AMONG THE BOOKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13482, 8 May 1907, Page 9

AMONG THE BOOKS.

The largest book yet printed, is a colossal atlas of beautifully engraved ancient Dutch maps. It takes three men to move it from the giant bookcase in which it is stored in the library of the British Museum. This monster book is bound in leather, magnificently decorated, and is fastened with clasps of solid silver, richly gilted. It is unlikely to • be * stolen, however, for it,; is nearly seven feet high and weighs 8001b. This isi the largest book in the world, and -was'presented to King Charles 11. before leaving Holland in the year 1660. Side by side with" Tt is the very smallest book in the world—a microscopic gem of' book-making scarcely larger than a man's thumb-nail. " And. yet this' contains the I whole of the New Testament, minutely inscribed by ? German artist of Nuremburg in the early part of the seventeenth century. The tiny volume must have taken I years of "labour,; for each letter is microscopically written with a fine pen. There are 208 pages, each consisting of nine lines, and the lettering'is so perfect that it can be' '"read ' without "' difficulty. ' -The*' ; book' J measures three-quarters of an: inch* by two-1 fifths.': 1 ;';,"; ■. ' ' '* _ ';_ - ■ "The Dust Problem in Libraries" is a heading to a brief article in the Library , World. The writer rightly condemns the flicking with a feather-brush and the use of the dry cloth in situ, as these methods simply remove the dust from one part of the room to another. The proper method, he says, is to have a dusting machine— everyone apparently is supposed' to know what that isand if this cannot be afforded, the books should be taken to a table on which there is a box of wet sawdust and gently brushed with a hard brush so that' the dust will fall/ 1 into the box. The shelf itself should be rubbed "with a damp cloth, to which the dust -will'adhere.' The hint may be of use to some of our readers with regard to the .management of their private libraries." " : " '- •'"_-' George Moore, the doyen of the Irish realistic novelists, has a rather curious manner of speaking; every now and then his words burst out of him in violent exclamations. A story is being told of him to this effect. He set out with two artists, Will Rothenstein and Walter Sickert, to see the pictures in the Dulwich Gallery. They rode on a street-car through dismal mile after dismal mile of London suburb, growing very gloomy. ' ', • _ : " Then Rothenstein said, "We're going through Peckham now." "Peckham?" cried George Moore. "We must get down and look at Peckham! I've written a story about Peckham!" They got down and looked at Peckham; they walked along dismal streets; and the ail* of George Moore grew more and. more harassed.' At last lie cried, "I do not see that haystack and that field! There was a haystack and a field in my story! Where are they?" ' ' They walked along more dismal streets, and at last they came upon a policeman. George Moore stopped, and said to him, "Could you kindly tell me where I can find a haystack and a field*" " There aren't no 'aystack nor no field in Peckham," said'the policeman."But there 'must be a haystack and a field in Peckham!" cried George Moore. The policeman shook his head stolidly. George Moore tottered on a few steps with a broken air, then threw up his arms to the skies and cried in a tone of anguish •■ "That is the fate of the realist! • He writes a. story about a haystack and a field in Peckham and there aren't any there A literary contemporary quotes from well-known books the description of heroines given by their authors. The first is Tess D'Urbeyfield, in " Tess ■'-, of the D'Urbervilles," by Thomas Hardy.:—" was a fine., handsome girl—not handsomer than some others, possibly—but her mobile peony mouth and large innocent eyes* added eloquence to colour and shape. She wore a red ribbon in her hair, and was the ;only one of the white company who could boast of such a pronounced adornment. "Phases of her childhood lurked in her aspect still. As she walked along today, for all her bouncing handsome womanliness, you could sometimes see her twelfth year in her cheeks, or'her ninth sparkling - from her eyes and even her fifth would flit over her mouth now and then. Yet few knew, and still fewer considered this. A small minority, mainly strangers, would look long at her in casually passing by, and grow momentarily fascinated by her freshness, and wonder if they would ever see. her again; but to almost everybody she was a fine and picturesque country girl, and no more." Another description is of Catherine Cassilis, in a "Daughter of Heth," by William Black:—"Her face was pale and French looking; and, instead of the rosy bloom of a pretty country lass, there was a tinge of • southern sun over her complexion.. Then her hair was in obvious disorder—some ragged ends, of silky brown, scattered over her forehead in Sir Peter Lely fashion, being surmounted by a piece of. yellow silk ribbon; while there were big masses behind that only partially revealed a shapely neck. ■ , Then her eyes, though they, were cark and expressive, had nothing of the keen and merry look of your bouncing country belle. , ' ■ , ' ~■'. .', , ■-".Nor was there anything: majestic in her appearance; although, to vbe sure, she walked with a«: ease and grace which gave even tc an observer a sense of suppleness . ana pleasure.' , ' .