr Arthur Pollen's book on "The Nary in Dattle," published by Ghatto and Winilue, gives a general sketuh of the course of the great war at sea. All the important actions are described and analysed, with special attention to the Battle of Jutland. Sir Ernest Satow, himself a distinguished diplomatist, is writing "A Guide to Dipkunatic Practice" for puhli nation by the Lon<.tnans. It will be the first work in a series treating of International Law and Diplomacy. Lord Bryce, as president of the British Academy, has delivered addresses to it in the past veair or two. Those portions of them which treat of topics ainsing from the war are to be puiJi-ihod as a volume by Mr Humphrey Milford for the British Academy. The Royal Colonial Institute has made arrangemente with the Oil'ord Press foi the publication of a standard work, in six volumes, entitled "The Empire at under the editorship of Sir ,loJi" >-.ucas. It will be a history of lmoon.i.l co-operation up to and including tae jreat war. Mr Muirhead Bone hae been engagwl with the British Army in France, maJt ing drawings of pla<-ee and incidents in tihe war for permanent record in the British Museum, Reproduction* of some of these drawings wiH be published shortly, by authority of the V/«/r Office, m monthly parts. The Qrst was an nounced for December, with a preface by General Sir Douglas Haig. Mrs. Edith WTiarton has contributed a full share to the popularity oi Ameri can authors among Hritirih readers. Her collection of short atories, issued by Macmillans with the general title of "Xinga," deal mainly with American social life in cultured circles, but there are interposed among time sketches of war experiences in France. Always viva eious and entertaining, these ekntches po6se«c( qualities which give them a larger claim to the permanence of collective publications than usually pertain* to the average ehort story. Sir Douglas Haig is a reading GeneraJ as well as a fighting General, a.nd he h*« sent a greeting to the "N'atlonaJ Book Fortnight," now in operation. He saie in hie letter: "Those who have not visited our Armies in the field can scarcely reiUL--e what book* have meant during two years of war to the men in the trenches, in billets, and in hospitaJa. So I hope that those at home will buy books very freeJy and in inoreaeed numbers this autumn and, having read them, ac freeJy pass them on to the "Camps' Library for circulation among the troops. Any movement to increase the circulation of books hae my whole-hearted sup- ' port." "The Luck of the Strong," by WUliam J Hope Hodgson (Eveleigh Nash), comprises eight capital etories of adventure, opening with an amusing account of a smuggling exploit, In which the chief actor was the captain of an Atlantic liner. Another good nautical yarn narrates certain surprising adventures by Captain Jat on the island of Ud. There is a nautical flavour about most of the stories, but "The Getting Kven of Tiinson' Guzlee" tells how an expert i burglar raided the strong-room of a I millionaire who had done him an ill turn. The general tenor of these etories is. that luck attend* thoao who renture with boldness. J We have received from. Messrs. I 0-ordon and Gotch, Ltd., a copy of the I "Directory of British Manufacturers for ' Russian Trade," printed ir» the Russian . language, and circulatii'g in Russia. It is intended to include in its pages, a nnouncetnents of any Australasias firme, and to extend the scope of the book generally to ail manufacture re within the British Empire, bo that the work ibecomee a "British Empire Medium," rattier than, as in the first edition, exclusively confined to the Mother Coun-try. This directory represents a very enterprising effort ix> present to tho Russian buyer the wares of the Empire. Mr William Steele, manager for Ward Lock, and Company in Australasia, bad completed in January 50 yeare' service with bhis weil known publishing house, having entered its employ, a lad from school, on January 21, 1867. He arrived in Melbourne on July 11, 1884, and esta/blished in 1888 a brunch which hae met with steady and increasing success. Mr Steele has done much to encourage Australian talent in popular works of the class issued by his houee, and has negotiated at different trnvis hhe publication of books by Mr Donald Macdonadd, Mr George Giffen and others. He also originated the Australian Gift Book Series, which now comprises over 50 volumes, by Ethel Turner, Mary Grant Bruco, Lilian Turner, Vera G. Dwyer, Isabel Maud Peacocke, Edith Howes, Evelyn G-oode (Mrs Crawford Vaugiian), vutd Ifiliaa M. Pyk*.

Lord George Hamilton , ! "Parliamentary Reminieoenoe. and wiuch John Murray is publishing, ooTcn the Pariiamentaiy epooh, 1868, wfeen m 22, to 1885, wiien be wae First Lonl of the Admiralty. The rstorj of the P»dflc Beilway," v told by Keith Morria in a little book which Wm. Steven*, Ltd., publish, is a record of that kind of splendid pioneering work •whioh has buPt up the British Empire. In the course of the narrative there loom op the inrpoeing figure* of Lord Mount Stephen, Sir William Van Home, Lord Sheaghnegtr, and Lord Strathcona. What this great railway has done for settlement in Canada, how it has been instrumental in peopling vaet tracta of waete land, in creating populous cities, and laying the foundation of a national prosperity which was undreamed of by the early colonists of Canada, ■ here set down m concise phrase. In 1915 the railway mileage owned, leased and controlled by this great corporation amounted to 18,000 milea, and its total aaeeta approached the huge capital value of £200,000,000. Its ocean, lake and river eteamen were worth 41 million pounds sterling, and from 1911 to 1915 1U dividend* hare averaged 10 per cent. James Oliver Curwood, In "The Grizzly," give* ua another Mature book in the form of a spirited account o£ bear hunting in British <Jolumbia. In a preface he tells us that for years he hunted and killed before he learned that the wild offered more thrilling sport than slaughter. He cays: —''Killing for food is not the lust of slaughter, it is not the lust which always recalls to mc that day in the British Columbia mountains when, in lese than two hours, 1 killed four grizzlies'on a mountain elide—a destruction of poeeibly a hundred and twenty years of life in a hundred and twenty minutes. And that is only one instance iv inanj in which 1 now regard niyaelf as having been almost a criminal —tor killing for the excitement of killing can be little less than murder. In their email way my animal book* are the : reparation 1 am now striving to make, ai*.l it has been my earnest desire to . make them not only of romantic interest, but reliable in their fact. Aβ In human life, there ore tragedy, and ; humour, and pathos in the life of the wild; there are facts of tremendous interest, real happenings, and real jlives to be written about, and very email neces- > sity for one to draw upon imagination." '"The Grizzly" contains not only a good deal of entertaining information about wild animals, but also vividly describes rai'ipmg experiences in the Canadian forests. The records of our soldiers' acbievementd in the (Treat Sommc battle atforJ stirring reading, and aroueo feelings of ■■oniiJence and pride in our citizen army. Captain A. J. Davnson has collected a n-un-.ber of these, which have bt-cn cleverly illustrated by Captain liruce Hmiisfather, and published by Ifoftder and Stousrhton. The author ob serves: "There to no veetige of any falling off In the general level of high spirits and confidence among our wounded officers and men on the battle fields of the Sommo. One write* of battlefields in the plural, because in thie push there have already been a score and more engagement* which, as we used to judge war, would take rank a* very notable and sanguinary battles; just as there have been, literally, many thousands of individual acts which, in war as we have known it in the past, would have won for those reeponsible the very highest distinctions we have to offer." One major is quoted in a sketch on the spirit ol the British eol.iier Mβ easing, "1 assure you I couli easily compile a volume of bald rerorde of individual acts of heroism and the heroism of isolate! »ectiun». taking only what I saw with my own eyes. Hut 1 should hesitate to do it because of the implied injustice to the troop» on other eeetons." Another officer stated: "It's more of a miracle than people at honie will ever under stand, is the New Army. And one of the most miraculous thingn is that at the preeent moment it id earning on fighting of a kind vastly more terrible than any that the world has ever seen before, and, mark you, carrying It on with ac Sue a eteadineee, with as much stubbornne.se, and as much daeh, too as, any'vetoran army known to history has ever ehown." These realistic sketchea will command attention even amid a deluge of m.; books.

THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN.

By ARTHUR CONAN DOTL-β. Hodder and Stoughton. 0/ net. The operations and events connected with the titanic struggle of the world war cover so wide a range, and current histories divert the attention of the student from one front to another distant fielil —from the operations of one gTcat army to the almost separate war which Is being waged by another gigantic military force—that there wae a need (or a clear and detailed account of the campaign of the British Expeditionary Force in France and Flandere. This work Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hae undertaken, and the flret volume is now before us. It deals only with the events of 1914—that is, the first five months of the war, but thcee were momentous and critical months, during which the German millions swept through Belgium and France almost to the suburbs of Paris, and were then driven back as precipitately as they had advanced. In the operations of these five months the German chances of the victory on which she co confidently counted, and which wae bo nearly achieved, were lost for aver. Sir Conan Doyle statess — "From the flret d*ye ef the war I have devoted much of my time to the accumulation of evidence from first-hand sources as to the various happening!! of these gTeat days. I have built up my narrative from letters, diaries, and interviews from the hand or lips of men who have been soldiers in oar armies, the deeds of which it was my ambition to understand and chronicle. In many caees I have been privileged to submit my descriptions of the principal incidents to prominent actors in them, and to receive their corrections or endorsement. I can say with certainty, therefore, that a great deal of this work is not only accurate, but that it is very*precisely correct in Its detail." The author is enabled to give details of the part taken by the various divisions of our Army and by the regiments upon which was thrown special responsibility for maintaining cohesion and efficiency during the awful experiences of tho retreat from Mons. The strategic difficulties that beset the extrication of our small army from the net which was being cast around it by the overwhelming forces 'with which it was assailed are lucidly described and illustrated with diagrams. An attempt is made to do justice to the regiments and officers who specially distinguished themselves, and these details, although they tend to detract from the history as a popular narrative, will no doubt be greatly appxedattii try military men.