JOSEPH HERGESHEIMER
THE LAY ANTHONY. A Romance. 1919 [first published elsewhere 1914]. 12mo,
cloth; 316 pages; $2.00.
MOUNTAIN BLOOD. A Novel. 1919 [first published elsewhere 1915]; 12mo,
cloth; 368 pages; $2.25.
THE THREE BLACK PENNYS. A Novel. 1917. 12mo, cloth; 416 pages; $2.25.
GOLD AND IRON. 1918. Contents: Wild Oranges / Tubal Cain / The Dark
Fleece. 12mo, cloth; 332 pages; $2.00.
JAVA HEAD. A Novel. 1919. 12mo, cloth; 225 pages; $2.00.
[One hundred numbered copies on special paper, specially bound and
autographed by the author were also sold.]
THE HAPPY END. 1919. Contents: Lonely Valleys / The Egyptian Chariot /
The Flower of Spain / Tol’able David / Bread / Rosemary Roselle / The
Thrush in the Hedge. 12mo, cloth; 315 pages; $2.00.
[Fifty numbered copies on special paper, specially bound and autographed
by the author were also sold.]
LINDA CONDON. A Novel. 1919. 12mo, cloth; 304 pages; $2.00.
[Fifty numbered copies on special paper, specially bound and autographed
by the author were also sold.]
CHARLES F. HIGHAM
SCIENTIFIC DISTRIBUTION. Introduction by James Howard Kehler. 1918.
12mo, cloth; 195 pages; $2.00.
LOOKING FORWARD: Mass Education Through Publicity. 1920. 12mo, cloth;
205 pages; $2.00.
ARTHUR HOPKINS
HOW’S YOUR SECOND ACT. Introduction by George Jean Nathan, 1919. [First
published elsewhere 1918.] 12mo, boards; 65 pages; $1.00.
LOUIS HOW
NURSERY RHYMES OF NEW YORK CITY. 1919. 16mo, boards; 71 pages; $1.00.
KATHLEEN HOWARD
CONFESSIONS OF AN OPERA SINGER. 1918. 8vo, cloth; 273 pages,
illustrated; [out of print].
E. W. HOWE
VENTURES IN COMMON SENSE. 1919. Introduction by H. L. Mencken; [number 2
in the Free Lance Books]; 12mo, half cloth; 273 pages; $1.75.
STEPHEN HUDSON
RICHARD KURT. A Novel. 1920. 12mo, cloth; 341 pages; $2.25.
W. H. HUDSON
GREEN MANSIONS: A Romance of the Tropical Forest. With an Introduction
by John Galsworthy. 1916. 12mo, cloth; 368 pages; $2.50.
BIRDS AND MAN. 1916. 8vo, cloth; 309 pages, frontispiece; $3.50.
TALES OF THE PAMPAS. 1917. Contents: El Ombú / Story of a Piebald Horse
/ Pelino Viera’s Confession / Niño Diablo / Marta Riquelme / Tecla and
the Little Men / Appendix to El Ombú. 12mo, cloth; 261 pages; $1.50.
A LITTLE BOY LOST. 1918. Illustrated by A. D. M’Cormick. 8vo, cloth; 222
pages; $2.00.
ALBERT M. HYAMSON
PALESTINE: The Rebirth of an Ancient Nation. 1917. 8vo, cloth; 317
pages, illustrated; $2.50.
VICENTE BLASCO IBAÑEZ
THE CABIN. A Novel. Translated by Francis Haffkine Snow and Beatrice M.
Mekota. Introduction by John Garrett Underhill. 1917. 12mo, cloth; 310
pages; $2.00.
EDGAR JEPSON
THE LOUDWATER MYSTERY. 1920. 12mo, cloth; 285 pages; $2.00.
ORRICK JOHNS
ASPHALT: and Other Poems. 1917. 8vo, boards; 114 pages; $1.25.
GODMUNDUR KAMBAN
HADDA PADDA. A Play. Translated by Sadie Louise Peller. Foreword by
Georg Brandes. 1917. 12mo, boards; 80 pages; [out of print].
SHEILA KAYE-SMITH
SUSSEX GORSE: The Story of a Fight. 1916. 12mo, cloth; 468 pages; $2.50.
R. G. KIRK
ZANOZA. 1918. 16mo, boards; 112 pages, illustrated; [out of print].
ALEXANDER KORNILOV
MODERN RUSSIAN HISTORY. Translated by A. S. Kaun. 1916. Two volumes 8vo,
cloth. Volume I 323 pages with maps. Volume II 384 pages with maps;
$7.50 the set. (Sold only in sets.)
ALFRED KREYMBORG
MUSHROOMS: A Book of Free Forms. 1916. [First published elsewhere 1916.]
12mo, boards; 156 pages; [out of print].
OTHERS: An Anthology of the New Verse. 1916. 12mo, boards; 160 pages;
[out of print].
OTHERS: An Anthology of the New Verse. 1917. 12mo, boards; 120 pages;
[out of print].
P. KROPOTKIN
IDEALS AND REALITIES IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE. 1915. 8vo, cloth; 315 pages;
$2.50.
MUTUAL AID: A Factor in Evolution. 1916. 12mo, cloth; 251 pages; $1.50.
A. J. L.
TALES AND TAGS. Illustrated by C. H. L. 1918. 8vo, half cloth; 115
pages; $1.25.
M. Y. LERMONTOV
A HERO OF OUR TIME. A Novel. Translated by J. H. Wisdom and Marr Murray.
1916. 12mo, cloth; 344 pages; [out of print].
WYNDHAM LEWIS
TARR. A Novel. 1918. 12mo, cloth; 379 pages; $2.00.
THE EARL LOREBURN
HOW THE WAR CAME. 1920. 8vo, cloth; 348 pages with map; $3.00.
WILLIAM LOVETT
LIFE AND STRUGGLES OF WILLIAM LOVETT in his Pursuit of Bread, Knowledge
and Freedom. With some Short Account of the Different Associations he
belonged To and of the Opinions He Entertained. Introduction by R. H.
Tawney, B. A. 1920. Two Volumes: 16mo, cloth; 277 and 209 pages; $3.00
the set. (Sold only in sets.)
J. W. MACKAIL
RUSSIA’S GIFT TO THE WORLD. 1915. 8vo, cloth; 48 pages; [out of print].
PERCY MACKAYE
RIP VAN WINKLE: A Folk Opera in Three Acts. 1919. 8vo, cloth; 97 pages,
illustrated; $1.50.
WASHINGTON: The Man who Made Us. 1918. 12mo, half cloth; 329 pages,
illustrated; $2.00.
THOMAS MANN
ROYAL HIGHNESS: A Novel of German Court Life. Translated by A. Cecil
Curtis. 1916. 12mo, cloth; 372 pages; [out of print].
WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM
THE LAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN: Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia.
1920. 8vo, half cloth; 238 pages, frontispiece; $2.50.
GUY DE MAUPASSANT
YVETTE and ten Other Stories. Translated by Mrs. John Galsworthy.
Introduction by Joseph Conrad. 1915. 12mo, cloth; 259 pages; $1.75.
JOHN McCLURE
AIRS AND BALLADS. 1913. 12mo, boards; 84 pages; $1.00.
THE STAGS HORNBOOK. 1918. 16mo, cloth; 446 pages; $2.00.
H. L. MENCKEN
A BOOK OF PREFACES. (Opus 13). 1917. Contents: Joseph Conrad / Theodore
Dreiser / James Huneker / Puritanism as a Literary Force. 12mo, cloth;
238 pages; $2.00.
PREJUDICES: First Series. 1919. Partial Contents: The Late Mr. Wells /
Arnold Bennett / The Dean / Professor Veblen / The New Poetry Movement /
The Heir of Mark Twain / Hermann Sudermann / George Ade / The Butte
Bashkirtseff / 12mo, cloth; 254 pages; $2.00.
IN DEFENSE OF WOMEN. 1919 [First published elsewhere 1918]. 12mo, cloth;
218 pages; [Temporarily out of print. To be reissued in revised form in
1921].
A BOOK OF BURLESQUES. 1920 [First published elsewhere 1916]. Partial
Contents: Death: a Philosophical Discussion / From the Program of a
Concert / The Wedding: A Stage Direction / The Visionary / The Artist: a
Drama Without Words. 12mo, cloth; 237 pages; $2.00.
THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE. 1919. 8vo, cloth; 384 pages; [Temporarily out of
print. To be reissued in revised form in 1921].
A BOOK OF CALUMNY. 1919. [First published elsewhere as “Damn,” 1918.]
12mo, cloth; 130 pages; [out of print].
H. L. MENCKEN [AND GEORGE JEAN NATHAN]
HELIOGABALUS: A Buffoonery in Three Acts. 1920. 8vo, cloth; 183 pages;
[out of print].
[Fifty numbered copies on special paper specially bound and autographed
by the authors were also sold.]
A. A. MILNE
FIRST PLAYS. 1920. Contents: Wurzel-Flummery / The Lucky One / The Boy
Comes Home / Belinda / The Red Feathers. 12mo, cloth; 234 pages; $2.00.
FRED MITCHELL
FRED MITCHELL’S WAR STORY. 1917. 12mo, half cloth; 240 pages,
illustrated; $1.50.
PHILIP MOELLER
MADAME SAND. With a foreword by Mrs. Fiske and an introduction by Arthur
Hopkins. 1917. 12mo, boards; 167 pages; $1.75.
FIVE SOMEWHAT HISTORICAL PLAYS. 1918. Contents: Helena’s Husband / The
Little Supper / Sisters of Susannah / The Roadhouse in Arden / Pokey.
12mo, Toyogami boards; 157 pages; $1.50.
MOLIERE: A Romantic Play. 1919. 12mo, French boards; 239 pages; $1.50.
SOPHIE: A Comedy. Prologue by Carl Van Vechten. 1919. 12mo, Toyogami
boards; 264 pages; $1.75.
JOHN MORSE
IN THE RUSSIAN RANKS. 1916. 12mo, cloth; 344 pages; [out of print].
EDWIN MUIR
WE MODERNS: Enigmas and Guesses. 1920. Introduction by H. L. Mencken;
[number 4 in the Freelance Books]. 12mo, half cloth; 244 pages; $1.75.
JOHN MURRAY IV
JOHN MURRAY III. 1919. 12mo, cloth; 115 pages, illustrated; $1.50.
JOHN MIDDLETON MURRY
THE EVOLUTION OF AN INTELLECTUAL. 1920. Partial Contents: The Honesty of
Russia / The Dream of Dostoevsky / Mr. Sassoon’s War Verses / Realism /
The Gulf Between / The Sorrows of Satan / A Hero of our Time / The
Problem of Intelligentsia / The Defeat of Imagination / The Republic of
the Spirit. 8vo, cloth; 237 pages; $3.00.
GEORGE JEAN NATHAN
MR. GEORGE JEAN NATHAN PRESENTS. 1917. Partial Contents: The Hawkshavian
Drama / The American Musical Show / Slapsticks and Rosemary / The Case
for Bad Manners / The Vaudeville / America’s Most Intellectual Actress /
The Case of Mr. Winthrop Ames. 12mo, cloth; 310 pages; $2.00.
THE POPULAR THEATRE. 1918. Partial Contents: The Popular Theatre / Its
Plays / Its Broadway and its Playwrights / Its Audiences / Its Music
Shows / Its Comedians / Its Motion Pictures / Its Actors / Its Typical
Season. 12mo, cloth; 236 pages; $2.00.
COMEDIANS ALL. A Book of Contradictory Criticism. 1919. 12mo, cloth; 269
pages; $2.00.
A BOOK WITHOUT A TITLE. 1919. [First published elsewhere 1918]. 12mo,
boards; 85 pages; $1.00.
GEORGE JEAN NATHAN [AND H. L. MENCKEN]
THE AMERICAN CREDO: A Contribution Toward the Interpretation of the
National Mind. 1920. 12mo, cloth; 191 pages; $1.75.
FRIEDRICH NAUMANN
CENTRAL EUROPE. Translated by Cristabel M. Meredith. 1917. 8vo, cloth;
362 pages; $3.00.
F. W. NIETZSCHE
THE ANTICHRIST. 1920. Translation and Introduction by H. L. Mencken;
[number 3 in the Free Lance Books]. 12mo, half cloth; 182 pages; $1.75.
ALFRED OLLIVANT
THE BROWN MARE. 1916. 12mo, cloth; 145 pages.
[Now published by Doubleday, Page & Co.]
JAMES OPPENHEIM
THE BOOK OF SELF. 1917. 12mo, boards; 273 pages; $2.00.
ROBERT OWEN
THE LIFE OF ROBERT OWEN by Himself. 1920. Introduction by M. Beer. 16mo,
cloth; 368 pages; $1.50.
ROLAND PERTWEE
OUR WONDERFUL SELVES. A Novel. 1919. 12mo, cloth; 349 pages; $2.00.
SAMUEL PETERSON
DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNMENT. 1919. 12mo, cloth; 304 pages; $2.00.
EZRA POUND
LUSTRA of Ezra Pound, with Earlier Poems. 1917. 12mo, boards; 202 pages;
$1.50.
PAVANNES AND DIVISIONS, 1918. Partial Contents: Jodindranath Mawhwor’s
Occupation / Aux Etuves de Wiesbaden / L’Homme Moyen Sensuel / Stark
Realism / Twelve Dialogues of Fontenelle / Remy de Gourmont / Arnold
Dolmetsch / Troubadours. 8vo, cloth; 272 pages, frontispiece; $2.50.
EZRA POUND [AND ERNEST FENOLLOSA]
“NOH” or Accomplishment: A Study of the Classical Stage of Japan. 1916.
8vo, cloth; 276 pages, frontispiece; $3.00.
THE ABBÉ PRÉVOST
MANON LESCAUT. Translated from the French with an Introduction by Burton
Roscoe. 1919. 8vo, cloth; 345 pages; $3.50.
STANISLAW PRZYBYSZEWSKI
HOMO SAPIENS: A Novel in three parts. Translated by Thomas Seltzer.
1915. 12mo, cloth; 400 pages; [out of print].
E. R. PUNSHON
THE SOLITARY HOUSE. 1918. 12mo, boards; 301 pages; $1.90.
EDWARD C. RANDALL
THE DEAD HAVE NEVER DIED. 1918. 12mo, cloth; 262 pages; $2.00.
M. E. RAVAGE
THE JEW PAYS: A Narrative of the Consequences of the War to the Jews of
Eastern Europe, and of the Manner in which Americans have attempted to
meet them. 1919. 12mo, cloth; 161 pages, illustrated; $1.50.
DOROTHY RICHARDSON
POINTED ROOFS. [Pilgrimage I]. Introduction by May Sinclair. 1917. 12mo,
cloth; 303 pages; $2.00.
BACKWATER. [Pilgrimage II] 1917. 12mo, cloth; 293 pages; $2.00.
HONEYCOMB. [Pilgrimage III] 1918. 12mo, cloth; 286 pages; $2.00.
THE TUNNEL. [Pilgrimage IV] 1919. 12mo, cloth; 342 pages; $2.50.
INTERIM. [Pilgrimage V] 1920. 12mo, cloth; 284 pages; $2.00.
JOHN RUSSELL
THE RED MARK and Other Stories. 1919. Contents: The Red Mark / Doubloon
Gold / The Wicks of Macassar / The Practicing of Christopher / The
Passion-Vine / The Adversary / The Slanted Beam / The Lost God /
Meaning—Chase Yourself / Jetsam / East of Eastward / The Fourth Man /
The Price of the Head / Amok. 12mo, cloth; 397 pages; $2.00.
CHARLES SAROLEA
GREAT RUSSIA: Her Promise and Achievement. 1916. 12mo, cloth; 264 pages;
[out of print].
BORIS SAVINKOV [“ROPSHIN”]
WHAT NEVER HAPPENED: A Novel of the Revolution. Translated by Thomas
Seltzer. 1917. 12mo, cloth; 448 pages; $2.00.
THE PALE HORSE. Translated by Z. Vengerova. 1912. 12mo, cloth; 196
pages; [out of print.]
HERBERT SCHOLFIELD
SONNETS OF HERBERT SCHOLFIELD. 1919. 12mo, half cloth; 151 pages; $1.50.
MARJORIE ALLEN SEIFFERT
A WOMAN OF THIRTY. 1919. 12mo, half cloth; 135 pages. $1.50.
DON CAMERON SHAFER
BARENT CREIGHTON: A Romance. 1920. 12mo, cloth; 335 pages. $2.00.
EDWARD SHANKS
THE QUEEN OF CHINA and Other Poems. 1920. 8vo, half cloth; 207 pages;
$2.00.
ELIZABETH SIMPSON
PRINCE MELODY IN MUSIC LAND. Illustrated by Mary Virginia Martin. 1917.
8vo, cloth; 183 pages; $1.50.
OSBERT SITWELL
ARGONAUT AND JUGGERNAUT. 1920. 12mo, half cloth; 136 pages; $1.50.
FEODOR SOLOGUB
THE LITTLE DEMON. A Novel. Translated by John Cournos and Richard
Aldington. 1916. 12mo, cloth; 365 pages; [out of print].
THE OLD HOUSE. 1916. Stories. Translated by John Cournos. 1916. 12mo,
cloth; 309 pages; [out of print].
VLADIMIR SOLOVIEV
WAR, PROGRESS, AND THE END OF HISTORY including a Short Story of the
Anti-Christ; Translated by Alexander Bakshy. 1915. 8vo, cloth; 262
pages; [out of print].
THOMAS SPENCE [WILLIAM OGILVIE AND THOMAS PAINE]
THE PIONEERS OF LAND REFORM. 1920. Contents: “The Nationalization of the
Land,” by Thomas Spence / “The Right of Property in Land,” by William
Ogilvie / “Agrarian Justice,” by Thomas Paine. With an Introduction by
M. Beer. 16mo, cloth; 219 pages; $1.50.
J. C. SQUIRE
POEMS: First Series. 1919. 8vo, boards; 115 pages; $1.50.
FRANCIS ELLINGTON LEUPP [“TATTLER”]
NATIONAL MINIATURES. 1918. 12mo, cloth; 296 pages; [out of print].
LUDWIG THOMA
MORAL. A Play. Translated by Charles Recht. 1916. 12mo, boards; 100
pages; [out of print].
EUNICE TIETJENS
BODY AND RAIMENT. Poems. 1919. 12mo, boards; 83 pages; $1.25.
PROFILES FROM CHINA: Sketches in Free Verse of People and Things Seen in
the Interior. 1919. [First published elsewhere 1917]. 12mo, boards; 77
pages; $1.25.
LEO TOLSTOI
THE JOURNAL OF LEO TOLSTOI. [Translated by Rose Strunsky.] 1917. 12mo,
cloth; 447 pages; $2.50.
H. M. TOMLINSON
OLD JUNK. Foreword by S. K. Ratcliffe. 1920. 8vo, cloth; 208 pages;
$2.00.
JOHN TREVENA
MOYLE CHURCH TOWN. 1915. 12mo, cloth; 388 pages; [out of print].
A DRAKE, BY GEORGE! 1916. 12mo, cloth; 397 pages; [out of print].
W. B. TRITES
BRIAN BANKER’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 1917. 8vo, cloth; 300 pages; [out of
print].
GEORGE KIBBE TURNER
HAGAR’S HOARD. A Novel. 1920. 12mo, cloth; 311 pages; $2.25.
ROSS TYRELL
THE PATHWAY OF ADVENTURE. 1920. 12mo, cloth; 312 pages; $2.00.
CARL VAN VECHTEN
MUSIC AND BAD MANNERS. 1916. Contents: Music and Bad Manners / Music for
the Movies / Spain and Music / Shall we Realize Wagner’s Ideals / The
Bridge Burners / A New Principle in Music / Leo Ornstein. 12mo, boards;
243 pages; $2.00.
INTERPRETERS AND INTERPRETATIONS. 1917. 12mo, cloth; 368 pages; [out of
print].
THE MERRY-GO-ROUND. 1918. Partial Contents: In Defense of Bad Taste /
Music and Super-music / The New Art of the Singer / Music and Cooking /
The Authoritative Work on American Music / De Senectute Cantorum. 12mo,
boards; 334 pages; $2.00.
THE MUSIC OF SPAIN. 1918. Contents: Spain and Music / _The Land of Joy_
/ From George Borrow to Mary Garden / Notes. 12mo, boards; illustrated;
223 pages; $1.50.
IN THE GARRET. 1920. Partial Contents: Variations of a Theme by Havelock
Ellis / The Folk Songs of Iowa / Isaac Albeniz / The Holy Jumpers / Sir
Arthur Sullivan / On the Rewriting of Masterpieces / Oscar Hammerstein:
An Epitaph / In the Theatres of the Purlieus. 12mo, boards; 347 pages;
$2.00.
INTERPRETERS. 1920. Contents: Fremstad / Farrar / Mary Garden /
Chaliapine / Mazarin / Yvette Guilbert / Nijinsky / Epilogue. 12mo,
boards; 202 pages, illustrated; $2.00.
VIKENTY VERESSAYEV
THE MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN. Translated by Simeon Linden. Introduction
and notes by Henry Pleasants, Jr. M. D. 1916. 12mo, cloth; 390 pages;
[out of print].
A. HYATT VERRILL
A BOOK OF CAMPING. 1917. 12mo, cloth; illustrated; 195 pages. [Now
published by Barse and Hopkins.]
P. VINAGRADOFF
THE RUSSIAN PROBLEM. 1914. [First published elsewhere 1915.] 8vo, cloth;
52 pages; [out of print].
DE VOGÜE
THE RUSSIAN NOVEL. Translated by Colonel H. A. Sawyer. 1915. [First
published elsewhere 1915.] 8vo, cloth; 348 pages, illustrated; [out of
print].
WILLIAM ENGLISH WALLING
RUSSIA’S MESSAGE: The People against the Czar. 1917. 8vo, cloth; 245
pages, illustrated; [out of print].
ARTHUR WALEY
170 CHINESE POEMS. 1919. 8vo, half cloth; 243 pages; $2.50.
MORE TRANSLATIONS FROM THE CHINESE. 1919. 8vo, half cloth; 144 pages;
$2.00.
GRAHAM WALLAS
THE LIFE OF FRANCIS PLACE (1771–1854). 1919. 8vo, cloth; 431 pages,
frontispiece; $3.50.
E. L. GRANT WATSON
WHERE BONDS ARE LOOSED. A Novel. 1917. 12mo, boards; 304 pages; $2.00.
THE MAINLAND. A Novel. 1917. 12mo, cloth; 311 pages; $2.00.
DELIVERANCE. A Novel. 1920. 12mo, cloth; 322 pages; $2.25.
ALDEN W. WELCH
WOLVES. A Novel. 12mo, cloth; 236 pages; $1.40.
LOUIS WILKINSON
THE BUFFOON. A Novel. 1916. 12mo, cloth; 428 pages; $2.50.
A CHASTE MAN. A Novel. 1917. 12mo, cloth; 338 pages; $2.50.
BRUTE GODS. A Novel. 1919. 12mo, cloth; 355 pages; $2.00.
CORA LENORE WILLIAMS
CREATIVE INVOLUTION. Introduction by Edwin Markham. 1916. 12mo, cloth;
222 pages. [Now published by Miss Williams.]
HAROLD WILLIAMS
MODERN ENGLISH WRITERS: A Study of Imaginative Literature 1890–1914.
8vo, 534 pages; $6.00.
POSTSCRIPT
A number of books are scheduled for publication in October. Some will
doubtless be delayed, as manufacturing conditions are still difficult
and transportation none too certain. However, I am bound to have out
before the holidays three unusually charming gift books.
Van Vechten’s “The Tiger in the House” is the only complete account in
English of the domestic cat. It is Carlo’s _magnum opus_ and I have made
in it, I think, quite the handsomest of all my books. A large octavo
bound in half canvas with purple Japanese Toyogami sides stamped in
gold. The text is set in Caslon old style type, and printed on India
Tint Art Craft laid paper and since no more of this is to be
manufactured till the indefinite future—if then—the edition for 1920
consists of only two thousand numbered copies. The book runs to almost
four hundred pages, with bibliography and index and there are thirty-two
full pages of the most charming cat pictures you ever saw. The price
should be seven-fifty.
I am peculiarly proud to offer “Seven Men” by Max Beerbohm—the
“incomparable Max.” These five stories were published in London last
year by William Heinemann, but my edition will be different. For “Max”
has given us an inimitable appendix and six drawings to illustrate it
and neither text nor pictures have ever been printed before. Thus the
Borzoi “Seven Men” becomes a real “first” and an item for collectors. On
this account and because in order to give the book the odd shape (square
octavo) I wanted I had to have the paper specially manufactured, the
first printing consists of just two thousand numbered copies. It will
probably be impossible to make further copies before next year. The
probable price—four dollars.
W. H. Hudson’s “A Little Boy Lost” is now accepted, I fancy, as a
classic for children of all ages. Dorothy P. Lathrop, whom many of you
will remember for her delightfully imaginative pictures done last year
for Walter de la Mare’s “The Three Mulla Mulgars,” has illustrated the
Hudson book _con amore_. The result is a singularly fine large
octavo—wholly successful, I think, as to paper, printing, and binding. I
hoped this would not cost more than five dollars, but I fear the price
must be set at six.
(By the way, I should like readers to realize this: that I try to make
Borzoi Books as well as I know how. Then I base the price on what they
cost to make. I do not fix the price first and then try to trim the
quality so as to come within that price.)
Joseph Hergesheimer’s “San Cristobal de la Habana” is not fiction. It is
about Havana—full of the colour he loves and of which he is a master—and
Joe himself. It will please and interest his friends; it will probably
enrage his enemies. But so engaging and candid a book will certainly be
read. The first edition at any rate will be printed on Warren’s India
Tint Olde Style paper and bound in half black cloth, with Chinese Orange
board sides spattered with gold. Three fifty is the price and there will
be a hundred numbered copies printed on Strathmore Laid paper, specially
bound and autographed at seven-fifty.
I planned Mencken’s “Prejudices” to be an annual affair and the second
series will be ready in October. It will be as provoking (and I hope and
believe as popular) as its predecessor, though it will deal less with
books and more with the ideas underlying them. The price will remain,
for the moment anyway, two dollars.
“The Gate of Ivory” is Sidney L. Nyburg’s latest and by far his most
ambitious novel. The scene is the Baltimore of not so many years ago,
and the story of Eleanor Gwynn, irresponsible, but brimful of audacity
and charm, and Allen Conway, is close enough to the facts of a famous
Maryland scandal to start it fairly on the way to the success I think it
deserves. Two twenty-five, but as is likely to be the case with many
books, the price will have to go up with subsequent editions, as a
considerable increase in binding costs is expected this fall as well as
some increase in printing.
I have the greatest confidence in Floyd Dell. He’s a different fellow,
though, and doesn’t seem to have anything like the same kind of
confidence in himself. But anyway last year I got him to write “Were You
Ever a Child?”—essays on education as charming as their title, and
now—at long last—I have his first novel. “Moon-Calf” is a real book or
I’m sadly mistaken. It’s by far the best first novel by an American that
has ever been offered me. The scene is our Middle West, and the
story—obviously autobiographical—shows the influence of H. G. Wells in a
way that marks, I think, a new note in our literature. Anyway I
recommend “Moon-Calf” to every reader who cares a damn for my opinion of
a novel; I want the book to sell so that Floyd Dell may be amply
encouraged to do its sequel (when you read it you’ll see it has to have
one). Probable price two-fifty.
André Tridon’s “Psychoanalysis and Behavior” is rather more of a real
book than his first. It has a more organic unity—reads easier and is all
in all a more finished product. Incidentally—though Tridon told me once
that he was going to rewrite his first book every year for a different
publisher—“Psychoanalysis and Behavior” duplicates _none_ of the
material in “Psychoanalysis.” The price is two-fifty.
_The Atlantic Monthly_ occupies a unique position among our magazines,
and most publishers, I think, realize the recommendation that
serialization in it carries to readers of books. I am particularly glad,
therefore, to say that Mr. Sedgwick printed several instalments of
“Letters of a Javanese Princess” by Raden Adjeng Kartini in his
magazine, where they aroused a good deal of interest and discussion. The
original manuscript was very long and contained much indifferent
material, so under our direction the translator, Mrs. Symmers, cut it
down and prepared a careful, informing, introduction about Kartini, who,
by the way, was the youngest daughter of a Javanese regent and probably
the first feminist of the Orient. Then at the suggestion of Mrs. Knopf,
whose favourite book this is, I asked Louis Couperus, the great Dutch
novelist, to write a special introduction for our edition. His pages,
few, but wholly charming, are an interesting feature of the book. A
square octavo: probable price, four dollars.