LITERATURE AND ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13325, 3 November 1906, Page 4 (Supplement)

LITERATURE AND ART.

"The"; Lady Evelyn" is a romantic story by Mr. Max : ; Pemberton, which Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton have issued. ,■". M'essrs. Chapman will publish." The Whip | Hand," a hew novel by Mr. Keble Howard,,! who describes, it as " a comedy for husbands." ■ ' " The Workaday Woman" is the title and the subject of a story by Miss Violet Hunt, which Mr. Werner rT " Laurie will'j shortly-publish. _• ! ; In the land of " King Solomon's Mines," Mr. Rider Haggard is at home, and,he has selected the same local setting for his new: novel, "Benita," to be, published shortly by Messrs. Cassell. '•',, ' .*' Mr. f Alfred is one of our foremost painters of.romantic landscape, which fact confers interest on a book by him that Messrs. Cassell announce. In it he not only expounds the theory of landscape art, but gives'practical directions to ■ the student/ based on his own long and varied, experience. '; \ ' ■ "' " ' . „, ' 1 A novel by' "Mi-.- Marion Crawford is always sure of a wide welcome on both sides of the Atlantic Very shortly Messrs. Mac-: millan will publish one which he finished this summer; It has the title, "A Lady of Rome," and it is a story of modern Roman society. Needless to say Mr; Crawford has made* Italy his second home. *;-••;,;■ Three new books are now published by Messrs. Smith. Elder. Mr. George W. K. Russell is to add a volume of "Social Silhouettes" to his present writings. In "The Gates of Death" an anonymous author describes the experiences of one who has twice approached ' it. Thirdly, Mrs. Katharine Tynan has written a romantic Irish novel, " The Story of Bawn." ' "*"/"' Mr. Anthony Hope returns to romance pure and simple in a story, " Sophy of Kravonia." which Mr. Arrowsmith is about to publish. " Sophy," unhappily named "Grouch." is left an orphan by the death of her father, an Essex peasant. She is brought up by a squire and his wife, and this takes her into associations which lead to a life adventurous. The common habit of regarding pictures as imitations rather than 'creations, as representations, rather than presentations has, says the Academy', betrayed. us into attaching too great an importance to- the painter's manual dexterity, too little' ."to'. his mental qualities, lyet" the- painter-go to nature by all means, but 'let' him not come back seeking oUr praise solely because! he has truthfully copied what- he* saw. -^ The fine library of Lord Amherst"-.'of-Hackney is, it is "stated, to be offered for sale. It contains a unique series of English Bibles—including Queen Elizabeth's copy of the Bishop's Bible, 1568, yn.d die:' copy of the "Authorised Version'', that be-, longed to Charles I. There are ■ also seyeijfeu Caxtons; Among them is. what is. believed to be the only perfect copy. of the " History of Troy"—'the first book printed in the English, language. I" ''"''"' Childhood, Mr. Dudley Kidd : , tells us, ; is by far the most interesting time in '-the life of a \savage, and yet it has'- been stangcly neglected ,by writers. A year or two ago he wrote a-book on the grownup kaffir, and now he has written one on kaffir children. It describes' the life of the black child of South Africa from the cradle until it ceases to be young. For instance, the giving of a name to the child is a very considerable affair. The book, .which Messrs.. Black,announce,, will have many pictures. 7£ ' " ■ ■' ■ i . There are authors who decry the importance of reviewsespecially if they happen to be unfavourable. It may be that a single review does not to-day affect the sale of a book as a notice, in the Times or the Saturday Review would have done in the old days. But when there is a shower of reviews, and all these are in one note, the impression made is notable. The latest proof of this is Miss Mary Cholmondeley's novel, "Prisoners," of which a second edition has already been sold in advance, while a third is printing. Miss Cholmondeley takes her art seriously, and she is being rewarded.

"Sir Joshua and His Circle" is the title of Mr. Fitzgerald Molloy's book, which Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. have published. The volumes aim at giving not merely a description of the rise of art in England, but also an intimate account of the friends and associates of the first President of the Royal Academy, among whom were Gainsborough, Romney, Cosway, and West, as well as Johnson, Goldsmith, Sterne, and Garrick. The book contains eighteen illustrations after ■ Sir Joshua's portraits of the brilliant men and beautiful women of his day. Mrs. Seymour Lucas, the wife of the well-known R.A., married when barely twenty-two years of age. In their charming home at West Sampstead Mr. and Mrs. Seymour Lucas have built themselves no less than three studios. That of Mr. Lucas is a very spacious apartment, with panelled oak walls, above which his treasures of armour arc set out. Mrs. Seymour Lucas, says a writer in the Penny Magazine, naturally shares with her 'husband his love for old costumes, but she has one particular hobby of her own, and that is the collection of old shoes, one of which bears inside the name of Lady Trevor, who lived in the reign of Charles I. Mr. Albert B. Lloyd, whose book "In Dwarfland and Cannibal Country" attracted much attention a, few years ago, has now written a new work entitled "Uganda to Khartoum—Life and Adventure on the Upper Nile." It was brought out by Mr. Unwin on September 20. The author, whose " Dwarfland and Cannibal Island" will be remembered by many, gives a record of travel and adventure during five years spent in a little known region of Central Africa—the Northern Provinces of the Uganda Protectorate. Particulary interesting are his descriptions of native habits and. customs, * and there are also exciting narratives of sport with hippo, elephant, and lion. The author's missionary efforts are breitly dealt with, but the book is intended not so much for those who are interested in missionary work only as for the wider public whose concern is with Africa as a land of darkness, fascinating adventure, and immense possibility. In a review of " A Short History of Free Thought,'' by J. M. Robertson, member for the Tyneside Division of Northumberland, the Athenaeum remarks: " Mr. Robertson's views, philosophic and historical, are well known. A thoroughgoing ' rationalist' of the most militant type, he ' inclines' to the view that Montaniis never existed, and he regards commercial motives as a main support of religious belief. The results are proportionately marvellous. We naturally get new views of things from a writer who thinks men like Father Dolling and the Cowley Fathers can be explained in this way. Mr. Robertson is always stimulating and often amusing; and these two volumes are no exception. Whatever views we take either of facts or ideas, it is refreshing to read a man whose theory of religion goes along with his ideas on morality, who preaches ' free thought' and 'determinism' with the same prophetic fervour as some have inculcated repentance and righteousness." The work, in two-volumes, is published by Watts and Co.