The Bookshelf

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 234, 2 October 1937, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Bookshelf

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I TRAVEL IN ORIENT. j A BOOK «FOR PLEASURE." AUSTRALIAN'S IMPRESSIONS. A timely book, when so much of our news concerns Japan and China, is "For Pleasure.'' (Angus and Robertson, Sydney ). by .Mr. (J. 11. Bertie. Superficially, it contains the author's impressions 011 a ten weeks' tour of the Orient, but the reader .soon discovers that the author i* an uncommon tourist. In no pedantic >|>irit, lie learned «s much as possible Iriini books about the countries he was to \i<it. aiul when on tour his powers of observation were matched by his curio-ity to know the why and wherefore of thine:* that interested him. A student of literature and of men, he—to use the vernacular phrase—got out of liis tour probably ten times as much pleasure as liis shipmates, because, through knowledge and temperament, he put more into it. And, happilv, he has been able to describe what he saw in an easy, informal way that soon makes tho reader well disposed to him and his book.

The tourist's impressions of ports of call are, and can be, seldom interesting; but Mr. Bertie, well knowing this, arrests tho reader's attention by retelling some story relating t» the early hsitory of each place. The history of'the Pacific being little known, oven to the people who live around it, most readers will find his stories as fresh as they are various. In China he visited only Canton and Shanghai, but in a nice mixture of historical outline and personal observation ho manages to convey a great deal of information about that distressful country. In Canton he notes that, as long ago as 1898, a conwas signed for the construction of a railway line to Hankow. By 1933 some 250 miles, the most difficult section, remained to be completed. Completion was scheduled for the end of last year. It« importance lies in the fact that it will enable a traveller to go by rail from Calais to Kowlom, which i. 1 across the harbbur 'rom Hongkong. But how many people in these days of air travel wiil wish to undertake such a journey by rail? In Japan, where Mr. Bertie left the ship and made tour inland, he was like most travellers disconcerted by tho excessive suspicion of officials that tourists will take photographs of military value. "If," h e says, "they think that tho Intelligence Departments of other countries have not all the photographs they require of the Shimonoseki Strait and the two cities on its shores, they are not crediting those departments with either intelligence or enterprise." Having made his complaint, he affirms that nowhere else in the world has ho travelled amongst such friendly people as the Japanese, but, in his final chapter, he quotes with sympathy and endorsement Pierre Loti's summing np of his impressions of Japan: "On its surface so hospitable and good-natured —in its souls so close, exclusive, vain and hostile."

Mr. Bertie's interest* are so Taried, and his sympathies sr> wide. that few will rend this honk without finding something of particular interest to them. And. as much for its spirit as for its information, it is on admirable introduction to the East for intending travellers. VARIOUS OPINIONS.

A WINDOW-CLEANER'S BOOK. Sometimes a man of unu«ual powers i*. found in the most unlikely situation. A case in point is suggested by the reading of a book called "Through the Window" (Kramer and Jenkinson. Melbourne), which has for its sub-title

"A Window Cleaner Views the World." The window cleaner, who is also the | writer, is Mr. .1. H. Wood, better known 'throughout the Commonwealth by the pen name of "John o' Rockie." In this volume of well over .">OO pages the reader will discover that Mr. Wood is a thinker and an idealist, that he is a very considerable scholar, and that he is able to express and vindicate his views with a grip and finish, as well as with a frankness and fearlessness that compel attention. And he is one of the last men in Australia of whom all this would be expected. Morn in the west of Scotland close on Im I f a century ago. deserted by his parents and adopted by a couple in poor circumstances, he was brought up in extreme poverty. When a young man he emigrated to Queensland, and there j he has remained ever since, earning his| living as a window cleaner.

Prom bis youth an omnivorous reader in his spare moments, he has read widely and deepiv, especially in literature, political economy, sociologv, philosophy and science, and must be one of the best-informed men in Kockhampton, where he has his home. A Socialist bv conviction, he has written several books and numerous articles, and lias addressed. and lectured at. many meetings. Whnt he does in this book is to give us a sketch of his life, selections from his articles, lectures and speeches, including literary criticisms, random reflections and poems. It is a miscellaneous assortment, marvellous in its range, and shows not only scholarship but originality of mind. The reader will not agree with nearly all Mr. Wood says regarding, for example, the Eeog-ue of Nations, and those who believe in Donglas Credit will certainly not like much of what he says about Major Douglas and the system he advocates, whilst his dogmatism and frank speaking about himself may jar on some, but no reader will deny his ability or his sincerity and grjpdness of heart. This is a remarkable book by a remarkable man, and makes stimulating reading.

BERTA RUCK'S " ROMANCE." Berta Ruck calls her latest story "Love on Second Thoughts" (Hodder and Stoughton). Rosemary Hope, the daughter of a country doctor, is a masseuse, with "no time for the cheap frills of life." She accidentally makes the acquaintance of a young motor mechanic, who falls in love with her, and whom she thinks "nice." In reality he is an aristocrat, and is acting as a mechanic at odd times in obedience to a whim of his grandfather, who wishes to give hiin some understanding of what it is to bo a working man. He is engaged to a spoilt and jealous girl. There is, however, no real love between them, and, in a fit of jealousy, she breaks off the engagement. The story goes on to tell how she and Rosemary become friends and join a party on the Continent, how she finds another lover, and how the Hon. Dick Herrys and Rosemary meet again and all ends happily. It is the kind of "romance" that has been written thousands of times before, but in writing it again Miaa Ruck undoubtedly knows wliat she is about;

SIXPENNY BOOKS. WHAT OF THE AUTHORS ? NEW PROBLEM CREATED. Is there any author who would not be delighted at the chance of deriving fresh profit from a book of his that was published years ago, and that by this time has virtually ceased to be a source of income? That has been the fortunate experience of several writers whose earlier work has lately been reissued in a sixpenny series (says a London correspondent). It is true that the royalty on a sixpenny book is .usually only about a farthing, but when sales amount to many thousands such an unexpected increment seems well worth having. And where can we place the limit to the number that may possibly be sold in this series? An order has just come in from the Hudson's Bay Company for 14,000 copies to be dispatched to Canada, and the demand from such countries a~s Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Egypt is so great that the publisher is establishing resident representatives' in these countries.

Ivor Brown, however, writing in the "Manchester Guardian," points out a hidden snag. Suppose that people become so habituated to sixpenny books that it is presently worthwhile to publish at sixpence in the first instance, provided that the author's name will justify the printing of an enormous edition. According -bo Mr. Brown schemes of this kind are actually under consideration. He anticipates that certain magazine producers, having discovered the allure of the cheap book, sold direct through their own organisation and so cutting out the bookseller, will aommission popular writers to produce their own new work for this market and make it saleable at bargain prices. Ho predicts that, when this situation arises, it will involve a serious problem both for the orthodox publisher and for the new writer.

For the beginner there will be no beginning at all. To produce for a few pence a book whose greatest probable sale is a few thousand is impossible finance. Even if it could be done, the author's royalty would be so trivial as scarcely to pay for pen, ink and paper. At present it may seem very attractive to writers to pick up some thousands of farthings by the resale of an old property. But do they sufficiently consider what may befall them when they want to put new property on the market T They will suddenly discover that farthing royalties, with a sale of 20,009, will mean just over £20 for the composition of 80,000 words, or a rate of 5/ for 1000 words. And that, comments Mr. Brown, will be "such slavery as Grub Street never knew."

CO-OPERATION. GREAT BRITISH MOVEMENT. In 1035 there were in the United Kingdom 10.000 co-operative store*, employing over 300,000 men and women, with a retail turnover of £220,000.000 derived from the business of 7,500,000 consumer-members. In addition the cooperative movement conduct* a bank, an insurance society, a national newspaper, and 300 warehouses and factories. It ha*s been described as "the most important unit in Empire trade, the nation's greatest tea grower and distributor, baker of one in every four loaves eaten in Britain, and second only to the State as a large-scale employer of labour."

The history anil achievements of this i movement, which returns to its members I over £30,000,000 a year in dividends on i purchases. ha\e been recounted by Sydney li. Elliott in "England: Cradle of Co-operation," whose publishers (Fal>cr and Faber) inform us that it came to be written because when President Roosevelt sent a mission t<» England to study co-operation its first discovery was that no comprehensive modern book on cooperation in England existed. Mr. Elliott h«s supplied the need, the emphasis in his narrative is not on the early history of co-operation, which has been adequately dealt with before, but on its post-war developments, particularly during the period of the lust five years. Ft contains too many statistics to be assimilated by the average reader, but everyone who takes it up will be interested by Mr. Elliott's picture of j the distributive trades in England—it is calculated that there is one shop to j every 4.'i inhabitant*, compared with one. to 70 in the United States—and the: enormous scope that exists for reorganisation to benefit the consumers. It is interesting to note that the co-operative movement will celebrate in 1044 the centenary of the Lochdale pioneers, and that j a "10-year-plan,'' begun in 1034. to increase membership and trade is now in operation. The book is an important source of information in a part of Britain's economy which receives much less attention than its great size and rapid growth deserve.

"SUW ARROW GOLD." A German translation of "Suwarrow Cold." James Cowan's hook of South Sea stories, published last year by Jonathan Cape, is to he issued shortly. The London puublUhers have sold the German rights to a Leipzig house on the author's behalf. BOOKS IN LOCAL DEMAND. AUCKLAND LIBRARIES' LIST. The following list of hooks in demand at the Auckland Public Libraries is supplied by the chief librarian: — NON-FICTION. Five Years' Hard —By Brigadier-General F. P. Crozlrr. Ordeal in England—By Sir Philip Gibbs. This Way to Beauty—By Helena Rubinstein. Letters from Iceland—By W. H. Anden and L. Mac.Neill. For Pleasure—By C. H. Bertie. In Theatre Btreet—By H. R. I.enormand. Papers on Health—By E. B. Kirk. * China—By F. C. Jones. Turbulent Journey—By Owen Rutler. Old Jules—By M. Sandoz. FICTION The Late George Apley—By J. P. Marquanrt. 1 Brother Petroc's Return—By S.M.C. The Good Earth—By Pearl Buck. Goldon Houce—By H. A. Vachell. The Crooked Coronet—By .Michael Arlen. The Bising Tide —By M. J. Farrell. African Tragedy—By Stephen Graham. The Citadel—By A. J. Cronln. Lust for Life—By Irving- Stone. Hangman's House—By Donn Byrne.

WHAT LONDON IS READING. A WAR ANTHOLOGY. < HUNDREDS OF AUTHORS. (By CHARLES PILGRIM.LONDON, August 27. It would be difficult to say how many books have been published about the World War. Unquestionably the number must have run into thousands, and it would seem to be almost impossible to think of a war book which has not already been written. But Mr. Guy Chapman has managed to edit one which' has some of the merits of novelty.

"Vain Glory" (Casscll) is described as "a miscellany of the Great War, I 1014-1918, written by those who fought in it on each side and on all fronts." The book is an anthology of inure than seven hundred pages. It gives well selected extracts from existing war books, from correspondence and* diaries and there are included a number of some of the most striking poems occasioned by the war. Not only are the soldiers allowed to express themselves by this means. Sailors and airmen provide their quota, and one is surprised at the gift of graphic writing which coines to many not accustomed to using the pen, through the intense fonce of sheer circumstance and suffering. The whole collection taken together is not entirely harrow-1 ing or gloomy. It is the reflection of hundreds of minds of all-qualities undergoing experiences which vary in all those infinite degrees which were included in the vast drama of four years. Adventures in Film Land. In these days the cinema means so much to 90 many millions of persons that peeps behind the scenes or into the studio must be of universal interest. In "John tho Film Star" (Nelson), Miss Evelyn Eaton has written a pleasant story about a boy who takes the place of a young actor and goes courageously into the studio to impersonate him. The plot is a slight one, including an attempt by a sharp-eyed cameraman to blackmail John, whose deception he has discovered. But it is not tho plot that matters. W.'iat will interest the reader ■f® clever character drawing and the intimate details of studio life with which Miss Eaton is obviously conversant. One learns how directors and camera men do their work, how the actors and actresses appear before the dazzling lights, and one has made quite plain all those mysterious technical terms which are to the majority as so many phrases of a foreign language. The writing is good, the story easy and not too inplausible and the special education a liberal one.

France's Italian Queen. , .^? r \ Ral P h Boeder is an American historian of r-h qualitv. Already ho has shown th* in his studies of the Jta han Renaissawe, which have seemingly led him on to paint a full length portrait of one of the most famous, or infamous, of all those products which came out of the turmoil of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. "Catherine de Medici and the Lost Revolution (Harrap) is a verv full biographical study of that Italian woman who hecame the wife of one French kino- an I the mother of three others, throughout whose reigns she was, in effect, the ruler.

Mr. Roeder is too thorough in his historical researches to he led into any melodramatic denunciation of a mere monster whose horrific crimes culminated in the massacre of Saint Bartholomew. He shows that Catherine's passion mis to protect her sons from their enemies and to maintain her adopted family on the throne. To this end oho stuck nt nothing, but tried, time and iaga«n, to find a peaceful means rather I than a violent one. For the crimes she I felt herself compelled to instigate she | was aide in her own conscience to blame the victims. In other words, she was a Medici with the mind common to those Florentine adventurers and despots who also had been deterred by no moril scruples and had so frequently made evil their good. An Irish House. The central theme of "The RisinTide' (Collins), by Miss M. .T. Farrcll IS the strong spirit which may exist ;:i n place. The place of her' storv is (■aronlea. an old Irish house in which has settled down a harsh Puritan spirit. At the beginning of this ccnturv the house was ruled in accordance with tradition by Lady Charlotte FrenchMcf.rath. Lady McCrath was n tyrant without mercy. Her husband and her four daughters were her slaves who fretted but did not dare to rebel.

| But the household contains a son and I through the son enters a rough-riding, disturbing influence. For he marries Cynthia Holland-Mull. The daughter-in-law is a match for the ladv and the house put. together. She charges about like a whir.wind; hunt.s. swngoprs and has the riotous world at her heels. Rut c\en then the house seems to have its way. The insurgent daughter-in-law overdoes the vigour and the defiance. Nemesis comes to her with the approach of old age. Her vitality degenerates into bad habits and even slio is defeated by time. Miss Farrell haR given her readers an extraordinarily vigorous book. Tt is difficult to say which of the two women. Lady McHrnth or Cynthia, is the more strongly or convincingly drawn. And even as much of a character is the house. Oaronlea. This Ms a story which may be recommended to anyone in search of that excitement which comes out of the development of exciting characters.

WITH THE DETECTIVES. "An Artist in Crime" (Herbert Jenkins). by K. M. Sheahan. In this, another story about the "dope" traffic! there is introduced a new character. Miss Uartlett, plain and badly dressed, but with all her wits about her. "Dormouse Undertaker" (Rol>ert ITale). In this story of a long and involved j search for a package of contents unknown, Frank King keeps the reader guessing, principally because his Dormouse appears sometimes on the side of the detectives and sometimes with the "crooks." Novelists who, in these days, continue to think the detective type of story their forte, have more than'e-er to be ingenious and skilful in the construction and development of their plot. In his latest story, "Suicide Alibi" (Jenkins), John Rowland shows that he has been alive to this. It. has two main characters, a young author and a young ladv artist. They are invited by a Loudon publisher to collaborate in writing and illustrating a book, but the publisher is ingeniously , shot, and. convinced that it is not a case of suicide, but a murder, they collaborate instead in an endeavour to discover the murderer. The police solve the problem,' but it is the attempts of the author and' th© artist at the elucidation of die crime j and the inevitable development of their friendship that Mr. Rowland makes his theme. A clever and interesting yarn. '