BOOKS and AUTHORS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 70, 15 December 1928, Page 31

BOOKS and AUTHORS

A Weekly Survey

By

“Liber”

Give a man a pipe he can snioice. Give a man a book he can read; And his home is bright with a calm delight Though the room be poor indeed —James Thomson,

BOOKS OF THE DAY Letters From a Flying Oflicer. Many descriptions have appeared of the wonderful exploits and achievements of flying men during the war, but all who read “Letters from a Flying Officer,” by the late Rothesay Stuart Wortley (Oxford University Press) must accord that book one of the most prominent positions in the literature of military aviation. Mr. Wortley was born in 1802, the son of Major-General the Hou. James Edward Montague Stuart Wortley, of Highcliffe Castle. He went in turn to Eton and Balliol, and after leaving Oxford went to New York to learn business methods in the office of the Guarantee Trust Company, returning to England at once when war broke out to do his training with the Hants Yeomanry. Serving first on the staff of his father at the front, he entered the Flying Corps in 1917, in August of that year joining No. 22 (Bristol Fighter) Squadron in France. Till the close of the war he served brilliantly as a pilot, and was awarded the Military Cross. In 1019 he married Madame Edwina, the prima donna, but was struck down by diabetes. For three years he did a good deal of literary work, including articles on military aviation, a boys’ story about flying, and the present volume, which he intended as propaganda to interest the youth of England in the future of the air. Unfortunately, although being almost miraculously cured of diabetes, he again fell ill, was taken to the South of France, where, spending the day after his arrival laying in sunshine, he collapsed upon returning to the house, dying the next morning. His book, put in diary form,, purporting to be the war record of Michael John Enderby, a young Englishman whose distinguished services in the Flying Corps are set forth in great detail, the chronicle no doubt being based upon actual facts as known to Mr. Wortley himself. Every phase of military flying, the participation in intelligence work. dramatic and indeed, tragic experiences in the aerial attacks upon German flying men, the defence of British positions—all being chronicled at length and with an admirable clarity of description. It was very largely due to such young Englishmen —and colonials —that the downfall of Germany’s military power was dtie and that the war came to an end. Throughout, the record is one which exhibits great modesty, as well as great courage on the part of the hero, and it is doubtful whether any book on flying hitherto published contains finer lessons for our race. At the close of the volume a lecture on the era of aviation and all its probabilities, with special and most impressive emphasis upon the awe-inspiring danger to Great Britain of Zeppelin attacks, is quoted from, the whole book being one long and emphatic explanation of the change in warfare which must come as the result of military aviation. It is safe to say that no work hitherto published has better described the importance of flying as a means of attack and defence. It is a thrilling and most fascinating book, and may be specially commended as a gift book for all young New Zealanders. Published in Great Britain at Bs. 6d„ arrangements have been made for its sale in New Zealand at 6s. 6d. The Simple Guide Series.

To the excellent “Simple Guides Series” (Chatto and Windus) to the governing idea and main features of which allusion has already been made in these columns, have been added two volumes, “English Literature,” by Margharita Widdows, and “Music,” by Ursula Creighton. A vast number of books on the subject dealt with by Miss Widdows have been published, but her book has special and very useful features of its own. With a view to guiding the inexperienced along the main paths of English literature she has endeavoured to give a strong impression of those authors who have most definitely influenced the poetry or prose of their age by grouping round them minor writers of the same school. To the student who aims at gathering a wide and thoughtful outlook on the brilliant heritage of English literature Miss Widdows’s volume should prove one of the most useful of surveys. The illustrations of famous authors are well chosen and well reproduced. Mrs. Creighton’s volume “Music” (Chatto and Windus) is prefaced by a warm appreciation of the special features of both from the pen of Professor E. J. Dent, professor of music in the University of Cambridge, who specially commends it to those who enjoy music and like to read about it for their own pleasure rather than from fear of . examinations. Mrs. Creighton covers a wide field, but succeeds in finding space for a consideration of the main composers and their work. The illustrations are well chosen and artistically reproduced. (IQs.). Australian Art Publications.

The “Art iu Australia” Company continues to issue quite a number of interesting booklets and other beautiful productions. First amongst the most recently received batch are two charming coloured plates of oil paintings of flowers by Margaret Preston, one of Australian Gum Blossoms, the other of Australian Wattle Bloom. Skilfully reproduced in the colours of the originals which hang in the National Art Gallery in Sydney, these plates, mounted on art paper, are specially suitable as wall decorations—they should be mounted in the plain flat back frames generally used for framing etchings—these are probably the finest examples of colour printing yet to be issued from the “Art iu Australia” office. “Old Coloured By-ways,” illustrated with reproductions of water-colour drawings, etchings and wood cuts by Sydney Ure Smith, and written by Charles H. Bertie, is a booklet produced in the same formal as the ordinary issues of “Art in Australia.” I have so frequently alluded to the delicacy and the artistry of Mr. Ure Smith's work that nothing more may be said here. Both in his water-colour drawings and his etchings of picturesque spots in and around Sydney. Mr. Ure Smith’s work is as fascinating as ever, whilst Mr. Bertie in his descriptions, has embodied his evident industry of research into old-time history, the whole publication having a fine historical as well as an artistic value. “Old Coloured By-ways” is one of the most generally satisfactory publications ever issued by “Art in Australia.” “Victorian Views,” a series of photographs by the Victorian Government’s Tourist Bureau, and “Australia,” a series of photographs by Harold Cazncau, also come from the same publishers, whose enterprise will doubtless be well rewarded during the coming gift-season.

FOR THE YOUNG FOLK “The House at Pooh Corner.” Mr. Milne’s “When We Were Very Young,” "Winnie the Pooh,” and “Now We Are Six,” which delightful books have given pleasure to so many hundreds of thousands of child and adult readers, and are as sure of permanent popularity as the late Lewis Carroll’s "Alice” series have been succeeded this season by yet another volume, “The House at Pooh Corner,’” written by the popular playwright and story-teller. Mr. Milne, with quite fascinating decorations by Mr. E. H. Shephard, and published in the same charming format as previously by Messrs. Methuen and Co. Christopher Robin. Mr. Milne’s delightful character, is getting older, and the sad news has been rumoured that this is the last time the character will figure in Mr. Milne’s playworld. Pooh Bear, Piglet. Eeyore, Roo, and others appear again, a new house is built, and there are other new and delightful characters, such as Tigger, and more surprising adventures in which figure Piglet and Pooh, who go hunting for Small, and the Tigger, who is mistaken for a Jagular and has a terrible time of it before being rescued. Piglet, too, has a chance to be really noble, and I venture to predict that in this new book Mr. Milne’s juvenile readers will credit him worth even yet more fascinatingly humorous imagination than he has yet displayed. How Alice would have enjoyed this book 1 As for Mr. Shephard’s “decorations,” not even Sir John Tenniel ever drew more jolly illustrations. A new Milne without Mr. Shephard’s pictures would run the risk of being unsatisfying, so closely are the drawings of the Pooh characters interwoven with the text. His full-page drawings are most charming examples of British humorous art, whilst the little pen-drawings of Piglet, Rabbit, and Roo, and other wonderful beasts and birds are all delightful.

The future will decide which of Mr. Milne’s series of books will be most popular. Personally, I predict that “The House at Pooh Corner will easily hold its own. Already I have met a father who has bought six copies for Christmas gifts. Six happy youngsters will bless him. (10s.).

Arthur Mee’s “Children’s Hour.” Parents and friends of the children know full well what good cause they have to be thankful to Mr. Arthur Mee, the editor of ‘‘The Children’s Newspaper,” for his many excellent compilations which, as gift books, have been for many years so widely popular. Mr. Mee’s “Children’s Hour” (Hodder and Stoughton) is this year a marvellously rich collection of poems, rhymes, stories, and pictures, both old and new. There is scarcely a single British or American author who has at one time or the other wisely directed his or her literary talents to the entertainment of the young folk, who is not represented in this handsome volume of nearly 900 pages, which was arranged by Mr. Mee. Many leading American writers are represented, often by not widely-known selections, amongst which I recognise such personal favourites as Eugene Fields’s fine poem, “Come, be a King With Me,” and his delightful, quaintly humorous “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod,” and Henry Van Dyke’s eloquent tribute to the discoverer of Hudson’s Bay. while the British selections have all been made with excellent taste. The illustrations to Mr. Mee’s book are numerous, often indicating pictures little known to the average art lover. The coloured frontispiece, for instance, is Edouard Manet’s “Boy With the Fife,” and as well as the works of prominent English artists, both of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as well as of the present day, I notice well-exe-Dutch, Italian, and Spanish masters. This is a very cheap gift book at 10s. SOME RECENT FICTION The Latest Locke. Mr. W. J. Locke, whose new story is, at this season of the year, so eagerly awaited by countless readers is, as was to be expected, a formidable competitor for the good favour of those who look to pleasant and lively Action for a generous measure of entertainment during the holiday season. This year his new story is “Joshua’s Vision” (John Lane), the chief figure being Joshua Fendick, who, originally a boot manufacturer in a Lancashire town, makes money during the war—all in a legitimate way, for he is no mere vulgar profiteer—and settles down in London, there making new friends and acquiring new tastes. Introduced by Kobina Dale, an eminent sculptress, be develops a long dormant regard for the beautiful in life and becomes himself a sculptor of no mean talent. It is from such unpromising material as a Lancashire boot manufacturer that Joshua develops into a typically Locke character, rather less humorously eccentric than have been certain Lockean heroes in the past, but as sentimental, as good-hearted, as most of them. It is in ids model. Susuan Keene, whom he befriends quite in the Lockian way and to whom he proposes—after having first proposed to the sensible, worldly wise and in many ways charming Mrs. Dale, that he thinks he finds his ideal. But although he is given hte privilege of, with Susan’s help, trying to “create in material substance an interpretation of his ‘Vision of Life,’ Susan probably with wisdom, turns him down, and in the diminished fortunes of his old firm he turns back to “business” with a sense of relief. The son, Sutton, is not very prominent. Robina Dale is perhaps too conventional to be close to reality, and much as Mr. Locke labours over Susan Keene, I for one cannot accept her as near to life. “Joshua’s Vision” is not, old admirers of Mr. Locke may and no doubt will say, his best and strongest effort, but it is none the less a very pleasant and readable story. “The Six Proud Walkers.”

Mr. Francis Beeding’s “Six Proud Walkers” (Hodder and Stoughton) can hereby be most heartily commended as a “thriller” of no small originality of character, incident, and local colour. It deals with a plot hatched by six cosmopolitan scoundrels who are out for diverse personal ends, munition selling, drug dealing, Communist revolution mongering—to bring about fresh international troubles in Albania, and Servia, their special purpose being the involving of Italy in what may too probably prove a general European explosion. The “Six Proud Walkers” are

under the special control of the semiinsane but quite demoniacally clever Caramac, with medical and scientific minions under his orders. Their schemes are discovered and the plots upset by a young Englishman living in Italy and an English secret service man, Granby, whose exploits are reminiscent, perhaps, of those set forth in John Buchan’s “Greenniantle.” The scene is laid in Rome, and Mussolini with his marvellous hold over the people is clearly the original of Caffarelli, the Italian Prime Minister, whose murder is plotted and nearly accomplished t>y the infamous Camarac. The special quality of Mr. Beedlng’s story lies in the originality of the devices adopted by the plotters, whose daring and cruel methods, mainly based upon secret and scientific methods, are exposed in a series of incidents more thrilling than those of any such novel I have read for a long time. The later and impressively dramatic—-and tragic—incidents have for their background the ancient Roman catacombs. T’he story can be accorded a very high place amongst sensational stories of the year, and those who find entertainment in "thrills” should not overlook it. “The Six Proud Walkers” should be double starred when you send your Christmas book list to your bookseller.

Vanity Under the Sun. Dale Collins, who wrote that elever novel, “Ordeal,” now follows up his success with a story called “Vanity under the .Sun” (Win. Heinemann), which deals with the extraordinary experiences of a London merchant, a baronet, who is in Yokohama at tlie time of the great earthquake, and there losing his memory, makes good under an assumed name, in a commercial house in Hong Kong, wins a huge sum in the Calcutta sweep, and forthwith settles as a planter on a South Sea Island, first marrying Lulu, a musical comedy actr.ss, of French descent. Tae story then deals with Louis Kingslere’s relations with this woman, and how they are effected by the arrival on the island of a Frenchman, named Curellier, who had known her as a girl. How Leila, an utterly selfish, unmoral creature, fools both men, how Kingslere suddenly suddenly regains his memory, and how, determining on a return to the English wife and children from whom he has been so long separated, he returns with Curellier to bis island home, only to find Leila bolting with a trader, is the strange story Mr. Collins has to tell. We have rarely read a more impressive account of the great Japanese earthquake, and the conflicting characters of the Englishman and his French rival are very cleverly drawn. SOME DETECTIVES “He Who Fights . . For a well-to-do, much and deserved-ly-liked and respected young country gentleman to find himself suddenly under suspicion of having committed a terrible murder, circumstantial evidence, seemingly conclusive, pointing to his guilt, to himself recognise that his immediate arrest is certain, is the very unpleasant experience of Chris. Frayue, the hero of Lord Gorell’s “He Who Fights” (John Murray), but although he runs away a hopelessly despairing man, his fiancee, Barbara, and the charming Mrs. Dallington, his mother-in-law to be, believe in his innocence, and foster his escape. As a matter of fact, Chris. Frayne has influential sympathisers in two Parisian detectives in search of a notorious French criminal, and a long and thrilling story results in the establishment of Frayne’s innocence and the unearthing of two murders which have their genesis in Paris. This is one of the best “detectives” it has been my lot to read for some time, and can be recommended as an excellent dispeller of ennui on a holiday trip.

“Clubfoot” Once Again. “Clubfoot,” that truculent but. subtly cunning German spy-cum-swindler and all-round scoundrel, returns again in Valentine Williams’s latest story “The Crouching Beast” (Hodder and Stoughton). It is the thrillsoine record of the extraordinary experiences, in Berlin, at the outbreak of war, of an English spy and the girl he loves. Grundt, or “Clubfoot,” now reappears as the head of a German Secret Service department. He is almost diabolically clever, but the hero and bis friend, the English governess, are successful in outwitting him and reaching Holland in safety. As a succession of surprises, a record of good luck plus brilliant intrepedity. as matched against German

ingenuity and brutality, “The Crouching Beast” is decidedly worthy the attention of all who enjoy thrills. The Guilt’ 'use. Mr. Charles Kingston.whose many compilations, “Rogues and Adventuresses,” “The Romance of Monte Carlo.” and, in particular, a volume of legal stories. “The Judges a.id the Judged.” have all been so readable, has recently taken to writing the now so popular ’ -teetive” fiction. His “Guilty House” (John Lane) deals with the finding of the body of a palpably murdered man in a London suburban g ’ and the extraordinary end to the investigations of a Scotland Yard detective, and its results upon the Gray family. A very readable yarn. The Lyddon House Mystery. ..ispector Stubbs, whose task is it to discover who murdered Henry Riddell. is complicated by the fact that one of the suspects is engaged to his sister, is by no means the “common or garden” sleuth of this class of fiction. But in his attempted elucidation of “’rhe Lyddon House Mystery” (Herbert Jenkins) he has the keenest of rivals, and later, friendly competitors, in his clever sister. "Flops,” and between the pair of them, the reader is whirled from one thrill to another, the adventures of Flops in France, where she exposes a very ingenious alibi, being specially exciting,