LITERARY GOSSIP.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1617, 25 February 1903, Page 29

LITERARY GOSSIP.

Mrs Heaton Armstrong, in her little hook on “etiquette and ent-eitaining (John Long), writes in just the proper vein upon the subject of etiquette and entertaining, for while she is never didactic, she contrives in an amusing manner to impart useful hints to her readers upon such topics as card-leaving, “tips,” the length of time during which mourning should be worn, fashionable games for social gatherings, and the conduct of parties of all kinds. It is a little alarming to learn in the chapter devoted to the subject of weddings that appropriate presents should accrue to the couple who have passed one year cf wedlock together on the anniversary known as the cotton wedding day, that the second is known and should be celebrated with gifts as the paper wedding, the third the leather wedding, the fifth tho wooden, the seventh the woollen, the tenth the tin, the twelfth the fine linen, the fifteenth the crystal, the twentieth the china, and the twentyfifth the silver wedding. This adds a

new terror to life. And as if this were i:ot enough, Mrs Armstrong is ready vitli a list of further anniversaries upon which suitable offerings may be made. The carl nodding day synclii oniscs thirty years of married life, the luby with" forty, the golden with fifty, and tlio diamond with seventy-five. The names of the various anniversaries indicate the nature of the presents that should be forthcoming. . With the exception of tlieso disturbing revelations, there seem to ho no rules laid don n m “Etiquette and Entertaining” that are too difficult for tho ordinary person to learn and follow. Owing to the continually growing demand for tho publications of “The Free Age Press,” necessitating a central office in London, as well as to a change in the working staff of this firm, the publishing of its issues will henceforth be entrusted to Mr Thomas Laurie, of 13, Paternoster row, London, E.C. The editorial work will be entirely managed by Vladimir Tchertkoff, and the proprietary responsibility will continue to be held by Anna Tchertkoff, trustee of the concern, all the profits from which are dedicated to the further development of the cause. Tho editor, Tolstoy’s intimate personal friend, being his honoiary and sole literary representative outside of Russia, and receiving from him all his new writings for simultaneous publication in Russian and in English, as well as for transmission to all translators in other countries, it will as hitherto, be through the medium of the “Free Age Press” that tho public will become acquainted with everything new or as vet unpublished issuing from the pen of Leo Tolstoy. In the immediate future it is proposed to issue a series of new articles by Tolstoy in pamphlet form : also, in continuation of the “Uniform Pocket Edition cf Tolstoy’s TVorks lately commenced, to issue three new books —“The Gospel in Brief,” “What aro We to Do Then ?” and “The Kingdom of God-is Within You,” the translations of which are already completed. Lord Lilford’s autobiography as a naturalist, for so it can fairly be called, is just being issued. He was a ( master aviarist,” one of our first authorities on birds. This i.s a collection, edited by Mr Trevor-Battye. of Lord Lilford’s informal and unpublished writings. The book contains also Lord Lilford’s natural history notes as recorded in his “Mediterranean Journals,” and his observations on the natural history of his own countryside. Under the title “Crimean Simpson’s Autobiography,” Mr Unwin promises a book which will contain a story of MiWilliam Simpson, R. 1., who has been described as the forerunner of the modern war correspondent. The manuscript, after Simpson’s death, was submitted to his friend, Sir Walter Besant, who, but for. lack of time, would have brought it out in 1900. It lias now been edited by Mr George Eyre-Todd. Mr Fisher Unwin publishes a novel by Mr Jenner Taylor, tho author of “Wanted, a Hero.” It has the title “The-Long Vigil,” and St. John the Evangelist is introduced in one of its scenes. Messrs Blackwood think highly of a novel called “The Circle,” by a new writer, Mrs Katherine Cecil Thurston, wthich they are about to publish. Some idea of it is to be got from the motto on the title-page: “In youth we dream that life is a straight line; later know it to be a circle—in which the present presses on the future, the future on tho past ,”

As has been expected, the number of new books issued in 1902 turns out to be considerably larger than the harvest of J. 901. While the war lasted it was a distraction which did not help the book trade, and there was a tendency to hold back new books. When it ended these poured forth, and in counting up the figures for 1902, the “Publishers Circular 5 finds that there were issued 5889 new books, as against 4955 in 1901. There have also been more new editions, the numbers being: For 1902, 1542; and for 1901, 1089. Pamphlets, trifling volumes and sixpenny issues have been unusually numerous. Mr Henry James has written a story entitled “The Ambassadors,” and the first part of it appeared in tho January “North American Review,” with an introduction by Mr W r . D. Howells. Viscount Gosahen’s life of his grandfather, George Joachim Goschen, the famous publisher and-printer of Leipzig, will be issued by Mr Murray about tho end of the month. The work left by Mr Frederic Myers, dealino- with “Human Personality and its Survival of Boclily PXealth,” is now in the press, and Messrs Longmans hope to issue it before long. Messrs Methuen will publish a new novel by Mr E. W. Norris. It is entitled “Lord Leonard the Luckless,” and is the story of a man who, through no fault of his own, is pursued by persistent ill-fortune. Originally intended for the navy, lio is obliged to abandon

his chosen career by his unexpected succession to the amily estates, wmo.i he ia no way covets. Falling in love, later, with tho daughter of a neighbouring squire, he is supplanted in her affections b3 r his most intimate friend. A subsequent marriage which he contracts turns out badly, but throughout he tries to play the part of a man. As a supplement.to the Old Testament articles in the “Encyclopaedia Biblica ” and as a help to students generally,. U is proposed by Professor Clieyne to bring cut, in successive parts, a collection of entirely new notes on textual difficulties of the Hebrew Bible. These notes, which will bo entitled “Critica Biblica,” have arisen as a consequence of the closer examination of difficulties, which appeared to Dr Clieyne to be required for the duo performance of his editorial duties. Taking as his starting point the work of eminent textual critics liko Lagarde and Wellhausen, bo has sought to complete, and where possible, to correct it. by tho fuller application of old methods in conjunction with new. “Critica Biblica” will begin with the prophetic writings.

Mr Sydney Colvin lias definitely decided to writo a personal memoir and appreciation of Robert Louis Stevenson. Ho however, in no hurry with the task, thinking that it will not .suffer by a little lapse of time. Needless to recall, Stevenson and Mr Colvin were intimate friends, and seas did not divide them .

Somo littlo time hack there appeared a book which described “Canadian Camp Life” in an entertaining way. Mrs Frances Herring, who wrote it, is giving rus, through Mr Fisher Unwin, a volume on the people—or rather the peoples—of British Columbia. White and red men, yellow and brown men, are all to be found within its spacious territories, so making a mixed and striking study. t Mrs Herring describes, as a spectator, the Passion Play which thousands of Indians attended at the invitation of Bishop Dontonwill and the Oblate Fathers. Then she deals with the Chinese, whose customs alter not, evin in British Columbia, and with the Japanese, so ready to conform to tho usages of their white neighbours. The book is illustrated Among the literary valuables of Trinity College, there is a stock of “Western manuscripts,” as they are called. Two initial volumes of a full descriptive catalogue of these have appear* cd. and the University Press is issuinga third immediately. It deals with the Gale manuscripts, which were presented to the Trinity College early in the eighteenth century by Dr Thomas Gala and his son, Roger Gale. Paid of a letter that tho latter then wrote may, out of curiosity, be quoted:—“The great respect and esteem which I retain for your society, cf which I once had the honour of being a member, and my inclination to preserve near Five Hundred Volumes MS. now in my possession from being some time or other disperst or perhaps lost, have induced me to make a present of them to your Library, where, I hope, they will not only be more secure, but of greater service to the public than in any private hand.”