"LIBER'S" NOTE BOOK.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1693, 8 March 1913, Page 9

"LIBER'S" NOTE BOOK.

Mr. "Punch" and His Rivals.

The rumour is mentioned in more than one .English, paper, of recent date that before niany: months are Over "Punch" is .to-have .a strong'competitor. Tlie'ven-. turo is said to have'a very wealthy newspaper syndicate- at 'its 'back—the HarmsWorths, I wonder:?—and a. band of' exceptionally talented mirth-producers,- ar-tistic-awl literary, is -being engaged. The rumour: may-be' true, but Mr: "Punch" has'seen-'so many would-be rjvals appear and disappear—generally very quickly— .that lie can afford to maintain the genial, smile. with- which "Dicky" Doyle presented him when he drew the famous cover of "The London Charivari." That design, I may mention, by the. way, is not*, the ono which adorned the first number of "Punch" (July 17, 1841). It was not adopted until January, 1849, but since then it-has never been changed, and today is familiar enough to hosts of people who live in odd corners of the world whither;' sixty' years 'ago, a. printed, sheet ot any kind never found its way. In the early, years of-its career "Punch" was challenged, by quite a number ; of competitors, "The Man in the Moon," "The luppet Show," and others. Later OI J> ■H 1 t-' le 'seventies, there was "Pun " edited by. Tom Hood, the younger, and Judy," in which-"Ally Slopsr" first made ius appearance, and which was as strongly Conservative as "Punch" Was, then at least, L'bera l . n was to "Fun" that W. b. Gilbert contributed his - delightfully funny "Bab Ballads," in which lay the germs of some of tlio quaintest ideas exploited in his operas, and . for Fun, also, J. F. Sullivan- drew tho c e excruciatingly funny pictures, "The British Workman: By One-Who Does Not ~? ? v "£ , in Him." Both . "Fnn" and Judy have Joiig since disappeared; so, too, havo "Moonshine," in which there was somo very clever fooling, and "Ariel," °t wife]., if. i.remember aright, Mr. Zanewill - tyris- for' avtime -the. . .. "Punph";;'as..a ißritisJi Jnstitution....

• 'Tiien-'4gaiff^&^Sf;'B^^OTni&s started TLika ■ Joko," .wrhich contained some quite, brilliant . work, but which only lived a few months. "Punch", lias outlasted them all. People are apt to say, It is not .so good, as it liseil to-be," but' they'said the same thing .when "Liber" whs a boy,. and that was not yesterday, and still: the.'veteran, jester cracks his :l fancy most of us look at Punch nowadays mainly for the pictures, and the pictures are, as Mrs. Betsy Prig said of the "drinks" 011 a famous occasion, "all good. '> "Punch'' may see yet another rival appear. There is no reason why! lie should not, for after all, if Paris can support a good score or 'so comic'or allegedly comic weeklies, London can surely run a rival .to "Punch." But that the rival will ever succeed in ousting the veteran from his chair I really can't' bring myself to believe. Why, "Punch" is a veritable British institution, like the Bank of England and tliti Lord Mayor's Show—and the Income Tax.. Perish the thought' that oven The .cleverest competitor can make' the-old man's/face grow anxious-looking!- "7" | Tlie "Bombay"-Kipling. -An entirely now edition of Kipling's ■works, both prose; and v.erse, is to com"jepce publication in London next month. This is "The Bombay Edition," to be published by Macmillari's in twenty-threo royal octavo volumes (the same size as tho famous "Edinburgh Stevenson"), two to be issued every two months. The edition will consist of 1050,. copies, sold only in seii, at a guinea a Volume. Printed on handmade paper, 'in;t'hs famous Florence tvpe, designed for. the Kiccardi'Press books,"the new edition will; of course, be a triumph of typographical beauty, and the fact that the first volume of each set will bo. autographed by the-author will also be an attraction to some buyers. . All the same, I / woujd liumbly . maintain that the handiest, pleasante|t format in which Kipling's-stories can ; bo, read is that of tho pocket-sized red leather-bound volumes at ss-, published by Macmillan's. Sets of a favourijte author,"in uniform bindings, appeal to'.inany Readers, .but they do not! for me at least, possess the same personal charm ivhic-h often attaches to a "ragged regiment'" of scattered tomes, each of which, from some special circumstance connectcd with its original acquisition, possesses a certain sentimental value! I recall a certain collcction of Kiplings which includes four or five of tlio' old shilling' paper-backs (reprints of the Allahabad R-ailway series); three or four of the old original blue cloth.Macmillan's series, a'couple of the later books in plain red cloth with "an elephant stamped on tho sido; a. "Barrack Room Ballads" in the old terra cotta buckram, and a "Departmental Ditties" in ,the original Calcutta edition, with a gilt device' on tho back, showing a -bundlo of official papers secured by red tape. Each one of those books was- secured at. different places and times, and each for its :owncr has its own distinct charm of special connection. Let your wealthy book-buyer patronise these splendid new editions de luxe. For 111 c, I content myself chcprfully .. with simpler garb for my literary loves. All the same, the "Bombay." Kipling will 110 doubt be a very delightful possession. Books on the Indian Mutiny. Amongst the New YSar Honours was a knighthood for Mr. G. AV. Forrest, the of ■ Warren Ha'sting's dispatches and historian of tho Indian Mutiny. The 'list of Sir George Forrest's works on Indi'a is very lengthy, and most of them arc of a highly specialised • character, and may not appeal to the average render. Ho must not bo confounded with another writer on India, R. E. Forrest, whose novel, "Eight Days," gives what is to my mind the most vivid picture of rm ß I'"''* 111 Mutiny to bo found in fiction. Tlio book was out of print for some years, but is now procurable in Macmillan's shilling series. If you read this book and supplement it by Howard Russell's famous letters lo "The Times," "My Diary on tlie Indian Mutiny," you will get a better idea of what the Indian Mutiny really was, and especially what it meant to the English in India at that time than can be gained from dozens of fat tomes of official records and histories properly so-called. Flora Annie Steel's famous, story, "On the Price of the Waters" (Heiiiemaiin's Colonial Library), should also be noted ns giving a line account of the siege of Delhi. New Zealand Authors. I am glad to icarn from Mr. Henry Travel's that he contemplates writing ail entirely new and original work on the Chatham Islands. As to the discovery and early settlement of tho Islands, Mr.

. M'Nab and other writers have not been silent, but Mr. Travers intends to make a special lenture of the flora and natural history generally of the group. Mr. M'Nab's big book on the history of the Cook Strait .Settlements is expected next month or early in May, and, as is' well known, Dr. Newman has written an important work, soon, I hope, to bo published, dealing mainly with that evergreen but ever-interesting problem, the Whenco of the Maori? Mr. James Cowan, too, should soon have sufficient stray papel's for a companion volume to ! his excellent work, "The Maoris," and if the energies of the promoters of the Early Settlers' Association do not wilt awav, wo may look forward to a volume of interesting records of flic old days. From time to t.imo ninny interesting, articles dealing with early Kew Zealand history appear in the columns of the newspaper pies?, notably the "New Zealand Herald." .tt is a pity, I think, that these stray leaves are not gathered together, anil after a little judicious editing by somo competent hand, reprinted in volume form.. . ' ■ Swinburne on Dickens. Collectors of Dickensiana—and these, I know, are fairly numerous in New Zealand—should note the fact that Chattoond AVindus will shortly publish a book on Dickens from the pen of the late Algernon Charles Swinburne. It consists, first, .of the signed -article, "Charles Dickens," which appeared in the "Quarterly Review" of July, 1902, an article .which,.by reason of the almost frenzied enthusiasm of its writer for "Boz" and his works, excited widespread attention. Certain manuscript additions made by the poet will be included,' and the book will also contain an essay upon "Oliver Twist," written specially bv Swinburne for the "Autograph Edition 1 ' of Dickens's works, of which Mr. George D. Sproul, of Now York, is the 'publisher. Not even Mr. Chesterton or Mr. Percy Fitzgerald has been a more enthusiastic admirer of Dickens than the author of "Atlanta in Calydon," and Swinburne's eulogy 011 "Boz's" works in general and his. detailed appreciation of "Oliver Twist" should have a large sale How that they will be available to a wider public.

Mr, Pickthall's Oriental Stories, Now that we hear and rend so much of. the complexities of the Oriental, especially the Turkish and Arab character, a new and cheap edition of-Marinaduke Pickthall's fine story, "Said, the Fisherman," should find many purchasers. Those who only know the Arab cliaracter as it is unveiled, say,.in Mr. Hichens's "Garden of Allah," and the same writer's grim but powerful novel, "Bella Donna," should 'Joy out a modest shilling 011 Mr. Pickthall's book. Tho.'aiitJior lias, I notice, another story of .modern Egyptian life almost ready for publication. It is said :to be a realistic study of harem life. "Veiled Women" is the title. Pierre Loti dealt with the samo subject 111 his "Fantome d'Orient" and • "Les Desenchautees," but Loti is too much a sentimentalist, and one' mistrusts the truthiof his pictures. Pickthall, on the other hand, is Teputed to have a more intimate knowledge of the Arabic character than any other living European. Stray Leaves, A shilling edition of Chesterton's clover detective yarns,"' "The' Innocence of Father Brown,"- is published by Cassells. Ihe author, whoso possession of a keen sense of humour will, I fancy, be denied by 116 ono who lias read his books, must chuckle when lie I reads that the' work above-named is, pace the publisher's announcement, "Tlio most -popular of all Mr. Chesterton's Works."

"Where-Are You Going To . .' is ,the .title given to the English edition of .Elizabeth Robins's startling exposure of a certain peculiarly horrible phase of tlio •White Slave Trofiic." AYlien published serially ill an-American magazine, tho story, was entitled "My Little Sister." Not. a few of my renders may remember t'hosa brilliant studies in Russian Imperial history, "The R-cinance of an Empress" and ".Peter -the Great/' the work of an industrious and discriminating delver in Russian records,;. 31., Paul "\yaliszewski'; 1110 same; writer -has how completed' a study, of the ill-fated Emperor Paul of Russia. These books of M./ Waliszewski's have been translated into almost every European .language. . Robert Service, .' the young *. Canadian; ex-bank clfrrk and present author, whose "Songs of Sourdough" and "Ballads of a' Cheechako" gave such an . entertaining Kipling-like version; of life on the KIOII- - recently -spent-some woio in the Balkans, and is said to confniiplate a "war novel."

Two excellent books on South American life, "Success," by Cunninghame Graham, and "South American Sketches," by W. 11. Hudson, have recently been added to Duckworth's shilling series. Anything that Cunninghame Graham writes is well worth reading, and Hudson's pictures of tho forest life of Paraguay are unsurpassable. .7

I -. John Lane continues to issue translations of Anatole France's books. The latest is "My Friend's Book" ("Le Livre do Mon Ami"). Some of thess translations are well done; some the very reverse; and the worst of it is that no ! ranch writer loses more in translation than the witty creator of the delightful M. Bergeret. . Still, it is baiter to read Anatole France in a poor translation than' not at all.