“Paints in minute detail the commonplace events of a rather dull
middle-class provincial English family.” (Outlook.) “Mr. Bennett takes
as the subject the separate histories of two sisters, who in the first
chapters of the book are in their later teens, while the curtain does
not fall till they have both died as elderly women.... The other
characters in the book are grouped round these two salient figures, and
though they stand out from the canvas, yet do so in due subordination to
the two heroines.” (Spec.)
* * * * *
“A story of unusual length but unfailing interest.”
+ =A. L. A. Bkl.= 6: 54. O. ’09.
“There are very few books in English which mirror back so truly and with
such a fine sense of proportion the relative amount of joy and sorrow
that enter in to the average human life.” F: T. Cooper.
+ =Bookm.= 30: 186. O. ’09. 830w.
“A remarkable work of fiction, a book of such sincerity, truthfulness
and insight as to make the ordinary novel seem hopelessly shallow and
artificial by comparison.” W: M. Payne.
+ =Dial.= 47: 236. O. 1, ’09. 950w.
“It is a solid chunk of reality, a character study in three dimensions.
Intensely interesting because the author has the uncanny power to turn
ordinary people inside out so we can see what they think of themselves.”
+ =Ind.= 67: 548. S. 2, ’09. 200w.
“When he has ceased to speak, there remains nothing for us to learn
about these people, body, mind, or soul. For the rest, it is enough to
say that there is nothing about them which we are not grateful for
knowing.”
+ =Nation.= 89: 356. O. 14, ’09. 570w.
“Not a book to be readily forgotten by those who read it with
understanding.”
+ N. Y. Times. 14: 498. Ag. 21, ’09. 650w.
“In ‘Old wives’ tale’ Mr. Bennett has arrived. It is a great novel.”
+ =No. Am.= 190: 836. D. ’09. 210w.
“To make such a book thoroughly enjoyable, as it certainly is, forms a
literary ‘tour de force’ on which Mr. Bennett is to be congratulated.”
+ =Outlook.= 93: 7. S. 4, ’09. 130w.
“An exceedingly clever novel, and one which will well repay perusal.”
+ =Spec.= 101: 950. D. 5, ’08. 550w.
=Bennett, William Harper.=^{[6]} Catholic footsteps in old New York.
$2.50. Schwartz, Kirwin & Fauss.
9–6272.
“Covers a period from 1524 to 1808, with chapters on martyrs like
Jogues, bishops like Carroll, and governors like Dongan; it rambles with
Father Le Moyne up the Heere-Graft or Great Canal, now Broad Street, and
calls on Dominie Megapolensis, that courteous host and would-be
theological opponent of the early Jesuits; it pays a tribute to the
memory of James II; exposes the fanatical bigotry of Jacob Leisler
against the ‘Papists’ and gives a full picture of his downfall; portrays
the hallucination of the ‘hellish negro plot,’ following which ‘the law
passed against Catholic priests was only once enforced, and then to
bring to death a Protestant clergyman.’”—Cath World.
* * * * *
“It need not be said that the author has attempted no critical analysis
of movements or of personages; he cares little for sequence, and wanders
in many climes, not without bringing home some of their brightness;
though he has consulted very many authorities, he makes no pedantic show
of learning; he is devout yet just to opponents; sometimes vigorous in
style, and never dull. To the growing class of educated Catholic readers
it is to be cordially commended for its intrinsic merit and for its
loyal tribute to the church.”
+ =Cath. World.= 89: 387. Je. ’09. 500w.
“A valuable as well as a highly entertaining history.”
+ =N. Y. Times.= 14: 190. Ap. 3, ’09. 1200w.
=Benson, Arthur Christopher.= At large. **$1.50. Putnam.
8–30590.
Descriptive note in December, 1908.
* * * * *
“Quiet, reflective essays affording new and helpful viewpoints on the
philosophy and meaning of life.”
+ =A. L. A. Bkl.= 4: 283. D. ’08.
“Is lighter, clearer, and much more sensible and bracing than his
previous essays concerning life or things in general. Though there are
several things said which have previously been said better.”
+ − =Ath.= 1909, 1: 99. Ja. 23. 550w.
“Whatever Mr. Benson’s titles ... the welcome thing, the thing we are
sure to find, is a genial understanding of the frailties of human life
along with a calm optimism, a wealth of thought, and a very fluent style
enabling one to wander under any title easily away with the author from
the cares that infest the day.”
+ =Ind.= 66: 705. Ap. 1, ’09. 170w.
“On the whole, they stand very well the test of consecutive and
continuous reading, though primarily intended to be taken up at monthly
intervals.”
+ =Putnam’s.= 5: 494. Ja. ’09. 230w.
“His new book, even if one cannot quite receive all his ideas, has the
old originality and haunting charm. His thoughts are not platitudes.”
+ =Spec.= 101: 1105. D. 26, ’08. 500w.
=Benson, Arthur Christopher.= Poems of Arthur Christopher Benson.
*$1.50. Lane.
9–8005.
A collection of Mr. Benson’s poems including old and new pieces. His
verse shows “the same vein of quiet, wholesome sentiment that runs
through his essays, the same sensitiveness to the beauty of nature and
to the beauty of moral dignity and spiritual purity.” (Outlook.)
* * * * *
“Larger libraries having the author’s volumes of essays will find
readers for this unpretentious verse, which has the same pleasing
qualities.”
+ =A. L. A. Bkl.= 5: 131. My. ’09.
“Mr. Benson’s aptness for the Laureate-like task of writing both
decorously and with distinction on topics of public interest ... is
also, we think, significant of his limitations.”
+ − =Ath.= 1909, 1: 285. Mr. 6. 700w.
“Mr. Benson is as fluent a writer of verse as of prose, and his poems
are thoughtful, placid and refined, but not distinguished.” W: M. Payne.
+ =Dial.= 47: 97. Ag. 16, ’09. 270w.
“His work is minor in the better sense that it is unpretentious, and
that it is replete with conscious reminiscences. Indeed, it might almost
be sufficiently characterized by calling it a mixture of Tennyson and
Matthew Arnold.”
+ =Nation.= 88: 256. Mr. 11, ’09. 630w.
“Mr. Benson’s verses appeal to a cultivated dilettante fancy.”
+ =N. Y. Times.= 14: 102. F. 20, ’09. 470w.
“His verse is in no sense poetry of a high order; but it shows the
practiced hand of the intelligent craftsman, well trained and
disciplined.”
+ =Outlook.= 91: 385. F. 20, ’09. 250w.
“When he is at his best and simplest there is something very gracious
and soothing about his scholarly and assiduous work.”
+ =Spec.= 102: sup. 153. Ja. 30, ’09. 70w.
=Benson, Arthur Christopher.=^{[10]} Until the evening. (What is worth
while ser.) **30c. Crowell.
9–22921.
Six brief essays as follows: Prayer; The mystery of suffering; The faith
of Christ; The mystery of evil; Renewal; After death; The Eternal will;
Until the evening. In each the author takes a fearless stand, as, for
instance, in the opening essay, he says “I confess that liturgical
prayer does not very much appeal to me.... Prayer should not be
relegated to certain seasons, or attended by certain postures, or even
couched in definite language ... the deeper secret lies in the fact that
prayer is an attitude of soul and not a ceremony.”
=Benson, Edward Frederic.= Climber. **$1.40. Doubleday.
9–3204.
A social climber is the central figure of this story. “Lucia Grimson,
knowing that her dearest friend was on the verge of becoming engaged to
X (a rich peer), carries off X. The friend marries Y. Lucia, heartily
bored with X, steals the affections of Y. Exposure follows, and the
carefully wrought fabric of social success goes crash. We are asked to
believe that Lucia, the heartless, mercenary, treacherous, frivolous,
falls so madly in love with Y that for a moment she believes the world
well lost for love.” (Sat. R.)
* * * * *
“The evolution of the clever and at times vulgar Lucia is logical and
consistent, except, perhaps, in the closing scenes. We hear much of the
brilliance of intellectual and ‘smart’ gatherings and superb banquets,
but something has evaporated in the telling.”
− + =Ath.= 1908, 2: 640. N. 21. 270w.
“Mr. Benson is a very prolific writer, but it is long since he has given
us as good a story as ‘The Climber.’” M. K. Ford.
+ =Bookm.= 29: 93. Mr. ’09. 640w.
“Never, perhaps, has the ruthless nature of social ambition ... been
more sternly unmaskt than in ‘The Climber.’”
+ =Ind.= 66: 698. Ap. 1, ’09. 200w.
“It is with a sense of dreariness that the reader closes the book with
the question in his mind if the society life of to-day is really as bad
as it is painted.”
− =Lit. D.= 38: 385. Mr. 6, ’09. 200w.
“A solid book which refuses to be skimmed, and which might even bear a
second reading.”
+ =Nation.= 88: 200. F. 25, ’09. 420w.
“An immensely clever and detailed portrait. The background of the novel
is put in with dash and spirit.”
+ =N. Y. Times.= 14: 88. F. 13, ’09. 450w.
“Mr Benson in an unexpected moment of candour about his heroine observes
that ‘it is hard to follow the working of so superficial and trivial a
soul.’ Conscious of that by the time he has produced some twelvescore
pages about her, he forbears to ask whether the attempt is worth
making.”
− =Sat. R.= 106: 765. D. 19, ’08. 120w.
“If it is necessary to portray in great detail so unattractive a figure,
it must be acknowledged that Mr. Benson’s study is eminently successful.
‘The climber’ is not an immoral book in the sense of vice being
triumphant, but inasmuch as the overthrow of the heroine is due to the
imprudence of being found out, it can hardly be said to be what our
forefathers would have called ‘improving reading.’”
− + =Spec.= 101: 843. N. 21, ’08. 320w.
=Benson, Edward Frederic.=^{[10]} A reaping. **$1.25. Doubleday.
9–35805.
“The record of a kind of sentimental journey through a twelvemonth of a
married couple who are still on the sunny side of forty, and is mainly a
chronicle of moods and reflections. We find here, besides much
introspective matter, discourses on most of the author’s favorite
topics: music, gardening, travel, the amenities of town and country
life, with a passing touch of the supernatural. The picture of the
husband and wife playing with lead soldiers, rocking-horse, and Noah’s
ark, to say nothing of the dolls’-house, in the as yet unoccupied
nursery appears to us a little curious.”—Ath.
* * * * *
+ =A. L. A. Bkl.= 6: 54. O. ’09.
+ − =Ath.= 1909, 2: 124. Jl. 31. 140w.
=Nation.= 89: 487. N. 18, ’09. 350w.
“The book is a series of essays strung on a shining strand of story.
More particularly it is a mood, a smiling outlook on life, to be often
taken from the shelf and glanced through, remembered in quiet moments
and talked over with a friend at tea.” Hildegarde Hawthorne.
+ =N. Y. Times.= 14: 563. S. 25, ’09. 900w.
“All this is agreeable enough to read, except that the important things
touched upon—the bunkers in the course—are a little out of keeping with
the small-talk.”
+ − =Sat. R.= 108: 323. S. 11, ’09. 170w.
=Benson, Margaret.=^{[6]} Venture of rational faith. 6s. Macmillan,
London.
A clear-headed, conscientious defense of orthodox Christianity.
* * * * *
“Though not an important book, may interest a good many. She never seems
to me to touch the quick of human thought and feeling. I fear that the
stuff of her book is conventional, and that the book itself is mostly
dull for the reason that she nowhere gives us to see how the
conventionalities which she handles have come to be to her so real. I
will add that it is not a book written in a hurry, that wide reading has
gone to it, and that it is clear and forcible. It has a good many
memorable sentences.” H. W. Garrod.
− + =Hibbert J.= 7: 680. Ap. ’09. 730w.
“An able and scrupulously candid book.”
+ =Spec.= 102: 741. My. 8, ’09. 850w.
=Benson, Ramsey.=^{[10]} Melchisedec. †$1.50. Holt.
9–24017.
To bring out strongly the un-Christlike qualities of the orthodox
churches of to-day the author has chosen for his hero a child of the
wilderness, a nameless quarter-blood Indian to whom civilization and
convention are not even names but in whose heart glows the Christ
spirit, the obsession to serve his fellowmen. Jean Valjean and St.
Francis first inspire him, and, eager to be about his Father’s business,
he seeks a white man’s city only to find hate in the church, sneers in
organized charity and crime and selfishness in the hearts of his
fellowmen. His zeal carries him from revivalists and the Salvation Army
to Catholicism and the Jesuits, then in his distress of spirit he turns
to the Unitarian ministry. From each new hurt he flees from man to his
native woods for comfort, but always returns to his life of service
until, too deeply scarred, his soul is at last martyred upon the rack of
orthodoxy.
* * * * *
“He has written another book in the same certifying manner, the most
improbable and at the same time one of the most veracious stories ever
conceived.”
+ − =Ind.= 67: 1205. N. 25, ’09. 900w.
“There is scarcely room for question that Mr. Benson, at least, has
failed in his major purpose, though he has given us a psychological
study of no mean interest.”
+ − =Nation.= 89: 306. S. 30, ’09. 270w.
“The author has essayed a theme well out of the ordinary, and one of
sufficient difficulty to test the powers of a skilled novelist. The
practical handling of it has been a little too much for Mr. Benson’s
capacities at this time, but it is, nevertheless, a noteworthy piece of
fiction. But as a whole the tale is picturesque, unusual, and has the
always gratifying quality of suggestiveness.”
+ − =N. Y. Times.= 14: 563. S. 25, ’09. 300w.
=Bentley, Harry Clark.= Corporate finance and accounting; Legal notes
by T. Conyngton. $4. Ronald.
8–9769.
“The aim has been to provide a manual for the use of a corporation
treasurer. Various devices and methods for procedure are described in
simple, untechnical language, while the legal side has been carefully
elucidated by Mr. Conyngton. The volume is divided into six parts
dealing respectively with the treasurer’s duties and legal obligations;
the corporate books of account; the corporate finances, including checks
and dividends; negotiable instruments; corporate securities; and finally
the various forms used by the treasurer or for the corporate finances
and securities. For obtaining a knowledge of such things this volume
should prove valuable for those interested in corporation finance. It
does not attempt, however, to enter into the broader and more
fundamental questions of policy in connection with this subject.”—J.
Pol. Econ.
* * * * *
“Presents the subject in an entirely new and satisfactory manner.” W. K.
Hardt.
+ =Ann. Am. Acad.= 33: 206. Ja. ’09. 300w.
“A reading of the text leads to the conclusion that for any other than a
general purpose the author has either attempted too much, or has
succeeded in doing too little.” F. A. C.
+ − =Econ. Bull.= 2: 46. Ap. ’09. 240w.
“In the selection of materials judgment has been used to give to the
uninformed a complement of ideas that may be useful, but in no part is
the work systematic. The book possesses considerable pedagogical value
for a school offering a ten weeks’ course in business practice, but has
contributed nothing to scientific literature.” F: A. Cleveland.
+ − =Engin. N.= 59: sup. 648. Je. 11, ’08. 220w.
+ =J. Pol. Econ.= 16: 465. Jl. ’08. 150w.
“[There is] a failure, in the presentation of the subject, to
distinguish properly between principles and their application by
‘methods’ to specific cases. A manual easy of access and worthy of a
prominent place on every business man’s desk.” B: F. Wright.
+ − =Pol. Sci. Q.= 24: 327. Je. ’09. 580w.
=Benton, Elbert Jay.=^{[7]} International law and diplomacy of the
Spanish-American war. $1.50. Johns Hopkins.
8–9495.
“A history of the relations of the United States and Spain during the
Cuban insurrection and the resulting Spanish-American war. Especial
emphasis is given to the controverted points of international law which
were passed upon during the conflict. Though the sources used do not
include the Spanish material on the subject, the viewpoint throughout is
judicial. Some of the author’s conclusions are, that the ‘reconcentrado’
policy was a justifiable means of warfare; that the refusal of
arbitration offered by Spain in the Maine case was a mistake; that
McKinley did not exhaust the resources of diplomacy before turning the
conduct of affairs over to Congress; and that the intervention of the
United States on humanitarian grounds was not good practice in
international law. The decisions of the courts in prize cases and allied
subjects are reviewed in detail.”—Ann. Am. Acad.
* * * * *
=Ann. Am. Acad.= 32: 440. S. ’08. 180w.
“The material is well organized and clearly and compactly presented. The
author’s judgments are generally fair and impartial.” G. W. Scott.
+ − =Pol. Sci. Q.= 24: 341. Je. ’09. 700w.
=Bernard, Auguste.=^{[7]} Geofroy Tory, painter and engraver; first
royal printer reformer of orthography and typography under François
I; an account of his life and works; tr. by George B. Ives. *$37.50.
Houghton.
9–10130.
“A translation of M. Auguste Bernard’s account of Tory’s life and work,
supplemented by scholarly notes and by a large number of designs, which
represent, however, only a very small part of the immense amount of work
accomplished by Tory’s fervid industry.”—N. Y. Times.
* * * * *
“The main value of this book is, then, due to its perfect reproduction
of the best work of Geofroy Tory.”
+ =Ath.= 1909, 2: 90. Jl. 24. 550w.
Reviewed by Laurence Burnham.
+ =Bookm.= 30: 194. O. ’09. 930w.
“This beautiful volume is creditable in the highest degree to the
author, the translator, the printer, and the publisher.” F: W. Gookin.
+ =Dial.= 46: 401. Je. 16, ’09. 2100w.
“Mr. Ives’s rendering of the French text is accurate and painstaking,
but now and then leaves the reader a little conscious that it is a
translation.”
+ − =Nation.= 89: 61. Jl. 15, ’09. 1250w.
+ =N. Y. Times.= 14: 293. My. 8, ’09. 1650w.
=Berry, Charles William.= Temperature-entropy diagram. 2d ed. rev. and
enl. $2. Wiley.
8–32508.
“In the revised edition of the ‘Temperature-entropy diagram’ a more
extended application of the principles of the Τφ-analysis to advanced
problems of thermodynamics has been made than was possible in the
limited scope of the previous edition. The chapter on the flow of fluids
has been entirely rewritten and treats at length various irreversible
processes. A graphical method of projecting from the ρυ- into the
Τφ-plane has been elaborated for perfect gases and its application
illustrated in the chapters on hot-air engines and gas-engines. The
various factors affecting the cylinder efficiency of both gas- and
steam-engines have been thoroughly discussed. One chapter has been
devoted to the thermodynamics of mixtures of gases and vapors, and
another to the description and use of Mollier’s total energy-entropy
diagram.”—Preface.
* * * * *
=Engin. D.= 5: 56. Ja. ’09. 230w.
=Engin. N.= 60: sup. 695. D. 17, ’08. 320w.
“It is evident that the author has put an Immense amount of work into
the revision and brought out one of the most complete books that we have
on the subject.”
+ =Engin. Rec.= 58: 652. D. 5, ’08. 200w.
=Berry, John B. N.= Some assurances of immortality. 50c. Fenno.
9–7954.
A slight book of sixty-six pages whose short chapters discuss the modern
acceptance of Who and what is God? Where is the soul? Man’s immortality;
Spiritism; Materialization; Faith; Intuition and conscience; Prayer;
Love; Trust; and Hope.
* * * * *
=R. of Rs.= 40: 256. Ag. ’09. 30w.
=Berry, W. Grinton.= Bishop Hannington and the story of the Uganda
mission. **$1. Revell.
A book designed for mission study classes which “tells the romantic
story of Bishop Hannington, not without detail, but still within a
moderate space, and so makes it more accessible. James Hannington was a
veritable Moses. His name is connected, and rightly connected, with
Uganda, and yet he never set foot within its borders. Nevertheless he
achieved much. Things seemed hopeless enough when he met his end; yet
there is no part of the world where missionary effort has achieved a
more distinct success. Hannington was martyred on October 29th, 1885,—he
was but thirty-seven years old; twelve years afterwards there were six
hundred and fifty-nine Christian lay-agents and four thousand four
hundred and forty-two baptisms, nearly half as many as those recorded in
all the Church missionary society stations throughout the world. The
story of the struggle by which these results were won is singularly
interesting.” (Spec.)
* * * * *
“He has seized upon the essentials of the great tale and leaves us
stirred with a new wonder at the Gospel which could inspire such
devotion and win such triumphs.”
+ =Ind.= 66: 378. F. 18, ’09. 110w.
“This very handy volume will be welcome to many readers.”
+ =Spec.= 101: 238. Ag. 15, ’08. 200w.
=Berry, W. Grinton.= France since Waterloo. *$1.50. Scribner.