NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1716, 18 January 1905, Page 11

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

'•'Animal Life and the World of Nature.” New Zealand: Wlutcombe and Tombs, Ltd.

The third number of this attractive magazine of natural history is quite up to the high standard attained in former issues. It is beautifully printed and illustrated. Sir Harry Johnston deals with “Wild Beasts and Their Ways” — the Great Oats being his subject, and liis lengthy experience in Africa has given him ample opportunities of studying the lions and leopards. He mentions the interesting fact that the last lion was killed in Tripoli about 1850. When the French landed at Algiers in 1830, lions were common all over Algeria, except in the absolute sandy desert. The immediate parent of the tiger, he says, may have been some jaguar-like development of leopard, which, like so many of the Asiatic tribes, found its way to America and died out in Asia, developing in Eastern Asia into the much more formidable tiger. The ranges of the tiger and the lion formerly overlapped in India, otherwise they divided the old world pretty equally between them, the tiger occupying at one time all Northern Asia, North Persia and Pont us, Afghanistan, India, Malaysia, Sumatra, Java and China, while the lion became the king of the carnivores in Western Asia, Central Europe, and nearly the whole of Africa. “With the Nightjars,’ by Edward Step, F.L.S., “The Life Sto-ry of the Dragon Fly,” by Fred. Enoch, F.L.S., “Zoo Notes,” by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., “The Care of Domesticated Animais,” by W. M. Freeman, “Queer Fish,” by W. Saville-Kent, F.L.S., are subjects that are all capably dealt with by experts.

“My Chums at School.” By Tyson Stubbs. Greening’s Colonial Library. Gordon and Gotch.

In his opening chapter the author says: “With no expectation of turning out a volume rife with wonders or great thoughts, my humble desire is merely to indite a bright and pleasant book which may beguile a lagging hour with boyhood’s griefs and joys.’’ There have been many stories told of school life—the life that is so dear to all of us, and in this little volume the author recounts incidents that will happily appeal to the reader. “Self-control,” says the author, “is now the fashion, passion suppressed, and battles fought in words, which is far more respectable, and frequently more painful in the end, for a cold-blooded, calculating tongue may inflict a slashing wound that only death or loss of memory can heal.” Very true. The story is a good one and interesting throughout.

“"With a View to Matrimony, and Other Stories/’ by James Blyth, author of “Juicy Joe/’ “Celibate Sarah.” Grant Richards’s Colonial Library. Gordon and Gotch.

The author has chosen “With a View to Matrimony” as the main title of his book, which contains other short stories of equal merit. He wields a facile pen, and draws on a variety of incidents to furnish him with material for the reader’s entertainment. “The Ghcst cn the Dam,” “Written on Ice,” “The Secret of the Pillow,” “The Devil’s House,” and “A Poet’s Wife” will commend themselves to the searcher after variety in fiction of the “short story telling” order.

“The Church and the World : A Novel.” By A. H. Bulley, author of “Decadents,” etc. Greening's Colonial Library. Gordon and Gotch. .

In “Decadents” the author showed much talent in his story of stage life, the darker side of which he depicted with considerable power. In his new novel he has woven together, amidst romantic surroundings, numerous incidents that go to make up a story of much merit, although some of his moral ising wxll be open to criticism.

'Will of the Dales.” By R. Stead. Blackie and Son, London.

This is an attractive story for boys of the time of Elizabeth and James. The hero, Will Craven, was a high-spirited, adventurous youth, who lived with his parents in the small village of Appletreewick, and roamed about the moors with his comrades, where he showed his daring courage and love of adventure. The narrative deals with his fight with a wild cat, in which he proves victorious; of his holding the rebel chief by the leg until he was captured by his father, when the discontented royalists made a raid on a neighbour’s farm • of his lons. dane:erous journey to London;

of his apprenticeship to a well-known mercer for seven years; of his future success, and of his eventually becoming Lord Mayor of London. The book is well illustrated, and cannot fail to hold the interest and captivate the attention of all boys who are fond of reading stirring tales of adventure.

“In the Springtime of Love.” By Iza Duff us Hardy. Pearson’s Colonial Library. Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd.

The author of “Love, Honour and Obey” and “The Girl He Did Not Marry” has drawn on the time-honoured theme, embellished with romantic incidents. The hero and heroine go through varying vicissitudes which engross the deep attention of the reader. This description of the lovers’ re-union will appeal to the softer sex: “No word was spoken, for the deepest depths of joy, as of anguish, are silent. It seemed, in the dream of a rapture they scarcely dared believe real, that, they looked once more each in the other’s face, and knew that the gulf between them was closed. The black night of storm and terror was over; the golden day had dawned. And neither could find voice nor word of greeting, only he drew her to his heart, and she, with one deep sob of rest, attained —

Flung closer to his breast As sword that, after battle, flings to

sheath!” For the fight with Fate was over, and they two were one for evermore!”

“The History of Bread, from Pre-his-toric to Modern Times.” By John Ashton. Religious Tract Society, London.

In his first chapter, on “Pre-historic Bread,” Mr Ashton describes the grain, bread and milling apparatus found m the Swiss lake dwellings. After chapters on corn and bread in Egypt, Assyria, Palestine and other classic and Eastern lands, he writes of “Bread in Europe and America,” and “Early English bread.” The subsequent chapters are entitled, “How Grain Becomes Flour,” “The Miller and his Tolls,” “Bread-making and Baking,” “Overs, Ancient and Modern,” “The Religious Use* of Bread/' “Ginger Bread and Charity Bread,” “Bread Riots/ - and “Legends About Bread.” The pictures include several from the Egyptian monuments.