MESSRS BLACKIE AND SON’S JUVENILE BOOKS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 680, 13 March 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

MESSRS BLACKIE AND SON’S JUVENILE BOOKS.

Those who are old enough to remember the kind and extent of the light literature which was provided for young folks in the earlier decades of this century, and to remember also the appearance which the books: generally presented, will admit that a prodigious improvement has taken place. Nowadays the best literary talent considers it an honor, and finds it a vast source of profit*! to cater - for the amusement of the rising; generation. Artists who aspire to fame, and artists whose fame is already secured, alike use their pencils for the delectation of the young. The engraver, the printer, and the binder, exhibit their best and handsomest work ; and the general result is a huge annual pile of new books excellent in every respect in literary and artistic merit, in tone and teaching, in interest, and in the important accessory of judicious outside adorntneut. The marvellous strides which of late years have been made in the mechanical arts connected with the book business, and the enormous demand which has sprung up with the spread of education amongst all classes, have alone rendered possible the production of juvenile literature iu its modern forms and at modem prices. No British publishers have done more than Messrs Blackie and Son, of Edinburgh and London, to supply that demand in a fitting manner. Their juvenile books form a special feature in the catalogues of the firm, and year by year the list is largely and meritoriously augmented. For 1885 they have brought out a multitude of new juvenile workp, as well as new editions of old favorites. We have received a considerable number for critical notice, but our limited space forbids full justice being done them. Amongst the bestare several by Mr G. A. Henty, to whom our boys already owe a deep debt of gratitude for countless pages of amusement and sound, healthy teaching. He now gives them “la Freedom’s Cause,” a story in which are related the stirring incidents of the Scottish War of Independence ; “ True to the Old Flag,” a tale of the American War of Independence ; and “ St. George for England,” a tale of Giessy and Poitiers. The3e books are written in Mr Henty’s best style, and are admirably illustrated by Mr Gordon Browne. « Menhardoc, a Story of Cornish Nets and Mines,” is by Mr G. Manville Fenn, who also contributes “ Bunyip Land,” which is a good tough yarn of a wild journey in New Guinea. Mr C. Y. Staniland illustrates the former, and Mr Gordon Browne the latter. “ Menhardoc ” is a work of special merit, and the sketches of Cornish life and local coloring are evidently the result of the author’s personal acquaintance of what he writes about. “ The Pirate Island ” by Mr H. Collingwood, “ The Wreck of the Nancy Bell,”, by Mr John C. Hutcheson, and “ Traitor or Patriot ?” by Mary C. Rowsell, are all worthy of special mention. la every case the illustrations are excellent. The publishers are also to be congratulated on having secured capital binding and faultless typography.