_Palindromes_, by G. R. CLARKE, is a series of cruelly ingenious verbal
cranks--"cranks" seems to be the word, since they are neither quips,
quirks, puns, nor jests, consisting of sentences so arranged that, read
backwards or forwards, they are precisely the same. An example of this
is, "_Was it a rat I saw?_" The illustrations are comically amateurish,
and amateurishly comic, but one of the best, "_Selim smiles_," is rather
in the early Thackerayan style of pictorial art. The palindromical
amusement will probably develop itself, as the acrostic family has done,
and we shall soon be reading in "Answers to Correspondents" that their
puzzle is referred to in "The Palindromical Editor." The little book is
published, as any experienced joker in Scotland might have guessed, by
Messrs. BRYCE AND SONS, Glasgow, and if you buy it, "Bang goes a
shilling."
Approbation from _Mr. Punch_ is praise indeed, and where he has given
his favourable opinion of any book, it immediately attracts the public
attention, and goes to any number of editions. So has it chanced with
_Frith's Recollections_, which has now reached its third edition; and
once _Mr. Punch_ spoke well of the Jubilee Edition of _Pickwick_, which
has now been re-issued with some of the original sketches by "BUSS,"--to
many it will be a surprise that _Mr. Pickwick_ ever took a buss, except
under the mistletoe at Dingley Dell,--which are fairly clever, though
one of them, the cricketing scene, might have been omitted without
damaging the artistic character of the republication. There is a sketch
by JOHN LEECH, illustrating the moment in the _Bagman's Story_ when the
old arm-chair wakes up _Tom Smart_, and assumes the form and features of
a gouty, but wickedly sly, old gentleman, which alone is "worth all the
money." It is a real Christmas picture; and indeed a small volume of
_Tales from Pickwick_, illustrated by fanciful and humorous artists,
would make a capital Christmas Book of the good old Dickensian sort.
_Mr. Punch_ has given the hint: _fiat!_
By the way, I see an advertisement of a book quoting opinions of the
Press as to its being "the funniest book of the present reign." Heavens!
It is only necessary to mention _Pickwick_, which is replete with such
real fun, as makes the reader roar with laughter irrepressible, besides
being full of genuine humour. BARON DE BOOK WORMS.
* * * * *
"I believe," said Mrs. R.'S nephew, meditatively, "that Paris will have
a 'Directory' again." "Why not?" retorted Mrs. RAM. "Why shouldn't Paris
have a Directory? London has--_Kelly's Directory_--and most useful it
is!"
* * * * *