NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

New Zealand Mail, 5 February 1902, Page 26

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

“The Temptress.” By Wm. Le Queux. Ward, Lock and Co., London. Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.

This is an enthralling story of a remarkable woman. The author revels in strange and startling incident, and some of the situations he depicts are realistic to a degree. He has made “The Temptress” a brilliant though unscrupulous woman, and although she may come near to Pope’s notorious definition, there is a charm and attractiveness about her that men like, and Mr Le Queux understands human nature.

The Turner House Classics. H. Virtue and Co., London. S. and W. Mackay, Wellington.

These volumes are published at two j shillings a volume. The first four volumes of the series are Bret Harte’s Choice Tales, Thackeray’s “Esmond,” an anthology of humorous verses, edited by Mr Theo. A. Cook, and “Pere Goriot,” by Balzac. They are all their publishers, Messrs H. Virtue and Co., claim for them. The binding is of a fine and durable texture, decorated by Mr Vandelyn and others in black, white and ' red, according to those great traditions of decorative art of which in recent \ times the Kelmscott Press affords, per- 1 haps, the supreme example. No two covers are alike in design. The motif of the first cover is wild strawberry, and of the second grape vine, and so on. The size of these volumes is on the small side (6fin x 4in), but it may bo remembered this pocket duodecimo was highly praised by Sir Walter Scott and Dr Johnson. It is not nowadays either common or popular. The publishers are inclined to confine their publications in this admirable series to works of classic rank, but contemporary works of distinction are not to be necessarily excluded. The volumes are illustrated with one original drawing, and the editing is undertaken by Mr Wm. Macdonald. The whole series ought to form a delightful yet inexpensive collection for presentation purposes.

“The Makings of a Marchioness.” By Airs Frances Hodgson Burnett. Smith, Elder and Co., London. Whitcombe and Tombs. Wellington.

The admirers of Airs Burnett will be sorely disappointed with her latest novel, “The Alakings of a Alarchioness.” The book is made up of two parts, the first belonging to the sweetly domestic stylo of literature, and the second to the school of lurid melodrama. Emily Fox-Seton, the central character, is a well-bred, kindly, modest, companionable woman of four-and-thirty, forced to earn her living in the West End of London, whose gratitude for inconsiderable services, unfailing readiness to bo useful, and entire freedom from selfconsciousness combine to produce a winning personality. The Marquis of AValderhurst, an owner of untold wealth, falls in love with gentle Emily, and she is transported from shabby lodgings to ancestral halls and broad acres. Once Emily is installed Alarchioness of Walderhurst the melodrama begins. There are a married couple of adventurers, tho next heirs to the Walderhurst property, whose main object in life it is that Emily should have no child to bar them and theirs from the succession. These people are introduced into the "ancestral home” when Walderhurst is away. They bring with them a native ayah of evil countenance, and the husband proceeds to plot with the servant for the destruction of Emily, who is [ “expecting.” Obstacles are left about' on staircases ; visitations of ghosts alarm j tho invalid; coffee is poisoned; and a I favourite bridge is rendered insecure; ; but Emily escapes alive, in spite of all, I to London, and after almost sacrificing j her own life in the determination that her child shall at least be born alive to inherit his father’s name, she recovers to earn her husband’s love where before she had only enjoyed a rather selfish affection.

“Virgin Gold.” By Coo-ee. Longmans and Co., London. Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.

The Australian gentleman who writes under the nom-de-plume of “Coo-ee” is well-known as an ex-member of Parliament for New South Wales, as a temperance lecturer, and as a multitude of other things. Alany kind things have been said about “Coo-ee” by reviewers; and he is spoken of as one who paints Australian life adequately and accurately. Judged by his book now under review, ho paints with a besom, and

uses a redundancy of words out of place in a novel, however desirable they may be in a Parliamentarian. “Virgin Gold” averages more characters to the page than any novel written since “Treasure Island,” and there is in it a holocaust of vengeful sacrifices. Some good descriptions of gold-getting in Australia are given. But ahalf-caste Malaly who sinks ships for no adequate reason, slashes friends madly, then acts sanely, and finally runs amok because the author can get rid of him in no other way, is altogether too desperate and unconvincing. There is a denunciation of a certain religion in one chapter which is whole-hearted hut unreasoning. The doings of the various characters three times reach a climax, but finally they end in a knot of things-half-done, and disappear in a hurried manner suggestive of an exhausted space limit. Tho hook is fairly well illustrated, but a sketch of an alleged adder which shows a reptile as long as a full-grown carpet snake is one calculated to make an Australian weep in silent sorrow.

“The Shoes of Fortune.” By Neil Alunro. Alessrs Isbister and Co., Covent Garden, London. Alessrs Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.

This is a romance of adventure covering old footworn ground. An adventurous Scottish uncle bequeaths the fairy tale shoes to a nephew, who is not slow to follow in the wild footsteps of his relative. His ill-fated footgear leads the hero, Paul Craig, to France during the period when the exiled Pretender, Charles Edward, is plotting a fresh invasion of England, and Greig mixes freely with the confidantes, and a$ it happens, also the enemies of the unfortunate Prince. Father Hamilton, a Jesuit priest, in whose company the hero has some lively escapades, is a delightful Falstaffian study, while another character that lingers in the memory is a breezy Scottish soldier of fortune. Greig is an attractive hero, hut the heroine is a shadowy figure. In the descriptions of the Scottish parish in which opens the story,and of the journey from Paris to Rouen, the author shows a literary style far above the average.

“The Dolly Dialogues.” By Anthony Hope. Alacmillan and Co.. Limited, London. S. and W. Alackay, Wellington.

Anthony Hope’s work in tlie “Dolly Dialogues” is light, incisive, and so “smart” as to be occasionally obscure. These dialogues gain rather than lose in interest by being presented in collected form. The present series takes up the story of Air Carter’s love for Dolly practically from the date of the latter’s marriage to Lord Aliekieham. and in twenty-four chapters, beautifully illustrated, presents tlie play of wit and humour which it pleases some of us to believe is an everyday thing in English “society.” As a book to pleasantly beguile a leisurely minute or two, these dialogues are probably unsurpassable.