STRAY LEAVES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20065, 23 March 1935, Page 12

STRAY LEAVES

DOINGS IN WORLD OF BOOKS

What is said to be the smallest copy of the Lord’s Prayer—set in a ring and written on a circle a quarter of an inch in diameter—has been sold in London for £l/18/-.

Eighteen months ago Mr Peter Stucley was working for a London publishing firm. He “escaped” and went on a journey through Greece. He has now written an account of his travels under the title of “Two Months’ Grace.”

A French thriller—translated into English, of course—is being published by Messrs Lippincott: “The Dead Man at the Window,” by Jean ToussaintSamat who was the prize winner for the French Prix du Roman d’Adventures with his previous book.

“Arnold Bennett: A Portrait done at Home,” by Dorothy Cheston Bennett, describes the last decade of Bennett’s life as she knew him, and gives a selection of letters from him, including eight in fascimile. Messrs Cape will be the publishers.

Mr D. C. Somervell is first in the field in the English book world with a book opportune to the Jubilee year, “The Reign of King George V.,” which Messrs Faber and Faber published in February. In April we are to have from Messrs Hodder and Stoughton “The King’s Grace,” Mr John Buchan’s Jubilee book.

Knut Pedersen Hamsun, whose latest novel is “The Road Leads On,” was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920. Born of poor parents in Central Norway, he worked his way towards Oslo University by such jobs as shoe-maker’s apprentice, longshoreman, coal heaver and sheriff’s assistant. For twelve years he wandered in Europe and America, adding more odd jobs to his list—cod-fishing in New Foundland, street-car conductor in Chicago, dairyman, lecturer on French literature, and secretary to a parson. He was least successful as a conductor, for he was inclined to carry angry passengers past their stops—being deep in a volume of Euripides!

The sudden death of Mr J. J. Bell come as a shock to many thousands of readers not only in England but in the English-speaking world. His was a quiet but penetrating success. Since it was first published his “Wee Macgreegor” has sold about a quarter of a million copies, apart from the considerable sales of at least twenty different American pirated editions. This famous book appeared in 1902. The manuscript had been rejected by several publishers when Mr Bell, by guaranteeing £SO towards costs, persuaded a friend to print it. It appeared in November while Mr Bell was on his honeymoon, sold out its first edition in a week, and ran into seven editions before the end of the year. This was an encouraging start for a long, successful career; and at his death Mr Bell had nearly fifty books to his name. Two years ago he published his autobiography, “I Remember,” and his recent book in praise of his country, “The Glory of Scotland,” brought him many new readers. He had settled in Aberdeen, where his only son worked as lecturer to the University in Physiology. Mr Bell was sixty-three.