THE PUBLISHING SEASON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5457, 8 January 1896, Page 4

THE PUBLISHING SEASON.

BOOKS TO READ, BOOKS TO BUY, AND BOOKS TO AVOID. London, Nov. 1. CHRISTMAS NUMBBBS. The Illustrated Christmas number pro- j mises to be very strong with Stevenson's novelette, "On the Great North Road," and Sir W. Besant's "Luck of the Nancy Bell",- whilst the Graphic, not to be outdone, provides tales by Kipling, Zangwill and Mrs Flora Steel. Sketch will contain /"lonia," by Ouida, and "Baldwin's Loise," by Louis Becke, .whilst the Album Christmas number is to be an -historical romance by Stanley Weyman, entitled "Two Pages." "Arrowsmith's Annual" is by Walter Raymond, and has already made its appearance. The title, "In the Smoke, of War," gives a fair notion of the contents, its scene being in Somersetshire, during the great struggle "betwixt Cavaliers and Roundheads.

Tiie "Magazine of Fiction" has decided to publish ar Christmas number this year, and .it •will* consist ,of |( a*. complete' story entitled "A. Weird Experience." ; The attraction of . "Pears 's (Soapy) Annual" is> . as usual, three chromos, much the best of them being a reproduction of Stacey Marks's "The Long Bill." The letterpress resurrects, with new pictures, -Dickens's; "■ Haunted Main" y /The *Art,- Annual is /devoted to;. the pictures . of /Luke" Fildes, Ei.A/, aiicL gives 'capital .etchings b - .^ "The :*, Doctor;'' and/ .other popular cpmpo*3itions, by thisf-^o-dl] artist. As "usual a wonderfully^^ "cheap hilf^' a-crown's -worth. ' 1 I GIFT BOOKS. j The National Society's new stories for the young are always safe to buy, being by authors of repute, and t well got up, indj illustrated. The , list for the present autumn includes "The Carboneis," by Miss -' Charlotte Tonge (33 6d), "A Cat and a Cake," "by M, Bramston (2s 6d), "T; wo Maiden Aunts," by Mary Debenham (2s); " The Puff of Wind," by Fred Badrick!(ls 6d), "The Artist of Crooked Alley,") by Audrey/ Curtis (Is 6d), and ' " Dorothy's Stepmother," (Is). All these are excellent reading of their sort, "A Cat and a Cake " ' being apparently the most exciting. Geo. Bobertson and Co. are the Society's agents in the colonies. A ' ' ' ■ The Countess of, Jersey has a gift! for 1 imagining quaint fairy tales, as pier "Maurice, orthe Eed Jar" of last winter showed. It enjoyed immense populajrity amongst the small folk, and has, one is glad to note, led to another delightful exercise of fancy on her ladyship's part. The new goblin romance, "Eric, orjthe Valley of Wishes," will be found no' whit inferior to its predecessor, * and appears even more daintily got up. As for Jthe illustrations, by Miss Alice Woodward, one can hardly over-praise their fantastic grace and delicacy. But the. price of the little book — six whole shillings! How many of us can afford that for a short 'story ? SOME NEW NOVELS. i The most remarkable novel America has given us for many a long day is Miss Eliza Orue White's "The Coming of Theodora," recently published by Snuth Elder, at the anomalous price of four shillings. The plot, such as there is, can be told in five lines. It simply' snows how a young, beautiful, energetic, large-hearted and intelligent girl, coming, to live with; her brother: (whom she adores) and his wife, yet manages, -with the best possibles in-, tentions, to make tho family in *a j few months thoroughly miserable. „The i victims can end their quandary 'at > any moment by enlightening Theodora as to their feelings, a,nd ultimately the wife, ill and hysterical, does so. But before then she undergoes tortures. "Theo is a, fine girl," says her brother Edward after the* eclaircissement, "there is nothing _.mall about her. Just rouse her sufficiently and she'll nOt stick at any generous deed. But it takes a cannon-ball to do it ? Any other woman would have been alive to the fact that a battle was impending by the sharpshooting that's been going on all summer." The subject of " The Coming of Theodora " sounds promising, you will say, for a magazine article, but how can it be strung out over a longish novel without becoinirig wearisome ? I can only assure you it isn't so. James Payn likens Miss White's work to Miss Austen's, but I should prefer to dub it "humanised Henry James."

Mr Percy White, who scored success a year ago with "Mr Bailey-Martin,"; now gives us a long novel devoted to delineating minutely the moral deterioration; of a man and a woman whilst breaking at first secretly and then openly the seventh '■ commandment. "Corruption," as the story is called, is not badly done, but was it worth doing? *We do not need novels to tell us tliat the man who rims away with his neighbour's wife never: can under any remotely conceivable circumstances be happy. Eeal life enforces that lesson clearly enough. The experiences of Mr White's imaginary Paul Carew, after ''all, appeal to one's sympathy and one's moral senses, but feebly beside such a tremendous political and social tragedy as say the fall of Mr Parnell.

J. M. Barries "Sentimental Tommy " will positively begin to run' in Scribnei^s for January. Mrs Alfred Sidgwick does tlifl U6xt Ber.ial.for. the .'lllustrated -News. It is called "A Woman Witn a Future," arid fesgijW -9*& month. The reminiscences of Henry Ktias-Sil have been named "Cheer Boys, Cheer," aii<! ;vrill Tbe brought out by a new publisher, John Macqueen, of Norfolk' street, Strand, He .has' also captured Chevalier's recollections; and Clement Scott's resurrected criticisms from the Daily Telegraph. Mr Macqueen must have ft sanguine nature .to venture on the latter. ' '.''.* ' ... -'„ Mr Lewis Hind, the ex-editor of the Pall Mall Stidgei and New Budget haa been pressed .0 .resume the editorship of the latter, v__i__t\ Ifri-ry Furmss has (as I predicted), sold io'.some city men, who want to 'run it "•__*' *•• company 7 proinoting purposes. Mr Hincf, lw»f evw. is not likely to- accept their prbposafeXAS he is absorbed in writing a novel wfrfcllK ™? ™ tch - the *orld through the' medmilhtf Jolin Lane sometime next autumn. "A.

A jKajry tales.- - '*"\ . '.*' „ One of the prettiest atid '. most' fi^.'^^rj illustrated books of fairy tales for- > s '°" m ° children which I havo come across- fm i\ . seasons is the "Old Hungarian Fa_. J__ Tales;" arranged by the Bareness-- <§■&&%'

and Montagu Baratow, and published byDean and Sons. Turn to "Mr Cuttlefish's Love Story" on page 39, and if you possess a small child of your own or even know one, I fancy 3s 6 A will be quickly exchanged for the enticing volume. . : Another tempting fairy book for rather older youngsters comes from America. It is called " Old Farm Fairies," and tells of a summer campaign in Brownie Land against King Cobweaver's Pixies. Here again the illustrations are exceptionally delighful, and we get 150 of them. Ido not remember to have heard of the author, Mr Henry M. Cooke, before, but he has undoubtedly a sympathetic comprehension of wha!t children want. Messrs Hodder and Stoughton are the English publishers of " Old Farm Fairies." Mr Fisher Unwin's " Children s Library' series is, I find, nearly as popular as fairy tales with little ones. 'The latest additions are a version of "Robinson Crusoe," suited to the comprehension of the mite masses, and "Pax and Carlino," the adventures of a small boy and a dog, by Ernest Beckman. Messrs Dents shilling "Banbury Cross" toy books are the daintiest things in the market at the price. The only doubt I have is whether they are not too dainty and artistic for our Philistine infants. Mind, however, you make a point of asking to see the three newvolumes—"Red Riding Hood," "House That Jack Built " and " Blue Beard." AN IDEAIi STOET BOOK. It was remarked when the first " True Story Book " associated with Andrew Lang's name, came oi.it some years ago, that the notion of the -work was excellent, and that it would have formed almost ideal children's literature had the selection been better. I think the editor must have taken this criticism to heart, as the "Red True Story Book" which lias just made its appearance he found fault with in the same way. It opens admirably ; Mr Rider Haggard's spirited account of "Wilson's Last Fight" in Matabeleland. being a narrative to stir in right directions even the most sluggish and unenterprising of young people. The rather lengthy story of "Joan of Arc" has also been most judiciously dealt with, and the selections from Froissart and the Icelandic sagas are entirely discreet, as well as (so my little friends say) entrancingly in? foresting. Older boys, indeed positively old boys, will not take up the "Red True Story Book" without being tempted to turn and see how Mr Lang treats the "ower-true tale" of "How the Bass Was Held for King James," and Mr Crockett retells "The Bull of Earlstoun" and " Grisell Baillie." The Australian adventures in this volume are by Miss May Kendall and Mrs --BovilL The illustrations . by Henry J. Ford deserve a great deal more than a single line of commendation, but the fact is we are so accustomed to this series being thoroughly well done that their many minor excellences get passed. The price of the "Red True Story Book" is six shillings, and Longmans are the publishers. boys' books. Despite fierce . opposition the excellently edited Roys' Own Paper holds its own well this year, and the programme for j overflows with attractive feature. "The Cruise of the Good Ship Boreas" by Gordon Stables, M.D., leads off the serials ; Mr David Ker tells of "The Finding of the White Elephant: a Boy's Adventures in Siam 3" -Mr John Dawbrey contributes ''The : Death}Feud; a Story, of Chinese Vengeance j" • and t^t popular, favourite, Manyille' Fenn, , promises "Tdoll Gwyn, or ; th» Molod^Beneath the : ,Sea." Could any, boy want a richer banquet of fiction than tliis? Other features are " The Further Adventures of Two Young Nimfods in Australia and New Zealand," by E. Roper; ''■S Snake Stories," by Dr Stradling; "How i to Build a Canoe;" "Render Taxidermy Easyi" and "Become an Astronomer," by experts in these pursuits, ahd, of course, endless articles on games and hobbies of all sorts. I can commend several of the boys' books published by Messrs Chambers as being about half the price of Messrs Blackie's, Henty's or Fenn's, and differing from them in no essential respect. They are not, of 'course, so sumptuously got-up, but as long as the story is a "thriller," what boy cares about gilding, &c. These remarks apply, specially to ".The'Blue Balloon, a Tale of the Shenandoah Valley," by Reginald Horsley (3s 6d); "The Wizard King, a Story of the Moslem Invasion of Europe/ by David Ker (3s 6d) ; and "Hugh Melville's Quest" (2s 6d). At five shillings this firm provide "Roy Royland, or, the Young Castellan," by Manville Fenn, and " The Brotherhood of the Coast," a long and exciting tale of adventure in a period specially dear to boys, by David Lawson Johnstone. One shilling illustrated true story books, retelling in chatty vein the experiences and achievements of Carlyle, Edison, Telford and Brindley, should 'be found useful in, family circles.