LITERARY GOSSIP

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22895, 16 December 1939, Page 16

LITERARY GOSSIP

When E. V. Lucas’s library was sold, one of an edition of 20 copies of A. A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh,” on Japanese vellum,_ an inscribed presentation copy, signed by _ the author and by the illustrator, brought only 235. Not long ago such a copy would have been priced at quite £2O. Of some books from Watts-Dunton’s library at “The Pines,” at another sale, the 35 volumes of the Gadshill Dickens attracted the highest bid—£s 15s: little enough for the set, without Swinburne's presentation inscription to Watts-Dunton. At the sale iof the residence of Lord Rosebery’s library, however, a remarkably high price was paid for a fine first of Boldrewood’s “Robbery Under Arms,” three volumes, 1888. It was sold at £66. ■ Those who value the ancient bond between wine and literature will hope that the outbreak of war did not snap a new strand in the tie. In .October, the town councillors of Beaune were to have , inaugurated the awdrd of an annual literary prize/the “Prix Litteraire de la. Table Ronde,”, the. winner to receive 200 bottles of Burgundy chosen"from “les plus grand annees et les crus les plus fameux.” The jury nominated for 1939 included Pierre Benoit, Tristan Bernard, Georges Duhamel, and Francois Mauriac. As the jurors were to,sit at Beaune, it may be assumed that their labours were to be neither unaided nor unrewarded. / More than 50 years have passed since the death of Richard Jefferies, and earlier this year Miss Sheila Kaye-Smith unveiled a commemorative tablet at the house at Goring-by-Sea, Sussex, where the naturalist lived during the last months of his life, and where he died. The tablet bears the inscription:—“ Richard Jefferies, 1848-1887, nkturalist and prose poet of the countryside, lived and died here.” Publishers and critical journals in England have been exhorting the writer to press on with his job—especially the novelist. Readers, says the London correspondent of the “New York Times,” are ready. “Liverpool has just seen the unprecedented spectacle of 50 or 60 people standing in line before one of her public libraries to await the hour of opening.” E. M. Forster has pointed out that war doesn’t only mean fighting; it means waiting—waiting with nothing to do. F. Van Wyck Mason, authoj of “Three Harbours,” recently reviewed here, has completed most of his new novel, “Stars on the Sea,” which is the second of four books in which he intends to cover, the whole of the American Revolution. “Three Harbours” was 1774 and 1775; “Stars on the Sea” is 1776 and 1777. It is a companion piece, but in no sense, a sequel to “Three Harbours.”

It is a matter of concern to aSf® bibliophiles, writes Philip Brooks ia « his “Notes on Rare Books” in ft* ® “New York Times,” that A. Edward * Newton, who fostered more _ book ® collections than anyone else in fts United States, has been a very ski * man for several years. He re- “ marked last summer that the sbtgeons and physicians had given him up a year ago, but that he had outwitted them so far. It will «ane as no surprise to those who tore . him that his collecting zeal remans untarnished. - ‘ Gabriel Wells, says Mr Brooks, i tells of a recent visit to him is Philadelphia. In order to cheer has ; bedridden friend. Dr. Weills shewed him an original Blake watar-CWO® that he was planning to offer fo another collector. “Oh, I must haw that,” Newton exclaimed at ones, - and then, remembering someuung 1 of his old technique, he bethqugnt himself to ask the price. Tke remainder of the story is that Ik 4 Wells was unable to leave until he ' had yielded up his prize._ He left the * irrepressible Newton in toll .possession. still recumbent, but beam- ? ing with pleasure. , .j The death has been reported d | Olav Duun, a distinguished S®wegian novelist, at the age oi » ' , Although Duun was one of Hot way’s leading literary personalities his first profession was teaching, " he remained a teacher in Norway public schools until 1927. His now -v' and short stories deal the sort of peasant life_he r known in his youth. Thp o® known of Duun’s works is tfaesa | volume series of novels collectives; t titled “The People of Juyik, pa lished several years ago in Arthur Chater’s translation. This; says.ts p * Scandinavian correspondent ot te » “New York Times,” may be/t® stark and realistic for popular task but is mellow and beneficent ceas . pared with the war features on cuf rent cinema programmes,” j • The same correspondent notesj literary phenomenon and comineß on its significance: The succession of translations ■ titles by Soren Kierkegaard, the D® ; ish philosopher, who now afto a ■ years is beginning to get an Bn®® • hearing, indicates a revolt against® ‘ prevailing mass thinking of our prep* ganda-mad 1930’5, with a respite in ® cool, aloof spheres of his extreme sa jectivity. Frances Parkinson Keyes ** lately completed the manuscript®; « “The Sublime Shepherdess, the d of Ste. Bernadette of Lourdes. Keyes’s latest novel, “The Tradition,” went into its third SSJsTT tion totalling 22,000 copies, weeks before publication, Ocßsw l ®e 30, ~ » f lb* Sinclair Lewis has delivered t** out manuscript of his new now £ g “Bethel Merriday,” a story ct . young girl in the theatre. The jis to be published early next year- h-