OTHER PUBLICATIONS

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5474, 31 December 1904, Page 13

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

From the office of “Life” comes a copy of Dr Fitokett’s first novel, ‘The Commander of the Hirondelle." It is a work worthy of special notice and attention. It is Dr Fitchett’s first excursion into the reals of fiction, and the volume contains much of the class of spirited writing which made “Deeds that won the Empire” so popular. It is published at one shilling, and this is notable because it is the first time that a book- selling at six shillings in England is Published simultaneously at one shilling in Australasia. Wo have ’to acknowledge receipt of "Animal Lite,” which is complete in twenty-four parts. This work is a costly undertaking, and a superb production. Such writers of eminence as Lord Avebury, Lydbkker and Selous are among the contributors to its pages. It lias 1300 illustrations mostly from photographs and twenty-six coloured plates. The latest addition to Messrs Macmillan and Oo.’s “English Men of Action” Series is Sir Rennell Rodd’s monograph on “Sir Walter Raleigh.” The lives of few public men have offered more scope for controversy than has the career of the great Elizabethan, and this study of the complex character of the famous statesman, soldier, and sailor, by a modern writer who is identified with broad Imperial views on national questions, cannot fail to arouse considerable interest. “Sylvie and Bruno,” one of the later ■works of Lewis Carroll, has never achieved the popularity of the “Alice” books and other of hie works, chiefly owing, it is thought, to the fact that the fairy tale is overloaded with extraneous matter of a theological nature, which detracts from its interest as a story for young readers. Thee© portions have been excluded from an abbreviated version to be issued shortly in a single volume by Messrs Macmillan and Co., and it is hoped that in its new form the unique and whimsical humour of the book may bo more fully recognised. It should be stated that the story is still'in the words of Lewis Carroll, and that Mr Harry Fumiss’s clever drawings are retained.