Pere Didon, the eminent Dominican, is engaged in the preparation of a
work from which great things are expected. It is to be a refutation of
Renan's infamous "Vie de Jesu"--a work which, it is declared by the best
authorities, conduced more to the spread of infidelity than any that was
ever published. Pere Didon has paid a long visit to the Holy Land in
furtherance of his researches, and intends to make another trip there
before he concludes them. The book will probably not be published for
six or eight months.
Messrs. John Murphy & Co., Baltimore, have issued a large type edition
of the Holy Way of the Cross, new type with new illustrations. It is a
great improvement on former editions.
HAVERTY'S IRISH-AMERICAN ILLUSTRATED ALMANAC, for 1886. Price 25 cents.
Persons who invest a quarter in this book will get the worth of their
money. Stories, poetry, etc., etc. Address P. M. Haverty, 14 Barclay
Street, New York.
I. F. M. in _Catholic Universe_:--Writing of Catholic publications and
Catholic reading we are reminded of the fact that the Catholic public is
often really victimized in this very matter. Books are made up out of
old materials, a few facts are added on cognate subjects of present
interest, the volume is handsomely bound, and an agent goes about the
country selling the book, receiving payments in instalments and making
sixty per cent. on his sales. Such books ornament a table and are little
read; an incubus of instalments is laid on the buyer; he pays twice as
much as ought to be asked for the book and the sale of really valuable
and much cheaper books is prevented. We have seen handsomely bound
Bibles bought for fifteen and twenty dollars, and solely used for an
ornament, by poor people who could surely have made much better
investments in reading matter. What we say of Bibles may be said equally
of certain ponderous volumes containing the Life of the Blessed Virgin,
etc. Of course, these are grandly useful books in themselves; but when
so gotten up as to be unavailable except for ornament, and when creating
an obstacle to the purchase of books more easily and more generally
read, they do not serve Catholic interests.
Instructions and Prayers for the Jubilee of 1886. Published with the
approbation of his Grace, the Most Rev. Archbishop of New York. 32 mo,
paper, per copy, 5 cents; per hundred, $2.00. The same in German.
Benziger Brothers, Publishers, New York, Cincinnati, and St. Louis.
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL LIBRARY.--Instructions on the commandments and
sacraments. Translated from St. Francis Ligouri, by the late Rev.
Nicholas Callan, D. D., Maynooth. The title of this little book explains
its contents. It is the first of a series of instructive books to be
issued by the St. Vincent de Paul Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill.