LITERATURE AND ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10127, 9 May 1896, Page 4 (Supplement)

LITERATURE AND ART.

At Sotheby's, on Feb. 29, £96 was given for a series of fourteen letters by Pitt the elder, written in the heat of the renewal of war with France. Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. bavo nearly ready for publication a new novel by Mrs. F. Harcourt Williamson, the author of " Vashti and Esther." It will be issued in one-volume form, under the title of "A Provincial Lady." Pathetic interest attaches to the chat with the late Lord l.eighton, entitled " How the President of tho Royal Academy Became Famous," which appears in Cassell's Saturday Journal. The "interview" was probably tho last one accorded to a journalist by Lord Leigh ton. The first portion of the work on the principles of the textual criticism of the New Testament, which Dean Burgon loft in MS., and which has been prepared for publication by the Rev. Edward Miller, will be published by Messrs. Bell and Sons in tho courgo of a few weeks. A "Teachers' Guild" has recently been established in Madras. The peoplo of that Presidency have been accustomod to claim educational supremacy in India, and ib is a fact that Madras has tho only training college for secondary teachers, in addition to University courses for a teaching

diploma. Those who have read " Days in Clover," "Fresh Woods and Pastures New," and their companion volumes will bo glad to learn that "An Amateur Angler" is about to publish another book. The new work, which Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston and Co. have in preparation, will bo called " By Meadow and Stream : Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Places." Amongst the high prices that have lately been offered for rare books we note that a copy of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales," printed by W. Caxton about 1478, first edition, black letter, comprising 353 leaves, was sold by auction in London for £1020. The book was not by any means in a firstclass condition; somo of tho pages were missing and others were torn. A copy lacking sixteen leaves was sold for £300 in 1861. Messrs. Seeloy and Co. are about to issue a roprint of the late Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson's " Picturesque Notes on Edinburgh," the original illustrated edition of which was published in 1878. In this edition the publishers have decided to produce an entirely new set of illustrations by Mr. T Hamilton Crawford, of tho Royal Scottish Water-colour Society, and to exclude every engraving that has appeared in previous editions. The next volume of Mr. John Lane's " Arcady Library" will bo from the pen of the editor, Mr. J. S. Fletcher, whoso first book of sketches and stories of rural life was published by Mr. Laoe about a year ago under tho title of " Tho Wondorful Wapentake." Mr. Fletcher's new book is callod " Life in Arcadia," and is divided into three pacts-" Unconscious Comedians," "A Group of /Great People," and Life's Tragedy." lb is being illustratod by Mr. Patten Wilson.

During tho autumn of 1895 Mr. Julias M. Price, P.R.G.8., tho special artist correspondent of the Illustrated London News, visited Coolgardie and other gold-mining centres of Western Australia. An account of his experiences and impressions will be published by Messrs. Sampson Low in a volume entitled "Tho Land of Gold: The Narrative of a Journey through the West Australian Goldfields." The work, which is dedicated to Sir William J. Ingram, will have a map and somo fifty illustrations reproduced from the author's sketches. Mr. Price's lasb book of travel, issued some three years ago by the same firm, described his journey from the Arctic Sea) down the "Xenesei River, through Siberia and North China, to the Yellow Sea. Nature contains on interesting accounb by Mr. Saville-Kenb (the author of the «' Great Barrier Reef") of" Chlamydosaurus Kingi," the "frilled lizard" of Australia, which he has succeeded for the-first time in bringing alive to Europe. "Chlamydosaurus" earns its name from a wonderful coloured frill or ruff, which it erects with horrifying gestures when attacked _ or frightened. Normally this inconvenient attachment is folded up umbrella-wise on both sides of its neck. The Most attractive feature of this lizard is, however, its habit of running erect on two legs, with its arms up and its long tail stretching away in a graceful curve. Some of the instantaneous photographs taken of it by Mr. SavilleKent with an Anchute hand camera show a remarkable tendency bo humwi caricature. Mr. Saville-Kent has brought back some most delightful photographs for his next , book, which is to b» illuati'fttSvo of Aue[trrtiMfotmjS, i ■ ■■■■■■