LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11534, 21 September 1899, Page 6

LITERARY NOTES.

— The former Paris residence of Guy de Maupassant, with the neighbouring house, has been turned into a hotel, in. which the proprietors have religiously preserved the apartments of the celebrated novelist. His bedroom u« regarded as the chamber of honour, and.has been occupied by many notabilities.

— Messrs George Bell and Sons have in preparation, for publication in the autumn, "SnJohn Everett Millais: His Art and Influence,"' by A. L. Baldry, the author of "Albert Moore r His Life and Works." The mm object of the book, which will be uniiorm with "Sir E. Burne-Jones/'by Mr Malcolm Bell, is to supply an interesting and intelligent aoeouni. of the artist's very varied artistic life as ii nmv be*read from his pictures. — "Ralph Connor," the name which appears o- the title page of ""Black.Rook," a tale "or the Selkirk?,. is the pseudonym of the Rev. Charles VYV Gordon, of St- Stephen's Church,. "Winnipeg. He ;s a graduate of the University of Toronto, and spent several years as a missionary in theRocky Mountains; he has embodied Jus experiences of miners and lumbermen m '.olaek Rock." He has a second volume of similar chaniL'lcr sketches nearly ready, under the f'tie -The Sky Pilot 01 the Foot Hills. ' — - 4 new magazine is about to bo launched un'ioi- the title of Fielder's Magazine, die World's Record of Industrial Progress m tineineeririg. Shipbuilding, Commerce, wtn. ilie 'object, of helping towards the solidarity^ m British interests at home and abroad. xM editor writes:—"lt will "be mililantly British m tone, character, and purpose, advancing and developing everything ■■ that is best ia British engineering practice and productions, and I venture to believe that it will be the finest production in periodical engineering literature ever turned out in tiny country. — The latest addition to "The Bibelots, a dainty set of miniature books bound m leather and printed on thick, glazed paper with gilt edges, is a selection of Leigh Hunt s essays, beginning with "The World of Books.- .li contains H9 pages, including an index and an introduction, the latter, by Mr Potter Biscoe, (tivhv a brief account of the talented author. Leirii Hunt, of whom at the age of 60 a striking "portrait'is supplied as frontispiece began to live in the autumn of 178*, and died August ?.b\ 1859, just about 40 years ago. A Olmst s Hospital boy, he drifted into journalism a., the a«e of 21, and seven years later graduated HV s?oins? to prison for two years—a_torm ot graduation that has survived 111 Germany ■Vo our own time—for a libel on the Prinze Ke^enf. It made no difference, however, to I MitTediLintc of his paper, and he wrote a good neal while in Horsemonger Lane Gaol. «■ fee .jres^nt collection of essays will form an excellent introduction'of him to young readers. v .nd the book is eminently.presentable, while ;;s cost is only half !>■ crown net. ihc pubiiehers are Messrs Gay and Bird. — The treasures of the private collections or the city of Boston have recently been augmented through the acquisition, by i\lr iJ. V,. Heath, the well known publisher of that city, of the library of children's books and educational works/issued by the House of ISewbury from 1740 to 1800, which was brought together by Mr Charles Welsh when he was writing the biography of John ■STewbery, Oliver Goldsmith's friend and publisher, and the founder of the famous publishing house which tor nearly a century and a-half was at the corner of St. Paul's Churchyard .London. There are the books to which Washington Irving referred in his preEace to "Bracebridge Hall ' when he said-—"Nor was it without a recurrence of childish interest that I first peeped into ivlr Newbery's shop in St. Paul's Churchyard, that fountain-head of literature. Mr Newbery was the first that ever filled my infant mmd wiih the idea of a great and good man. He published all the picture books of the day; and, out of his abundant love for children, ne charged ' nothing for either paper or print, and only a penny-halfpenny for the binding. At the end of his " Bookseller of the Last Century" Mr Welsh brought together a catalogue of the chief publications of the House of-Newbery, which is of immense value to the bibliograph, the student of books for children, s».nd of the educational literature of the last century. Many of the little books there enumerated h&viy'disappeared entirely, for nothing vanishes so-completely as the children -5 hooks of by-gone times, which were thumbs until ihey were worn oui and useless. Lilt Uib collection which Mr Heath has acquired, :.ud v/liich is now being catalogued and arranged iii as fully representative us any collection s ever likely to be. It contains some unique treasures and forms an instructive object ieeuun in the evolution of children's literature and of the sohoolbook. Besides a collection of cheap books for children—several Dattledoros (the successors of the Horn books), some rare primers, a thoroughly representative -;ollection of fiction for children—of early toybooks and of those books in which the pill o, information is gilded in a fashion which is very curious to those who are familiar with present day methods of conveying instruction—thore are m the collection first editions of Goldsmith* "Vicar of Wakefield," "The Traveller," arirt "The Deserted Village."- Mid of other -works by Goldsmith and Dr Johnson, m ws!! sc majiy other rwe treasures'.