LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 263, 31 July 1920, Page 11

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Old and New-Game's Bnd Books, "G.F.8." (Brooklyn) 'writes as follows: . Dear. "Liber." - Sour , interesting .-■Bote on auction piquet (Juiy 3), with ils.passing reference to the modern preferenco for "auction" in preference to' tho eim'plo forms of whist and piquot;" se£'me ruminating. What is deficient in. the •'original,.forms' of those games? Two hundred years liavo ooeii needed to'focus their weaknesses, if tboro are any. Do you remember genial' Charles Lamb's Irish, "that ho ■ could' play whist for ever"' and' his dictum . (expressed, by "Mrs. Battlo") that piqufct was the best gamo at the cards for two persons? 1 am old-fashioned .'•enough to agree thoroughly with "Elia"; I think that whist iieeds no emendations. . That 11 .is a hard game to play properly sui'oly is a point in its'favour; and that concentration and quietness ars necessary for it 1 should be further rooommendations. There is a craze for whirr and novelty in all things in theso times, and the rush and whirl of modern conditions do not make for admirable. results, whether at cards or at more 'important' avocations. This fact -is potont enough. Take books. Has there boon • one imaginative writing published dflring the last twenty years that still may. bo read in twenty years from: now? Tho enduring literature of our laiiguage waa written in the days 'when. rushr and whirl were unknown,* written by those

old literary-'slowcoaches who limned such' characters as Esmond .and. Colonel Nowcome, David Copperfield and Martin Chuzzlewit, to say ■ndthiug of tne 'authors of such lesser yet likeable characters, as Gerard and Margaret, Lydia, Folio Farine, and even, the unlovely yet fascinating Captain Silver. Literature to-day-is hobbled with. the. bands of "get-rich-quickly" ideas; so are tho drama and poetry. The same thing obtains, in card-playing also; the constant query is: "Shall wo make.the next a-double-headerP" As for tho modern novel, it must bo admitted that nowadays the'dripping-of blood is less plenti, ful than aforetime, -but this advantage is counter-balanced'by the of the plots and the superabundance of suggesliveness. Tho modern y poet "hunts perpetuation of the species" far [too insistently) with the added-detri-[nient of conveying, his ideas in joltingmeasures that are alleged to be an, improvement on tho smooth-flowing, verses of the earlier writers, ' To be truthim, they too were erotic; but their metres ■ were seemly even if their verses were not. The drama is dead; done to : death, by the "screenings" (how I detest that modern pervorsion of; a good enough word) of moving pictures of good-looking incompetents arrayed in ten thousanddolia'r dresses to enact blood and cordite melodrama of an intrinsic value of twopence. All these idiosyncrasies will die, some'day; and tho, game of simple whist will be above board to see the undeploied event. Whist is nlready too old to be iiv 'danger of permanent supercession. There lis an interesting' and whimsical reference to whist in- one of the letters of Horace Walpole to Horace Mann, beating date of 1741, I' think—so it is clear that the game is, no bantling. In those far-away days young Horaco found its vogue so. great that he.had to play whifit or nothing. •

"The Bookman." Tho June number of "The Bookman" (Hodder. and Stoughton) is chiefly remarkable for an excellent article on Thomas Hardy by Harold Child.. The novelist reached his eightieth year on June 2, nearly'half a century having passed since he published his first novel, "Desperaite. Eemedies," and nearly a quarter of a century since the appearance of his'last full-length story, "The Well Beloved." Professor George faintsbury has a good article Massinger, or rather on a recent monograph on the Elizabethan - dramatist,' and apropos to tho recently-celebralted fiftieth anniversary of Dickens's death, Mr. W. Kent discusses "BozV lovo for London and the changes which have taken place in the groat city since the days of "Tho Pickwick Papers." George Sampson contributes a penetrating study of John Galsworthy's new plays, and- there aro ftthcr. good features. The illustrations are, as usual,-numerous and interesting.

Fleet Street in-Fiction, , W. L. George, the English novelist, lias written a story based upon his experiences of Fleet Street. For the benefit of. young journalists rind others who btb interested in how things are done in tho world of' English nowspaperdom,' I append a brief list (by no means exhaustive) of novels dealing 'with what Philip Gibus called "The Street of Advouture." In addition to Mr. Gibbs's booh, of tho just-quoted title, there is tho.late Alphonso Courlander's "Mightier than the Sword," Barrio's "When a Man's Single," C. M. Montague's "A Hind Let Loose" (journalism in Manchester), Kcble Howard's "Merry Andrew," IT.' M.'. Lucy's "Gideon Fley'c'e," and David Christie Murray's ■■ "The Way. of , the World.": There :was a big. personal fend between Lucy and Murray.. The former, in "Gideon. Fleyce," dretf a very unflattering portrait-of Murray, and tho lattor made the "retort discourteous" by a cruel caricature-of Lucy as the Mr. Amelia of his novel, "The Way of tho World." Of Fleet Street." in earlier Victorian days, thero are 'Bonis amusing glimpses of Thackeray's "Pendennis." Just recently Mr. 'Lloyd's "Prestige" gave what is said to be 1 a very corrrict inside-track view of Fleet Street to-day and its. inky mysteries.

.Men Who Remember Dickens. . Thoro aro not many men now living who. knew Charles Dickens, but apropos to the fiftieth anniversary of the great novelist's death,' a Mr. F. Edrupit, formerly'night porter at ( the Fleet Street gate . which leads to the Inner Temple, has recalled the fact that as a boy ho worked for Dickens at tho "All the' Year Round" offices. Another survival of. the Dickens period is a Mr. Wardlo, wno remembers a conversation he once hadVith "Boz" in tho dining-room of tho Old Cheshire Cheese in Wine Office Court, off Fleet Street. Dickens told him' that' ho /?ot tho name for Mr. Wardle, tho lolly old farmer alt Dinglcy ' Dell, in "Pickwick," from the name of a painter and decorator, painted over, the door of a.house in Pimlico, a grandfather, so-it appears, of the gentleman' referred to abova.

Some First. Edition Values. At tho Bale of tho William'T. .Wallace library at tho Anderson Galleries,, New, York, in May last,-a specially choice oopv of VThe Pickwick Papers," in the original parts, with all the correct "collector's points," the advertisements, the' "V" for "W" on tho signboard of the. Marquis of Granby, the suppressed plates by Buse, and fo forth, brought the lecord price of 2700 dollars (.£700). The same.copy, known to collectors as the "Lapham setT was sold in 1908 for 1450 dollars (.£290). A fine' copy of • the first edition of "The Vicar of Wakefield" brought. i 166; and a first edition of Edward Fitzgerald's .version of Omax Khayyam'p "Rubaiyat" (in tho original wrappers), And yet poor old "Fitz" writes in his "Letters" of ' Quaritch "remaindering' his Omar "in tlio fburpenny box!" A first edition of Thackeray s "The Newcomes," in two volumes, went at a Tecent book auction salo in Wellington for about a sovereign, and a friend wonders "Liber" "did not note this great bargain."""But though the price was low, it was not a price. To be. of any collector's value, first editions of Thackeray's longer hovels must be in the original parts as issued. Tho bound copies (unless bound from .the.parts, with all the original covers pTesamd) rarely bring more than a couple of pounds. At the salo of tho Lydig Library in New York recently a "first issue of tho first edition" of Thackeray's ."Vanity Fair" realised 820 dollars (JIIG4), and a first edition of "Pendennis," also in the .origin!'parts, plus an .autograph letter 1 of (Jib author, realised 190 dollars (JC3B). 3tray Leaves, ■: Henry Lawson has been granted a pension, <£5G per annum by tho Commonwealth Government. If tho most essentially Australian. poet really needed financial assistance it seems a pity that something more i than a miserable pound a week wero not given him. William M'Fee, author of thoso two fine novels "Casuals of the Sea" and "Aliens," has written an entirely now .romance, entitled "Captain Macedoiho's Daughter." Tho story wag written, for the most _ part, whilst tho author was chief engineer ou a steamer carrying munitions to Levantino ports in 1918. It turns out that Sacha Gregory, autßbr of that romarknblo novel, "Yellowleaf," is- none other than our old. friend, the author of the onco vory popular "Path" stories, tho Baroness von ilut'ten. Mr. J. L. Garvin, editor of tho London "Observer," is writing tho biography, of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain. It ft to be hoped that it will bo a onevolume affair. . Three-volume political biographies, even when the subject is a Gladstone or a Beoconsficld, are not for these busy times. ■American papers record tho death of Miss Eleanor Porter, author of the very popular "Polyanna. , Hoddor and Stoughton announce., a new volume of essays by tho Honourable Arthur J. Balfour.- In tho samo firm's

Inst list of announcements I notico Trom Silver to Steel: The Romance, of Cue Hill Proprietary," by Boy.Bridges. ■ A bookshop specially devoted to tho salo of books by Australian.authors lias been opened in Eolborn, London. It will ■bo interesting to hear how the-enter-prise fares. Probably, however, other than merely Australian books will bo on sale. "Tho Sentimental Bloke" and "Ginger. Mick" have had a good sale in tho Old Country.but of oversea,.vcrsificrs the most popular, by all accounts, with .English readers is Eobert Service, the Klondyko bank clerk poet, whoso "Songs of a Sour Dough" and "Ballads of a Cheecako" have, 1 Lear,- sold very well. -

G. Iv. Chesterton hnS been trying his hand at some political definitions. "In practice," he says; "a Conservative means a man who cannot remehibor any-. tlitng I>eToro yesterday, aiid a'Progressive ■means a man who cannot imagine anything beyond to-morrow." Marcel Proust has won the Prix Goncourt for 1920; for his work "A I'Ombro dos Jeuues Filles en Fleurs." A London weekly confounds, I see, Proust.Villi Marcel Prevost, a very, different 'writer, whoso "Demies Vicrges"' created such a mild sensation some years ago. Apropos to literary prizes, the- "Mercuro do Prance" says that the prize for "tho worst book of. the year" wns created inFrance in December, 1919. Tho jury, consisting of a number of French 'vritors, cast a unanimous vcte for the. Peace Treaty! .'■''■. Pierre Loti seems to have turned, his 'attention away of late.frdm those exotic stfbjects which so long exorcit'ed his pen. His latest book, "Prime Jeunesse" is an autobiographical account of his early life, forming a sequel to fliat delightful work,- "La Roman d'un Enfant.'.' English translations of both these books are-pro-mised, ■ ■•

A first novel by Miss Jane Mandw, daughter of Miv Mandor, M.P. for Marsden. is getting some very good reviews in English and American papers. \ Tho title is "The Story .of a New Zealand River." First published tin America, it .has now 'been re-issued in London, hut' so far no copies appear to have reached the New Zealand book shops. ' An American litterateur, Mr. van Wvclc Brooks, contends in the Chicago "Dial" that Mark Twain was n • humor-. ist purely through force of circumstances,, and that , "at bottom Ms characteristics were those of a Hamlet or Dean Swift."' It. is a pity that Mark cannot, from thn spirit world), comment upon this_ remarkable theory; Perhaps- his old friend, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle', -will arrango for this being done. • • 1 .