The Bookshelf.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 25, 18 December 1912, Page 45

The Bookshelf.

By

DELTA.

ETECTILLETON. A Book of Historical Interest. ▼ UST now, when al! eyes are turned y->.| to the Near East, any book dealI I “8 "’>th that quarter of tire globe and its inhabitants, ought to excite more than ordinary interest. A book entitled "The. Lascarids of Nicaea,” by Miss Alice Gardener, is announced. It is a study of the State which maintained the system and the traditions of the Byzantine Empire on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus while Constantinople was under the rule of the ‘•Latins” (1204-1261). The work contains architectural and other illustrations, a map and tables, and is a Methuen publication. A " Fully Peopled " Barth. “The Malthusian Limit," by Mr Edward Isaacson, which was announced to lie issued by Messrs. Methuen on October 24, is a study of the possibilities of a fu'lypeopled earth. Mr Isaacson discusses in this work a system which in consistent practice would abolish automatically the slum and the social evil; its theoretical consideration throws much new light on socialism, woman suffrage, divorce, eugenics, international comity. and other questions of our time. All Sold. In spite of his many detractors and the reiterated cry that "Kipling has gone off,” Mr Kipling’s work still continues to sell freely. Some time ago the ‘‘Literary World” stated "that this writer’s collected verse was to be issued in an edition de luxe. The £5 5 edition, limited to 100 copies, are all sold'; also th? £2 2 edition, limited to 500 copies, and the 20/ edition; while the second edition is already heavily subscribed to. All the same, the public is entitled to that popular edition for which it has asked so long.” George Wemdeim Gave a Party. A book bearing the above curious, yet fetching title, was published some time ago by Messrs, Blackwood, and excited much comment among the reviewers, many declaring that the story was ‘'fascinating, Lut highly improbable.” It appears, however, according to the “Bookman,” that the tale was suggested to the author by an actual party of the same sort that was given long ago by a certain American banker, now we'l known in England. The book is said to be already in its’ second edition in England. ami is also having an extraordinary success in America. A New Vocation for ’Womei*. A new tint! is "The Happy Publishing Company.” The members of this firm are all women, no male being eligible for admission, since the declared object of the firm is to deal with, books that have been “written, printed and published by women.” Their first venture is a series of stories by Mrs. M. M. Lee, called “Love’s Victories.” What next, we wonder? If this thing goes on men will be forced to cry, with Othello, that the’r occupation’s gone. Of Interest to Australians. Mr Cole’s famous Book Arcade in Melbourne has so excited the admiration of the Messrs. W. and G. Foyle, who are London booksellers, that they are now establishing a similar Arcade in London. “It occupies a large building of six floors, and already contains over a million carefully classified volumes of new and sec-ond-hand books. The Messrs. Foyle commenced business at Peckham (a suburb of London) alwnit seven years ago; they have opened eight branches and warehouses in various parts of London, an I are now establishing this huge central book store in Charing Cross Road. It should be a useful resort for the reil book-buyer and a very Paradise for the prowling bookworm, for it will take h'm a year or two to travel along the t-wenty miles of shelves and browse on the books ns he goes in his customary manner.”

" A Roland for an Oliver.” Mr John lane has been taking up the cudgels, in " The Globe,” says the

“ Bookman," in defence of the newspapers and the book trade of Canada. An article in the “ Cornhill ” has described Toronto as “ a city of 350,000 inhabitants, which subsists on four bookshops of unequal merit”; and Mr Lane neatly convicts the writer of living in a glass-house and throwing stones, by pointing out that Bristol, a city with a literary past, " possesses nearly 400,000 inhabitants, a university, a

cathedral, a great public school, an ancient grammar school, and a baker’s dozen of reputed millionaires. . . . And yet with all these superlative advantages, Bristol has only two modern book-shops that approach the standard of those of Toronto.” Concerning the ’’Cornhill" statement that "nobody reads in Canada,” Mr Lane remarks: " I should say, with some knowledge of the book trade in Britain. America, and the colonies, that Canada consumes per head more books than any English-speaking country in the world.”

From " A Maa’s Man " Concerning Women.

Here is an extract from the novel entitled “A Man's Man," by lan Hav Beith, who writes under the nom de plume of " lan Hay." and is coming rapidly to the front:—“Aly general experience—

and it has been wider than you might think—has been that, once a woman takes a fancy to you. you may run counter to every canon of honesty, sobriety, and common decency, and she will cleave to you—probably. I fancy, because you arouse all the protective material instinct in her. On the other hand, once you get into her bad books —• it may be because you deserve it. but as often as not it is because you have hot hands or once trod on her skirt in a waltz—nothing that you can do will prevent her shuddering at the very mention of your name. In her relations with her male belongings a woman does not expect much. Certainly not justice, nor reason, nor common-sense. That which she chiefly desires —so those who know inform us —is admiration, and, if possible. kindness, though the latter is not essential. The one thing she cannot brook is neglect. Attention of some kind she must have. Satisfy her soul with this, and she will remain all you desire her to remain—toute femme—something for lonely mankind to thank God for.” Apt and Topical. A prize offered by the “ Bookman ” for the best epitaph on the late English summer elicited the following from L. A. Pooler: — “Tears are for parting; thou did’st weep a I way. Now storm begirt, now sobbing soft and low; Thy name is ‘ writ in water,' wherefore we • Dry-eyed do stand, and gladly watch thee go.’*

Colonial Literature. That Mr Adcock's article in the September “ Bookman ” is considered inadequate by colonials in England, is amply evidenced by the number of names added to the first list of colonial writers, and which appears in the October issue. Among those whose claim was overlooked is Mr Alfred Searcy, of Adelaide, who wrote that deeply interesting and highly informative book, “By Flood and Field." which dealt with the Northern Territory of Australia.