LITERARY NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 74, 24 September 1938, Page 29

LITERARY NOTES

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

Mr. Eugene J. Young, who has written a book on foreign affairs, "Looking Behind the Censorships," has for oO years !been cable editor, first of the "New York World" and now of the "New York Times." On his desk, have been placed dispatches from all corners of the world, and his job, has been^to sift the truth from the message that has been allowed through. He must have learnt a lot in 50 years! From Cambridge' comes a report that a new and complete translation of the Diary of Samuel Pepys, the original of which is in the possession of Magdalene College, Cambridge, will be published in about a year's time. The work has been undertaken by Mr. 1 Francis Turner, M.A., Fellow and Pepysian Librarian of the college. It will be a voluminous book,. Mr. Turner says that as the original is in a form of shorthand the translation must necessarUyv^jpccupy. considerable time and care; "So"far no complete translation of the -Diary has been undertakers. Two novels by Frenchmen based on recent events in Spain will shortly be appearing in English translations. M. Lucien Maulvault's "Spanish Recruit" | (Duckworth) has been described as "the first great novel of the Spanish CiVil War," and in the original it has already sold nearly 30,000 copies. The other novel, '"The Hope of the People" (called "Espoir" in France), is by M. Andre Malraux, winner of the Prix Goricourt in 1933, who 'wrote it while serving in the Government Air Force. One of London's interesting buildings has been closed temporarily, the library of the Society of Antiquaries. While its rooms are being renovated its 100,000 volumes, representing the finest collection of archaeological works in England apart from the British Museum, will be shrouded. Here thp student, the collector, or the browser may discover the wardrobe and household expenses of Edward I and Edward 11, covering many pages of small, neat medieval script. The library is rich in manuscripts. It owns, for instance, the Winton Domesday, a survey of the city of Winchester, dated 1120, in the original stamped leather binding, and the Lindsey Psalter, written between 1220 and 1222 for Robert of Lindsey, Abbot of Peterborough. A famous Edgar Wallace character is reintroduced in Mr. Francis Gerard's latest book, "The Return of Sanders of the River," says "John.o' London's Weekly." Mr. Gerard has taken the unusual step of "borrowing" Sanders with the authority and permission of Wallace's executors. There are one or ■two precedents: Raffles appeared after Hornung's death, and some of my readers may remember a play in which Sherlock Holmes turned up again—as I a widower with a daughter! Obviously these borrowings have, their dangers, and can be justified only in exceptional cases. Still, the author who can prolong the life of a much-loved character is doing us a good turn. I shall never forget what pleasure it gave me to meet Mr. Pickwick, Sam Weller, Mr. Jingle, and others of the famous Dickens company in a pastiche written years: ago by Mr. J. B. Priestley, and now included in one of his volumes of essays. A biography of the,, late E. V. Lucas has already been announced. His daughter, Miss Audrey Lucas, the novelist, is writing it for his friend, Mr. Frederick Muller, who will publish it shortly. "E.V.L.'s" last book of J essays, "Adventures and Misgivings," j will also appear, with the familiar Methuen imprint. E. V. Lucas's liter- j ary gifts are inherited by his daughter Audrey. She has just published a new novel, "Old Motley." Her fourth book, it deals with romance and the! theatre in the London of the 1830's, the chief characters being members of! rich Quaker households.