AMONG THE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15962, 3 January 1914, Page 14

AMONG THE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mr Hermann Lea's forthcoming book, Thomas Hardy's \Vessex, uiil bj published by Messrs Macmillau. " Charmides and Other I'oett?." by Oscar Wilde, lias been added to Messrs Metliuen's series of shilling books. Mr John Long w r ill publish "Oscar Wilde and Mysujf," by Lord Alfred Douglas, and "The Story of My Life/' by .kveiyii Thaw. A Iresh batch of five volumes in the "Home and University Library'' has been published by Messrs Williams and Norgate. Two of them, Professor Gilbert Murray's " Euripides and His Age,'' and Mr H." N. lirailst'ord's "Shelley, Godwin, and their Circle," will appeai to lovers of literature. Social science is represented by Mr Aneurin \vmiamss "Copartnership and Profit-Sharing, ' while the remaining volumes are Sir .John Murray's "The ucean'' and i'rotessor Eraser Harris's book on " Nerves." Mrs Humphry AVard's new novel "The Coryston Family," which has been published by Messrs Smith, Elder, is a study of uncontrolled power —and power over men—acting on a woman's nature. In addition to the French translation which is appearing in the .Kevue des Deux Mondes, a German translation is about to begin in the Neuc Freie Presse of Vienna. The Index and Epitome of the three volumes of the second supplement of "The Dictionary of National biography" will be published by Messrs Smith, Elder. On the average each memoir is represented by one-twelfth of the number of words in the original text —a slightly higher proportion than in the volume published in 1903. This new abridgment will also be added to the Index and Epitome of the " Dictionary," and its first supplement, the price of which will, in consequence, be increased. The publication of an English edition of Mr' Eabindranath Tagore's "Gitanjali'' aroused widespread interest. Lovers of books will therefore be pleased to learn that Messrs Macmillan are issuing three new works by this author. The first, " The, Gardener," consists of lyrics of love and life which were "written much earlier than the series of religious verses contained in •" Gitanjali". An interesting portrait of Mr Tagore at the age of 16 forms a frontispiece to this book. The second, another volume of poems, bears as title "The Crescent Moon," and deals with the subject of children. A special feature of thL volume is a series of eight illustrations in colour from drawings by an Indan artist. The last work, " Sadhana: the Realisation of Life," contains some of the lectures which Mr Tagore lias been delivering in the course of the year to large audieiices in Oxford, London, and elsewhere.

It is surprising that hitherto no attempt has been made to furnish Macaulay's great History of England with adequate illustrations, for the narrative lends itself most admirably to such an a-ccomp/uiiment. Now, however, this gap is to be filled by the issue of an elaborate edition by the hous'j of Maemillan, similar in style to their well-known Illustrated Edition of Green's Short History of the English People. The work will be edited by -Mr C. H. Firtlij Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford, and will eontain np fewer than 900 illustrations, including 40 plates in colour and a protogravure portrait. It will consist of six large volumes, of which the first is to be published very shortly, and the remainder at intervals of three months. The opening "volume will contain, in addition to the other attractions, a long and most interesting introduction by Professor Firth, setting forth the sources from which the illustrations have been derived and the principles upon which they have been selected. The long-awaited Life of Francis Thompson, by Mr Everard Meynell, has been published by Messrs Burns and Oates, and will shortly be reviewed in this page. For this * authoritative biography the papers entrusted by the poet to hie literary executor have been unreservedly drawn upon. These documents include his diaries and notebooks, in which he wrote his experiences in" the manner of one who confides in a friend. The reader will be made fully acquainted for the first time with the mistrusted boy, in whom the latent man of genius was not yet discerned; with the "spoiled" priest" at Ushaw; with the medical student at Owens College who failed to qualify; with the redruit thrust out of the army: with the fugitive to London—in whose streets ho filled many an incongruous and tragic calling, and finally with his own and the world's discovery of him as a poet. The volume will contain many portraits, and the price will be 15s net. . Copies are now available of the history of the British Antarctic Expedition, 19101913, in two volumes, entitled " Scott's Last Expedition," which Messrs Smith Elder have just published. Captain Scott's journals, to which the first volume is devoted, are eet- forth as he wrote thpm, from the start in Xew Zealand to the tragic end on the Barrier, supplemented by extracts from his letters home, and elucidated by a few notes. The original journals were written jpa.: tlv in ink in Captain Scott's quarto note-books, and partly in pencil in the three slim pocket volumes which he carried with him in a canvas wallet when sledging. The memorable message to the public, written at the end of the third of these little volumes, .will be reproduced in the book in facsimile. Volume II gives full accounts of the .experiences of the last search party, the other sledging and exploring parties sent out by the expedition, and the three voyages of the "Terra Nova," and also summaries of the valuable scientific work accomplished. Apart from the journey to the Pole itself two of the expeditions sent out, that of Dr Wilson's to the breeding place of the Emperor penguins, and Commander Campbell's Northern journey* are alone worthy to rank among the finest records in the history of Polar exploration. The illustrations include 16 coloured plates from watercolour drawings by Dr Wilson, six photogravures from other drawings by Dr Wilson (among them being three made at the Pole and one on the return journey); 260 illustrations and panoramas from photographs, mostly taken bv Mr H. 0. Pouting, F.R.G.S., and maps by Commander Evans aoid others. The work has been edited by Mr Leonard Huxley, with the assistance of the surviving members of the expedition, and includes a preface by Sii; Clements Markham. As illustrating the universal interest taken in the expedition it is announced by Messrs Smith. Elder that the German. Hungarian, and Bohemian rights have been acquired by Mr F. A. Brockhaus, of Leipzig; Messrs Hachette. of Paris, have bought the French rights: Fratelli Treves, of Milan, the Italian rights; and negotiations are in nrogress for Norwegian, Dnf-ch, and Swedish editions. The publishers in the United States are Messrs Dodd, Mead, and Co. In its serial form the story was translated into French, Spanish, and Russian.