LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 287, 28 August 1920, Page 11

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

i Some Queries. A correspondent,. J. G. M'l. (Musselburgh, Du'ncdin) propounds thre». queries, first, as to "what would constitute the

best and most important books on tho Great War"; second, "what is the best literary magazine to subscribe to"; and third, "what is a gcod history of English }■ literature"? First, ro war 'books,, tlw > spaco at "LiborV command precludes -f a full reply. Personally, I confess to c_ never wanting to see another "war book" s again. But for "keeps" I recommend Buchan's "History of tlio War" (which -* runs into about 25 volumes at 2s. Oil), R Masefield's "Gallipoli," and Francis Brett s Young's "Marching on Tonga." Of c ' course, every New Zcalander who is, as (l everyone should be, proud of tho part played by "our boys" in the war, should r make himself the possessor.of the Official ii History (one volume only lias yet been s published) together with the various s regimental and sectional histories to •- which attention has regularly been direct? 0 ed in those, columns. I also specially 8 .commend, as an all-round survey <jf tho 8 war, Professor Pollard's "Short History - of the Great War" (Methucn and Co.; ■ English prico 7s. 6d.). Query No. 2: 1 Well, opinions differ, but if he can afford 0 it, my correspondent should subscribe . to "The London' Mercury" (monthly, 2s. e | pd. English price). A useful nml cheaper - monthly is.tho old-established "Book-- .- man" (English prico Is. a month), but , tho "Times Weekly Literary Supple--1 ment" (Gd. a week) is tho best guide J to current English literature. Of A meri- , can periodicals the New York "Book- - man" (about-2s. a month) is recommend--1 ed; also the New York "Times Literary i Supplement" (weekly). Query No. 3: Aur drew Lang's "History of English Litera--3 hire" (Blnckwood, 10s. New Zealand price) - is. excellent. My. correspondent might - also 'buy a set of Chambers's "Cyclopaedia. of. English Literature." Local bcok- . sellers will tell him tho New Zealand r price. . Juvenile Novelists. c Thoso who erioyed that amusing pro- - duclion, "The Young Visiters," wiTcten I Daisy Ashford when she was a t cnild of twelve, will be interested to know that three or four more stories b.v Miss\ Ashford and her two sisters have been unearthed and published under the [ title, "Daisy Ashford: Her Book." The i naivete of the style of the juvenile novelist is amusingly exemplified in the , new. stories. ■ For instance, in "Tho . Hangman's Daughter," by Daisy Ashford, occurs the followinii sentence: "At* , ter all (says th : e hangman father to his ; daughter Jane) so few people aro hung hereabouts that nearly all my time will be devoted to iq.y darling daughter. Helen, and ho kissed the rosy face of the child." Then there'is the "Governes" in Angela Ashford's story of that name. Mrs. Hose asks her "how. much she is-used to-getting a year." •'Eitiwr 5 or 14 pounds, according to what I have to do.. I don't do much for 5." These juvenile efforts of tho Ashford. girls, which are solemnly vouched for as being entirely original juvenile efforts, : aro amusing enough- in their way—Mr. Salteena in "The Young Visiters" must surely live—but for my'part give me ciir Walter Scott's dear little girl, friend, Marjorie Fleming, One of Marjorie's let. ters is worth a frood half-dozen of tho Ashford stories.. It would pny some enterprising publisher to issue a cheap edition of the Marjorie Fleming book, issued now a good many years ago, and, I fancy, out Of print, like so many other good' things in literature. Some Unfinished Novels. It turns out that "The Old.Madhouse," the last chapter of w'ricli was completed by the novelist's widow, was not the last of the. late William De Morgan's novels. Yet another story, "The Old Man's. Youth," was left incomplete; and is to be published- -very shortly. Thirty-four of the forty-eight chapters are from De Morgan's own hand, the gaps being filled in by his widow. It would be interesting to have a list of novels left unfinished by their writers. Thackeray's "Denis Duval," Dickens's, "Mystery oT Edwin Droon," arid Eobert Louis Stevenson's "St. Ives" are examples which I specially recall, but no doubt there aro mnny others. CJuiller Couch was allotted the task of cornnleting"St. Ives," and made, on the whole, a very good ]oh of it.. As for "Edwin Drood," there are about half-a-dozen so-called completions, including one—<a very, scarce "Dickons item" this—by "A Spirit Hand." So far as I can remember no one ever ventured upon a "completion" in the case of Thackeray's "Denis Duval." H- G. Wells on Cato. When once it is complete—it is being published 'in parts—Mr. Wells's history of the world, which he modestly entitles "Outlines of History," should nfford some very entertaining reading. The treatment is delightfully unconventional, nnd the author topples down quite a number of ancient celebrities from their pedestals. Cato, tho "Censor of ■ Pome," is described as being possessed by the "ruling passion of hatred for any hu- ; man happiness but his own . . . "ho : posed as a champion .of Religion and public morality, and under this convenient clonk carried on a war against everything that was young, gracious, and pleasant" ... "he was so fortunate ns to bo made Censor, which gave him great power over the private lives of public people. Ho was thus able to ruin public opponents through private scandals. He expelled Manlius from tlio Senate for giving his wife a kiss in the^ daytime in the sight of their daughter" ... "he wrote in Latin upon agriculture and the ancient nnd lost vir- ! tues of. Home. Prom these writings much light is thrown upon his qualities. One of his maxims was that when a slave was not sleeping lie should be working. Another was that old oxen nnd slaves should be sold off." Cato may have been,, publicly, the personification of all tlio virtues, but, according 1 to Mr. Wells, he would appear to liavn been aEoman Tnrtuffe or Pecksniff, a decidedly unpleasant person. Stray Leaves. "There .was a time when' the world influenced books. Nqw books' influenco the world."—From the Pensees of Joseph Joubert (175M82-1). There is an excellent article in the "Times Literary Supplement" (which now., alas, costs sixpence) on the Dis-. raeli' novels. The writer of the article, alluding , to Disraeli's literary extravagances—"profusion" is tho essayist's term—shrewdly remarks that Disraeli's "bright 'beings turn into sugar effigies, perching under tlio canopy of a. wedding cake." "Dizzy's" strongest point as a novelist was his recognition of tho romance of youth, as in "the high pur-' poses of Coningsby," "the loneliness of a brooding questioner like Tancred, tho sensitive malleability of Lothair." The final verdiot is worth quoting: "His novels lack tho final flrasp of the great illuminators. But tl<ey aro full of tho suggestions of his own genius, vivid, spacious and intriguing, and it is enough to give them the individuality with which they live.". Yet another attempt is to bo made to f solve the Drood mystery. Mr. Percy T. Carden, in "The Murdej- of Edwin ' Drood," places his narrative in tho mouth of John Jasper. . Mr. Carden claims to have based his conclusions mainly on Dickons's M.S. and memoranda. Tho book is to have nn introduction by Mr. B. M. Mat/,, so long tho 1 editor of "The Dickonsian," and an , admitted authority on "TSoz" and his books. ; When that queer but clever little book, "A London Venture," was pub- . lishod a few months ago, it was rumoured that tho author, "Michael Arlon," was none other than Mr. Grorgo Mooro. The famous Irish novolist, following Mark Twain's precedent (apropos of Mark's alleged decease), declared tho . rumour "grosaly exaggerated." Mr. Ar* lon, it now appears, is a real personage, who6o portrait appears in tho July "Bookman." Ho has written a new book, to! bo : published shortly, ontitied "Tho Komantip Lady." .

Tho July "Bookman" (Dodder and Stoughton) contnins well-written articlt-s on two popular novelists, Mr. Jeffrey Farnol on<l Mrs. Oliver Onions (Berta Ruck). Mr. S. M Ellis contributes an appreciative csstly on tlw lato Eliuda Broughton and her work, Major Butterworth tells the story of Coleridge's "Marino Sonnet," orginally written on a picco of seaweed, and there is. the usual interesting array of reviews of new Ibooks, portraits of authors, ctc. To the August issue of the "Bookman" Mr. Compton Mackenzie is •to contribute a spccial article oil the fiction and poetry of that distinguished latter-day writer, Mr. Francis Brett Young. English readers of Joseph 'Hergesheimor's now full-length i-ovel, "Linda Condon,"aro decidedly eulogistic. It is said to bo a stronger story than either "Tho Three Black Pennys" or "Javallead," by which this front-rank American novelist was first introduced to tlio English novel-reading public. "0. Henry is certainly a, modern enough writer in spirit, and yet a papyrus nearly 3000 years old recently discovered in Egypt tells a story that has the plot of 'ltoads of Destiny'"si says Mr. Eupert Hughes in the "New York Evening Post. Tho last portion of the Hutlv library has been sold by auction in London. Tlio sale of this famous collection of books extended over ten years or so, th© total amount realised being close, ui .£'IOO,TOO, which, it is estimated, is nearly onethird above its original cost. Hutli was a banker who .carried out lus bibliophily on strict business lines. He made it a'rulo never to buy nn inipqrfect copy. The library'was si>ecially rich m hue (■("lions of tho Elizabethan and seventeenth century writers. Several volumes from the Hutli collection are to bo found in tho TurnbuH Library, which also includes a set of the Hutli library catalogues themselves vciy noble tomes.