NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 25, 29 July 1911, Page 13

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

"THE VANISHED TUSITALA." "The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson. 1 ' Edited by Sidney Colvin. A New Edition. Rearranged in four volumes, with 150 new letters. London : Methuon and Co., Ltd. The lovers of "R.L.5.," whose name is legion, will welcome this promised " definitive " edition of the lettere by his friend Hiv Sidney Colvin on many grounds. The result of careful study and collation of a great wealth of ma' terial, it not only supplements but for all purposes supersedes the collections published during the past twelve yea^s, not less on account of the fulness and practical completeness of the material, its careful arrangement and annotation and its exhaustive index, than its admirable presentation. In four five-shil-ling volumes, each with a portrait fron* tispiece, independent in itself, and cxi qui&itely printed and bound, it cannot fail to be a lasting delight 'to the possessor, either as booklover or admirer of the fascinating personage upon whose kindly genius and many-sided character it throws so strong a light. In one respect alone this work enables a new estimate to be formed of Steven- j son's achievement, and cannot fail to excite wonder. It is difficult to realise that in a life devoted to almost cease- \ less >\york and diversified by travel, re* sponsibilities, and many interests, and; moreover, broken with insidious illness, only too evident, and accompanied with . pain and weakness, ho should not o&ly have kept up so diligent and faithful a rorrespondence with a wide range of friends} still more remarkable is it that, written with a "running pen," and with perpetual self'revelation, their artistic quality should be so high, and, depress* ing as the external conditions were, the fortitude should abide to the end— the cnestful and hopeful spirit unbowed. Even those who are familiar with the twd collections of letters already given to the world will find in these volumes much that is new to the public. So well is the work edited, in chronological order, and with such judgment ate the annotations attached where desirable, that the book, tead consecutively, would be almost a complete autobiography as wpII as a commentary of the writer's published works. But apart from those admirers who will religiously follow the record from end to end, it will appeal to any who casually take it up, for in oVery opening are to be found sidelights on the writer's work and character, his appreciations, preferences, and prejudices, and illuminating comment and criticism on literature and authors of his time. The book is one for which there should be a steady sale : it is timely, and the work could not have fallen into better hands. Editor, publisher, and printer have. worked in hatmoiiioue collaboration, .with the- result that there is that joy of the bookman— a worthy book in worthy form, "He is Risen Again ; A Vision." By Charles Monce. London : G. Bell and Sons (S. and W. Mackay.) "A hallucination" would perhaps bo a better descriptive. We have met many "clank," wild, and unprofitable books, but few, if any. to surpass this, which ■ has a great similarity to 'a class of literature supposed to be spiritually dictated, though it makes no such profession. The pointlessness and apparent purpoeeleseness of the book are perplexing, and the writer does not scruple to "rush in where angels fear to tread." Briefly, the Christ appears visibly in Paris, advertising his coming by a eerie? of epectacttlai and profitless mir« acles—quite in the fityle of the magic and mischievous pranks characteristic of the early 6punous Gospels. By i an unseen but UTesietible compuisic-h, everybody abandons dishonesty and impurity, and the alleged Christ recite* long and dreary "discourses—paraphrases, or, *ather, caricatures, or tho addresses of the Gospels, which invert the doctrines into a kind of "advanced" Modernism, suggestive of theories at present fashionable in certain circles in France. Meantime, according to the author, business without fraud and with the Stock Exchange purified became impossible, and universal bankruptcy was imminent. Whereupon the authorities requested the "Me«siah' J to withdraw, and, acknowledging his lailure and denouncing the faithless city for rejecting him, he departed in anger. The writer, if not a Frenchman, seems to be saturated, with certain notions at present floating in France,; but the book is illconstructed and incoherent, and we doubt whether one reader in a hundred will wade through' it. 'We suspect that it is a translation. The authoi knows very little of the New Testament, and he has evidently made use oi a French version, from which one of liis quotations is literally translated. An tUng* gllsh author usually invokes a visitor from some distant planet to work miracles in the terrestrial sphere ; the irreverence has been reserved to Mr. Morice to send forth his fantastic vagaries in the name- of one to wnom reverence is due. Mi. Morice's pseudo-Christ is an. ignorant and vulgar magic-worker "of Gilpm Hwner'e brood." "The Pink Shop." By Fergus Hume, author of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab," etc. London : G. Bell and Sons. (S. and W. Mackay.) Fergiu Hume'* fertility is .surprising, and his unfailing resource is a tangled story of murdei and mystification. In this case the plot is wrought out in the establishment of a beauty .specialist; a kidnapped daughtei, blackmail, murder, and suicide figure in the cunningly woven web. "The Universal Textbook of Religion and Moials."' Edited by Annie Besant, president of the Theosopmcal Society. (Theosophical Society, I 351, Queen-street, Auckland.) "Textbook" in this title i& used in I the sense- of "motto-book" or "scrap* book." It is a gathering of sentiments, axioms, proverbs, and prayers from the Bible and translated from sacred books of maaiy creeds, setting forth diverse doctrines with no attempt to harmonise; truths and guesses at truth, fragmentary ! and classified under seven headings, as "The Unity of God," "The Three Words of Human Evolution," and "The Brotherhood of Man." These are seven fundamentals of the Theosophic creed— or, is the writer puts it^ of "Tha Universal Religion," which is open to dispute. It is an interesting anthology of the thoughts of men wise and otherwise, inspired and uninspired ; but would be. a perplexing book to any teachel who should attempt, as the editor suggests, to use it "ior religious and moral i,nsbrnction in school where the scholars are nt different faith." Our public schools exclude our single Bible— Mrs. Besant would have seven. There is ,n, good cluster of storied in the Windsor Magazine for July (Ward and Lock), which is also Coronation number. Mrs. Steel has a. capital little Indian sketch, "Segregation," and Justus Miles Forman lias another "Harvest Moon I'earl" episode. Mr. Charles G. t). Roberts contributes one more admirable sketch of animal domestic life — ■ this time the Seal, as "a harassed householder." Among the fictionista represented are Lveljn Home, Iveblo Howard) Robert UiUT, limnja Brooke, Ddith

Dart, Marriott .Wateon, and Norman Innee. Th© Pall Mall Magazine for July opens with "Tho Fairy Prince," an idyllic story of the familiar episode of the first Prince of Wales at Carnarvon. Mr. Albert Kinrose'a "The Hebbertijn Boy" is a livply little almy, Mr. T. Donovan Bay ley gives a realistic dencriplion of r. swift trans-atlantic jour-ni-y by the "mailplanc"' of the future— a different type irom Kipling's forecast. There ie more good fiction, and a. good descriptive article on the " Exodus to Canada," illustrated with photographs of emigrant train and emigrant chip. The World's Work eendfi a very interesting (issue. Mr, Frank Norton, in "Harnessing Oxygen," describee the cutting of twelve-inch steel plate of finest quality with a movable blowpipe diecharging a jet of oxygen "as a knife cuts butter.' 1 He narrates the evolution of the invention, and in a series of photographs illuottates the marvellous process in operation. The recently-de-veloped "science" of business manage* ment— recent enough to have its claim to be a science disputed— is the subject of interesting discussion. The moving' picture business is described— the plan* ning, acting, and preparing |recorde, with statistics of the cost and magnitude of what is now a very large in* dustry. Another important article ie "tfew Guinea, the Largest Island." The whitewash has been applied with some effect by a distinguiehed London barrkte-r to a celebrity whose reputed history, as all must partly suspect, has accumulated large accretions ot mythno other thah the redoubta-ble Captain Kidd, upon whom Sir Cornelius Neale Dalton, in "The Real Captain Kidd," after diligent search of available records, has passed_a verdict of complete acquittal. Kidd, he maintains, was no > pirate, but a conscientious and unlucky captain, and the buried treasure-*-in quest of which co much solid treasure hae been dissipated— is imaginary. The reader is convinced, says the American Review of Reviews, that the author " ie setting forth historic verity." Those who have watched the female franchise controversy in older lands must have observed that apart from the enormous host of women who are immovably indifferent to the privilege of the vote, the sex has supplied some of the most determined opponents to the movement. One of the most vigorous of these during the pact year or so has been an American lady, Miss Molly Elliott Seawell, whose magazine ahd newspaper articles on the theme have at« tracted widespread attention. She has just published "The Ladies' Battle," which is believed to b& the completest and most _ comprehensive book on th© negative side that has co far appeared. Her the&ifl is plainly set forth at the outset^ where she declares of the suffragists that "while they propose A stupendous governmental change, (th<*y) have little knowledge of the fundamentals of government, the evolution of repre* lentation, the hietory of politics, or th© genesis, scope, and meaning of suffrage," Miss SeawelFs work shows conscientious study and able dealing with materials, and her trumpet gives no uncertain j sound. Her book i» described as "frankly, vigorously, ahd in many parts convincingly, a-nti-suffrage. " Stevenson's "Child's Garden of Verse" appeared ih March, 1885 ; but during the November previous the author, writing from a Hampshire address regarding a meditated illustrated edition (which never appeared) to Mr. Low, publisher, said :—-"You will see some verses of mine in the last Magazine of Art, with pictures by a young lady ; rather pretty, I think. . . . I hope it isn't necessary to put the verse into that rustic printing. I am Philistine enough 16 prefer clean printers' type ; indeed, t can form no idea of the verses, thus transcribed by the incult and tottering nand of the draughtsman, nor gather any impression beyond one of weariness to the eyes. Yet the other day, in the Century, I saw it imputed as a crime to Vedder that he had not thus travestied Omar Jtvhayyam. . . . ." Apart from this very definitely expressed view--notable as directly opposed to the theory and practice alike of Walter Crane— thia passage has an interesting bearing on Stevenson's bib' hography. That some of his "Children's Verses" originally contributed to the Magazine of Art were transcribed and specially decorated by some lady artist is evident, for Mr. Stevenson must have seen either the original drawing t>r a printed proof, and supposed that they had appeared in the magazine, but that periodical of 1884 contains neither the "pictures" which the author admired, nor the "rustic printing" to which he took exception. There ate five pieces published in two consecutive issues, seb in plain, italic, without decoration or illustration, headed "A Child's Fancies." On p. 367 are "The Land of Counter* pane," "The Wind," and "The Cow" 5 on p. 459, "Foreign Lands" and "Good and Bad Children." The only way to reconcile the discrepancy between Stevenson's letter and the evidence ol the magazine itself seems to be to assume that the engraved .page was crowded out of the magazine at the final "make-up," and a vacant space filled with the verses specially set. Messrs. Cassell and Co, should be able to throw light on the problem.