BOOKS AND WRITERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19376, 10 July 1926, Page 7 (Supplement)

BOOKS AND WRITERS.

Echoes from the general strike still reverberate in the papers now reaching New Zealand, and ;he latest. Observer has an interesting article upon its effect on the bookselling trade. At tho very beginning of Die upheaval workers were too busy to read, and forced idlers too uneasy. .But in a few days things changed. The little striko issues of the newspapers were so soon read that people were sent willy-nilly to books. Of novels Iho best sellers were the most sensational, including ■such diverse volumes as " Hounds of Spring," " Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," " Beau Geste," and " Odtaa."

Of serious literature Masterman's "How England is Governed," and Philip Guedalla's " Independence Day '•' found many purchasers. But it is significant that far and away tho most popular was the Prime Minister's book "On England." Much difficulty was found in distributing books outside London. With volumes' over eight ounces one method was to break them up and despatch them in pieces by letter post. There were no grumbles, and possibly it was an amusement to see in what order tho chapters of the book would arrive. * * * * * An unpretentious little book is " The Voyage of t..e Endeavour," published by tho Macmillan Company in Melbourne, and written by Professor Arnold Wood, of the University of Sydney. Properly speaking, the title applies only to ,the second half of the book, tho first being concerned with the story- of the- discovery of Australia and New Zealand. The book, while primarily intended for boys, and girls, is an excellent summary of facts about which many grown-ups both in Australia and > T nw Zealand are woefully ignorant. Though he is somewhat over-fond of italics and notes of exclamation. Professor Wood's style is vivid and human. Cook, in his story, is a • living man and not an abstract spirit of discovery. * * •* + * In fact, it is a little wounding to the self-esteem of New Zealanders to find that Cook, himself was " curiously apologetic in his estimate of the value of his discoveries."" He had been expected to find a great Southern continent, and he had ioUnd—-only New Zealand. True, the southern continent did not exist (not, that is, in the latitudes expected), -and the Royal Society expressed themselves as satisfied. They considered Cook had earned the 120 guineas which they had offered,, and the grant of £4OOO had proved more than was needed. " The society generously voted that the balance should be expended in a bust —a bust not. of -course,' of Cook, but of King George! " *** * _ * But if he was modest about his discoveries he was justly proud of one achievement—his conquest of scurvy. To make the sailors eat the sour krout. (cabbage) he had the stuff dressed every day for the cabin table for the benefit of the officers. As for the seamen they might take it or leave it. In a week there was such a demand for it that it was " necessary to put everyone on board on an allowance; for such are tho tempers and disposition of seamen in general that whatever you give them out of the common way—although it be ever so milch for their good—will not go dowif. . . but the moment they see their superiors set a value, upon it, it becomes the finest stuff in the world and the investor an honest fellow." " ""v- ---#.* * * * So steady of recent years has been the growth of the Lincoln cult, due in no small measure to Drihkwater's vivid play, that it is hard to realise that lie'was- not always what he has now become—the "National Symbol" of.America. Augustine Bin-ell, in a review of two. new " Lives," by Carl Sandberg. and W, E. Barlon (2 vols, each) , recalls how in England Lincoln was-"• detested,'-vilified, andrfdiculed by the partisans of the Confederate States (and England as a whole was stTongfy for the' South); while he was criticised arid found great fault with by many of those whose sympathies were with the North; and even warm-hearted Abolitionists, of whom there was but a sprinkling, accounted him too much of a Laodicean on,the slavery question ever to be a hero."' ; > -♦'* * * * No one who has ever possessed an " Everyman " volume.—and what impecunious book-lover has not ? —but will grieve to hear of the recent death of J. M. Dent, the publisher of the famous series. He had hoped to see the thousand mark reached before his death, but the war intervened and slowed down the production'. Mr. Dent was a self-made man, v;.ho started as a working bookbinder. His first, dive into literature, according to a writer in a. London paper, seems, to, have been over Dr. Johnson, on -vyhom .he had to read a paper. This brought him into touch with Mr. Birrell, who, when- he began his publishing career with the " Temple Library," edited " Elia " for him. »