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    April f, 1S86 The Publishers' Circular 3...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Descriptions Of Scenery, The* Vivid Sket...

    From Messrs . Field & Tuer . —^ Evidence / by Maurice Noel , is a pleasant and for the most part

    effectively infinitely imp told roved little by story condensation that would and have the been use of the scissors . Fully one ~~~ third of the story is

    » ^ B ^^ T ^^^ V ^^ *^ ^^ W " ^ — ^^ ' » 1 ™ ™~ ^^ ^ ^~ — ¦ — ' ™ —¦ - ^ " ^^» " ^» ^^ ^^» ¦ ^™ ¦ » co ^^ nsumed before we strike on the plot . This turns on the robbery from Squire Hartley ' s desk

    of two hundred pounds . Suspicion , -with apparently very good reason , turns on Captain ftembridge — -- — ——¦— — — — « . . , his nep hew , Wwho at the time of the

    robbery paid a betting transaction with the Tery notes that had been stolen .- Ultimately , however chiefly through fcJ the instrumentality of one

    Sam ** , Pearce , a lynx-eyed — detective , the crime / is traced to its true source , and all ends , as it should ~ — do , 7 very •/ happ JL ** ily / . Of course there is the

    usual love-making , and this , it appears to us , is rather delicately rendered . From Mr . Henry Prowde . — The Wealth of

    Households / by J . T . Danson , is a work conveying in a concise and highly lucid form , the principles of political economy . Under this title

    such subjects as "Wages , Profit , Interest , Commerce , Capital , Credit , Competition , Taxation , PauperismProperty in Land , Socialism ,

    Com-1 , * ' K ml " ' munism , and Nihilism , are treated of . Socialism the author deilnes as follows : ' Socialism is , in effectan extension of pauperism—without its

    , justification Recognising discomfort as a plea _ for action hitherto justified only by destitution , it would take from those who haveto give to

    , those who have not : not because they have dire need of the property of others , but because they would like to have it . If this be done with the

    free consent of those deprived , the result may be termed Alms . If not , it is clearly TheftJ As a handy exponent of economic principlesthe work

    m / K JL JL , of Mr . Danson should be found decidedly serviceable , and an additional aid to its usefulness will be found in the excellent index which is appended ,

    while , to still further facilitate reference , every paragraph is numbered . From Messrs . Griffith __ .. _ _ _ I __ * arranOkeden _ _ _ _ & ^

    —„ _ — . _ , — — _ __ , t , ^ , Welsh . — ' Cleopatra / by Henri Greville , is the familiar story of a girl married to a . man very much older than herself , and afterwards

    findiDg out her mistake . Much interest , however , is imparted to the narrative not only by the method of treatment , which is extremely sldlful

    and abounds in some highly effective situations , but by the Kussian surroundings in whicli the story is — cast— . Strange . __ £ j to saythe volume "where

    it fails ^ to please does so from ^ , g its very fidelity to nature , for it is almost impossible not to feel a little disappointment that Cleopatra should not

    be moved by the true-hearted nobility of her husband into more self-sacrificing conduct ; but then he was old and she was young , and the

    lover was brave and passionate , and sticklers for morality like ourselves have the ample satisfaction of knowing that matters did not turn

    out quite happily for the fair heroine after all , and that in the end full poetic justico was meted out to her . How this was done we aro

    not going to say , but must leave readors to discover for themselves . We can recommend the story as a thoroughly interesting one .

    From the * same- —It may safely be laid down as an aixiom that if a novelist wishes to mako his work

    in the highest degree successful he must introduce at least one leading character that the reader can sympathise with and admire . In this

    , Mr . Edward Oliver Pleydell-Bouverie , the author

    of * J . S . ; or , Trivialities , to a large extent V «^— - ^— I I . P ¦¦¦ — mi ,. i , i _—j . .. — . , m 1 i . ii in i — - ^ 1 m i i . ^ .. — . — - —— ¦ I n I ¦¦ ¦ I ¦» i i — I ¦ ill - ¦¦ - ¦ i !¦¦

    fails . John Stiles , the hero of his tale , i « iA truth a grievous noodle , who never does anything

    throughout the narrative to redeem his character ; Ethel Prescott , the chief girl , is ; an arrant flirt who completely falsifies the leasant expectations

    raised on her ^ rst entrance p into the story , * and Washbrooke , the all-essential rival , is simply an insolent and supercilious mannered young

    private secretary , whose ineffable conceit and selfcomplacency perpetually irritate . The only characters in the story V with whom it is possible J .

    to feel any sympathy are Uncle Joe , whose wellmeant efforts to benefit his nephew turn out bo disastrously , and Lord and Lady Filham , all

    of whom occupy very secondary positons . But notwithstanding this , we have no hesitation in saying that * J- S . ' is an extremely smartly written

    ml «_> % l V story , and it reveals some excellent dialogue , while in the delineation of character the author exhibits powers of no mean order . Washbrooke ,

    for instance , though he annoys , is an exceedingly well depicted member of his class , while John Stiles himself , if scarcely heavy and manly

    enaugh for the main role in a story dealing with society life , is in many respects most dexterously portrayed . It indeed says much for Mr .

    JBouverie that , handicapped , by the flaw we have ventured to point out , he should yet have made hia story so exceedingly interesting and readable .

    From Mr . A . Q-yles , Nottingham . —Mr . Gyles has edited and published a useful little ' Directory of

    Second-hand Booksellers . ' The volume , which . is very neatly got up , does not pretend , to give a full list 6 iLtie _ tracle ; butneverthelessit seems

    , , to > make a good start ,, and we have little doubfc that under skilful management it will become one of the requisites of those who have dealings with

    sellers of second-hand boots . From Messrs . IHoulston & Sons . —In a neatly

    got up shilling volume E . T . Miller tells the story of three hard-working girls , who went for a summer holiday on the continont , and amid the

    grand mountain scenery of Switzerland becameacquainted with twO other seekers after health in the persons x of John Beechcroft t , doctor , and

    Arthur Maurice m , a young artist . ' In the Days of His Manhood , ' as the chronicle of their adventures is entitled , is a work conveying a strong moral

    lesson , but this is never unduly obtruded , all effort to improve the occasion is laid on one side , and the narrative is allowed to tell its own tale ,

    with , we may say , the happiest of results . ' In the Days of His Manhood' is a thoroughly good storyusing these words in thoir widest sense

    and in , its pleasant , breezy phases of girl life , so , thoroughly unaffectedly written and so extremely true to real lifeit should undoubtedlify claim a

    , wide circle of readers . Maude Castleton , with her irrepressi ble high spirits and liVely manners , is an especially charming character ; and who ,

    may wo ask , has not known the living counterpart of this young woman ? From Messrs . R . C . Kn & ggs & Co . ( Newcastle

    , N . S . W . )—^ A very handy book for navigators and Australasian shippers is the ' Newcastle Nautical Almanack , Directory , and Guide to the Port of

    Newcastle / The work contains sailing instructions for Torres Straita , maps , signals , charts , & c , in addition to which there is very full information

    respecting all the Australasian countries . The I arrangement and printing are both admirable . From MIessrs . Sampson Low Sd Co . — 'A Lone

    . Lassie : an . Autobiography , by J . Jemmett-

    April F, 1s86 The Publishers' Circular 3...

    April f , 1 S 86 The Publishers' Circular 3 Z 7

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), April 1, 1886, page 327, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_01041886/page/17/