AMONG THE ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13996, 31 August 1907, Page 7

AMONG THE ANNOUNCEMENTS.

The letters of tits late Dean Hole will be, published' earlv by the Macmillan Co. A-number of portraits and facsimiles will illustrate the volume.

We understand that "Rita" nas just completed a new novel, which Messrs Hurst and Blackett are to issue early in the ensuing season. It will bo entitled "A Man of No Importance." It is a romance of an inland watering place. A new volume of stories by Miss Mane Corelli, entitled "Delicia,'' will be published immediately. In addition to the story which gives the book its title, and which was formerly called "Tbe Murder of Delicia," the volume contains "A Breach of Past Office Discipline," bcinp a true incident.of the South African war, "Kittums," an everyday story of London citv life, and three other tales.

Two interesting penny pamphlets issued liy the Twentieth Centurv Press deal respectively witli " Jolin Bull: Priest and Prophet of the Peasant Bevolt" (with a moderii Socialistic moral, of course), and ''The Russian Revolution," by Th. Rothstein. The significant point of the- Russian struggle_ is declared tc.be that "it is the first time that the proletariat has stepped out. on th© .historical arena as an independent and class-conscious power pursuing its ov;n political and racial aims, and not-, as in the previous European revolutions, as the food for powder, or, at best-, as the a'ly of the middle classes."

Those who are interested in big game besgl,ajl tpjaow tirot ii -jm®:

and revised edition of "The Great and' Small Game of India, Burma, ajid Thibet.," by Mr R. Lydekker, mil bo published shortly under the title of "The Game Animals of India, Burma, Malaya, and Thibet," by Messrs Rowland Ward. (Ltd.). Seven yea re have elapsed sinee the publication of the original quarto edition of this work, which is now out of print, and during that interval much prognns has been made in the recognition of local races of many of tlm animals described therein. In its new and cheaper form tlio work will be found ■ more convenient to the sportsman in the field than the original edition.

In ''History in Fiction" (George Routledge and Sons, Limited; ss, 2 vols.), Mr Ernest A. Baker, M.A., has performed a useful service for which the student of history and the reader of fiction may alike he grateful. He has aimed at supplying a guide to the best historical romances, sagas, novels, and tales dealing with events in English, American, and foreign history. The volumes are arranged in chronological order, beginning with the period of t]ic early Britons and extending to our own times. Full details as to the publishers and prices of the various works included are given, and ifi most- cases a brief synopsis of the story is appended. Books specially adapted for the requirements of children are indicated, and the compiler has supplied occasional critical notes.

"The Small Library," by Janics Duff Brown (George Routledge arid Sons, Limited; 2s 6d), is an excellent manual for the use of the book-collector. Mr Brown lias some interesting chapters on household libraries, professional and workshop libraries, and school libraries, and his rules for the compilation of catalogues will prove valuable to thnso whose libraries are sufficiently extensive to call for detailed_ classification. The subject of book selection is, perhaps, best left to the reader's individual taste, but. many will he glad to avail themselves of Mr Brown's assistance, In his introductory chapter Mr Brown remarks:" If journalistic literature be excluded, it is doubtful if books are used by more than ono man in ten rts they are intended to be used—namely, as machines or tools designed to simplify the multifarious details of evety-dnv life." It is difficult to surmise what is meant, by " journalistic literature," but surely this is a very narrow and inadequate view of the function of books.