LITERARY NOTES

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16168, 23 March 1918, Page 7

LITERARY NOTES

The third volume of the 'Voyages of the hospital ships Maheno and -larama, edited by his Excellency tu© Governor, is about to he published by Messrs Whiteombe and Tombs at Js Od, the proceeds of the sale over and above the cost of production being devoted to Red Cross funds, in the same way as the profits derived from the sale ot the previous volumes. The new ™ lu ® e ls to include an analysis of the Rod Cross goods which have been voluntarily contributed to the two hospital ships since the Maheno left on her first voyage m 1915.

There were 1537 novels published m 1917 according to the Publishers Oucular and Booksellers' Record ' .This is 273 less than in 191G, and certainly an amazing ac-liievement considering the paper shortage and difficulties 01 pps>ducing." Somo letters from Johnson to Mrs Thrale were sold in London recently. The highest single price was i/b, paid, for the finest and longest letter, dated 1773. Another realised £41. Ihe letter to Mrs Thrall dealing with American affairs sold for £35. It is understood that the sale in Britain and in America of Ambassador Gerard's "'Four Years in Germany ' has alrcadv run to a quarter of a million copies. It keeps selling, and translations of it are to appear in the ehiefl European languages, including German. An unfinished novel by Benjamin Disraeli is to bo given in the concluding volumes of his ''Life," which Mr John Murray hopes to issuo shortly. I'our volumes have appeared, and the two that remain to come cover the last 13, vears of "Dizzy's" dramatic career. "His masterly dealings with Germany in 1875; the purcliase of the Suez Canal shares; the Berlin Congress; Queen Victoria's confidence in him"—these are the items of the forthcoming volumes. Might we not (asks an English writer) have a library edition of Lord Morley's books, anyhow a uniform new edition? If. in his ieisure on the edge of Wimbledon Common, he thought of that, h© would no doubt wish to revise the books for such an edition. No man ever wrote with more sense of the abiding word, but necessarily new information has come with the years and might be incorporated. Perhaps Lord Morley would think it more interesting to give us a third volume of his ''Rocollections" than to "collect" his writings. A posthumous novel by William De Morgan is promised. It was not quite finished when he died, but he left material which has enabled his wife to draw it to a close. King Ludwig I. of Bavaria was the most prolific diarist in the world. There are 246 volumes of his diaries packed away in seven sealed chests in Munich. In his will he left instructions that the chbsts were not to be opened for fifty years. The time was up last month, and artistic and literary circles in Germany are anxiously awaiting the publication of the diaries —or a part' of them —for Ludwig lived too full a life, was too great a democrat in love and other affairs, for the German Government of to-day to approve of all his views and records. A great German publisher, who ha 3 survived war conditions, is to undertake the reading and revision of the diaries.

In Britain book sales are greater than before the war. "Stay-at-home habits which war conditions havoenforced are responsible for the boom in books," a well-known publisher is reported as saying. "Men, women, and children read more than ever, but though sales aro greater, profits are less, because of the cost of production. As for the paper famine —well, I hare several works I would like to bring out this year, but I've used up my paper allowance already. Women are sending in most or the "fiction we get, and, despite all one hears of enfirossing war work, there is no falling-off in manuscripts submitted. We get from seventy-five to a hundred a week here. Love stories and poetry lead. The big war novel has not been .written vet, and will not be until after the war. About ten or twenty years after, I should think. We are too close to it now to get a proper perspective. Most fiction writers who touch upon the war at all use it only as an element in their story." At the great London libraries there is the same boom in books. "More subscriptions than ever," said an assistant at a library. "We can hardly supply people with all the books they want. "The breezy love or stirring adventure stories are most in demand. One of the things we have noticed is that our readers do not keep books out as many days as they used to. e used to have typewritten notices asking tnein to bring back books after a certain time. We never send these out now, as books are returned &o quickly."

The verb "to strafe" has been officially admitted to the English language. Here is the certificate, from the forthcoming portion of Murray's "Oxford Dictionary," Vol. IX.: _ "Strafe (straf), v. slang. JTrom the Ger. phrase Gott strafe England, 'God punish England,' a common salutation in Germanv in 1914 and the following years.] Trans. Used (originally by British soldiors in the war against Germany') in various senses suggested by its origin: To punish; to do damage to ; to attack fiercely; to heap imprecations on; filso absol. Also Strafe sb., a fierce assault."