DISASTER AND HEROISM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 308, 30 December 1933, Page 2 (Supplement)

DISASTER AND HEROISM.

A SEA COLLECTION. Our little local earthquakes need to be compared with what natural forces have done elsewhere to be seen in proper proportion. Mr. David Masters, in "5.0.5.," (Eyre and Spottiswoodc, gives a full account of the Mont Pelee disaster in Martinique in 1902, when 36,000 persons were killed, almost instantly, by the volcanic action, one of the greatest eruptions in history. Then he describes the Tokyo earthquakes of 1923, when 79,000 people were killed in a few hours, the firo which followed the earthquake extending from land to the sea, for millions of gallons of blazing oil blew down upon the drifting and anchored ships in the harbour, and the. dangers at eea were as great as those ashore. In this short detailed list of terrible events and the stories of great courage are included the wrecks of the Mignonette and the Hong Moh, fever on the Trafalgar, the sudden sinking of the Vaiviri, fire on the Veniero, and the Aquila out of control. Those who go down to the sea face so many perils that it is the finest training school for heroes, and of all storytellers the sailor has the finest selection. "5.0.5." is proof.

THE EARLIEST BOOKS. The fifteenth century, or at least the early half of the fifteenth century, has only recently become the subject of intense historical study (saye the "Manchester Guardian"). It was once looked upon as a decadent epoch, when the Middle Ages were waning and the Renaissance had scarcely dawned. But there are not wanting signs that the road was being prepared for the glorious efflorescence of culture and activity known as the Renaissance, Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Dr. Guppy, the librarian of the John Rylnnds Library, estimated in a recent lecture that some twelve to fifteen million books were actually printed between 1450 and 1300, and that many of them — editions of Vergil, for example —were so cheap as to offer an "Everyman's Library" to the fifteenth century reader. The high water mark of printing, which has not yet been topped, was attained in Venice in 1477. Italy had 541 different printing presses before 1500, although England, perhaps because she wae unsettled by the anarchic Wars of the Rosea, had only four. Moreover, before 1453, when tho Turks took Constantinople, the earliest date assigned for the beginning of the Renaissance, there were large numbers of block-prints and block-books being produced from monasteries and elsewhere which were not only the first specimens of wood engraving but also formed the links between the medieval illustrated manuscripts and modern typography. The Rylands Library rejoices in the most representative collection of these illustrated prints m ISurope, including tho earliest dated block-print of 1423. There is also a fine collection in the British Museum. All who are interested in the origins of printing should study these examples of early book illustration and ponder on the ebb and flow of human culture.

UTOPIAS. "Touring Utopia" is an interesting and informing book. The author is Professor Frances Theresa Russell, Ph.D., and it is published by Lincoln Macveagh, "The Dial Prees," New York, U.S.A. There have always been people who have had dreams of better and more satisfying times than those in which their lot was cast. In this attractive book of about 300 pages Profeseor Kussell gives a detailed account of their criticisnae and dreams, from Plato to Aldous Huxley. Beginning with a humorous prologue, the professor has a biographical note, classified lists of Utopian literature, and several chapters dealing with such subjects as government, education, beauty and art, religion and morality, and the worlds of H. G. Wells. The book closes with points of connection and general considerations, and an index. Students of Utopian literaturo will find it a valuable guide to tlie scientific, artistic and ethical varieties of Utopists, as well ae to fanatical amateurs.

BOOKS RECEIVED. Old West —and New, by Caroline Lockhart (Oassell). The Best of His Family, by Carola Oman; Introducing Terry Sloane, by Concordla Merrell (Hodder and Stoughton). In Wild New Britain, the Story of Benjamin Danks, Pioneer Missionary, edited by Wallace Deane, M.A., 8.D.: Gay Philosophies, by Spartacus Smith; Essays, Imaginative and Critical, by Georg-o Macfcaness and John D. Holmes (Angus and nobertson). The Prince of the Totem, by Tarlton Rayment (Robertson and Mullens). The New Pleasure, by John Gloag; General John Regan, a play in three arts, by George A. Birmingham; Character and Personality, Vol. 11., No. 1, an international quarterly for psychodlagrnos- • tics and allied studies; Town Government In the Sixteenth Century, by J. H. Thomas, B.Litt.; Daahenka, by Karcl Capek (George Allen and Unwin). Savages and Sinners, by John Maitland; The Game Darrells, by Leslie Haylen; Tropic Equations, by Don. Gordon (Macquarto Head Press). Animal Stories, Trom Andrew Lang: (Longmans). Mystery of the London Banker, by J. S. Fletcher (Harrap). ,