BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 66, 10 December 1921, Page 11

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

(By

Liber.)

Give a man a pipe he can tmoke, Give a man a book he can read; 'And hit home u bright with a calm delight Though the room be poor indeed. —James Thomson

BOOKS OF THE DAY '■"Maori and Pakaha." A fairly comprehensive and yet comBact general history of New Zealand has long been needed, and students, journalists, and all who are interested in t'he history of the Dominion should welcome the appearance of "Maori and 1 Pakeha: A History of New Zealand," by A. W. fihrimpton, M.A., and Alan E. Mulgan, which has just been published by Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs. In the past , etudents of New Zealand history have had to tako information piecemeal from such works as Gisborne’s "New Zealand Rulers and Statesmen"; W. P. Beeves’s "The Ixing White Cloud”; th© late Mr. Saunders'S two volumes; Dr. Scholefield’s , "New Zealand in Evolution,” and various books dealing with certain separate phases or sectional interests. Messrs. Shrimpton and Mulgan now provide a "short. popular, and reasonably up-to-date” history of New Zealand; * work which the authors hope will stimulate readers to make a deeper study. The history hae been jointly planned and revised, Mr. Shrimpton being responsible for the period up to 1853 and Mr. Mulgan for ,fho ‘ period from 1853 to 1912. The record stops nominally at 1912, with the accession of the Reform Ministry, but a ehort chapter on New Zealand’s participation in the Great War has wisely been added. The history is divided into four sections: "Old New Zealand” (1G42-1840); ."The Crown Colony Period” (1840-1853); "The Provincial Government Period” (1853-1875), and "The Period of General Government” (from 187 G onward). The muthdrs are to be congratulated upon the way in which they have discharged their onerous task. In writing what is, in the '/later chapters, very largely a political chronicle; they have displayed scrupulous care to bo as just in their comments as they uto accurate in their facts. The commercial and industrial development of the Dominion receives attention. the narrative coveting every possible phase of tho Dominion’s political, economic, and social progress. The book, •which is well printed and neatly bound, contains a number of well-chosen illustrations, tho frontispiece being a portrait of Sir George Gfiey. Thero is also a very useful bibliography and an exhaustive (Index. lii a future issue we hope to review this most interesting and valuable work in greater detail. Issued at the very moderate price cf 7s. Gd., "Maori and Pakeha” is a very Welcome and important contribution to historical literature on .New Zealand. Flowers and Ferns,

A publication which will greatly delight lovers of flowers and gardening is "Pictures- in n New Zealand Garden” (Melbourne, Alexander McCubbfn, per Whitcombo and Tombs). The author, Mrs. (Dr.) Alex. Dougins, is an Oamaru lady, but her book possesses a special interest for Wellingtonlans, in that it contains a series of beautifully' reproduced coloured illustrations from waterdrawings by Mrs. John Mclndoe formerly well known here ns Miss Mabel Hirl. Mrs. Douglas disclaims any pretension to her book being one of "instructions. It reflects rather "tho pleasure derived by a garden-lover from one small garden Mrs, Douglas is. I may say, very modest in her description of her garden ns "small ” To most Wellingtonians it. will seem, by these beautiful pictures, to b® quite extensive. The author accompanies each picture by. a written littleN?ssay in praise of the flowers shown in the illustrations. Here is a little tribute to the charm of a bed of "forget-me-not”: loVe S old”fa o^ioned< pots, emblems of love and reminders of Youthful romances, are first favourites in cur affections. A generous sowing of dissit! flora or royal blue myosotiß. should result S a line drift of blue. Choose a nlaco in yoiir garden for the forget-me-?ots with mA cure. They are only P imide little flowers, easily come by. but 'do not for that reason dab then in anywhere: find a place whore they can bo seen from a distance. That vista of blue, just as though a bit of summer sky had lightly dropped, will delight you. and, may be, remind you of little gardens away in the past-aueer-shaped plots, filled with bright flowers and delectable salads, where mustard and cress grew rank and tall, through forget-me-nots and marigolds. There is much delicate fancy in some of these little pen sketches of flowers. Thus:

Madame Hydrangea nas a varied wardrobe, and the choice of each sown is made with care. In midaummer,. as befits the season, the shades are bright and gay. The autumn petticoats are In soft, subdued tones. In th* last phase, when there is a touch of frost in tho air, all her gowns .are green.

Mrs. Mclndoe’s water-colour illustrations are very charming—the group of Hugh Dickson roses facing page 21 Is a specially delightful picture—and there are many well-printed half-tone illustrations from photographs. A copy of Mrs. Douglas's book would form tin ideal Christmas present for a lady flower lover. The colour printing and the get np generally reflect great credit upon the Melbourne publishers. Messrs. Whitcombo and’ Tombs have issued a second edition, revised and enlarged, of their excellent publication, ••Gardening in Flew Zealand. Written by Mr. David Tannock, superintendent of gardens and reserves, Dunedin, it may be regarded as an exhaustive and authoritative work on the subject dealt with, whilst the number and beauty of Its illustrations make it a most charming picture book. Mr. Tannock has had tho assistance of other exports : Mr. Lowe, head gardener to Sir R. Heaton Rhodes; Mr. J. T. Sinclair, and -Mr. K. Nicoll. Mr. Lowe discusses "Hardy Bulbs and Garden Boes"; Air. Sinclair writes on "Vegetable and Bruit Growing" ; and Air. Nicoll on “Rose Growing for Exhibition." A specially commendable feature of tho book is that the instructions given are properly differentiated for South and North Island gardeners. The frontispiece; a reproduction of a new pacony, Lady of tho West, is d lino example of effective colour printing. It is good to notice that the demand for Mrs. H. B. Debbie’s fine work on "Now Zealand Ferns," originally pubrrslicd in IMG by Messrs, Whitcombs and Tombs, has been so great as to necessitate the issue of a second edition. Advantage has been taken of the now issue to revise anil greatly enlarge a work which must now stand as the standard authority on the subject dealt with, tho detailed' descriptions being so full and tho illustrations so numerous, and in many cases of such great beauty. Tho fern leaf was, so tbe author reminds us. the badge of those vigorous young battalions who went forth from tho Dominion to fight for tho safety and honour of tho. Empire, bearing that national emblem with honour round tho world.

There can have been no hesitation in choosing the fern as the national plant; It is Questionable, if ferns formed co large a proportion of the vegetation in any country as they did in New Zealand before the advent of the white man. Even now there are thousands upon thousands of acres monopolised hy tho bracken; groves upon groves of tree-ferns In the sequestered glodcs of our forests, on river banks, and hillsides; mile upon mile ot roads and gullies innumerable bordered with the palm-like fronds of Lomaria, millions of tree trunks decked and festooned from root to summit with the most be.autiful forms imaginable; square miles of tho moist Westland forests carpeted with the translucent cups of the kidney fern. It la tho same story from one end of the Dominion to the other.* . . .

Mrs. Dobbie’s beautiful book must be a source of unending interest and delight for lovers and collectors of fetus. Apart from its actual botanical interest the wealth and beauty of its illustrations render it a most desirable possession. LIBER’S NOTEBOOK Stray Leaves. Mr. B. M. Matz, for many years editor of the "Dickensian’’ and manager for Chapman and Hall, who publish the copyright editions of "Boz,” has joined Mr. Cecil Palmer in the latter’s publishing business. Mr. Matz is now, I hear, engaged on an important book dealing with the. inns and taverns mentioned in Dickens's novels.

In Lord Rosebery’s recently-published "Miscellanies,” he alludes to Gladstone’s book-collecting hobby. A favourite hunting-ground of the G.O.M. was Westell's book shop in Tottenham Court Road and later in New Oxford' Street. The story goes that on one occasion the G.O.M, went into Westell’s, looked at a whole shelf of volumes, and calmly said, "You may send me the l lot.” He was a great buyer of books on Homer and Dante. Like many other book collectors ha was an insatiable reader of second-hand catalogues,- and it is related that ho used to read them, under cover of some portentously big official document, when some long-winded speaker was occupying the timo of the House.

There is, it would seem, a limit to the silliness of people who pay extravagant prices for collected editions. “For instance, take an instance”: there is the Mellstock edition of Thomas Hardy. For a time it was "up” to X5O, even 4155. But a London dealer’s catalogue, received last week, now prices it at J!4O. As ft matter of fact, the "Wessex” edition at 7s. Gd. a volume is just ns good as to typography, but the binding is less florid.

Conan Doyle has onco again resurrected .Sherlock Holmes in "Tho Strand.” According to "John o' London’s Weekly,” Lloyd George is one of Sir Arthur’s regular readers. Bismarck —and Sir Julius Vogel—used to enthuse over Gaboriau’s "detectives.” And, after all, Sherlock Holmes is a mere amateur when compared with M. Lecocq.

From tho "Times": "Wo thought that' lines were straight and Enolid time. God said. Let Einstein be,’ and all s askew." Says "A Woman of No Importance in her 'latest book, "Recollections and Reflections”:

"I have heard many people wonder where ‘Dizzy’ got his money from 1 happen to know where a good deni or it camo from. There was a good old Yorkshire squire who financed a. number or people His name was Montague.. was Souire of Wetherby. One nice little sum he gave Disraeli omonn.ed to £5O C 99 Then old Lady Sykes of Norfolk came in a. good second with handsome sums, and ho used to beg small sums frem h Arnold Bennett’s novels in translations of course, are sajd to be increasingly popular With Spanish readers. E. 1. Benson and H. G. Wells are also very P MwNw Zealanders visiHng London go to the so-called "Old Curiosity Shop in Portugal Street, which claims to be the identical old shop of Dickens's story, but was long ago publicly discredited as such by the novelist’s only surviving son. Few, however). find -their (way to a dingy old house in Johnson Street, n squalid thoroughfare in Somers Town, where "Boz” lived when attending Wol-lin-Hon House Academy in tho HamnrteZd Road, which was described by him in "Our School,” m "Household Words, and again, ..as-Salem House m D.ovid Copperfield." The Somers Town liow Kas long borne a tablet, placed by ths London County Council, chronicling the novelist's association therewith. It Has now, I read, been turned into a children’s library. Anatole France, nominally a democrat, is evidently not a whole-souled acceptor of the doctrine that the truth is only to bo found in the "many mouthed. in “Monsieur Bergeret in Paris, an English translation of which has just been published, he ironically observes: A stupidity repeated by thirty-six millions o mouths does not cease to be stupid. London "Bookman” has celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. "Liber" was one of the first New Zealand subscribers, and is still one of the "faithful: _ Sir William Robertson Nicoll, who is still the editor, was seventy the other day Ho has done fine work for the cause of good literature, encouraging many young writers—he virtually "discovered' Barnie—and helping them on to fame. SOME RECENT FICTION “Joanna Godden." Discriminating novel readers, those who can appreciate a fine literary artistry in their fiction, speedily recognised in Sheila Kaye-Smith a writer of quite exceptional talent. Those who enjoyed "Sussex Gorse” and Green Apple Harvest" should not be disappointed in Miss Kaye-Smith’s new story, 'Joanna Godden” (Cassell and Co., per Wlutcomhe and Tombs, Ltd.). The background is once again rural Sussex, and onco again the novelist exhibits that special ability for strong and effective character-drawing which was such a prominent feature of her earlier ■work. The heroine may. in some degree, remind readers of the book of more than one character in Thomas Hardy’s novels, but Miss Kavo-Smith’s general attitude towards life is not that of the famous Wessex (novelist. Her men and women work out their own destiny—there is no Hardy-like insistence upon the part played by the Fates. Joann'a, a robust country woman, inherits a fine property, and decides to farm her own land without masculine expert assistance. Local opinion scoffs at the very idea of such a thing, nnd strongly favours an early marriage for her. “She’s a mare thats never been, praapcrly broken in, and she wants a strong man to do it,” says one of the bucolic critics of life as they see It across the beer-pots of the Woolpack. But Joanna continues to be a. "right maisterful wench.” She makes mistakes in sh eop-breed iug, she blunders in not a. few ways, but she persists, and in the and makes a. success of Little Ansidore Farm. Her worst troubles como to her as a woman, for she carries her mania for "managing" info her own and other folks’ "affaires do cocur.” Some o£ her proteges turn out badly, with others she is more successful. It is hard upon so naturally warm-hearted and well-mean-ing a woman that, in tho long run, she should fall a victim to a commonplace little Cockney seducer, in whom she deceives herself into believing she sees a shadow of an old and much-worthier lover. But even in her hour of trouble she shows a bravo front to the world, refusing to marry tho author of ber misfortune because she accounts him to be unworthy of bripging up their illegitimate boy. She decides to leave Little Ansdore, a,nd “run another and smaller farm in foreign parts—by Chichester or Southampton—just a. little one to keep me busy.” We leave her a. woman of forty “on the threshold of an entirely new life—her lover, her sister, her farm, her home, her good nnnie, nil lost.” But. "the past and tho future -till were "hers.” It is a fine story Miss Kaye-Smith has given, us, full of human interest, containing many sharply-etched sketches of

rural life, nnd some very picturesque local colour, a strong, compelling study of an original and fascinating character. Shorter Notices. The veteran novelist, Mr. G. B. Burgin, has already no fewer than sixtytwo stories to his credit, and hero, in "The Man From Turkey” (Hutchinson and Co., per Whitcombe and Tombs), is his sixty-third. The scene is mainly laid in Turkey, the hero, I’anmore, lining an-English mining speculator, who has to fight an unscrupulous German syndicate, which corruptly secures the aid of a rascally Turkish official in the carrying out of its attempted game of grab. A secondary, but almost equally important, figure, is the speculator’s secretary, some of whose adventures in London when he and his chief leave Turkey are of a, very amusing character. Slight in plot, but vivaciously told and very readable. • “Flappers and Philosophers’* (Sctribners, per Wliitcombe and Tombs) is the title of a collection of eight separate complete stories by a clever young American writer, E. Scott Fitzgerald, ( whose novel, “This Side of Paradise,” has enjoyed a big sale On both ‘bides of the Atlantic. Tho stories vary a good deal in subject, a dramatic element being pre-eminent in some of them, and tho spirit of light comedy permeating others. There is a strong suggestion of the De Maupassant influence in "The Cut-glass Bowl," and “The Four Fists” is a little masterpiece in the 0. Henry genre. There is not a. dull page in the book, which is hereby warmly commended to all who enjoy the short story at its best.