BOOKS AND THEIR WRITERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12087, 16 August 1917, Page 8

BOOKS AND THEIR WRITERS.

A Berlin bookbinder has discovered r i Uf T- uia^ f ' r^a l f°r bookbinding—eodlisii skin _ In itsolf the use of fish skin lor bookbinding is no novelty, states a_n American exchange; among others, snarl? leather had previously been used for de luxe bindings for the sake of its durahlity and beautiful marking. Cod skin hps several advantages over shark skin; it; is more abundant, more easily procurable, and, 'therefore, cheaper. The appearance of tho skin, unscalded and properly prepared, resembles snake s skin. Its strength and dura*bihtv are said to have been tested and louud equal to parchment by the Royal Material Testing Office in Berlin. It is easy 'to work and literally untear- ! able. Messrs Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., have issued a Centenary Edition of the well-known "Pitman's English and Shorthand Dictionary," based 011 tho original book of Sir Isaac Pitman. ! It iuckide.s lists oi' proper names, gram- ; maloguos and contractions, .and an ! analytical introduction on the forma- | tion of shorthand outlines. It makes a 1 handy voiume of over 760 closely printed pages, and is sure to prove practically useful to all who are concernod in the work of shorthand writing. Mr Michael MacDonagh is following up his story of " The Irish at the ' Front" with a, second series entitled j •• Tho Irish 011 the Somme," which is j chiefly concerned with tlhe three distinctively Trish units of the New Armies on the Western front—the Ulster Division, the Irish Division (representative of tho soulili and west), and the) " Tynesido Irish." The book will include an introduction by Mr John Redmond, M. P. Dr Henry Benjamin Whcatley, the well-known'litterateur and archaeologist, died at his residence. Hampstead, a. few weeks ago. He was perhaps besii I known for his edition of '^ Pepys.s X>i;i r v," which lias always h<Mu standnrd rank. He also wrote a, good deal i-.n the topography and archaeology ot London. Some years since ho edited the pop'iilar " Booklovers' Library, to | which he himself contributed some, nnj norfant. volumes, and his book 011 " Lon- | don," in Messrs Dent's series of " Mediaeval Towns." admirably illustrated the depth and width of his know.ledgo of bygone London. Messrs J. M- Dent and Sous have in tho press a. series of books designed to provide authentic information 011 Imperial matters which will be known as tlie Imperial Studies Series. It will be under the general editorship of Di A. P. Newton, tliq secretary of the Imperial Studies Co mm if tee of the Lniversity of London, #.nd is intended to represent the activities of that bor 1 \. The first volume will contain the Rhodes Lectures of 1917 delivered at University College by Dr Newton himself, and will have an introduction by "Sir Charles Lucas, the title of the book being "The Old Empire and the New." Thin will be followed by " Th? Exploitation of Plants" and "The Staple Trades 1 of the Empire," each of which will conI sist of a set o.f lectures delivered by I experts on the commercial possibilities of tho lands under the Union Jack. The Royal Asiatic Society, which held its anniversary iiieetiug in London in .Tune, has undertaken for the Prize Publication Fund a volume bv Sir George Griorson 011 " Iskasmi, Zebaki and Yazyulaini," three members of the Pamir group of Iranian languages, two of which have hitherto been quite unknown. Part of tho materials was collected by Sir Aurel Stein on his journey across tho ranges west of the Pamirs and in the valleys of tho Ox Us in 1915, while, part was collected by Sir Georgo Griorson himself. Two other works for the society hav 0 been delayed by the war, but will be issued shortly. One, for the Oriental Translation iPund, is 011 the Vaisesika. Philosophy, translated with introduction and notes by Professor Ui. The other, for tho monograph series, is the. Rev T. Grahaine'Railey's "Linguistic Studies from the Himalayas." Captain Thomas Arthur Nelson, senior member of the, house of Thomas Nelson and Sons, New York, London, Edinburgh and Paris, was killed by shell lire a. few weeks ago while on special service on the western front with the tanks. As an undergraduate at University College, Oxford, Mr Nelson was a famous football player and, indeed, it is said that if «, poll had been taken for the best-liked man in Oxford "Tommy" Nelson would have headed the list. He left Oxford to take his part in tho publishing houso which bears his name. Ho worked hard at tho business, and under his hands and those ot his colleagues it grew steadily. But his life could not bo narrowed to one interest. No employer ever gave more thought to tho wellbeing of his employees, says a London \\liter, and 110 master over enjoyed a more whole-hearted popularity. Ho had a deep interest in all schemes of social betterment, and, being too modest to preach, he was content to practise. Mr^Nelson's one thought from the first clay of the war was to give everything he possessed to his country's service. Ho went to France in Sopttimber, 1915, where ho remained in the thick of things until his death. A Boston noto states that a sixtyfirst printing 0 f "The Prisoner of Zenda" shows it is still popular with an American public. An r.f '< tvij » William F. Codj* is on •tho markotT and will sell well among lovers of adventure Latest happenings in Greece will make especially pertinent Hib-. ben's " Constantino I. and the Greek People." Mr Hjbben represented a leading news syndicate in Athens, but was not able to got . this story past the censor of mails' or telegraph. Fisher Unwin has 'now published. " Maj.-Gen. bir Henry Hallain Parr," a volume of recollect.-" is •

der-ce which Sir Charles Fortescue Brickdale has edited. Some remarkable articles which appeared xn "Le Mercure de France," from April, 1015, to January, 1917, on the attitude of Switzerland from the beginning of 'the war, have been been published in book form in the ediition Bossard. The author is M. Lonjs Duniur. Ho found it impossible to get his articles printed in Switzerland, and their appearance in "lift Mercure brought 'him much condemnation, but it is as a man of independent views and honest convictions that he writes, and his book is described as a valuable key to the attitude of a large part ot Switzerland following on the violation of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. . ~ Mr Eden Plulpotts will shortlj add to his series of novels dealing with various English industries a story entitled "Tho Nursery," which treats ot the workers in a great flower nursery and landscape gardening concern, and with near-by oyster fishermen. A posthumous poem by Swinburne appears in "The Times literaiy supplement. It is entitled '' The White Maid's Wooing," and the first three stanzas are " How will you woo her. This white maid of thine? Wi'-h breaking of wastel. Or pouring of wine?" Not with pouring of cups Or with broaiing of bread; But with wood that is cloven, And wine that is red. With rinss will I woo her. With chains will I wed; With ships that are broken. With blood that is ehed Jack La it has proved himself a short story writer well above magazine aveiage. His 'industry apparently is remarkable. He regularly produces 75.000 words a, month for the Chicago Herald, - ' this output comprising from thirty to thirty-five stories. Formerly Laifc was a reporter on the " Cnicago Herald." Now he is the star turn in the office. Mr John Murray, discoursing on the difficulties which beset publishers at. present, says To-day you need to sell double the number of copies of a shilling book in order to pay your out-of-pocket expenses. Paper has risen in price by over 200 per cent, strawboards for bindings are almost non-procurable, printers have nil raised their charges, and in some cases are refusing heavy books owing to the shortage of labour." Some 2000 versifiers have sent contributions to the "Poetry Review'" during the last two years, excluding 200 soldier poets, of whom Mr Kyle says:—"Nothing surpasses the intensification of feeling and concentration of emotion displayed by the soldier poets. Their efflorescence is extraordinary and significant. It introduces a new era in poetry and poetic appreciation—in the midst of horror and .suffering redeeming from decay the visitation and revelation of the divine —a return to idealism and force in spirituality as opposed to brute force, negation and pseudo-realism." Routledge has now brought out Miss Kate Hotblack's study of "Chatham's Colonial Policy," which throws further light in one direction at least upon. Pitt's great activity. Fisher Unwin is the publisher of M. Davrav's book on Lord Kitchener, called " The Work and Prestige of Lord "Kitchener." M. Davray had been brought into close touch with the great soldier on many occasions, so that he is in a position to render at first hand a. tribute to Lord Kitchener's character and capacity, and his qualities: generally. M. Paul Cambon, the French Ambassador to the Court of St James, lias- written an introduction to the volume. , How many people who are in the habit of usiug the expression *' According to Cocker," which has passed into an overy-day proverb, asks an English writer, can state even approximately when Cocker's arithmetic, which has tho almost unique record of having passed through more than a hundred editions, first saw the light? At tho sale of the third portion of Mr John Pearson's library a copy of the very rare first edition of this small and thin S-volumo hook, which was published at. the Three. R'bles on London Bridge by T. Passingerin 1678, realised the sum of £26 10s, a price that is trifling if compared with the prices given for several books at the same sale. This particular copy is beautifully bound in green levaut morocco with tpoled sides, by F. Bedford, and beneath a fine impression of the rare portrait of .Edward Cocker run these lines:--Ingenious Cocker (now to refit thou'art, gone). Xoo art can shew thee fully but thine own. Thv rare Ariilimotirk nlone can show Tho vast, cum:; of thanks we for thy labours owe "Rare" is a happy epithet for Cocker's " Arithmetick," for had it not the distinction of " being a plain and familiar method suitable to the meanest capacity," and isn't this sufficient, to account for the numerous editions into which the work of 1 his benevolent mathematician, went? What anguish some of us would have been spared had we been catered for in the same thoughtful and kindly way!