BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13235, 21 July 1906, Page 5 (Supplement)

BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Six Years at toe Russian Court : By M. Eager. George Bell and Sons, London.— The book is well arid profusely illustrated from photographs. Miss Eager was for six years English governess to the children ol the Tsar and has given, in terse and simple manner, a statement of life at the Russian Court as she saw it. The family life of the autocrat seem? to have been ordinarily as simple as that of an English gentleman, and the sort of children he had is exemplified in the facsimile of a page of a letter, sent by his eldest child to the author. : The Grand Duchess Olga says: "But now we are all three Veil again and to-morrow we go to Peterhof. It has been raining all day. Yesterday Tatiana and I Went for a isiee Anastasia lunched yesterday with papa, mamma, and us as it was her birthday; she was good and eat very nicely and cleanly. How is your poor mother? All the likes are 'loot and the. oaks quite green." There is certainly a touch of the nature that makes world akin in this childish letter.

A Dream of Realms Beyond Us: By Adair Welcker, 214, Pine-street, San Francisco.—This is the production of ;; what America calls a "crank." It is a paper-' covered pamphlet in blank-verse, very blank, and priced at £2. It is stated on the cover to be " a book that in all parts of the world is giving to each man more courage to become his brothers helper than have any or all books of the past tune.'' This modest statement is, of course, the author's own. ,

V Mining Geology : By James Park. With 78 illustrations a.nd three plates. Charles Griffin and Company, Ltd., Exeter-street, Strand.Mr. Park, Director of the Otago School of Mines and late President of the New Zealand Institute of Mining Engineers, has put into book form a series of lectures, issued in bulletin-form at the end of 1902, and which then met with considerable appreciation. Chapters have been added to . meet the requirements of the new curriculum for the associate-diplomas in Mining, Metallurgy, and Geology. Altogether tpe book is a praiseworthy contribution to the growing number of text-books on Mining Geology-

International, Commercial, and Financial Gambling in "Options and Futures, '■'■; the Economic Ruin of the World: By Charles William Smith. P. S. King and Son., Orchard House, Westminster, London.— Smith was for many years the editor of WhitakcrY Trade and Financial Circular, and appears to have some knowledge of his subject, but unfortunately he evidently thinks that he knows about all: that there is to be known and pads out his book with tedious correspondence in which he has attempted to prove his merits to those who advise princes. His remedy for existing economic ills is. that purely fictitious transactions in "options and futures" shall be made illegal anid criminal. Whether this would cure the financial troubles of the period, and' prevent the amassing of those vast fortunes which obviously • represent ; • the ruin of countless thousands, is a question which ought not to affect the experiment. Gambling in futures is as bad as gambling in ai big " sweep" or at two-up, and if society makes certain forms of gambling illegal there is no reason why it shouldn't illegalise the lot. One feature of the book is noteworthy in that it contains the. first visible sign of the extension of the Anti-Semite movement from the Continent to England, Jewish fi* nanciers being attacked as responsible for social and national evils which are alleged to periodically 'incite hatred and hostility towards them in every country. .

La Belle Dame: By Alice Methley. John Long, London." La Bell© Dame" is a fashionable woman who steals jewels to gratify extravagant tastes and then poisons people to avoid f: punishment. Eventually her sin finds her out and she dramatically .poisons herself. ■

A Madcap Marriage : By M. McDonnell Bodkin, K.C. John Long, London. This is a secret runaway match which hap- ; pens to be coincident with a marriage upon which a great inheritance is „ made dependent. A villainous lawyer, for his own advantage, tries to euchre the rightful heirs, but is defeated in the end by the discovery that the altogether unexpected had happened.' ■ '"'■•"".■■\: ' '•',./•-;';.'/''

A Prophet of Wales By Max Baring. Greening and Co., Ltd., London. (Received through Messrs. Gordon and Gotch, London). This is a cleverly written topical story dealing with revivalism in Wales. The boy-revivalist is made to meet' Delilah and succumb to her charms, Avhereupon comes tragedy and repentance.

Jingle Peaceable : By Reginald Turner. Greening and Co., Ltd., London. (Received through Messrs. Gordon ■ and Gotch, London.A somewhat humorous story of English life.

KidMcGhie: By S. R. Crockett. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London.—To say that Mr. Crockett is not at his best,in "Kid McGhie" is not to say that he has not produced a readable story, which will compare most favourably with the immense majority of those published this season. It is a Scotch story, of course, mostly laid in Edinburgh Old Town, and the colonial hero is a half-breed from • Canadai, whose father made millions and received a title, and whose mother was a squaw. We are introduced, to . a ; thieves' school and to a model reformatory ; in the former boys are taught burglary and in the latter they are. cruelly ill treated by an understrapper schoolmaster, who apparently ignores the superior officials of. the institution. There is a mysterious murder and the wrong man is nearly hung, but. not quite: and finally the half-breed marries a fair flower of Dunblane, and the most notorious " pub"' in the Cowdigate is turned into a Mission Hall Coffee Shop. This is all very thrillingly put in Mr. Crockett's native style and- makes up a story, as said before, much more interesting and readable than most are. , ,

>";.. Jules of the Great Heart: By Lawrence Mott. William Heinemann, London. This is a good book but would be vastly improved if the writer had not thought it necessaiy to maintain throughout the story a most outlandish and wearisome FrenchCanadian ': dialect. If "this is struggled through the romance of Jules, the outlawed trapper, in the stirring time when the Hudson Bay Company was struggling for the mastery with the Western Company, will well repay the reader. It is an entirely new presentation of Canadian furtrade and is, moreover, a fine study of a great-hearted hunter and of the rough and often desperate men and women who were his friends and his enemies. The Wrong Envelope : By Mrs. Molesworth. Macmillam and Co., Ltd., London. — collection of short stories by this wellknown writer, with the addition of an Ax/ gentine ghost story by her son. ~ j'J^ Rembrandt, 1606-1906: A Memorial' William Heinemann.—This excellent memorial to the genius of Rembrandt is to be published in ten parts, each containing examples ,of his work, with letterpress dealing. with his life, his work, and his place in the artistic world. It is well worthy of the purpose, sufficiently high commendation to all.who appreciate the merits of one of the greatest of painters and possibly, the greatest of all colourists.