BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 274, 13 August 1921, Page 11

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

(By

Liber.)

a man a pipe he can smoke, Qine a nion ® 'bool he can read; 4t»d hit home it bright with a calm delight Though the room be poor indeed. —Jamas Thomson.

BOOKS OF THE DAY A Pleasant Travel Book. “My Term Off," by Norman G. Brett James (London, Allen and Unwin), is an exceptionally pleasant travel-book. The author, a schoolmaster, spends a "term off," otherwise an extended vacation, in making a tour through Italy, Sicily, and Greece, thence proceeding to Constant inople and Palestine, and ending up with a bidet sojourn in Egypt. Tho author is not one of those latter-day travellers who uro ever in a hurry, and who Hit from one town, to another, remaining only long enough to obtain the vaguest impressions of the sights they see and the people they meet. Mr. Brett James is essentially a leisurely traveller, and the result of his tour is a very charming book written in a very leisurely style, and calculated to afford very pleasant entertainment, plus some very agreeably conveyed instruction to that large class ' of readers who prefer to “browse” in a book rather than to gobble it up at one sitting. Mr. James is, to my mind, at his best in describing the smaller cities of northern Italy, cities so rich in historical interest as Verona, Ferrara, Siena, Bologne, and Ravenna. Not that he neglects such larger, and to the average tourist, better-known cities as Florence, Venice, and Naples, but he seems more at home in such towns as Pisa. Perugia, or Assissi than the larger centres. There is a very pleasant description of Constantinople, and Palestine and Egypt are the subjects of wellwritten and interesting chapters. Mr. James pays special attention to matters artistic, and his descriptions of the great treasure houses of art in various Italian cities are excellent. There is a welcome absence of the pedantic in the author’s account of Lis wanderings in the picturesque'old cities of Lombardy) indeed, in places his comments and reflections are charged with an almost amusing naivete, as for instance when he writes "'words really fail to describe Venice,” and informs us that "the entire lack of horse traffic is quite a now sensation." When ho quotes poetry, it is generally Tonhysoji or Browning, and quite naturally he draws upon Rogers’s “Italy." A book lover at home, he corries hie hobby with him. At Florence he found it very suitable to read that little-known but brilliant, novel, Mr Voynich’s "Gadfly,” and .of course he dipped afresh into "Romelu.” Also, like Browning, he went nosing round the Florentine bookstalls, and rejoices over a 1574 Guicciardini’s History in vellum which he got for a modest half-crown. For six other vellum-bound books he paid ’ a penny each. One of these was n copy of “Virtues and Vices,” extracted from the Bible, and published in. 1544, in which some previous owner had inserted a tiny little contemporary drawing of the Mater Dolorosa. "So 1 think,” he adds, 1 "I got value for my money"! At Cairo one Sunday ho went to the English church, "and sat just behind Lord Kitchener." Thus dates the tour which-seems to have been made a couple of .years before the war. Mr. James is a very pleasant travelling companion. Ho is never pretentious in parading his learning, and he. has many interesting anecdotes to tell. Influenza, by which he was attacked at Florence, compulsorily shortened his stay-in Borne, but he con- . soles himself with the story of three Americans who went to call on Pio Nono at the Vatican. “Haw long are you giving to Rome?” said the Holy Father to the first. "Six months.” was the reply. "Oh. you will see something.” The second could only spare three months. "Still, yon will see a- good deni ” "Alas.” eaid the- third, “t have only a fortnight to spend in Home.” "Bo comforted. >ny son.” said the Pope. “You will see everything." Those New Zealanders who may be contemplating a trip through Italy—if such lucky folk there are in these hard times—would do well to possess themselves of Mr. Brett-James’s book. I myself have found an "armchair journey” in the author’s, company so entertaining that it had to be spread over three evenings. i

"if I May.” . All those who rend their "Punch” with some regularity know full well how witty a writer is "A.A.M." and how often under the clonk of his wit lien much whplesome wisdom. Tn a little volume, of that pleasant format in which eo many of Mr. E. V. Lucas’s books have appeared, and modestly entitled "If I May” (Methuen and Co.), Mr. A. A. Milno presents a collection of essays contributed to "The Sphere,” "The Outlook,” and other journals. Mr. Milne a light and airy touch. He is pot bookish as is "E.V.L.,” nor does he wander away to distant fields as does Mr. Hilaire Belloc; nor is he, again, a slave to ingenious paradox, as is Mr. Chesterton.. He gossips lightly, very lightly, on a great variety of quite ordinary things, rarely leaving that ■ "pleasant lana of Cockaigne," which ho knows so well. He is as amusingly allusive, as agreeably suggestive, .as witty and wise when he writes on so apparently an unpromising subject as High Finance as when discussing that perplexing problem, the “selection of Christmas gifts." He can discourse as amusingly on Lord Mayors as on geographical research, ; on children’s plays as on tho famous London resort, the Burlingtofc Arcade, one hour in which a certain British Ambassador to China was wont to declare, so the story used to go, was worth a "century in Cathay.” "On Going out to Dinner” would be, one might think, an overworked subject for tho social essayist, 1 but in Mr. Milne's hands it is made vastly amusing. Tho difficulties of "making conversation with a dull neighbour at a dinner party” were never more wittily described. And, at times, Mr, Milno can give us much bettor things than merely agreeable wit and pleasain humour. His is tho eyo which observes and what it. observes his pen can translate for us into a very graceful prose. "An Ordnance Map,” for instance, is th* title of a little essay in which the tranquil beauty of rural England, its restful fascination for the jaded city dweller, is suggested with quite compelling charm. A few pages further on aud our essavist is philosophising very shrewdly on "State Lotteries,” and yet another few pogos and ho is giving us a delightful, humorous account of a confirmed bachelor’s impressions of a wedding party. There are some forty or so brief essays in. the hook, and not one of them that, is not eminently readable. A capital "dipping book,” just the thing for the bidside. i'arfeJl With the "Whites.”

Mr. C. E. Bechhofer, author of "In Denikin’s Russia, and the Caucasus, 19191920" (William Collins, Sons and Co., per ■Whitcombs and Tombs), is a British freelance journalist, whoso knowledge of the Russian language and previous experience of the country and the people specially fitted him to act an a newspaper correspondent with General Denikin's ftirces, often known aa the Volunteer or White Army. Ilia journeying took him through Southern Russia, the Crimea, Armenia, and Georgia. It was unavoidable, he telle us in his preface, that his book should bn to a large extent » study of demoralisation, both in “the demoralisation of a great nation by suffering, and the demoralisation of some umnlF peoples—Georgia, for instance—by tnjoratrqs et(l» „’ < ”l‘ lnrn «l desertion of Armenia by tho Allied

Governments of Western Europe and of America" is, ho adds, "in a different category.” The bock, however, is not all gloom, for the author’s pictures of the dreadful sufferings of Denikin's men when in retreat before the much more powerful "Reds," is succeeded by an account of certain incidents of Caucasian life during the past three years, which belong, he says, "as much to the world of opera-boufi’o as to history.’ lhe author is insistent upon the colossal ignorance of the lower-class Russian. At Novorossisk, for instance, he talked to a cab-driver.

"•Well.’ said I. 'and what is goinc to happen in the future?’ “ ‘We cannot tell. God alone can know. . . . But I think it will be worse yet. fou’re an Englishman, aren’t you? Yes? Well, then, send us the Tsar back! In the old days no one touched what was yours, and you didn't! touch anyone else’s. but now . 0 God! (How many times have I heard these identical words repeated by Russian workmen and peasants in the last few months!) 'Nicholas is in England; t.he people know it. Until we have him back, we shall not have order.' "He would not believe that the Isar was dead. He shook his head sagely when I assured him of it. ‘Oh. no,’ he said, 'you have him safe in England! The people know.' ” Of the horrors which have accompanied and resulted from Bolshevik rule, Mr. Bechhofer cites many gruesome instances. The naval officers captured, during the early days of the Red Terror at Sebastopol, were, seme of them, ruthlessly massacred on the spot.

“Less fortunate officers were dragged by the mob to the old naval officers’ mess at Havnstopal; there their heads were held on the top of a crar.d piano and the heavy lid slammed down upon them. This the mob called ‘cracking nuts.'” Like other writers, notably General Dunsterville, the author dwells upon the cowardice ofc the Georgian commanders.. On one occasion two young English subalterns, mere youths, and half-a-dozen Punjabi troopers, actually "confined to barracks” a Georgian “army of liberation” which arrived at Batum, then occupied by a small British force. Mr. Bechhofer’s book is a strange mixture of tragedy and comedy, with the flormer predominating. It affords an enlightening and historically valuable account of the anti-Bolshevik movement, how it was initiated, and how it was conducted, and why it failed. Carpenter's “Civilisation.” Over thirty years ago Edward Carpenter wrote a book entitled “Civilisation, its Cause and Care.” Tllie startling uovdty of the theories set forth _ were the subject of much discussion in circ.es where sociological problems were debated, and the book went into a number ot editions. Mr. Carpenter, who must now be a very old man, has revised and! enlarged his book, the new edition being published by Messrs. George Allen and Unwin. The author’s attack upon modern science, and his championship oi so-called barbarism, as against what he evidently considers the strain of socalled civilisation brought upon him and his book a storm of adverse criticism. In the preface to the naw edition, ha claims that many of his conclusions, as set forth in the book when first issued, have been verified. I doubt, however, whether scientists will agree with the author that "with regard to heat and light astronomical, biological, and geological "laws and so forth," modern, science is on. the verge of confessing itself bankrupt, but not- wishing to do that, it keeps a discreet silence. In the newly added chapter, "The New Morality" the author puts forward the theory that what the civilised world has hitherto accepted as a moral code is a uelusion arid a fraud. When, however, the author comes to expound tnat new morality which is to bring about the world’s social and moral solvation, he is quite painfully vague. Apparently, bis panacea is a curious admixture of Sociiu4 ism for the nation as a. whole, and complete liberty-some might call it license for the individual. Mr. Carpenter s personal and. very peculiar views upon sexual questions, which have, gained for'others of his books a certain unenviable notoriety, are happily -not very prominent in the present volume. A New Zealand Friend of Keats.

"A New Zealand correspondent” of the London Sunday paner. “The Observer.” contributes to that journal (in its issue of June 19) a very interesting note on a great friend of the poet John Keats, Charles Armitage Brown, who died about a year after he had arrived in New Zealand by the Oriental. His son, who had 1 preceded 'him in tho Amelia Thompson, became a member of the House of Representatives, and the family took a P ro “ minent part in the early government of the Taranaki province. The grave o. tho older Brown was recently discovered at Maoriland Hill. New Plymouth. Charles Brown was a bosom friend of Keats, tba pair tramping through the Lake Country and! sharing rooms at Hampstead. Brown wrote nn excellent book on Shakespeare’s sonnets, and was also responsible for the libretto of an opera. “Narensky,” which was produced at Drury Lane. Tho "Observer b’ New Zealand correspondent says:—"A granddaughter of the elder Brown is teaching in one of our schools, and her brother is in a bank. The present family retains a few evidences of the Keats friendship, but most of them wore sent homo to be added to English collections." The Kelmscott Press Books. The famous Kelmscott Press books, printed by William Morris, s'how signs of greatly increased favour with collectors. It is curious to notice how the value of a set of those beautiful books has | varied during the last few years. The aggregate publication price (for copies printed on paper—some were done on vellum) was X 144. At Morris s deuih i n 1896. n set sold for X 155. Three years later a set sold for nearly -£501). In the earlier years of the new century values, however, began to decline until a set was sold for u little over JtMO. Dining the last decade, however, the price ’has steadily increased until now it is approximately JIIOOD to JU2OO-the Chaucer folio alone’selling last February for over .£2OO. There is u full set of these beautiful volumes in the Turnbull Library, and the Parliament Library .jxissossch a set of “The Earthly Paradise,” presented to the library by the latq Mr. Ah'*’ Turnbull some years ago. A certain M ellingtonian, who bought n copy of the Kelmscott edition of Sir Thomas More’s “Utopia” at the eale of the late Dr. Fyffe’d library, for tho inodes’ sum, of 265., got a bargain, for in ft recent Engs lish catalogue I see this particular edition is priced *£l6. One of the Coleridgst.

The reminiscences of Arthur Coleridge, a nephew of the great Samuel Taylor of that ilk, have been edited by FullerMaitland, tho well-known musical critic, and published by Constable. Arthur Coleridge, for many years Clerk of Assizes on the Midland Circuit, was a great musical enthusiast, tho revival of Bach in England being mainly due io him. He was a personal friend of Jonuv Lind, Mario, Aubcr, and Rossini. Of the latter. Coleridgo used Io tell u good story. Rossini was, it appears, a sportsman of the Winkle type, and onco appeared at a dinner with a hare, proudly announcing: "Voila! Jai eu tin grand combat avec celui’la." ("There ho is—l have had a big struggle with that fellow!”) Coleridge was also a friend of Thackeray and Tennyson. Tho latter, in an intimate talk, one day stated that “Break, Break, Break" was composed

one summer day wandering about the lanes, and that "Crossing tho Bar took him only live mintues to write.

To Correspondents. "G M.," Dannevirke—Tho New Zealand price of Mr. Guthrie-Smith’s book is 555. It is a very large and hand-somely-produced Look, hence no doubt the high price. You could order through any firm advertising in The Dominion. ’The English publishers are Blackwoods. “H.C.,” Wanganui—No spmeo for origfaial verso. Send to Builetin" or "Triad." “F.M., Wellington—Sorry, but I cannot undertake to read and advise on MSS. From “Liber.’s” Scrap Book. By all ingenious Men, this is contest The way to write best, is to BeaA th ® Friends. Books, a cheerful Heart, a Conscience clear. . .. . Are the most choice Companions we fina [f some Lines want such Wit as you could Wish. Know we’re not hound to sauce jour every Dish. . , r , „ —“Cocker s Morals (1675). Stray Leaves. Tagore—he of the formidable "front name”—has written a Hindu romance, “Tho ‘Wreck," which is said to bo a far better story than, hifl first novel, “The Home and the World." It is the story of a modern Hindu, the conflict in his mind of the old and the new, and tho difficulty of adjusting his personal emotions to the old conventions. Sir Sidney Colvin is writing his reminiscences, which will bo published this autumn. They should make very interesting reading, for Colvin was the lifelong friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, whoso letters lie edited, and many other famous writers. He was for some years Keeper of the Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. SOME RECENT FICTION "Kimono.” “Kimono," bv John Paris (Win. Col-’ lins, Sons, and’Co.; per Whitcombe and Tombs), is a first novel, which is full of fine -promise. It is a story of pre-sent-day Japan, and throws much in teres ting, if at times very ugly, light on certain features of Japanese life which are completely alien to Western social sympathies and Western ideas of morality. A young Englishman of good family marries, in London, a pretty and very wealthy Japanese girl, who has lived in Europe since her infancy, and has never revisited the land of her birth. Despite certain mysterious warnings from the Japanese ambassador and an ex-British diplomat, who - has resided at Tokio, Geoffrey Brandem takes his wife to Japan, and after a time makes ths crushing discovery that his wifes immense fortune is, unknown to her, as to himself, derived from that organised prostitution which the Japanese so curiously accept as a matter of tact. He announces his intention of not touching or allowing his wife to touch a penny of her tainted wealth. The gentle Asaka, equally shocked, acquiesces, but her Japanese relatives, anxious to get control of the wealth, entrap her husband . into a supposed intrigue_with a Eurasian woman and poor Asaka, deeming Geoffrey guilty, .renounces her European husband, who departs to take part in the war, and Asaka becomes a member of a Japanese household. The poor little woman, who is quite a European in her habits and moral outlook, is abominably persecuted’ by her relatives, and by the family lawyer, who wants to marry her ’lhe lawyer, however, conies to a tragic end, and the story concludes with Asaka’s return to Europe and the prospect of remarriage with the ever-devoted Geoffrey. The moral problems involved in the pi.*it are handled firmly, but with some delicacy. and the book is exceptionally well written. Tho author evidently knows Japan and the Japanese at first hand, and his description of certain sinister traits in the Oriental character are unpleasantly convincing. "The Indignant Spinsters."

In “The Indignant Spinsters," by Winifred Boggs (Herbert Jenkins, Ltd.), the author of "The Sale of Lady Daventry,” gives hor readers a very amusing storj The .three Misses Smith, Marjorie, Dolly, and Kit, are brought up by a miserly old uncle in a very strait-laced and ultra-economical environment, they are beginning to fear they will never have a chance of marrying. When quite a child, the youngest girl, Kit refers to her sisters as “the indignant (indigent) spinsters." Uncle Tobias, however, dies very suddenly, and the three girls find themselves possessed of .rtISOOO, which,, after much discussion, they decide to spend in getting married. They take a country mansion and masquerade as the three Miss Wanstends, who hove returned to inherit their father’s estate. Much to their surprise, however, a long-lost Wanstead turns up. He is promptly claimed as "Uncle John," ana then tho fun begins. It get* quite fast and furious ns the nnanciiii resources of the girls are gradually exhausted, and they are confronted with the awful problem ar, to whether they will last out until the banns aro published It would be unfair to the author to tell in dotail how the problem is solved, but suffice it to say that Miss Boggs has provided some delightful comedy. She has a specially happy gift for writing bright and witty dialogue. A very read, able and amusing story. Wild West Fiction.

“Man to Man," by Jackson Gregory (Now York, C. • Scribner’s Sons, per Whitcombe and Tombs)> full-iiav-oured romance of life on a Colorado cattie ranch. The hero, young Steve- Packard, returns home after seven years wandering in the South Seas, and takes possession of his dead father’s ranch, which is heavily mortgaged to his grandfather, an obstinate old man, whose local nickname is "Hell Fire Packard.” The old man cannot brook contradiction or rivals, and a struggle of wits and wills takes place between grandfather and grandson, the position being complicated by the villainous intrigues of a foreman whom Steve discharges for dishonesty, and also by Steve’s love for a young ladv between whose fathor and the older Packard there is an old feud. There is a perfect orgy of revolver play at cortain stages, but there‘is some pretty sentiment end much sprightly humour wherewith to temper tho highly-coloured Heiisntioimlism of a story which is a more than usually good example of this class of fiction. “The Quirt.”

"The Quirt," by B. M. Bower (Little, Brown and Co.; - per Whitcombe and Tombs), is a story of life in a cattleranching district in -Idaho, the plot turning upon the attempts of a group of would-be monopolists, the Sawtooth Cattle Company, to squeeze out the small settlers by whose holdings the x oig rancher is surrounded. A leading part in the story is played by a girl who, brought up in tho cities, has been a player, in tho "inovieß," but who, when sho joins her father, old Ben Hunter, on tho Quirt Ranch, finds herself acting In a real, not a merely "filmed" tragedy. Lorraine Hunter is a viery charming heroine, and Ik as plucky and resourcefill as she is personally attractive. The villain of the piece, Al Woodriff, a tool of the unscrupulous Senator Warfield, head of tho Sawtooth Company, is another well-drawn and convincing character. The story is rich in dramatio incidents, and may bo commended to tho notice of lovers of tho romantio and sensational. '