EVERYMAN’S LIBRARY

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28559, 12 April 1958, Page 3

EVERYMAN’S LIBRARY

The Talisman. By Sir Walter Scott. Preface and Glossary by W. M. Parker. 321 pp. Abraham Lincoln’s Speeches and Letters, 1832-1865. Selected and edited by Paul M. Angle. 300 pp. Index. Mil ton’s Prose Writings. Introduction by- K. M. Burton. 367 pp. Index. The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson. By James Boswell. Newly edited with an introduction by L. F. Powell. 322 pp. Index.

These four reprints in Everyman’s Library, published by J. M. Dent, have all been newly edited and provided with new introductions for their appearance in large format. Scott’s “The Talisman,” a tale of Richard the Lion-HedYt and the Crusades is in some ways not unlike the romances which were popular in Richard’s own time and later. It aims to give the spirit rather than the detail of the history of those times. It exemplifies Scott’s technique of presenting both sides of a conflict by means of action and intrigue passing between the hostile parties and a hero who has dealings with both. Both Christians and Saracens are brought to life in a story which perhaps now has its most enthusiastic support from younger readers. The speeches and» letters of Lincoln bring us closer to the detailed working of history in a period in which our own times were forming. Lincoln is remembered mainly for a few great speeches; this selection lets us see the homely style used by the obscure son of a Kentucky pioneer before his anti-slavery zeal carried him to the presidency of the United States. Simple directness both of style and character link the log cabin and White House phases of his career. Milton. like Lincoln, was a spokesman of liberty Jn a time of strife. Less important as a practical politician, he is, supreme as a champion of liberty of thought and ideas. This selection does not. contain all the prose that Milton wrote, but it includes a complete text of “Areopagitica” and enough other works and .•‘elections to show something of the development of Milton’s thought. His loyalty to democracy was more severely tried than Lincoln’s as he lived to lose some of his faith in the “misguided and abused multitude.”

Boswell. besides being an eighteenth century, classic, nas also been a twentieth century best seller. Next to the “Life of Johnson,” the ‘’Tour” has been his best-known work, and for reading through it is better than the “Life.” Boswell and Johnson are together all the time and the narrative is almost uninterrupted. At the same time the travellers have brought to the wild Hebrides enough London wit and conversation t give the book an authentic Boswell flavour.

MODERN MAGIC MANUAL, by Jean Hugard (Faber. 372 pp.) contains hundreds of conjurors’ secrets. Mr Hugard. a veteran conjurer, tells how tricks with cards. handkerchiefs, billiard balls, rings, watches, are performed. and he enlightens the uninitiated about how various objects (including rabbits) may be brought out of a hat. A comprehensive manual includes effects that may ;be continued with “mental magic.”