LITERATURE AND ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12260, 2 May 1903, Page 4 (Supplement)

LITERATURE AND ART.

" The Faith of Robert Louis Stevenson," a book which Messrs. Oliphant, Anderson have in the press, is by Mr. John Kelman. . A history of Arabic literature, by Professor Cement Hnart, is just appearing in the Literatures of the World Series, which Mr. Gosse edits.

Mr. Louis Becke's new novel, " Helen Adair," will be published soon by Mr. Fisher Unwin. It relates to Botany Bay, and is based on fact.

" Friendly Foes," by Miss Sarah Tytler, and " A Woman's Calvary," by Jean Middlemas, are novels which Messrs. Digby Long will publish this spring.

The only men of imagination, Mr. Neil Munro is reported to have said, who live in London are Mr. Barrie —who is there to look after his —Mr. Anthony Hope, and the journalists who cannot 'help it. Ihe greatest novelists all live in the country.

" Sarah Grand" has been busy of late preparing material for a new book, but it will nob see the light for some time. "Sarah Grand" is not .an author who turns out books quickly. The actual writing of "The Heavenly Twins" occupied her° for two years.

Mr. William Macdonald, who was formerly on the stall' of the Outlook, and now writes for the Athenseurni lias for some time had on hand a very important work for Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co. This is an edition of Char!es*"Lanib, which will be more complete.than any hitherto published.

Mr. Augustine Buroli, who has undertaken to write a volume on Andrew" Marvel! for " The English Men of Letters," is better known nowadays, and ceitainly more often read, than Marvel! himself. ' The latter, like most political satirists, has a more important place in the history of literature than in literature itself. As' Disraeli said about Marvell, " He wrote to the times, and with tne times his writings have passed away; yet something there is incorruptible in wit' and wherever its salt has fallen that part is still preserved."

The recent publication by Mr. Fisher Unwin of Mr. Moreton Half's blank verse historical drama, "The Scourge of, God," has, brought to light another Strang)) coincidence. Air. Moreton Hall sent his drama to Mr. Wilson Barrett, who imediately returned the book, courteously explaining that a first glance at the dramatic persona had made it impossible for him to peruse or even retain the play, seeing that he himself had long been working at intervals on a drama based on the same subject, which had been suggested to him by the late John Euskin.

Messrs. James MacLehose and Sons, publishers to the University of Glasgow, have in the press a complete edition of Hakluyt's collection of "The Principal Navigations. Voyages, and Discoveries of the English Nation." This great work was first published in 1589, and a second edition, revised and enlarged by Hakluyt, was printed in 1598-1600. The* collection was reprinted in limited editions in London in 1809, and in Edinburgh in 1885, but these reprints, like the originals, have become very scarce and costly. The aim of the publishers in the new issue is to render accessible to all interested in early voyages and adventures an accurate and beautifully printed text from the edition of 1598-1600. Prof. Walter Raleigh has agreed to write an essay on the life and work of Hakluyt, which* will complete the whole. It will be illustrated from" contemporary portraits and maps. The edition will be strictly limited, and sold in complete sets only. The first volume is in the press, and will be published shortly, and it is hoped to complete the whole within two years.