BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 4038, 4 August 1931, Page 65

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

A talking film is to be made from Sir Hall Caine’s novel “ The Christian.”

" 'Rousseau,” a new study 7 by C. E. Vulliamy, is being issued.

Mr James Stephens, the Irish poet, who is publishing a new volume of verses under the title of “ Strict Joy,” is on a visit to the United States.

Leonid Leonov’s “The Thief,” translated from the Russian by Hubert Butler, has been published.

Edgar Allan Poe’s “ Murders in the Rue Morgue ” is to be made into a talking film.

“Playing for England! My’ Test Cricket Story,” by Jack Hobbs, has been published.

Recently a book fair was held in Paris. Several famous streets were turned into vast open-air book markets.

Sir Arthur Evans has contributed an introduction to Emil Ludwig’s life of “ Schliemann of Troy.”

Lord Lymington expounds his political theory in a book entitled “Ich Dien: The Tory Path.” In that light he exam ines the problems of protection, education, defence, and the development of the Empire, and home agriculture.

The Newdigate Prize, which for the last four years has been won by women undergraduates, has this year been awarded to Mr Michael Balkwill, of Oriel College. A woman was, however, next in order of merit. The subject was “ Vanity Fair.”

Mr Herbert G. Williams, who was Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade in the last Conservative Administration, is writing a book on tariffs. The work is to be published under the title “Through Tariffs to Prosperity: Their Effect on Industry, Agriculture, and Food.”

Dr Frank Romer, the author of a number of sporting novels, the latest of which is called “ Long Odds,” is consulting surgeon to both the Jockey Club and the National Hunt. He wrote most of the book when he was in a nursing home after an operation.

Mr L. S. B. Leakey’s account of the results of the East African Archaeological Expedition’s work from 1920 to 1929 is announced for the coming season. The book, entitled “ The Stone Age Cultures of Kenya Colony,” is illustrated with numerous plates. ¥ ¥ -- ¥

Mr Gordon Volk, who has written a new novel entitled “ The Green Ship,” is a son of Magnus Volk, the inventor of the electric railway that runs along the

front at Brighton. Mr Volk has published a number of short stories under the pen-name of Gordon Sussex. Mr Thames Williamson, whose novel of life in Alaska, “ The Earth Told Me,” appeared recently, is an American who has had a varied career. Among other occupations he has been a newspaper reporter, cabin-boy on a whaler, circushand, shepherd, and tramp. And as a side-line he is a fingerprint expert. ¥ V ¥ Miss Helen Darbishire, the new’ principal of Somerville College, Oxford, has edited “ The Manuscript of Milton’s ‘ Paradise Lost,’ Book I,” a reproduction of which is to be published. The manuscript, which is now in the Pierpont Morgan Library, is being reproduced in collotype, with a type-set transcript on facing pages. Besides full notes there is an introduction giving the history of the manuscript and discussing Milton’s spelling. ' ¥ ¥ ¥ An “ Arnold Bennett Society ” is being formed in the Potteries by a number of people who wish to honour his memory. A commemoration dinner has already been held at Burslem. Those who arc interested should write to Mr Edmund Hobson, 1 South Walk, Meir, Stoke-on-Trent. ¥ ¥ ¥ Several of the books of the new Spanish Embassador, Senor Ramon Perez de Ayala, have been translated into English, notably “ Prometheus ” and “ Sunday Light.” Senor Ayala is well known in Spain as poet and author. ¥ ¥ ¥ “ Oxford versus Cambridge: A Record of all Inter-University Contests from 1827 to 1930,” which has been compiled and arranged by Mr H. Al. Abrahams and Mr J. Bruce-Kerr, is expected. Details are given of over a thousand contests, the record of each sport being completed by an alphabetical list of all participants. Besides the separate index for each sport there is a general index at the end of the volume. ¥ ¥ ¥ Mr W. B. Seabrook, whose book, “ Jungle Ways,” describing his adventures in West Africa and Liberia, recently appeared, is already planning a new expedition. This time his destination will be Indo-China. ¥ ¥ ¥ The Prince of Wales is always “ news value”; anything about him is sure to be eagerly read. Hence ■warm welcome should await Mrs Thornton Cook’s book on England’s Princes of Wales, “ Kings in the Making,” both for its full length story of our present Prince, and for its fascinating accounts of his predecessors and their strange, romantic, and often tragic lives. The book is well illustrated. The dedication, by special permission, is to his Royal Highness.