A LITERARY LETTER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7301, 3 December 1910, Page 9

A LITERARY LETTER

(BY "LIBEK.") „ BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS. A spacial article on "Books for tho Young Folks’’ will be a feature of next week’s Literary Pago. Some Famous London Book Shops. The fact that Messrs Sotheran and Co have moved, out of their famous, bookshop in I’iccadilly to * in the same famous London thoiou, faro Ims set more than one Huglisli journal gossipping over tho associations of tho old shop. Gl . ad3toll ® ’ wa ®. j the quent customer, and so, too, • "TL E 1 ® iarl of Derby. ' It was at botheian fc, so the story goes, that negotiataona were concluded tor tho purchase of the tamous Althorp Library, belonging, to tho &I«n, cev family, which now enriches the Kylands Library in Manchester, ■bothoian’s have another shop, almost equally famous, in the Strand,-close to Welling; ton street, near the northern end or which Is the Lyceum Theatre, and the southern portion of which takes you to Waterloo Bridge. The firm act as London agents for tho Parliamentary Library and tho Victoria College Library. Some of these famous Loudon, bookshops are most modest-look-ing places outside, but the stocks they contain are often wonderfully valuable. The last time "Liber" found himself iu London, he was shown a single shelf—some luirly feet long—the volumes repasiug on which represented a value or close upon dai.COO. They were mostly illuminated missals, and so forth. Of course, such valuables go into safes at night. What is the total value of tho famous Air Quaritch’s stock I cannot say, but it must bo somewhere near a quarter of a million sterling-. Here browses the American millionaire, who poses as a bibliophile and man of taste,; or scuds an agent to browse—and buy—for him. From the splendid treasures of such shops as those of Bernard Quaritch, Sotheran’s, and Pickering ami CUatto, to the fourpenny box of a second-hand dealer in tho Charing Cross Road, or the "penny pick 'em as yer 1 like 'em" of a Farringdon street stallkeeper, there is a far cry, but It is not always ‘the wealthy collector who gets most joy out of his bookish "finds." There is much innocent happiness to be got o£ r "twopenny treasures," as well this deponent knoweth.: Attractive Book Covers.- • Booksellers have often, told me that one great reason of tho great vogue which certain. American novels,have had is tthe attractiveness of the loose illustrated covers in which most of tho clothbound 'books aro enveloped. These covers save- the books from dust when on the bookseller'® shelves, and attract the eye of-people as they--pass’.by' the shop windows. Tor a long time the Enghsn publisher, either stingy or conservative, remained faithful to tho old unattractive cloth cover, with no ■■-. gaily coloured paper envelope, but he'is rapidly coming into lino. Messrs Hodder and Stoughton have, indeed, beaten the Yankees at their own game, if X may judge by the handsome and artistic covers in which 1 some of their latest novels have been sent out, notably those reviewed in another column. As to literary quality, with a.few very conspicuous exceptions, the American novels are Tar inferior to the English article, and X am not surprised to hear that they are not selling so well as'they were. People aro getting rather tired. of the pretty but vapid and characterless American stock heroine, and her spotlessly attired (after the approved Gibson model) and dollar-hunting male worshipper. The "goodness" of tho American < hero’ and heroine is ant to pall/on £ one after a time.

Was Heine a, "Good’ German?” Apropos of. my iu last weeks review of, Heine’s Memoirs, that ny Gormans consider Heine was not a good Gorman,” but was far 100 ccemopolKtan in his sympathies, a correspondent, “Berliner," writes me as follows 1 thank you for your review of Mr Ganuan’s translation of Heine s .Memoirs, for it revived many pleasant literary 'memories. 'But, curiously enough, you seem to have overlooked what tleiue himself said , as. do the- charge, often ’brought against- him,- that lie was- not a ‘good German.’ Here is the passage to Which 1 refer: ‘lf I have been guilty of- excess in my indignation against the old, official Germany, the - mouldy land of the Philistines—which, however, has produced uo .Goliath .and not a single great man—everything that X have said ’h/as been cunningly represented so as to make it appear’that 1, was speaking of tho ■ real Germany, the great, mysterious. and, as it were, anonymous Germ'any of tuo German people, o-i the sleeping sovereign with whose _sceptrc and crown the monkeys play. -My correspondent >is good enough to testily to ■ the pleasure which, he saj’S, he derives from "Liber's!’, weekly contributions.' but mildly reproves me for payUnjr more attenUou to French than to 'German' literature. My defence is .that whereas quite--a- large number of New ■Zealandeis can read and enjoy a french 'book in the original, a very much smaller number are able to read German books. He stood “on His head.”

Apropos to tho ''swapping” of compli-ments--back-handed ones—between, Air Lloyd George and tho Luke of .Marlborough, th’o following story of how Disraeli, in his earlier days, got off a very successful jibe at the aristocracy of which, later on, he was himself to become a member, is worth recalling. It was told by Lady Dulferin, mother of the late Lord Dulferin. “I stopped him to congratulate him on his successful campaign” (Dizzy had just won the Buckinghamshire, election) "when he said. to me, ‘Yes. I said rather a good thing on the hustings. There was a' fellow in the crowd, who kept calling me ‘a man of straw, without any stake in tho country/ and asking *wnat I stood upon?’ So I said, ‘Well, it is true-.I do not possess the broad acres of Lord So-and-so, or the vast estates of the Duke of A., but if the gentleman' wants to know upon what I. stand, X will toll him—X stand upon my head.'"

Kitchen Reading. In the October number of the always readable "Book Monthly,” Clarence Kook discusses the ••'Servant Staid - ns a critic.

of literature"—the English variety, of course. Mr Rcok tells us of one servant, who. having the run of his library, read Tolstov’s "War and Peace," "A Woman's Life" (a translation of De Maupassant's "Une Vie"), and Swinburne's '"Poems and Ballads" —-oh, and when she wont for her summer holidays, bought—"bought/' if you please—Hewlett's "Forest and -Raskin's "Ethics of tho Dust." Perhaps tho last title attracted her professionally, but* 51 r Rook seems to write seriously, oven if ho has his tongue in his cheek. So far as "Liber's" experience of the literary taste of the Wellington "domestic help" is concerned, she confines her reading to periodicals of tho "Something to Read" (/ass, and, I am sure, has but a poor opinion of the literary tastes of a paterfamilias, in whoso book room can bo found no trace of Mario Corelli. The Real John Wilkes.

The popular and generally accepted cstima/tiou of John Wilkes, generally, by Tho way, called tho "notorious John. Wilkes, who was the , editor oi the "North Briton," and who espoused with, such real or fictitious enthusiasm the cause of that unhappy and cccentnC person. Princess Charlotte of/\\ ales, the wife of the "First Gentleman (ox Blackguard) in Europe/' was that he was a thorough paced scoundrel. Bul ■a Mr Horace . Bleacklcy is comtug for; word with a new Life of_ Wilkes, iu which the "notorious" one is, I believe, to be painted in much' less ugly colours. The only Life of Wilkes we have had has been described as a scandalous ■work, and it is just possible that Wilkes was never really so brack as he has been painted. He has been credited—or debited—with having been a. prominent member of the ominously named- "Hell Eire Club," but it is now said that reference to the printed documents of that institution fail to disclose any -mention •of the'alleged fact. "Whitewashing" seems to bo a popular literary pastime now a days. Did not Henry Irving’s son try to whitewash "the infamous Judge Jeffreys"? Mr Trowbridge has just been performing the same task for that famous charlatan, Cagiiostro, and Nero, as painted by certain latter-day historians, is quite different from the portraits by Tacitus and Suetonius.

'Merry Abershaw” and "Jerry Abercraw.” Since writing the , review of Mr Bernard Capes’s excellent novel, "Jerry Abercraw/’ which appears in another column, and in the ‘■course of which I have alluded to Stevenson's idea of writing a, story bn "Jerry Abershaw," also a T have come across (in the "Sphere ‘for October Bth) an interesting letter ‘from Mr Capes, followed by an equally interesting note by Mr plement K. •Shorter. Air Capes writes as follows: In a note on a novel of mine recently published you charge me with literary piracy. Really, “I never,"like the young man at Dr ber’s, "see such a thing as this/' For once 1 must protest. The waiter of the note evidently knows his Stevenson, better than his Newgate Calendar. Permit me to point out that to him that the Jerry Aberehaw I have paraphrased was a real highwayman who much frequented (on the Portsmouth, not the Great North, Road) a real way-s-ide inn,, now long vanished, called '"The Baldfaced Slag." The name was no invention ot Stevenson's, who merely—probably like thousands of others — was taken in his tinie • with the sound of it. I do not think ■ even that he "intended to write but never wrote" a story round that euphonic character. Where is the authority for such a statement? Because in one of his letters the author of "Kidnapped" makes a merry, feel-, ing allusion to an historic . rasoal, are all writers on the ■ highway : to be • held trespassers thenceforth in a particular direction? A Stevenson Letter. ■iffer pointing out that he was not the /‘criminal," Mr Shorter assures .Mr Capes that Stevenson "did actually contemplate a novel on Abershaw,"-and in Support of this quotes a , letter (to be found in the "Stevenson Letters, edited by Professor Colvin) which R.L.S. wrote to W. E. Henley from Braemar in ABBI. in the course of’the letter Stevenson says

I propose to follow up tbs “SeaCook” at proper intervals by “Jerry. Abershaw : A x'ale of Putney Heath’ (which, or its site, I must visit), “The Leading Light: A Tale of the Coast,” “This Squaw Men: or the Wild West,” and other instructive and entertaining work. “Jerry Abershaw" should be good, eh? I love writing boys’ books. The first; is only an experiment: wait till you' see what I can make ’em with my., hand in. I’ll be the Harrison Ainsworth of the : future, and a chalk better, by,, St. Christopher—or, at least, as good. Xou’H see that even, by “The Sea-Cook.” "Jerry Abershaw! Oh, what a title! Jerry Abershaw; d m it. sir, it’s a poem. The .most lovely words in English;'; and what a sentiment? Hark you. how- the,hoofs ring! Is’- this, a blacksmith’a? No, it's a way-side inn. Jerry Abershaw. “It was a clear, frpsty evening, not a hundred miles from Putney,etc. Jerry Abershaw, Jerry Abershaw, Jerry Abershaw. "The Sea-Qook” is now in its thirteenth chapter, and bids for well up in the thirties, etc. .

Alas! "Jerry Abershaw" was never written, nor "The Leading Light,” nor ’’The Squaw Men,” although the “SeaCook”' duly saw the light of day as "Treasure Island.” Stevenson was for ever amusing himself and his correspondents by inventing plots, scenarios, and titles which never materialised in print, so that after all there is still ‘some’ doubt as to whether he actually “intended” .writing a romance, with Jerry Abershaw as hero. And even had 'he done so, there is no reason Why Mr Bernard Capes, or any other author, should not call a novel "Jerry Aberoraw.” In any case, Mr Capes’s novel is not only highly original in plot but Very brightly, almost brilliantly, written, and can well afford to stand on its o’wn merits. The “Sphere’s” reference 'to "literary piracy” was in all probability merely jocular. However, X am grateful to anybody w'hosends mo to those it wo delightful volumes of Stevenson's (letters, to my mind, the best of his '"works.”

The Christmas "Lone Hand.” Air Arthur Adams must be congratulated upon tho Christmas Number of "The Lone Hand,” the best number of this magazine that has appeared for many months. The authors represented include, amongst others, Randolph Bedford, J. Hr M. Abbott. Dyson, "Kodak,” Hugh AloCrae, Frank .Morton, Koderio .Quinn," Will IX. Ogilvie, and Air Adams himself, and the pictures are, as Betsy Prig said-of, “the drinks," "all good,” indeed some of them are really excellent. Bertram Stevens contributes an interesting article on "Bookplates,” illustrated by reproductions of plates designed by Norman Lindsay, Souter, and other Australian artists. But X must 'take serious exception to the quite unwarrantable "booking” of the printed matter in this article by flaring advertisements.. To alternate pages of reading matter with "ads.” in such a department as ‘‘Tho Dictates of, Pashion,” ‘which is largely composed of "putts,” i» bad enough, but those who bind the magazine can cut out this rubbish. When, however, 1 a really good article, which I, for one, desire to preserve, is Spoilt by this wanton impertinence of tho commercial department,” it is ‘ more than annoying, it is downright irritating. With this exception I have nothing but praise for the Christmas "fan

Hand." Tt-. is a .marvellous sixpenny worth of ; art arid. literature, and if it .ineets -with the success it deserves, will .speedily/bo* but of print. The wise uHl'secure a .copy at once. 1 ■-

Robert Hichens and Occultism. The 'new serial in "The Century" is "Deep Waters," a novel by Robert •Hichens, in which the author, according to the "Century” advertisement, ‘enters an. entirely new field, and one of -fascinating interest—the field of occultism." It is e pity the writer, of the ! advertisement In question is not better;- acquainted . with the earlier work of the author’of ■"The Garden of Allah.” Fortin "Flames,” that remarkable story’ of: London life, n and containing that most poignantly pathetic of character- sketches', "The Lady of .the Feathers,’’ the.whole plot is based upon occultism. In his Egyptian novel, ‘An Imaginative Man.” and m. several of bis Short, stories, - "The Black Spaniel, for instance, Hiohcns has also, introduced the : supernatural element. . -

"The Open. Window.” - Tet another new magazine has apr peared, "The Open Window.” Locke Ellis, a name new' to me, is, tho publisher. "Tho Open Window,’" which is described as a "Magi-aine ot Literature and Art,” costs a shilling, and :is in booklet rather' than the traditional magazine format. Tho contributors to the first number include Maxwell Armfield, Stephen Reynolds, Hugh de Selmcourt, - and Claude Shepperson.; Future contributors are to include St. t John Lucas, Gilbert . Cannan, C. .T. Holmes (of tho "Studio”), Noel Rooke, Frank Swinnei’ton. and Charles Marriott, (author of "Tlio Column”). ■: Apparently there is' to he 1 a - note ..of' "preciosity about the new publication, which, by tho way, is to be illustrated.

"The Man of Wrath.” Who that has read-, that delightful book, "Elizabeth and her German Garden," does not remember' the ,- Man ot Wrath.” The original of tho portrait, the author's husband,' Count Henning von Ami nr, died ■von Arnim ("Elizabeth") is, by the way, a cousin of a very well-kuown and popular Wellington merchant. Count Axmni and. his wife spent roost 'of year at their beautiful estate on' the "shores of the Baltic, near Bevel, but occasionally visited London. 1 wonder what was the private opinion of “Tho Man of Wrath" on that rather ill-natured-book, “The Caravanners."

R. W. Chambers. ■ E. W. Chambers, one of the few American novelists a. now book by whom I never, miss, is finishing, X hear, a new story which deals with art life in Paris, lir Chambers dwelt in thO iQuartier Latin in his.youth/ and should give us a story as good ns “Trilby." His New Zealand- admirers were sadly disappointed with, “Tile Green Mouse,” tho fun in which struck ms as being rather laboured,- but there are some fine passages in hisA'Ailsa Page,” a story of the American Civil War.

Socialism and the Motor Car. One of - the many good characters .in Mr E. V. Lucas's new story, “Mr Ingleside,"; is Mr Eichard • Oast,, a., Socialist M.P. His opinion on' the connection of motor cars and Socialism is very neatly put. . . '• His Socialism was marked' by ■ no anger against the rich. He knew that re-forms , could not 1 come in a mo-

ment., and that particularly in England sudden revolutions were .impossible; but be knew also that the;peo- : . pie were going to win. "Of course Socialism must come," he said. "You can, see it drawing nearer as clearly as you can see, in the small hours, the approach of day. Socialism never : had so powerful an ally as the motor ■oar. The motor oar'is the most hrutally vivid symbol of the callousness, ; the oppressiveness, and the luxury of the rich ■ that was ever, devised: and every new motor car that is put on the road is another’nail in the coffin of plutocracy.” . A Curious Combination. Says the "Athenaeum” "The curious rhetoric of chance, to,: use. Mr William •Watsonis neat .phrase, toexhibited this week: in the prospectus of the - Duff Development Company,' for the two trustees for the, first debenture: stockholders ;are tho EarL of Veruliam and Mr William Shakespeare." To: -which I may hdd that some of the Yankee Baconians, of the Mrs Gallup type, are quite capable of -seeing in this’ yet another. "conclusive proof” that ‘Bacon wrote the famous plays. 1 . •

"The Silent Isle.” Mr A. C. Benson's latest volume of essays,; in the now Tong series -which began with "From a College Window," Is entitled "‘Tho Silent Isle.” , Mr ; Ben-son-takes his readers into his confidence as to. his own literary methods: ‘‘Once embarked upon a boot, I have neither hesitation nor fear. To sit down to it, day. after day, and to write, is like sitting down to talk 1 with one’s- nearest friend, where no’concealment or diplomacy. is -necessary, but -where one' can ■say exactly what comes into tho mind, with no I ear of being., misunderstood. 1 have not the slightest difficulty about expressing, exactly as T wish to express it, whatever is ,in my mind."

Stray Leaves. v American: journals speak well of 0. G. Villard's biography of. John Brown, the American Abolitionist martyr, without a reference to whom few American political speeches are complete. To Englishmen, I. am afraid, his ; name is mainly known through the old song, “John Brown’s body lies a moulderin' in the grave," etc. ■, A new' story by “Q.," otherwise Sir A. T. Quilier Couch, is ‘‘My Lady Good-for-Nbthing," ' issued in Nelson's two shilling series. The final scene in the story is laid at Lisbon at the time of the great earthquake: !■. - ’ . . ',

Such biographies of i John Bright as have appeared up to now have been sadly bald and inadequate, and no small interest attaches therefore, to “John Bright: A Monograph.’’; which has; just been published by Smith Elder. The author is Mr Barry O’Brien, whose life of Lord Bussell of Killowcn was an excellent piece of work, i Mrs Gaskell’s “Wives and Daughters," a classic amongst Victorian fiction, has been added to the "World’s Classics". (Boutledge, Is.)

What can-the soul, im its path among the stars, care about the .nodding hearseplumes and the brandished handkerchief?—A. C. Benson in tho “Cornhill Magazine."

H. G. Wells’s new story, “The New MachiavoUi," which has been running as a serial in the “English Eeviow," ifi to bo published, in book’form next month. A selection from the late Mrs Craigie’s letters and papers is to bo published this season in London. As “John Oliver 'Hobbes," Mrs Craigie gave us some capital stories, in. which. especially; in' the

earlier volumes, there was both originality and wit. • A Swinburne manuscript (that of the essay on Shakespeare which the poet wrote for a cheap edition) was sold the other day in London for «£2lO. It mado only forty-two quarto pages, so that the price was substantial; Someone has discovered that the title, "The Devil and tho Deep Sea," of Rhoda Broughton's latest novel, was used many years ago for a story written by a Miss Stella During. It's getting a difficult task nowadays to find a telling title which has not been.previously used.The Literary Supplement of "The Times," for October - 2Sth, contains a review of the first volume, of Mr Mony‘ponny's "Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Bsaconsfield." The review is by no less a personage than Viscount ■Morley, Who, it may be remembered, wrote the Hie of Dizzy's great political •rival. yhose who enjoy Frank Richardson’s fun—a little forced, I find it—should note the appearance of a new volume of sketches from his -pen. The title •is "Whiskers and Sodn." Richardson has gone mildly mad ou the subject of ‘wniskers. Mr John Treveua, who .reminds me at times of Thomas Hardy and Eden Thilpotts, and at others of Zola, hais ’written a new story, "Bracken," which belongs to the same series which includes those powerful stories, "Furze •the Cruel," "Heather/’ and “Granite," What next in the way of ancient scandal? Hurst and Blackett announce '"The Fiair Quaker; Hannah uigntfoot tend her Relations with George III." And the author is a lady writer. Another lady author (Charlotte Lady Biennerhassett) is resxxmsible for. . a 'book entitled “Louis XiV. and Madame do Maintenou, tne Anonymous Queen of France," ■ There y must be a keen demand for these chvomques scandaleuses, for a local bookseller tells me ‘ tu'ey sell like 'hot cakes. There has been qiuto a rush, for instance, for the iue of lhut tawdiy adventuress,- Lola Monttz, to whoso fascinations a Havanan • monarch fell an victim.

. .undrew Lang’s Christmas book for the young tins year is "The Lilac 'Book." It is well known . that Mrs Lang is aji active coilaljorateur with ‘her gifted husband in the compilation Of these charming volumes, oi which, there must now be a very long series. •. A' very fiiie > but terribly costly work, "The Birds of Australia/' is announced )by, Messrs Witherby. Tho author is Mr . Gregory Matthews, and the plates, the. main: feature, are to be hand-colour-ed. But the^price—phew!' - Two ’ guinea# •a,‘part, and;-, there are to bs -five, parts ‘to a volume, and eight volumes,Eighty 'guineas: for the complete work !,. „ Most, of us get our ideas of ancient Peruvian civilisation from Prescott, but Sir Clements Markham has wiitten an entirely hew work,; /‘The Incas • of Ttiu, / which is/said to contain much new information. A new ,volumeof _short, stories- by. Edith Wharton, "Tales cf: Men and Ghosts," is announced ( by Macmilla,ns. Butwhen is slrs M harton to; give:;her admirei*s another strong novel like "The/House of Mirth,' or '"The Valley of Decision/' Arnold Bennett, who writes such ■ fine stories, with y the Pottery District as a background—his "Clayhanger" 1 ’ is being specially well reviewed—lives; at Fon'tainebleau. He is'contributing a series of articles, /‘Paris Nights/'/ to the "English Review," ■ •' "A Snail's Wooing" is the' curious title of a-novel by E. 51. Sney and Kynnersley. It deals with the story of "ah Alpine Courtship." # slr W. B. ATeats, the Irish poet, of Celtic .Renaissance, fame; has;written a 'number of new lyrics, to* bo published ‘.shortly; in Dublin,' under the ,title, “Tli6 'Green Helmet and other Poems."- : The late Linley ; Sambo urhe left a number of drawings to illustrate three of . Hans Andersen's delightful fairy tales, K, Tbe Dauntless- Tin Soldier/' "Thum{blelissa." and “Tho Little Mermaid," to be issued in a new. edition •by Macmillan. •, ' "* ■ , f ■■

A new book, by Israel Zangwill is •quite an event, for Zangwill. is not given to over-production, and whatever he writes is/ worth reading. . "Italian •Fantasies" is the title' of a new book from his pen. The tone is partly scri»ous and partly gay. ; : ■ ; "Mr Pongo," the hero of Hilaire Belloc’s nev/ satirical novei, ‘‘Mr Pongo and ffehe •.-Bull/'.-is said to be meant tor Mr Baliour.