CHRISTMAS GIFT BOOKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18897, 20 December 1924, Page 24 (Supplement)

CHRISTMAS GIFT BOOKS.

| PUBLISHERS OLD AND NEW I ———— Any notice of juvenile literature' de signed to supply the Christmas demant' must surely give pride of place, if only for volume and comprehensiveness, to the publications of the well-known house ol Blackie and Sons. Their boys' library contains—in addition to reprints of fine old stories by Henty, Manville Feun, Gordon Stables, etc.. and of the ever-green fairy tales of Hans Andersen and Grimm —many modern stories of school life, such as "The Liveliest Term at, Templeton," by Richard Bird of "Naval Adventure," by Staff-Surgeon T. T. Jeans, R.N., and stirring tales oi campaigning, by Lt.-Col. Brereton, the nature of which may be gathered from titles like "The Armoured-Car Scouts,',' " With Joffro at Verdun ' and " The Great Aeroplane." To the girls' library the schoolgirls' favourite, Miss Angela Brazil, has added "Captain Peggie" which fully maintains the standard of her earlier books, while other popular authors, like Bessie Marchant and Mrs. E. E. Cowper, are well represented. Nor are the little ones forgotten, a fact testified to by many quaint picture books such as "The Frank Adams Coloui Series," " The Ark Book," " A Book of Steamers" and many others truly too numerous to mention. Christmas would not bo Christmas for some bovs and girls without the current volume of "Chums," but the bouse of Cassell docs not confine itself to this old favourite; for thoso who prefer their reading in less bulky form there are two other annuals, one for Now Zealand boys ,ind one for girls, whilo " Tiny Tots " caters excellently for their youngei brothers and sisters. Stanley Paul and Company are represented by many cheap and handy volumes of pleasant stories, of which "Crystal's Victory," by May Wynne, is a typical sample. Ward, Lock and Co. carry on the good work with " Brothers of the Fleet," by Lillian Pike, and an Australian story, '• Billabong's Daughter." " Mollie Hazeldene's School" and "Girls in the Gold Trail Days" are published by Nelson. Hodder and Stcughton are responsible for a simplified version of " The Bible Story" with charm-

J ing and unconven- { tional full-page illustrations, in colour, of dramatic incidents in Biblical history, such _ r.s i "Abraham Sacrificing Isaac" and "The Finding of Moses." The Real Adventure Series, published by T. ,C. and E. C. Jack, proves triumphantly not or-'v that truth is stranger than fiction, out that it Is often of more enthralling interest. "In Search of Gold," in this series, shows how, from the ancient Phoenicians down to the modern English, from El Dorado to the Rand, men have disregarded all difficulty and ■ dan-, ger in their craving to satisfy this mas-ter-passion. ' "The Conquest of. thp Poles" tells the thrilling story of the ■ consummation of a more praiseworthy and no less deeply-seated ambition of mankind. I Very different too from the usual run of gift-books is "Every Girl's Book of Hobbies" from the same house. In this. hr>"ds'ime volume will be found clear directions, accompanied by excellent illustrations, upon such fascinating hobbies as raffiawork, bead-work, lacquer-work, and toy-making, as well as the more familiar subjects Of photography, stencilling, and embroidery. —

A Children's Annual, which includes among its contributors such "high and far off" names as those of Hilairo Belloc, G. K. Chesterton, A. A. Milne, Hugh Walpolo and Laurence Housmau, might seem to belong only to the dream-world of a publisher's imagination, but the dream has been realised (and at a surprisingly low cost) in "Number Two, Joy Street," the second volume of the kind to be published by Basil Blackwell, Oxford. _ Only the best, this firm evidently considers, is good enough for children and their monthly magazine " The- Merry-go-round" also scintillates with names which promise all that a chile, can ask of beauty and of fun. Last but not least, to use the good old cliche, the Bodley Head sends an illustrated version of Alladin. From its black cover, adorned with a sprawling green dragon and the name Alladin in black upon an orange ground, to the quaint full-page illustrations, by S. G. Hulmc Beaman in tho pure bright colours of toyland, the book has a charm which will not be confined to those young enough and lucky enough to get it for a Christinas present.