This ebook was created in honour of Distributed Proofreaders 20th
Anniversary.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
BOOK REVIEW DIGEST
SIXTEENTH
ANNUAL CUMULATION
REVIEWS OF 1920 BOOKS
EDITED BY
MARY KATHARINE REELY
AND
PAULINE H. RICH
DESCRIPTIVE NOTES BY
EMMA HELLER SCHUMM
AND OTHERS
THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY
NEW YORK
1921
Contents
Publications from which Digests of Reviews are Made
Book Review Digest Devoted to the Valuation of Current Literature
Reviews of 1920 Books
List of Documents for Use in the Smaller Libraries
Quarterly List of New Technical and Industrial Books
Subject, Title and Pseudonym Index To Author Entries, March,
1920—February, 1921
Directory of Publishers
THE BOOK REVIEW DIGEST
Vol. XVI February, 1921 No. 12
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY
New York City 958–964 University Avenue
Entered as second class matter, November 13, 1917 at the Post Office
at New York, under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
One year $12.00
Single numbers 1.00
Semi-annual cumulation (August) 2.00
Annual cumulated number, bound (February) 5.00
TERMS OF ADVERTISING
Combined rate for Book Review Digest, Cumulative Book Index and
Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature $60 per page per month; two of
these publications $50; one of these publications $40 per page per
month. Smaller space and contract rates furnished upon request.
The editorial staff for the year has consisted of Mary Katharine Reely,
Pauline H. Rich, Emma Heller Schumm, Elsie Jacobi, Wilma Adams and Selma
Sandler. Acknowledgments are also due to Miss Corinne Bacon who
contributed the classification numbers for the first months of the year,
and to Miss Eleanor Hawkins who succeeded her; to Miss Mary E. Furbeck
of the New York Public Library for the list of documents for small
libraries; and to the Applied Science reference department of Pratt
Institute Library for the quarterly list of technical books.
In addition to the periodicals listed on the reverse side of this page
the following magazines have been drawn on for occasional reviews:
Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Social Hygiene, Mental Hygiene,
Socialist Review, Nation [London], Theatre Arts Magazine, Drama, World
Tomorrow, Chemical & Metallurgical Engineering, and a few other
technical journals. The literary supplement to the New York Evening
Post, now issued under the editorship of Professor Henry Seidel Canby of
Yale University, is an important permanent addition to the list of
periodicals. During the year the magazine which began its career as the
Review, changing later to Weekly Review, has been listed under its
original name.
The year just past has been notable for a number of novels of unusual
quality. Among them is a group of books by and about women: Clemence
Dane’s “Legend,” Catherine Carswell’s “Open the Door,” Miss de la
Pasture’s “Tension,” and Mrs Holding’s “Invincible Minnie.” Three others
are novels of the Middle West: Sherwood Anderson’s “Poor White,” Floyd
Dell’s “Moon-calf,” and Sinclair Lewis’s “Main Street.” Zona Gale’s
“Miss Lulu Bett” might be named in either class.
“George Santayana has recently spoken of the barbarian realities of
America. ‘The luckless American who is born a conservative, or who is
drawn to poetic subtlety, pious retreats, or gay passions, nevertheless
has the categorical excellence of work, growth, enterprise, reform and
prosperity dinned into his ears: every door is open in this direction
and shut in the other; so that he either folds up his heart and withers
in a corner—in remote places you sometimes find such a solitary gaunt
idealist—or else he flies to Oxford or Florence or Montmartre to save
his soul—or perhaps not to save it.’ That is and has been the
traditional conception of aesthetic fate in barbaric America, especially
in the hinterland beyond the Hudson. But the past ten years, and
particularly the years since the war, have shown new possibilities to
the present literary generation. The Bohemian immigrant in Nebraska, the
local dentist in Wisconsin, the doctor’s wife in a small Minnesota town,
the young newspaper man in Iowa, the co-educated farmer’s daughter in
Ohio—all these figures can be seen with the same meditative zeal, the
same creative preoccupation, as the ripened spiritual personalities of
Europe.”—New Republic.
We now have anthologies and year books for the short story, for the best
plays, for magazine and even for newspaper verse. The annual volume of
the Digest might be added to the list as the year book for book reviews.
Without entering into elaborate summaries and statistics we may say that
the two most reviewed books of the year are Keynes’s “Economic
Consequences of the Peace” and Wells’s “Outline of History.” And without
attempting to create a new category of “best” reviews we may suggest
that the following will be found well worthy of reading: Richard
Burton’s review of “The Ordeal of Mark Twain” by Van Wyck Brooks in the
Bookman of January, 1921; W. S. Braithwaite’s review of “Smoke and
Steel” by Carl Sandburg in the Boston Transcript of October 16, 1920;
the reviews of Sinclair Lewis’s “Main Street” by Carl Van Doren in the
New York Evening Post, Nov. 20, 1920, and by Francis Hackett, in the New
Republic, Dec. 1, 1920; and J. Saywyn Shapiro’s review (with footnotes)
of Wells’s “Outline of History” in the Nation of Feb. 9, 1921.
Publications from which Digests of Reviews are Made
Am. Econ. R.—American Economic Review. $5. American Economic
Association, New Haven, Conn.
Am. Hist. R.—American Historical Review. $4. Macmillan Company, 66
Fifth Ave., New York.
Am. J. Soc.—American Journal of Sociology. $3. University of Chicago
Press, Chicago, Ill.
Am. J. Theol.—American Journal of Theology. $3. University of Chicago
Press, Chicago, Ill.
Am. Pol. Sci. R.—American Political Science Review. $4. Frederic A.
Ogg, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.
Ann. Am. Acad.—Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
Science. $5. 39th St. and Woodland Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.
Astrophys. J.—Astrophysical Journal. $6. University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, Ill.
Ath.—Athenæum. $5.60. 10 Adelphi Terrace, London, W. C. 2.
Bib. World—Biblical World. $3. University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
Ill.
Booklist—Booklist. $2. A. L. A. Publishing Board, 78 E. Washington
St., Chicago, Ill.
Bookm.—Bookman. $4. G. H. Doran Co., 244 Madison Ave., New York.
Boston Transcript—Boston Evening Transcript. $5.50. (Wednesday and
Saturday). Boston Transcript Co., 324 Washington St., Boston, Mass.
Bot. Gaz.—Botanical Gazette. $9. University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
Ill.
Cath. World—Catholic World. $4. 120–122 W. 60th St., New York.
Class J.—Classical Journal. $2.50. University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, Ill.
Class Philol.—Classical Philology. $4. University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, Ill.
Dial—Dial. $5. 152 W 13th St., New York.
Educ. R.—Educational Review. $3. Educational Review Pub. Co., care of
G. H. Doran Pub. Co.
Elec. World—Electrical World. $5. McGraw-Hill Company, Inc., 10th Ave.
at 36th St., New York.
El. School J.—Elementary School Journal (continuing Elementary School
Teacher). $2.50. Dept. of Education, University of Chicago, Chicago,
Ill.
Engin. News-Rec.—Engineering News-Record. $5. McGraw-Hill Company,
Inc., 10th Ave. at 36th St., New York.
Eng. Hist. R.—English Historical Review. $6. Longmans, Green & Co.,
4th Ave. and 30th St., New York.
Freeman—Freeman. $6. The Freeman, Inc., 116 W. 13th St., New York.
Hibbert J.—Hibbert Journal. $3. LeRoy Phillips, 124 Chestnut St.,
Boston, Mass.
Ind.—Independent. $5. 311 Sixth Av., New York.
Int. J. Ethics—International Journal of Ethics. $3. Prof. James H.
Tufts, Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
Int. Studio—International Studio. $6. John Lane Co., 786 Sixth Av.,
near 45th St., New York.
J. Geol.—Journal of Geology. $4. University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
Ill.
J. Home Econ.—Journal of Home Economics. $2. American Home Economics
Assn., 1211 Cathedral St., Baltimore, Md.
J. Philos.—Journal of Philosophy. $4. Sub-Station 84, New York.
J. Pol. Econ.—Journal of Political Economy. $4. University of Chicago
Press, Chicago, Ill.
J. Religion (Bib. World and Am. J. Theol. merged under this title Ja
’21) $3. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.
Lit. D.—Literary Digest. $4. Funk & Wagnalls Co., 354–360 Fourth Ave.,
New York.
Modern Philol.—Modern Philology. $5. University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, Ill.
Nation—Nation. $5. Nation Press. 20 Vesey St., New York.
Nature—Nature. $14. Macmillan Company, 66 Fifth Ave., New York.
New Repub.—New Republic. $5. Republic Publishing Co., Inc., 421 W 21st
St., New York.
N. Y. Times—New York Times Book Review. $1. N. Y. Times Co., Times
Square, New York.
No. Am.—North American Review. $5. North American Review, 9 East 37th
St., New York.
Outlook—Outlook. $5. Outlook Co., 381 Fourth Ave., New York.
Pol. Sci. Q.—Political Science Quarterly. $5. (including supplement).
Academy of Political Science, Columbia University, New York.
Pub. W.—Publishers’ Weekly. Zones 1–5, $6; 6–8, $6.50. R. R. Bowker
Co., 62 W. 45th St., New York.
Review—Weekly Review. $5. National Weekly Corporation, 140 Nassau St.,
New York.
R. of Rs.—American Review of Reviews. $4. Review of Reviews Co., 30
Irving Place, New York.
Sat. R.—Saturday Review. $5.60. 9 King St., Covent Garden, London. W.
C. 2.
School Arts Magazine—School-Arts Magazine. $3. Davis Press, Inc., 25
Foster St., Worcester, Mass.
School R.—School Review. $2.50. Dept. of Education, Univ. of Chicago,
Chicago. Ill.
Science, n.s.—Science (new series). $6. Science Press, Garrison. N. Y.
Spec.—Spectator. $7.80. 13 York St., Covent Garden, London. W. C. 2.
Springf’d Republican—Springfield Republican. $10.50. The Republican,
Springfield, Mass.
Survey—Survey. $5. Survey Associates, Inc., 112 E. 19th St., New York.
The Times [London] Lit. Sup.—The Times Literary Supplement. $7.40. The
Times, North American Office, 30 Church St., New York.
Yale R., n.s.—Yale Review (new series). $3. Yale Publishing Ass’n.,
Inc., 120 High St., New Haven, Conn.
In addition to the above list the Book Review Digest frequently quotes
from New York Call; New York Evening Post; Bulletin of Brooklyn Public
Library; Cleveland Open Shelf; N. Y. Best Books; N. Y. Libraries; N. Y.
City Branch Library News; New York Public Library New Technical Books;
Pittsburgh Monthly Bulletin; Pratt Institute Quarterly Book List; St.
Louis Monthly Bulletin; Wisconsin Library Bulletin (Book Selection
Dept.), and the Quarterly List of New Technical and Industrial Books
chosen by the Pratt Institute Library.
OTHER ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations of publishers’ names will be found in the Publishers’
Directory at the end of this number.
An asterisk (*) before the price indicates those books sold at a
limited discount and commonly known as net books.
The figures following publisher’s name represent the class number and
Library of Congress card number.
The descriptive note is separated from critical notices of a book by a
dash.
The plus and minus signs preceding the names of the magazine indicate
the degrees of favor or disfavor of the entire review.
An asterisk (*) before the plus or minus sign indicates that the
review contains useful information about the book.
In the reference to a magazine, the first number refers to the volume,
the next to the page, the letters to the date and the last figures to
the number of words in the review.
Book Review Digest
Devoted to the Valuation of Current Literature
Reviews of 1920 Books
A
=ABBOTT, MRS JANE LUDLOW (DRAKE).= Happy House, il *$1.60 (2c)
Lippincott
20–26557
When Anne Leavitt is invited to spend the summer with some hitherto
unknown relatives in Vermont, she is just starting to Russia to teach.
But there is another Anne Leavitt in her college class, whom she
persuades to take her place. So Nancy comes to Happy House, a misnomer
for the gloomy old mansion where Miss Sabrina, Miss Milly and B’lindy
spent their embittered lives. The story tells how Nancy brings
happiness to them, but how her sense of guilt at the deception she is
practising keeps her from perfect contentment herself, until finally
unexpected events clear up the situation, and all are happy together.
Meanwhile a part of Nancy’s joy has come from friendship with the
“hired man” next door, who proves to have been sharing the general
deception and to be a very desirable suitor.
* * * * *
+ =Ath= p731 N 26 ’20 110w
“Girls from twelve to seventeen will like it as well as older women
who like a sweet, pretty story.”
+ =Booklist= 16:345 Jl ’20
“Girls in their higher teens will enjoy this book.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Jl 3 ’20 320w
“We regret that deception plays such an important part in the plot.
Nevertheless, and setting this aside, the story is well told and
interesting, and will amply repay the reading.”
+ − =Cath World= 112:258 N ’20 170w
“It is possible that its maple-sugarish, sweet cake flavor may cloy
the reader who enjoys more invigorating fare, but, as a sample of the
‘good’—‘goody-goody’ is perhaps a better word—style of story which has
taken on added popularity of late, there is nothing to criticise in
the offering.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:17 Je 27 ’20 530w
Reviewed by Marguerite Fellows
=Pub W= 97:1289 Ap 17 ’20 280w
=ABBOTT, MRS JANE LUDLOW (DRAKE).= Highacres, il *$1.75 (2½c) Lippincott
20–20318
The author of “Keineth” and “Larkspur,” etc., has written another
story for girls. Jerry Travis is the heroine of “Highacres.” She is a
little girl of the mountains, who finds John Westley when he has lost
his way. He recognizes that she is a child who should have
opportunities for education and offers to send her to school with his
own nieces and nephew. Then follows an exciting year for Jerry,
working and playing with Gyp and Graham and Isobel and Tibby, and
going to school at Highacres. Jerry is an unspoiled little girl, and
the end of the year does not find all the benefits on her side. There
is an element of mystery in the story, which works out to Jerry’s
advantage, and she looks forward to another year of school with her
new friends.
* * * * *
“This new juvenile by the author of ‘Keineth’ is full as it can hold
of the things dear to the heart of normal girlhood.” R. D. Moore
+ =Pub W= 98:1202 O 16 ’20 350w
=ABBOTT, KEENE.= Wine o’ the winds. il *$1.75 (1½c) Doubleday
20–10311
A story of the plains in the days of pioneer settlement and Indian
warfare. Dr Harry North, because of a professional error, feels
himself dishonored and goes West to hide his disgrace. He leaves
behind him the girl he loves and is resolved never to practise
medicine again. But the new country puts new life into him. He meets a
typical daughter of the prairies who attracts him greatly and
thereafter there is an unexpressed conflict between this girl and
Alice Arden, who, still true to her old love, has come West to be near
him. The scene changes from place to place and many glimpses are given
of the varied aspects of life along the frontier.
* * * * *
“In subject matter and in treatment it differs from the large numbers
of new books. There is a power in the author which allows him to mold
his material and to invoke an atmosphere which stirs and interests
us.” D. L. M.
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Jl 10 ’20 1000w
“‘Wine o’ the winds’ possesses the worst of faults—it is dull. This is
partly because the plot is neither well presented nor well put
together and partly because the characters, with the single exception
of the minor one of little Matt, the hunchback, lack that vitality
which wins a reader’s interest, his liking or disliking. Now and then,
it is true, there comes a moment which seems to hold out promise of
better things in future, and the last scene of all is not without a
certain degree of impressiveness.”
− + =N Y Times= 25:27 Jl 25 ’20 350w
“Magic there is in this narrator’s vivid style, above all in the
visual quality of his descriptions, which always remain a part of the
narrative.” H. W. Boynton
+ =Review= 3:372 S 29 ’20 560w
=ABDULLAH, ACHMED.= Man on horseback. *$1.75 McCann
20–363
“A tale of a gold mine taken in exchange for a poker debt, and of
results which bring the American cowboy owner of the mine into
international complications and make him an actor in the great
war.”—Outlook
* * * * *
“The excessive simple-mindedness of the hero, combined with the
heroine’s complete failure to win the reader’s liking, does much to
injure an otherwise interesting book.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:64 F 1 ’20 500w
=Outlook= 124:291 F 18 ’20 40w
=ABDULLAH, ACHMED, and others.= Ten-foot chain. il *$1.50 Reynolds pub.
20–17407
The sub-title, “Can love survive the shackles? a unique symposium,”
indicates the trend of the book. The unnamed editor, in the
introduction, states the circumstances of its writing. At a dinner
where four distinguished writers were present, the question was
raised, “What mental and emotional reaction would a man and a woman
undergo, linked together by a ten-foot chain, for three days and
nights?” The writers differed in their solution to this problem,
according to their individual interpretation of human nature, and the
result was that each consented to present his conclusions to the
public in fiction form. This book comprises the four stories, which
are: An Indian Jataka, by Achmed Abdullah; Out of the dark, by Max
Brand; Plumb nauseated, by E. K. Means; and Princess or percheron, by
Perley P. Sheehan.
* * * * *
“Interesting as an editorial jeu d’esprit, the experiment has also
brought out four short stories of high quality.”
+ =N Y Evening Post= p10 O 30 ’20 190w
=ACADEMY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE.=[2] Inflation and high prices; ed. by
Henry Rogers Seager. pa $1.50 The academy 338.5
20–26746
“A series of addresses and papers among which are: Causes and progress
of inflation, by E. W. Kemmerer; Treasury methods of financing the war
in relation to inflation, by R. C. Leffingwell; The relation of the
federal reserve system to inflation, by H. P. Willis; Remedies for
inflation with special reference to the French situation, by M.
Casenave; Remedies for inflation with special reference to the Italian
situation, by B. Attolico; Inflation as a world problem and our
relation thereto, by P. M. Warburg.”—Am Econ R
* * * * *
=Am Econ R= 10:848 D ’20 80w
=Booklist= 17:8 O ’20
=ADAM, H. PEARL.= Paris sees it through; a diary, 1914–1919. il *$4 (4c)
Doran 940.344
(Eng ed 20–4569)
Mrs Adam was an English resident in Paris before and throughout the
war. Her book describes her Paris just before and at the outbreak of
the war and follows its course in its reactions on the city until the
signing of the peace. She gossips intimately about the effect of the
war on the daily lives of the people and of the people’s interest or
lack of interest in the political events. Among the contents are: The
onslaught (1914); Endurance (1915); The distant guns (1916); The long
wait (1917); Rationing (1917–1918); Boloism; Some war Parisians; Paris
under fire (1918); Armistice; Paris in 1919: the making of peace. The
appendix describes the Paris of today: a chapter for visitors. There
are illustrations.
* * * * *
+ =Ath= p127 Ja 23 ’20 70w
=Booklist= 16:272 My ’20
“This book by a lady who spent the period of the war in Paris writing
for English newspapers is much better reading than many works of
higher authority and greater importance.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p760 D 18 ’19 1000w
=ADAM, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS.= Whither? a human fragment of contemporary
history. (1906–1919). *$5 Dutton 354
(Eng ed 20–6770)
“‘Whither? or, The British Dreyfus case,’ by Maj. W. A. Adam, is the
story of a British officer who fancies that his case parallels that of
the unfortunate Capt. Dreyfus of the French army. Maj. W. A. Adam, a
staff officer of the British army, is practically dismissed from the
service on secret evidence, which is not shown to the accused. After
vainly seeking to be reinstated the author finally sues various
officials of the British war office in a civil court and is awarded
damages. In spite of it all, during the great war this ‘British
Dreyfus’ is relegated to obscure positions in the army. In his
opinion, he should have been leading divisions and army corps. This
volume throws light on the circumlocution and red tape of the British
bureaucracy—and, it might be added, of most government officialdom the
world over.”—Springf’d Republican
* * * * *
“Major Adam’s statements are carefully documented. The book, as Major
Adam has framed it, is undoubtedly an absorbing fragment of human
history.”
+ =Ath= p95 Ja 16 ’20 120w
+ =Spec= 124:175 F 7 ’20 1650w
“Reading between the lines of his book, one gains the impression, that
the gallant major is one of those unfortunate persons who ‘seize the
hot end of the poker,’ or, in other words, are their own worst
enemies. But this volume is interesting.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p9a O 24 ’20 210w
=ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS; ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS, jr., and ADAMS, HENRY.=
Cycle of Adams letters: 1861 to 1865; ed by Worthington Chauncey Ford.
2v il *$10 Houghton 973.7
20–21411
The editor of these two volumes of family letters has selected them
from many others for their description of social conditions,
discussion of public questions and contribution to the social,
military and diplomatic history of the War of secession. With the
great conflict as a back-ground, they supply “no little new history,
much untold detail, much discussion, many rumors and predictions,
expressed with individuality and in a literary form.... It is an old
story, but the manner of telling it is new, all the more remarkable
because unstudied and spontaneous.” (Introd. note) The books are
illustrated and indexed.
* * * * *
“The two volumes are not merely interesting, but fascinating. Of their
contributions to history, aside from the personal views here quoted or
described, there is not space to say anything, but they are important
and valuable. No better book about the war of secession has come out
in many a year.”
+ =N Y Times= p6 N 28 ’20 2000w
“The editor of these letters would have enhanced the value of the
collection for the general reader if at certain points (not many) he
had added a brief note indicating the event out of which the letter
grew or to which it referred. The reader gets from these letters a
much pleasanter portrait of Henry than from his autobiography.” Lyman
Abbott
+ =Outlook= 127:149 Ja 26 ’21 2150w
“It would be difficult for a master hand at fiction to devise for his
own purpose a better stage setting, and a more ingenious relationship
of leading characters to the end of developing the intricacies of a
big international drama.” F: T. Cooper
+ =Pub W= 98:1892 D 18 ’20 470w
+ =R of Rs= 63:109 Ja ’21 170w
“The ‘Cycle of Adams letters’ is all very interesting, if only as
correspondence, and parts of them will add authentic material to the
history of the Civil war—all the more so that the letters were
probably written without idea of future publication.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8a D 5 ’20 1150w
=ADAMS, FRANKLIN PIERCE.= Something else again. *$1.50 Doubleday 817
20–7285
“The editor of the Conning Tower, New York Tribune, amuses himself
writing verses in the styles of Horace, Longefellow, Amy Lowell and
others and by writing desk copy for the tragedies which formed the
subjects of some famous old ballads.”—Booklist
* * * * *
“Good fun.”
+ =Booklist= 16:304 Je ’20
Reviewed by R. M. Weaver
=Bookm= 51:454 Je ’20 50w
=ADAMS, HENRY.= Degradation of the democratic dogma. *$2.50 (3½c)
Macmillan 901
19–18407
Brooks Adams has edited some of the literary remains of his brother
Henry and published them with a long introductory essay on The
heritage of Henry Adams. In introducing the work he writes: “I want to
make it clear, once for all, that I am not proposing to write anything
approaching to a memoir of my brother.... Nor do I suggest any
criticism of his essays which are annexed.... I am seeking to tell the
story of a movement in thought which has, for the last century, been
developing in my family, and which closes with the ‘Essay on phase,’
which ends this volume.” The essay in which this purpose is embodied
is devoted to the principle of democracy which John Quincy Adams
upheld and which in the estimation of himself and his descendants
received its death blow with the triumph of Jackson. The writings of
Henry Adams included in the volume are: The tendency of history
(1894); A letter to American teachers of history (1910); and The rule
of phase applied to history (1909).
* * * * *
“The title seems ill suited to the papers that make the substance of
the volume. The degradation of the democratic dogma which is here in
question is thus far from being a general movement of thought; it is a
movement within the Adams family, exemplified chiefly in Brooks and
Henry.” Carl Becker
− =Am Hist R= 25:480 Ap ’20 1500w
“Readers of this volume are advised to omit the essay at the end,
entitled ‘The rule of phase applied to history.’ Henry Adams had all
the virtues of the great amateur—penetration, aloofness, style. It is
sad to record that in the end he did not escape the pitfall of most
amateurs. He began taking himself seriously, and that as a prophet!”
E: S. Corwin
+ − =Am Pol Sci R= 14:507 Ag ’20 1000w
=Ath= p665 My 21 ’20 2000w
+ =Booklist= 16:189 Mr ’20
“Whoever takes up this book in the expectation that he has been
invited to a sort of second table of the wondrous banquet spread
before the readers of ‘The education of Henry Adams’ will soon learn
his mistake. Not that it is not as marvellous in its way, but that it
is a separate and distinct production of a mind as varied as it was
powerful.” L. S.
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Ja 28 ’20 2100w
“Of interest to historians, scientists, and educationists.”
+ =Brooklyn= 12:89 F ’20 50w
Reviewed by C: A. Beard
=New Repub= 22:162 Mr 31 ’20 1800w
“Why have they been resurrected, and why are they published at the
present time, with this preposterous introduction and with a misfit
title? The uninitiated will say that the popularity of Henry Adams’s
‘Education’ furnishes the answer.”
− =N Y Times= 25:323 Je 20 ’20 950w
“We took it up anticipating pleasure if not profit in getting Henry
Adams’s views on democracy. We have been disappointed. Whatever views
on this subject Henry Adams may have elsewhere expressed, he expresses
none here. He discourses on views of the universe in general, and the
philosophy of history in particular, but he has nothing to say of the
degradation of the democratic dogma, or of the democratic dogma
itself. Nor do we find that Mr Brooks Adams increases our knowledge of
these subjects.” D. McG. Means
− =Review= 2:255 Mr 13 ’20 2400w
“A curiously interesting and depressing series of historical papers,
which serves to explain some of the author’s pessimism. Henry Adams
makes some rather unwarranted historical generalizations. His papers
are a remarkable example of the method by which an unscientific mind
may apply scientific conclusions to unrelated data.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p6 Ja 15 ’20 600w
“‘A letter to American teachers of history’ is a brilliant
achievement. It is single and swift and passionate, as an exclamation
or a command. Nervous and mordant in style, it rises often to
eloquence and is illuminated by flashes of ironical humor.” C: A.
Bennett
+ − =Yale R= n s 9:890 Jl ’20 2350w
=ADAMS, HENRY.= Letters to a niece and Prayer to the Virgin of Chartres;
with A niece’s memories by Mabel La Farge. *$2.50 Houghton
20–19770
These letters are introduced by “A niece’s memories” which together
with the letters, reveals a side of the heart and mind of Henry Adams
veiled to the world and to the readers of the “Education,” but poured
forth to the young. “To them all he was the generic Uncle, the best
friend—to whom they not only could confide their innermost secrets,
their perplexities, hopes and aspirations, but also at whose feet they
could sit endlessly, listening to the most thrilling talk they had
ever heard, or were likely to hear again.” The table of contents is:
Henry Adams: a niece’s memories; Letters to a niece; Prayer to the
Virgin of Chartres. Under the last heading is included: Prayer to the
dynamo.
* * * * *
+ =Dial= 70:108 Ja ’21 40w
“A book of undeniable savor. The Adams pickle is everywhere. They are
very kind letters—lazily, unconcernedly, uncommittedly kind. That he
writes very good English will surprise nobody, and his faculty is
brought out by a certain waywardness in its exercise.”
+ =Review= 3:564 D 8 ’20 320w
=R of Rs= 62:670 D ’20 50w
=ADAMS, KATHARINE.= Mehitable. il *$2.50 Macmillan
20–21185
To Mehitable in her Vermont home comes the opportunity to go to school
in Paris. Mehitable has just passed her sixteenth birthday and it all
seems to her like a dream, so quickly is she whisked away from
familiar scenes to find herself in a strange land. In spite of the
little home-made frocks with which Aunt Comfort and the village
dressmaker have fitted her out and which make her look old fashioned
and quaint to the other girls, she makes a place for herself in the
Chateau d’Estes and finds friends. Irish Una is the dearest of them
and Mehitable spends a happy vacation at her home. The story ends with
the outbreak of the war.
* * * * *
“The book is singularly pleasing, the heroine a living creature good
to know, and there are many interesting characters and situations. A
book all girls in their late teens will delight in.” Hildegarde
Hawthorne
+ =N Y Times= p9 D 19 ’20 70w
“Her school life near Paris, her trips to other lands, and her fine
love story form a superior kind of story for older girls.”
+ =Outlook= 127:110 Ja 19 ’21 60w
=ADAMS, SAMUEL HOPKINS.= Wanted: a husband. il *$1.75 (4c) Houghton
20–7140
This story falls into two parts. The first tells of the transformation
of Darcy Cole from a peevish, spoiled, unhealthy, unhappy girl into a
radiant and captivating bit of womanhood. Physical culture plus grit
does the trick. In the old days Darcy had been so unattractive that
she had had to invent a fiancé and the second part of the story is
taken up with the adventures into which this mythical person leads
her. He is a certain Sir Montrose Veyze, selected from Burke’s
Peerage. Fortunately he never appears in person and the attractive
American lover who acts as his substitute proves perfectly
satisfactory as a permanent feature.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:311 Je ’20
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
+ − =Bookm= 51:585 Jl ’20 110w
“Of course he does the thing well, but it hardly seems worth the doing
when the author is capable of so much better things.”
− + =Boston Transcript= p4 Je 2 ’20 220w
+ =Cleveland= p71 Ag ’20 100w
“It is by no means as good an example of its type as his earlier book,
‘The unspeakable Perk,’ but it is entertaining in its way, and
presents a fervent plea for athletics.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:220 My 2 ’20 480w
“Its humor and gaiety compensate to some extent for the lack of
plausibility.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p9a Jl 4 ’20 350w
=ADE, GEORGE.= Hand-made fables. il *$1.60 (2½c) Doubleday 817
20–4894
“The studies in American vernacular which comprise this volume first
appeared in the Cosmopolitan Magazine.... Although the period in which
these fables appeared enveloped the great war and lapped over on the
great unrest, the author has proceeded upon the theory that old human
nature continues to do business, even during a cataclysm.” With this
introduction Mr Ade proceeds to his fables, which are in his old
manner and are accompanied by John McCutcheon’s pictures.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 16:280 My ’20
“Barring his treatment of this arid topic [prohibition], the rest of
the book is sheer delight.” G. M. Purcell
+ − =Bookm= 51:568 Jl ’20 340w
“Here Mr Ade once more demonstrates that the American slang vernacular
has capacities for clearness, force, and (yes!) elegance that quite
escape the base-ball reporter.”
+ =Dial= 68:665 My ’20 80w
“Isolated and perused at the rate of one a month, they yield a sharp
and pungent flavour; bunched thus for permanence, they are flat.” L.
B.
+ − =Freeman= 1:526 Ag 11 ’20 230w
“A great deal of it is amusing, poking fun in a way provocative of
chuckles, and giving new point to the old saying that there is many a
true word spoken in jest.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:228 My 2 ’20 350w
+ =Review= 2:402 Ap 17 ’20 120w
+ =Review= 2:461 My 1 ’20 1050w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8a Ap 4 ’20 150w
=ADLAM, GEORGE HENRY JOSEPH.= Acids, alkalis and salts. il $1 Pitman 661
20–11164
In this volume of Pitman’s common commodities and industries series,
the author has endeavored “to give prominence to the commercial and
domestic importance of the substances dealt with.” He has also
“included some considerations of a theoretical nature which may well
be taken as a first step towards the continuation of the study of
chemistry.” (Preface) Contents: Introduction; Sulphuric acid and
sulphates; Nitric acid and nitrates; The halogen acids; Carbonic acid
and carbonates; Phosphoric, boric, and silicic acids; Organic acids;
Mild alkali; Caustic alkalis; Electrolytic methods. There are diagrams
and other illustrations and an index.
* * * * *
“This book aims at being not only instructive, but also interesting.”
C. S.
+ =Nature= 105:706 Ag 5 ’20 190w
+ =N Y P L New Tech Bks= p47 Jl ’20 60w (Reprinted from Nature
105:706 Ag 5 ’20)
=AGATE, JAMES E.= Responsibility. *$1.90 (2½c) Doran
20–7651
An English novel in which the author discourses at large on matters of
art, morals and life. The scene is laid in one of the northern
industrial towns and it follows the hero’s story from childhood on,
depicting his escape from business into letters as a profession. In
his early manhood he has a love affair with a young dancer, who when
she sees that his love is waning writes to tell him she is to bear a
child and disappears out of his life. Twenty years later he is
confronted by his son, who is on the point of enlisting for the war.
Both recognize that the usual parental relation is not to be looked
for, but they become friends. The son is totally disabled in the war,
the father partially so.
* * * * *
=Ath= p1304 D 5 ’19 100w
“It is a brave theme, but the author’s treatment of it is a deal too
confident to be successful. He cannot resist his hero’s passion for
display. And this passion is so ungoverned that we cannot see the
stars for the fireworks.” K. M.
− + =Ath= p79 Ja 16 ’20 750w
“Not for the average reader. Good work but not remarkably good.”
+ − =Booklist= 16:345 Jl ’20
“The novel as a whole is excessively chaotic and immature, an obvious
attempt at a youthful smartness which seems incapable of artistic
restraint. Mr Agate has been a wide reader, but he shows at the
present moment little power of assimilation.” E. F. E.
− + =Boston Transcript= p7 My 8 ’20 900w
“A first and promising novel.”
+ − =Dial= 69:102 Jl ’20 90w
“Undoubtedly Mr Agate has both talent and promise. Today he is not an
ageless portent but a beginner with very much to learn.”
− + =Nation= 110:772 Je 5 ’20 850w
=New Repub= 23:235 Jl 21 ’20 550w
“It is a sober-minded book, this novel of Mr Agate’s. But it is also a
very rich book, rich in character, in thought, in understanding, in
comment upon life and art, original in style and treatment. We are
much mistaken if Mr James E. Agate has not definitely ‘arrived.’”
+ =N Y Times= 25:252 My 16 ’20 600w
“The book is a hodge-podge.” H. W. Boynton
− =Review= 2:573 My 29 ’20 370w
“The genius of the book might as well be a grown man’s as a boy’s—it
is ageless as genius always is. But the faults—and they are grave—are
a young man’s or at any rate a young writer’s, faults. We should plump
for Mr Agate being, say, in the early thirties. We profoundly hope
that we are right, because we want many more books from him. We do not
ask for them to confirm our judgment, but because English literature
is starvingly in need of a new and still young first-rate performer.”
+ − =Sat R= 128:535 D 6 ’19 1700w
“A novel which bears clear traces of models so diverse as Wells and
James and, perhaps, even the author of ‘Tristram Shandy.’ But such
strength as the novel possesses lies in what is simple and
straightforward. There are good glimpses of character.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p9a Jl 4 ’20 300w
“The great quality of the book is a manly and vigorous brilliance,
which is enough to supply ten ordinary novels; the chief faults are a
rhetorical exuberance of style and an inability to see that the reader
wants time to appreciate the really good passages, such as the page
where Edward’s father sends him to school or the illegitimate son’s
explanation of what moved him to join the army.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p629 N 6 ’19 750w
=AIKEN, CONRAD POTTER.= House of dust; a symphony. *$2 Four seas co. 811
21–968
A series of poems defining the delicate shadings of sense perceptions.
They correspond to the so-called “tone poems” of music. Among the
titles given to individual pieces are: The fulfilled dream; Interlude;
Nightmare; Retrospect; The box with silver handles; Haunted chambers;
Porcelain; Clairvoyant. Parts of the book have appeared in the North
American Review, Others, Poetry, Youth, Coterie and the Yale Review.
* * * * *
“Mr Aiken possesses many poetical merits. He has a flow of language
that is refreshing in this age of meagrely trickling springs. He has
vivid sensations and a felicitous ease in exactly expressing them. But
he has the defects of his qualities. His facility is his undoing; for
he is content to go on pouring out melodious language—content to go on
linking image to bright image almost indefinitely. One begins to long
for clarity and firmness, for a glimpse of something definite outside
this golden haze.” A. L. H.
+ − =Ath= p235 Ag 20 ’20 440w
=Nation= 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 100w
“He is not easy to understand, and some minds would doubt whether a
drift of phenomena so irrational as this, however delicately and
imaginatively it is described, can be worth describing, except from
the point of view of scientific interest. That Mr Aiken’s work is both
delicate and imaginative, there is no question.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p554 Ag 26 ’20 170w
=AIKEN, CONRAD POTTER.= Scepticisms; notes on contemporary poetry. *$2
(3c) Knopf 809.1
19–17334
For descriptive note see Annual for 1919.
* * * * *
“Mr Aiken is not quite a good enough talker; his gossip is
entertaining, but he has not the knack of telling a story well, of
putting an idea into a forcible and convincing form. A certain
diffuseness—it is noticeable, but to a lesser degree, in his
poetry—takes the edge and point off what he says; a fact that is the
more regrettable, since we believe his psychological methods of
criticism to be fundamentally sound and fruitful.” A. L. H.
+ − =Ath= p10 Ja 2 ’20 500w
“At times rather technical for the lay reader but worth while for all
interested in contemporary poetry.”
+ − =Booklist= 16:160 F ’20
“It makes good sedative reading after you have got tired of Mencken,
Cabell, Powys and some few others of the real brains of America—in the
matter of the essay, I mean.” Mary Terrill
− =Bookm= 51:194 Ap ’20 600w
“The poets and the books that he makes an intellectual flourish of
judging in the re-printed reviews which make up this volume have, for
the most part, their fundamental purposes and qualities befogged and
perverted by such critical charlatanry, no matter how brilliant the
execution may be. Often Mr Aiken makes a most convincing case for or
against a poet, but the average reader will be inclined to discount
his own agreement because he cannot be sure of the critic’s motives.”
W. S. B.
− + =Boston Transcript= p6 F 11 ’20 1300w
“One’s quarrel with Mr Aiken will be with his limits, not with his
accomplishment within his limits. What in most instances he sets out
to do, namely, to particularize (he says illuminate) with a careful
casualness, he certainly does well. It is because he has done so much
carefully that dissatisfaction arises at the incomplete significance
of the whole work.” C: K. Trueblood
+ − =Dial= 68:491 Ap ’20 2250w
“In so far as Mr Aiken’s lucid and discriminating opinions may offset
the mawkish and meaningless eulogy of ‘poeteering’ journalists, we may
be unqualifiedly grateful to him. He does, however, invite
disagreement with his critical principles by announcing them with
excessive candor.” G: F. Whicher
+ − =Nation= 111:509 N 3 ’20 800w
“Mr Aiken’s book shows a nicely adjusted intellect at work, weighing
and measuring contemporary achievements, with whatever degree of bias
human nature can never escape, as he admits himself, but with some
degree of impartiality. He is chiefly interested in aesthetic values.
His style is adroit and sharp and restrained.” Marguerite Wilkinson
+ − =N Y Times= 25:59 F 1 ’20 1050w
=ALBERTSON, RALPH.= Fighting without a war. il *$1.50 (7c) Harcourt,
Brace & Howe 947
20–4690
This “account of military intervention in north Russia” (Sub-title) is
given by a Y. M. C. A. secretary assigned to work with the army
landing at Murmansk, November 1918. He took part in every phase of the
campaign from the northernmost to the southernmost points of the
expedition and was the last American to leave. He is scrupulously
careful in handling army rumors and most of his matter is based on his
own personal observation and knowledge. On the whole he considers
intervention as a “bad job” on the part of the governments who
undertook it. “We organized civil war in Russia. The Russians were not
fighting the Bolsheviki—not our way. They did not want to fight
them—in our way. We made them. We conscripted them to fight for their
own freedom. It was difficult, but we had our army there and the army
made the peasant patriotic—our way.” Contents: The expedition; The
Archangel government; Management; The fall campaign; The winter
campaign; Kitsa; Fighting without a flag; “America dobra”; America
exit; The new British army; The new Russian army; Making Bolsheviki;
The white man’s burden; Atrocities; The mutinies; The debâcle;
Military intervention finance; Propaganda; Concerning military
intervention; Concerning Russian peasants.
* * * * *
“Settles any lingering doubt about military intervention in Russia.”
+ =Booklist= 16:272 My ’20
“So amazing is the story of British arrogance, tactlessness, and
brutality in northern Russia, revealed by Ralph Albertson that it
would be well nigh impossible to accept it, if the trustworthiness of
the writer was not in a striking manner vouched for by the two
citations which he gained from the British.”
+ =Nation= 110:659 My 15 ’20 650w
Reviewed by A. C. Freeman
=N Y Call= p11 Ap 18 ’20 550w
+ =R of Rs= 61:557 My ’20 120w
“This little book of 140 pages, read at a sitting, but unforgettable
for many a day, is full of valuable information, all the most vital of
which was from his own personal and careful observation.” W. H. Crook
+ =Socialist R= 8:380 My ’20 650w
Reviewed by Reed Lewis
+ =Survey= 44:51 Ap 3 ’20 100w
“The reading of the book helps to an understanding not only of the
Russian problem but of what British imperialism—or American—always
means in countries where a foreign army is in control.”
+ =World Tomorrow= 3:157 My ’20 400w
=ALDERSON, VICTOR CLIFTON.= Oil shale industry. il *$4 Stokes 622
20–14240
The book heralds the birth of a new industry: the extracting of oil
from oil shale, which, in the face of our growing demand for oil, the
diminishing supply of underground oil, and the almost inexhaustible
supply of raw material in the form of oil shale, promises to be one of
paramount importance. Contents: The dawn of a new industry; Nature,
origin, and distribution of oil shale; The history of oil shale;
Mining oil shale; Retorting and reduction; Experimental and research
work; Economic factors; Summary; Opinions; The future; Bibliography,
index and illustrations.
* * * * *
“Not a finished work as far as statistics are concerned, but a good
survey of a comparatively new industry.”
+ =Booklist= 17:143 Ja ’21
“For a scientific work it is too uncritical and in such remarks as
‘mountains of shale’ it is reminiscent of a promoter’s prospectus. In
fact, the whole book is written with too much apparent intention to
see all the favorable points and to disregard the at present
unfavorable ones.”
− =N Y Evening Post= p27 O 23 ’20 230w
=ALDON, ADAIR.= At the sign of the Two Heroes. il *$1.75 (3½c) Century
20–16500
The scene of this story for boys is laid on South Hero island, one of
the two islands in Lake Champlain that are named for Ethan and Ira
Allen. The old Frenchman, Pierre Lebeau, suggests to the three boy
campers, Christopher, Andrew and Howard, that they spend a night in
the deserted old inn that commands a view of the bay and surrounding
islands. He is under the stress of emotion and obviously has a purpose
in making the suggestion. Their curiosity aroused, they take his
advice and what they see and hear convinces them that smuggling on a
large scale is going on. They also learn the cause of old Pierre’s
emotion, for his scapegrace grandson is one of the smugglers. The
story tells how the three boys, animated by the spirit of Ethan Allen,
put an end to the law breaking.
* * * * *
“Keeps the interest and is not too improbable.”
+ =Booklist= 17:120 D ’20
“The background is well laid in and the story is full of ‘thrills’
having some really dramatic situations. A good tale of its type.”
+ =N Y Evening Post= p10 S 25 ’20 50w
Reviewed by Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ =N Y Times= p9 D 12 ’20 70w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p9a D 5 ’20 70w
=Wis Lib Bul= 16:197 N ’20 70w
=ALDRICH, LILIAN (WOODMAN) (MRS THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH).= Crowding
memories. il *$5 Houghton
20–19664
These reminiscences of the wife of a poet center about her celebrated
husband but are rich in pictures of other great personages that she
has intimately known, notably Edwin Booth, William Dean Howells,
Samuel L. Clemens, Robert Browning, James McNeill Whistler, Julia Ward
Howe, Charles Dickens. The book is well illustrated and has an index.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:111 D ’20
“Mrs Aldrich’s memories are of superlative interest because of both
their subject matter and the great intimacy of their manner.” E. F.
Edgett
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 O 9 ’20 1500w
“The author’s stilted phrasing, trite similes, and thinly veiled
snobbery offer a melancholy contrast to the easy-flowing naturalness
and genial democracy of her gifted husband. Nevertheless, ‘Crowding
memories’ is a valuable book because of the deep and abiding interest
of many of the figures who appear in it.” A. R. H.
+ − =Freeman= 2:454 Ja 19 ’21 290w
“She has not produced a quite independent volume, for she quotes from
Mr Greenslet’s book at considerable length and uses excerpts from
Aldrich’s semi-autobiographical writings to complete the structure of
her narrative. Nor has she the special gift of the great memoir
writer, that easy command of detail which gives its solid reward in
social documentations. But as a casual record of certain trivialities
‘Crowding memories’ is something of a social document.” C. M. Rourke
+ − =New Repub= 25:175 Ja 5 ’21 1300w
Reviewed by Brander Matthews
+ =N Y Times= p6 O 31 ’20 2300w
“Even in unskillful hands the result would have been useful, and Mrs
Aldrich has handled the rich material with good judgment and much
insight, making a total that is always interesting, and often
enlightening, entitling it to a definite place in our literary
chronicles.”
+ =Review= 3:505 N 24 ’20 1000w
+ =R of Rs= 62:669 D ’20 120w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p10 O 13 ’20 940w
+ =Wis Lib Bul= 16:236 D ’20 80w
=ALEICHEM, SHALOM.= Jewish children; authorized tr. from the Yiddish by
Hannah Berman. *$2 Knopf
20–26870
“Nineteen stories by one of the best known of contemporary Hebrew
novelists and journalists, the Russian Shalom Rabinowitz (‘Shalom
Aleichem’): picturing with a vividness and intimacy which has gained
him the name of ‘the Yiddish Dickens’ the life of Jewish children in
the villages and small towns of the Russian pale.”—The Times [London]
Lit Sup F 26 ’20
* * * * *
“They are written with a terse, beautiful simplicity. An especial
appeal for those who recognize the truth of the picture.”
+ =Booklist= 17:70 N ’20
“Undoubted power of camera-like observation, the God-given genius for
interpretation of the sorrows and sadness of life so surely a heritage
of Jew, Irish or Russian, help make this little volume a delight.”
+ =Bookm= 52:174 O ’20 120w
+ =Cleveland= p108 D ’20 40w
“Studies at once tentative and precocious, executed with a rare
economy and a vivid understanding. Moods are evoked as if by the
striking of a chord; the effect is instantaneous and sharp, yet
softened with queer overtones of feeling.”
+ =Dial= 69:547 N ’20 50w
“‘Shalom Aleichem,’ speaking generally is a humorist, and often
broadly so. Instances could be cited in which a verbal audacity,
almost a horseplay in phrasing, stands out as his most striking
characteristic.” C. K. Scott
+ =Freeman= 2:45 S 22 ’20 500w
“Perhaps the best quality of these stories is their humor, and such
characters as Isshur the Beadle and Boaz the Teacher do, indeed,
allowing for less breadth and vigor, justify the comparison of
Rabinowitz with Dickens that has been made.”
+ =Nation= 111:353 S 25 ’20 180w
+ =Spec= 124:588 My 1 ’20 50w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p142 F 26 ’20 50w
“It is difficult to determine whether without the species of prestige
conferred by unfamiliarity of subject and idiom, the spice of
strangeness imparted by the mere fact of translation, the book would
arouse much more than curiosity. It is a collection of incidents in
the lives of Russian Jewish children, told with perhaps too
unrestrained a fluency, as the matter is usually of the slightest, but
with a pervading kindness, an unshakable good humour, a pleasant if
not inspired drollery, that enlist one’s sympathy.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p264 Ap 29 ’20 290w
=ALEXANDER, HARTLEY BURR.=[2] Latin American [mythology]. (Mythology of
all races) il *$7 Jones, Marshall 299
20–16109
“The present volume follows the general plan [of the series]. The
author has aimed at a descriptive treatment following regional
divisions, directed to essential conceptions rather than exhaustive
classification.” (Booklist) “The book includes the Antilles, Mexico,
Yucatan, Central America, the Andes (North and South), the tropical
forests, the Orinoco and Guiana, the Amazon and Brazil, and finally,
the pampas to the Land of fire. The notes and bibliography comprise
almost a fifth of the volume. More than forty illustrations add to the
interest of a text that really illustrates itself.” (Bookm)
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:47 N ’20
“The book is more than a succinct history. It embodies the poetry of
ancient days and the cruelty and the splendor of ancient ways, without
abandoning the calm attitude that wards the scientist from hasty or
sentimental judgments.” I: Goldberg
+ =Bookm= 52:365 D ’20 560w
=ALLEN, ARTHUR WATTS.=[2] Handbook of ore dressing, equipment and
practice. il *$3 McGraw 622.7
20–6647
“The book aims to supply a handy and practical vade mecum for millmen
and engineers, covering in condensed form the various stages in the
mechanical handling and preparation of ore for metallurgical
treatment. Good drawings and half-tone illustrations. Bibliography of
86 references.”—N Y P L New Tech Bks
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:96 D ’20
+ =N Y P L New Tech Bks= p62 Jl ’20 40w
=ALLEN, FREDERICK JAMES.= Advertising as a vocation. *$2 Macmillan 659
19–17750
“This book by Mr Allen of the Bureau of vocational guidance of Harvard
university is intended to place the subject of advertising as a
vocation especially before that part of the public concerned with the
choosing of a vocation. It is an extensive exposition of the field of
advertising, the emoluments, the qualities needed for it as a
vocation, and a thorough investigation of the various fields. It
considers advertising as a business rather than as a profession, since
in the main it is connected with the trades, and it aims to show the
future of advertising as an important element in the choosing of a
life work.”—Boston Transcript
* * * * *
“Sets a high standard. Excellent bibliography.”
+ =Booklist= 16:191 Mr ’20
=Boston Transcript= p6 Ja 17 ’20 250w
=Brooklyn= 12:100 Mr ’20 30w
=ALLEN, NELLIE BURNHAM.= New Europe. (Geographical and industrial
studies) il $1 Ginn 914
20–4490
This volume is a revision of the book issued in 1913 with the title
“Europe.” It has been revised and partly rewritten to conform to
changes growing out of the war. New chapters have been added on:
Ireland and the linen industry; The brave little country of Belgium;
Finland and Lapland; The country of Poland, and The countries of the
Balkan peninsula.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:79 N ’20
=ALLEN, STEPHEN HALEY.= International relations. *$5 Princeton univ.
press 327
20–5637
“The reader will find here in outline the ancient and modern
conceptions of a nation, and especially a clear statement of what has
been done to regulate international intercourse by conventions,
efforts to prevent war by arbitration and mediation and to mitigate
the barbarities of war when it does come. Included in the volume are
the documents representing the important general conventions that were
in force at the outbreak of the great war, and in conclusion the peace
treaty itself and the constitution of the League of nations are
presented.”—R of Rs
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:8 O ’20
+ =R of Rs= 61:669 Je ’20 120w
=ALLISON, WILLIAM.= My kingdom for a horse! *$8 Dutton
“The recollections of one who has had so varied a career as Mr William
Allison cannot fail to be interesting. His pages cover a great variety
of ground, life in Yorkshire in the middle of the last century, Rugby
in the ‘sixties, Balliol in the ‘seventies, the bar, horse racing, and
the selling of blood stock, breeding of fox terriers, political and
society journalism, editorship, and special commissionership in the
Sportsman—a multitude of memories, in fine, with fluctuations of
fortune to give a savour to the whole.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
* * * * *
“Well charged with readable gossip.”
+ =Ath= p962 S 26 ’19 50w
“The ordinary reader will wish that his own interest had been a little
more consulted by omitting many of these equine records. He will wish,
too, that Mr Allison had not been so generous in quoting from his
voluminous correspondence. Barring this overplus, we think the author
too modest in describing his memoirs as a ‘farrago of insignificant
events.’”
+ − =Review= 3:655 D 29 ’20 450w
“His book shows quite exceptional familiarity with the thoroughbred,
set forth in English free—though split infinitives are to be counted
against him—from the distressing phraseology common to most men who
write about racing.”
+ =Sat R= 128:365 O 18 ’19 900w
“His digressions are rather bewildering and his arguments not all
strictly convincing. When Mr Allison gives himself, as he rarely does,
the time to describe something with enthusiasm, William Hickey himself
could do no better.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p512 S 25 ’19 1600w
=ALLISON, WILLIAM.= Secret of the sea. il *$1.75 (2c) Doubleday
20–6428
The story has evidently been suggested by Poe’s “The murders in the
rue Morgue.” An American millionaire’s pleasure yacht, touring on the
Mediterranean, encounters a derelict yacht, fitted up most luxuriously
with every evidence of recent occupancy but not a soul on board.
Here’s mystery, and Peter Knight, the millionaire’s secretary and
lover of his daughter, Betty, sets himself to unravel it. His rôle as
detective proves full of danger but brings to light much past history
and romance. An Italian duke of fabulous wealth is discovered to have
been the owner of the yacht, and Peter Knight’s father—and thereby
hangs a tale of dark plots and poison cups worthy of the middle ages.
The outcome of this tale would have been a different one had not a
baboon, one of the yacht’s inmates, taken a hand in it to do some of
the murdering on his own account. Peter himself barely escapes with
his own life, but in doing so is enabled to rescue his beloved Betty
who has in the meanwhile fallen into the clutches of the same criminal
family.
* * * * *
“A mystery yarn, fantastic and impossible, but quite readable.”
+ − =Booklist= 16:280 My ’20
“A well-conceived and engaging mystery tale.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a Ag 1 ’20 280w
=ALLISON, WILLIAM.= Turnstile of night. il *$1.90 (2c) Doubleday
This tale of mystery begins in India where three white men combine in
a successful attempt to gain possession of some priceless diamonds
worn as the “breastplate of the seven stars” by an idol in a temple of
Buddha. Then the scene shifts to England; two of the treasure seekers
are dead, by fair means or foul, and the third is trying to keep for
himself the whole treasure, part of which belongs in reality to Honour
Brooke, daughter of the one, and Ronald Charteris, nephew of the other
adventurer. Loris St Leger, the villain, aided by his wicked old
uncle, and using his beautiful cousin as his tool, stops at nothing,
and as Honour and Ronald are entirely ignorant of his game or his
reasons for playing it, he soon has them completely in his power. But
there are some influences at work that he has no knowledge of, which
are acting against him, and in the end his evil purposes are defeated,
after many harrowing experiences for Honour and Ronald.
* * * * *
“Unfortunately the bright promise of the earlier chapters is not
fulfilled. There are thrills and mystery a-plenty, but the author
takes too long in expounding them and by the time they are cleared up
they have ceased to thrill.”
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p10 O 30 ’20 70w
“In spite of the story being such a jumble, the writing evidently is
that of a trained hand, for the sentences are neatly put together and
the author is not devoid of descriptive power. Readers who enjoy
hurrying along from one disconnected incident to another and who like
a long story will probably find this one to their taste.”
+ − =N Y Times= p24 D 26 ’20 500w
=Springf’d Republican= p9a O 31 ’20 120w
=AMERICAN= labor year book, 1919–1920; ed. by Alexander Trachtenberg. (v
3) *$2 Rand school of social science 331
“Part I of this book deals with labor in the war, with the
organization of many governmental boards of adjustment and
policy-making, and with the actual administration of those laws which
were drawn to curb ‘seditious activities.’ Part II is a record of
organized labor, with historical reviews of different trade union
ventures (including such interesting experiments as the work of the
United labor education committee) and with records of strikes and
lockouts during the last two years. The third section of the book
contains a digest of new labor legislation, of court decisions
affecting labor, and of the progress of plans for health insurance,
pensions and the minimum wage. Part IV is a more general discussion of
social and economic conditions. It deals with the cost of living,
profiteering, unemployment, woman suffrage, plans for public ownership
of the railways, and the history of the Nonpartisan league in North
Dakota. Part V is a short record of the recent activities of
cooperative, labor and socialist movements in some thirty different
countries. And the final section of the book is devoted to the
socialist movement in America.”—New Repub
* * * * *
“While the volume bears the imprint of the Socialist, it manifests
much less of class or partisan bias than do many articles and volumes
prepared and circulated by ultra-conservative organizations.” F. T.
Carlton
+ =Am Econ R= 10:366 Je ’20 220w
=Booklist= 17:82 N ’20
“Unfortunately it is rather an incoherent volume. Though the
arrangement could be better and the statistical tables less partial,
still the year book contains useful material, much of which is nowhere
else easily accessible.” H. J. Laski
+ − =Nation= 110:594 My 1 ’20 80w
+ =New Repub= 22:39 Mr 3 ’20 470w
“The editor should be especially commended for his broad and tolerant
attitude towards all phases of the social problem and for his good
judgment in collecting within the covers of one volume so many
significant documents and statistical tables. The volume is
indispensable to teachers, writers, lecturers, and every one else who
has an intelligent interest in the facts and problems of the labor
movement.” L: Levine
+ =Socialist R= 9:48 Je ’20 350w
“There is evidence of a purpose to stick to facts. If allowance needs
to be made it is for omissions of facts unfavorable to the cause
rather than for inclusion of direct propaganda.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p13a F 22 ’20 140w
“‘The American labor year book’ preserves much that otherwise is hard
to obtain and at the same time offers the best available compendium of
current information in its field.”
+ =Survey= 44:315 My 29 ’20 300w
=AMOS, FLORA ROSS.= Early theories of translation. (Columbia university
studies in English and comparative literature) *$2 Columbia univ. press
808
20–4778
The history of the theory of translation, the author holds, is by no
means a record of easily distinguishable, orderly progression. It
shows a lack of continuity and is of a tentative quality. “Translation
fills too large a place, is too closely connected with the whole
course of literary development, to be disposed of easily. As each
succeeding period has revealed new fashions in literature, new avenues
of approach to the reader, there have been new translations and the
theorist has had to reverse or revise the opinions bequeathed to him
from a previous period. The theory of translation cannot be reduced to
a rule of thumb; it must again and again be modified to include new
facts.” (Preface) Contents: The medieval period; The translation of
the Bible; The sixteenth century; From Cowley to Pope; Index.
* * * * *
“The greater one’s knowledge of the literature dealt with, the more
likely one is to approve the care and reading which she displays.” G:
Saintsbury
+ − =Ath= p271 Ag 27 ’20 780w
=ANANDA ACHĀRYA.= Snow-birds. *$3 Macmillan 891.4
20–10160
“This volume contains prose-poems or rhapsodies in free verse on
nature, Indian mythology, sentimental or ideal themes, in a style
analogous to that of Sir Rabindranath Tagore.”—Ath
* * * * *
=Ath= p429 Mr 26 ’20 30w
“Mr Achārya is not as inspired by any means and he does not get the
atmosphere and charm into his lines that Tagore did. But he is
interesting, for he presents the thought of the East.”
+ − =N Y Times= p16 N 7 ’20 70w
“The poems contained in this volume can scarcely be said to uphold his
title convincingly as either artist or metaphysician. His vision is
neither profound nor vital enough to awake the pulse of verse, nor has
it the mentality that makes the muscle of decisive prose.”
− + =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p762 D 18 ’19 950w
=ANDERSON, BENJAMIN MCALESTER.= Effects of the war on money, credit and
banking in France and the United States. *$1 Oxford; pa gratis Carnegie
endowment for international peace 332
19–19929
A volume brought out by the Carnegie endowment for international peace
as one of the preliminary economic studies of the war. An introduction
sketches in broad outline the effects of the war on money, credit and
banking in the countries of Europe and the United States. The author
then takes up in detail the various problems involved in the case of
France, with a briefer treatment of the United States. Tables, charts,
etc., are given in an appendix and there is an index.
* * * * *
“That the work is well documented, well proportioned, and highly
wrought, even brilliantly done, is not to be gainsaid.” C. A. Phillips
+ − =Am Econ R= 10:137 Mr ’20 1450w
“Readers with an interest in finance will appreciate this clear,
detailed account.”
+ =Booklist= 16:259 My ’20
Reviewed by C. C. Plehn
+ =Nation= 111:379 O 6 ’20 220w
=ANDERSON, ISABEL WELD (PERKINS) (MRS LARZ ANDERSON).= Presidents and
pies; life in Washington, 1897–1919. il *$3 (5c) Houghton 975.3
20–6432
This is a book of inside gossip about social Washington, where “there
is always something new under the sun.” The author has met and
listened to the “‘senators, honorables, judges, generals, commodores,
governors, and the ex’s of all these, as thick as pickpockets at a
horse-race, ... ambassadors, plenipotentiaries, lords, counts, barons,
chevaliers, and the great and small fry of legations’ who make the
life here so varied and fascinating. Some politics, a touch of
history, a dash of description, with a flavor of social affairs—such
are the ingredients of my ‘pie,’ which, whatever its faults, I hope
may not sit heavily on the reader’s digestion.” (Chapter 1) The book
is well illustrated and the contents are: Looking back; “A red torch
flared above his head”; Rough Rider and buccaneer; Parties and
politics; Enter Mr Taft; Sundry visitings and visitations; Cruising
and campaigning; Divers democrats; Allied missions; Pies; A
topsy-turvy capital; Royalties arrive.
* * * * *
=Boston Transcript= p6 Ap 28 ’20 900w
“It is regrettable that, owing to the lack of a sufficient background,
she has not given us a definitive book on the city of Washington and
its society; but, nevertheless, ‘Presidents and pies’ is a pleasant
and sometimes a brilliant book. At least, it is easy reading, although
its illustrations hardly add to its value.” M. F. Egan
+ − =N Y Times= p6 Ag 15 ’20 2300w
“A delightful narrative. The style is chatty without being flippant,
and there is always a touch of humor.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 Ag 3 ’20 280w
=ANDERSON, ROBERT GORDON.= Leader of men. *$1 (7c) Putnam
20–8245
A tribute of love and devotion to Theodore Roosevelt, opening with a
poem by the author reprinted from Scribner’s Magazine. In conclusion
Mr Anderson writes: “Theodore Roosevelt was a brave warrior of the
body, he was the mightier warrior of the soul. His life was a chord of
many notes, blending in noble harmony.... Its music is not mute. It
still echoes round the world, sounding the forward march for the souls
of men to that nobler warfare—to victory—to peace.”
* * * * *
“The author has avoided equally the danger of sentimentalism and that
of over-analysis; his fine sanity of tone gives to his little book the
qualities of lasting excellence.” Margaret Ashmun
+ =Bookm= 52:346 D ’20 50w
“The author tells nothing very new about Roosevelt, but he relates in
a charming manner what he knew of him.” J. S. B.
+ =Boston Transcript= p11 My 15 ’20 300w
=ANDERSON, ROBERT GORDON.= Seven o’clock stories. il *$3.50 (9½c) Putnam
20–20944
A story in short chapters suitable for bedtime reading. It is a book
about three happy children, Jehosophat, Marmaduke, and little
Hepzebiah. They live on a farm, and children who read the book will
learn all about their three dogs, the other farm animals, the
scarecrow and their friend the Toyman. The pictures are by E. Boyd
Smith.
=ANDERSON, SHERWOOD.= Poor white. *$2 (1c) Huebsch
20–27471
In this novel, as in his Winesburg stories, Mr Anderson tells the
story of an Ohio town. It is a story of the transition period of the
eighties and nineties between an agricultural and an industrial
civilization. There was a time in that period, says Mr Anderson, when
art and beauty should have awakened. Instead, the giant, Industry,
awoke. The hero of the book, however, is not an Ohioan. He is a poor
white who wanders up from Missouri, an indolent, dreaming boy, shaken
out of his lethargy by a New England woman who tries to train his mind
to definite channels. The result is the development of an inventive
strain which the awakening giant, Industry, takes and uses to its own
ends. The author’s treatment of Hugh is pathologic. He is attracted to
women but is afraid of them. On his wedding night he is seized with
panic and runs away, to be brought back by his father-in-law the next
day. And never, except for fleeting moments, does he find
satisfaction, either in his marriage or his work.
* * * * *
“Will undoubtedly be criticised by many readers for its sordidness of
detail and its emphasis upon sex, but will be read by those who do not
object to this with admiration for the frank truth of portrayal of a
certain section of life.”
+ − =Booklist= 17:155 Ja ’21
Reviewed by R. C. Benchley
=Bookm= 52:559 F ’21 380w
“Structurally the story is chaotic and badly put together, being
obviously the work of an ambitious young writer who has been
emboldened to do something imaginatively big, but who has no control
of the superabundance of material at his disposal. His ‘Poor white’ is
in its way a remarkable piece of work, but it is not the first novel
that has been written about the life it depicts or the last word in
American fiction.” E. F. Edgett
+ − =Boston Transcript= p8 D 1 ’20 1700w
“He has made his story a ‘Pilgrim’s’ progress,’ peopled with
characters as actual and as full of meaning as those of the immortal
allegory.” R. M. Lovett
+ =Dial= 70:77 Ja ’21 850w
“While as a novel the design, rhythms, texture and synthesis are about
as bad as can be, as a book of miracles it is beautiful. The
unexpected marvels of understanding, the terrible flashes of accuracy,
the strange pity and enfolding passion are all incidental and
personal: the epic he sought to write is cumbersome and dead, but the
souls born from his soul live and suffer before us.” C. K. Scott
+ − =Freeman= 2:403 Ja 5 ’21 580w
“In veracity and intellectual honesty Mr Anderson’s book is
incomparably superior to most of our novels. But compared to ‘Main
street’ it lacks fire and edge, lucidity and fulness.”
+ − =Nation= 111:536 N 10 ’20 200w
“To deny that ‘Poor white’ is a creation, an organism, with a life of
its own, would be to sin against the light: but it is only fair to say
that Mr Anderson’s limitations make ‘Poor white’ an incomplete, a
maimed, organism.” F. H.
+ − =New Repub= 24:330 N 24 ’20 1250w
“‘Poor white’ remains a poetic novel in half a dozen broad senses. It
has the clarity and concentration as well as some of the music of
poetry. In its hold upon certain large pulsations of American life it
is close to Whitman. It certainly belongs with Whitman rather than
with Howells.” C. M. Rourke
+ =N Y Evening Post= p4 D 4 ’20 1350w
“The book is a careful, conscientious study of certain phases of the
industrial development of America, and especially of the Middle West.”
+ =N Y Times= p20 D 12 ’20 650w
“Important American novel.” Eric Gershom
+ =Pub W= 98:1888 D 18 ’20 240w
“The totality of the book gives the effect of a wood carving done with
a hatchet by a man who could do well if he had a knife. But its faults
are made up for by the dominant fact that Mr Anderson has a story to
tell. The book is not great, but it has the seeds of greatness. It is
worth while, and its author is worth watching.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p5a Ja 2 ’21 500w
=ANDERSON, WILLIAM ASHLEY.= South of Suez. il *$3 (6½c) McBride 916
20–18577
The book contains sketches of the author’s wanderings in East Africa
during the war. They are not a consecutive series, but they are full
of local coloring and echoes of the European war. Three of them give
an account of the apostasy of the Abyssinian ruler, Lidj Yassou, from
Christianity to don the turban, and the following uprising, of which
the author was an eye-witness. The contents, with many illustrations,
are: A coin is spun; Soldiers, sand, and sentiment; Aden of Araby;
Cross and scimitar in Abyssinia; Es-Sawahil; Zanzibar—the spicy isle;
The wilderness patrol; Kwa Heri.
* * * * *
“Delightful reading.”
+ =Booklist= 17:150 Ja ’21
“His tales of peoples so like us in their passions and ambitions, so
different from us in habits and environment, assuredly make for
edification as well as pleasure, and we could stand more of them.” C.
F. Lavell
+ =Grinnell R= 15:282 N ’20 150w
“The impressions do not always ‘get across,’ good as the author’s
material is.”
+ − =Outlook= 126:238 O 6 ’20 40w
“His experiences do not form a well-connected story. His impressions
are patchy, with much left for inference. But as it is, the interest
is absorbing and some passages one will read over and over again.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p10 S 23 ’20 400w
=ANDERTON, DAISY.=[2] Cousin Sadie. *$1.75 (3c) Stratford co.
20–13144
The scene is a college town in Ohio to which the heroine, Sara
Dickinson, descendant of a long line of Calvinistic forebears, returns
after a long absence. She thinks she has shaken off the teachings of
her childhood, but in a crucial situation, involving love between
herself and the husband of a young cousin, the sharp sense of
distinction between right and wrong reasserts itself.
* * * * *
“The atmosphere of an Ohio college town is well done.”
+ =Cleveland= p105 D ’20 30w
=ANDREA, MRS A. LOUISE.= Dehydrating foods. il *$1.75 Cornhill co. 641.4
20–11679
“‘Dehydrating foods’ tells of a method recently perfected, which will
effect a revolution in the means and methods of food preservation. As
distinguished from drying, it reduces the bulk of foods without
destroying the flavoring, coloring or nutritive properties. The
process used in America is far superior to the European methods. All
this and much more of lively interest may be gleaned from this volume
by Mrs Andrea, lecturer on food, cookery and canning at the
Panama-Pacific exposition, San Francisco, and the New York
International exposition. The book contains detailed instructions for
home dehydration as well as numerous recipes.”—Cath World
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:143 Ja ’21
=Boston Transcript= p5 S 29 ’20 310w
+ =Cath World= 112:269 N ’20 180w
=ANDREIEFF, LEONID NIKOLAEVICH.= Satan’s diary; authorized tr. *$2.25
(4c) Boni & Liveright
Satan has assumed human form in the person of a Chicago billionaire,
Henry Wondergood and gives an account of his mundane exploits in the
form of a diary. He finds that, with the body of Wondergood, he has
also acquired some of his human qualities and is no longer proof
against human emotions. Thus, when in Rome he meets one Magnus and his
daughter Maria, a madonna-like woman, he falls in love with her and
allows Magnus to out-satan him to the extent of robbing him of all his
money and finally to blow him up in his palace after revealing to him
that Maria the madonna, is not his daughter but his mistress. The
story is a bitter satire on human life. In a long preface Herman
Bernstein gives a brief sketch of Andreieff’s life.
* * * * *
“This is not only caustic comment on the conditions and problems of
today on this world, it is a denunciation of all life, a renunciation
of illusions and hopes. Without a doubt this latest and last work of
Andreyev is for the time the last word in iconoclastic criticism.” W.
T. R.
+ =Boston Transcript= p3 N 27 ’20 700w
“Many of the ideas are brought out in long, rambling conversations
dealing in the characteristic Russian manner with the purely abstract
phases of life, and tending to mystify rather than clarify. At other
times the satire is quick and amusing in its unexpected turns of keen
humour. Sometimes Andreyev shows a gentler side, one might almost say
a romantic strain.” L. R. Sayler
+ − =Freeman= 2:381 D 29 ’20 460w
“A theme, this, to tempt one of the ‘masters of free irony and
laughter,’ a Voltaire, an Anatole France. Its development in
Andreyev’s hands is disappointing. We have too great a respect for the
Satan of Job and of Milton to believe that he could have been so
easily gulled. But the source of disappointment in the handling of the
theme lies deeper. In this book, as in most of his other writings,
Andreyev shrinks back appalled before the torturing riddle of human
destiny. He hurls his vain questions against the blank wall.” Dorothy
Brewster
− =Nation= 112:46 Ja 12 ’21 850w
“Marie Corelli is so far below Andreyev that it may excite derision to
compare them, and yet in one of her bombastic novels, ‘The sorrows of
Satan,’ she actually succeeded in making a more probable Satan than
this one of the great Russian’s. This book is too savage either for
satire or burlesque—and too inconsistent. Besides, even a good fairy
tale should be plausible. Nevertheless, as a story the book is
interesting.”
− + =N Y Times= p6 O 10 ’20 2050w
=ANDREIEFF, LEONID NIKOLAEVICH.= When the king loses his head, and other
stories. (Russian authors’ lib.) $2 International bk.
“The half-dozen ‘other stories’ intimated in the title of this volume
are ‘Judas Iscariot,’ ‘Lazarus,’ ‘Life of Father Vassily,’
‘Ben-Tobith,’ ‘The Marseillaise’ and ‘Dies irae.’ The last two are
poems in prose. The title-story is a high-strung imaginative picture
of the French revolution; ‘Judas Iscariot’ might be interpreted as an
attempt to corporealize an arch-fiend compelled to bring about the
final tragedy of Jesus’ life in order that prophecy might be
fulfilled.”—Boston Transcript
* * * * *
“It is to be hoped that out of Russia’s chaos, when once more life
becomes normal, there will be an end to such masterpieces of
outrageous dissection. They may represent an epoch, but they are
unwholesome and smack of the deadly amanita. Mr Wolfe’s translation
has some good passages, but there are many infelicities.”
− + =Boston Transcript= p6 Jl 24 ’20 370w
“This art has passion and humanity and a strange fervor. But to many
its glow will seem the glow of phosphorescence and decay.”
− + =Nation= 111:48 Jl 10 ’20 400w
=Springf’d Republican= p6 Ag 10 ’20 600w
=ANNESLEY, CHARLES, pseud. (CHARLES TITTMANN and ANNA TITTMANN).=
Standard operaglass. *$3 Brentano’s 782
20–6561
This new edition, revised and brought up to date, includes “detailed
plots of two hundred and thirty-five celebrated operas with critical
and biographical remarks, dates, etc.” (Title page) There is a
“prelude” by James Huneker. and an index to operas and one to
composers. The work was originally published in 1899 and was revised
in 1904 and again in 1910.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:286 My ’20
“Well told, with the chief points brought out with admirable
directness. The arrangement is simple and the indices ample.”
+ =Cath World= 112:549 Ja ’21 130w
“One of the best existent guides to opera librettos.” H: T. Finck
+ =N Y Evening Post= p13 My 8 ’20 180w
=ANNIN, ROBERT EDWARDS.= Ocean shipping; elements of practical steamship
operation. il *$3 (2½c) Century 656
20–11077
This is the first volume in the Century foreign trade series, edited
by William E. Aughinbaugh. The author, who is lecturer on economics in
New York university, says in his preface: “Within the limits of a
volume like the present it is possible only to touch upon even the
fundamentals of ship management and operation.... The aim has been to
exclude, as far as possible, the academic and legalistic, and to make
the book what its title implies—a practical, if elementary, guide,
based on experience, rather than a theoretical treatise based on
maxims.” The book is divided into three parts. Part I, The ship, has
chapters on An American merchant marine; Range of the business:
Freight rates; The labor problem; Officering and manning; The cargo
carrier, etc. Part II is devoted to The office, with discussions of
Machinery of foreign trade; Foreign exchange; Traffic manager; General
cargo, etc. Part III devotes thirteen chapters to Charters. There are
six illustrations, appendices and index.
* * * * *
“Although the book cannot be described as having a scholarly style and
although the author’s ideas on economics seem to be a bit unorthodox
at times, the reader will find this volume far more useful than many
written in a more literary vein. The author seems to be thoroughly
familiar with his subject-matter.” M. J. S.
+ =Am Econ R= 10:818 D ’20 160w
=Booklist= 17:56 N ’20
“The language is simple and direct and free from technical terms. It
has evidently been the aim of the writer to produce a book of thorough
practical value to those engaged in ocean shipping.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Jl 31 ’20 460w
“Excellent manual.”
+ =R of Rs= 62:224 Ag ’20 50w
=ANNUNZIO, GABRIELE D’.= Tales of my native town. *$1.75 (2½c) Doubleday
20–6708
This collection of short stories is translated from the Italian by
Professor Rafael Mantellini and has an introduction by Joseph
Hergesheimer. This is an appreciative comparison between our
Anglo-Saxon short story and that of the great Italian. Mr Hergesheimer
calls attention to the intense realism of D’Annunzio, which knows no
reservations and no shrinking. The tales are: The hero; The countess
of Amalfi; The return of Turlendana; Turlendana drunk; The gold
pieces; Sorcery; The idolaters; Mungia; The downfall of Candia; The
death of the duke of Ofena; The war of the bridge; The virgin Anna.
* * * * *
“Here writing is done with the big stick. They are tales of the
noisier passions, executed with meticulous consideration for the
formidable detail, since D’Annunzio writes with all the heat and
strength of pulse that is supposed to belong to the southern
temperament. The translation, with the possible exception of parts of
the conversation, is very smoothly done.”
+ =Dial= 68:804 Je ’20 120w
“It takes, as Joseph Hergesheimer points out in his exceedingly
interesting preface, a rather carefully prepared attitude of mind to
thoroly enjoy them. They are written with art and skill but with a
lack of reticence in description which is likely to disturb the
Anglo-Saxon. If you enjoy Russian short stories you will probably
enjoy these.”
+ =Ind= 104:70 O 9 ’20 160w
“The stories are of course arresting and at times brilliant.
D’Annunzio’s powerful gifts are beyond question today.” L. L.
+ − =Nation= 110:sup488 Ap 10 ’20 240w
Reviewed by Rebecca West
=New Repub= 23:156 Je 30 ’20 500w
“In their English dress, certainly, they are not overwhelming. One can
with a fairly good conscience own to the impression that, with all
their marvel of detail, several of them are oppressively squalid and
even tedious; squalor and tedium having, of course, their part, a
relative part, in the spectacle of living.” H. W. Boynton
− =Review= 2:435 Ap 24 ’20 520w
“These tales neither convince nor move the reader. There is a
quickness of action in these sketches, foreign to D’Annunzio’s novels;
his writing has lost a great deal of that sensuality and
voluptuousness so cloying to the American mind. But it has also lost
in beauty and harmonious detail.”
− + =Springf’d Republican= p6 Ap 26 ’20 420w
=ANSTRUTHER, EILEEN H. A. (MRS JOHN COLLINGS SQUIRE).= Husband. *$1.75
Lane
20–8450
“The story of a very modern young lady, Penelope Brooke, befriended in
the early chapters by a cousin. Later on the heroine embarks on the
adventure of earning her bread in London, during which time her
relations with her cousin’s husband become involved. In the end the
inconvenient Mrs Dennithorne dies, and the reader is led to anticipate
a happy sequel.”—Spec
* * * * *
“The author has good powers of description and characterization.”
+ =Ath= p1411 D 26 ’19 60w
“A pleasant tale of English life. Never very exciting, it yet holds
the reader’s interest sufficiently for an evening’s enjoyment.”
+ − =Boston Transcript= p4 Je 2 ’20 200w
=Dial= 69:433 O ’20 80w
“This book is well written—the characters clearly drawn; but that is
the whole measure of commendation that can be bestowed upon it. It is
an exceedingly dull story of contemporary English life. It seems a
pity that such good writing and so much print paper should be wasted
upon a dead level of mediocrity.”
− + =N Y Times= 25:25 Jl 11 ’20 250w
=Spec= 124:215 F 14 ’20 60w
“Well written with the principal characters clearly portrayed, ‘The
husband’ lacks vitality. A certain stiffness and awkwardness make the
tale in numerous places ‘heavy going.’ Penelope, with a mild,
Quakerish manner, is the most human and attractive principal.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p11a Jl 25 ’20 220w
“Her choice of the moment for a description and her choice of the
scene to be described show psychological understanding as well as good
craftsmanship. The story is anything but ‘didactic,’ but it is none
the worse for having an ethical direction.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p780 D 25 ’19 580w
=ANSWER= to John Robinson of Leyden; ed. by Champlin Burrage. (Harvard
theological studies) pa *$2 Harvard univ. press 274.2
20–12134
“John Robinson is considered by some to be the real father of American
democracy with its emphasis upon the separation of church and state.
The answer to Robinson by a Puritan friend is against his advocacy of
separation from the Church of England. In this answer practically the
entire argument of Robinson, the Pilgrim pastor at Leyden, for the
separation of church and state is given. The manuscript is of the date
1609, eleven years before the Pilgrims left Leyden for their ultimate
destiny, America. It is now published for the first time.”—Boston
Transcript
* * * * *
Reviewed by Williston Walker
=Am Hist R= 26:339 Ja ’21 200w
+ =Ath= p242 Ag 20 ’20 300w
+ =Boston Transcript= p8 S 15 ’20 300w
=ANTHONY, KATHARINE SUSAN.= Margaret Fuller; a psychological biography.
il *$2.25 (4c) Harcourt
20–18959
A study of Margaret Fuller from the standpoint of modern psychology,
analyzing the hysteria of her childhood and the neurotic element in
her later life. Her contribution to the feminist movement and her
relation to the revolutionary struggle in Europe are also dealt with
from a modern point of view. Incidentally there are brief and
searching criticisms of Emerson, Hawthorne, Horace Greeley and others.
Contents: Family patterns; A precocious child; Narcissa; Miranda; A
woman’s woman; The transcendentalist: The journalist; Contacts; Her
debt to nature; The revolutionist; 1850. There is a bibliography of
four pages and the book is indexed.
* * * * *
“Written in a straightforward, interesting literary style.”
+ =Booklist= 17:151 Ja ’21
=Boston Transcript= p4 O 9 ’20 530w
+ =Dial= 70:108 Ja ’21 160w
“Taken as a whole the book opens up wide intellectual and imaginative
horizons.”
+ =Nation= 112:46 Ja 12 ’21 400w
“The book is like some fine-grained granite rock of solid
psychological and historical scholarship, all sun-flicked with
glinting humor and warm-hearted common sense.” E. F. Wyatt
+ =New Repub= 25:22 D 1 ’20 1250w
“Margaret Fuller’s genius was akin to madness, and how far such an
analysis of so abnormal a character is of real value is questionable.
It is, however, unquestionably well done.”
+ − =Outlook= 126:575 N 17 ’20 80w
“To explain Margaret’s hysteria by a purely Freudian hypothesis is
folly, and something a good deal worse than folly.”
− =Review= 3:388 O 27 ’20 400w
=R of Rs= 62:669 D ’20 120w
“Katharine Anthony’s ‘Margaret Fuller,’ a ‘psychological biography’ is
infested with preconceptions and is unpleasantly provocative in tone.”
− + =Springf’d Republican= p6 O 11 ’20 520w
=ANTONELLI, ÉTIENNE.= Bolshevik Russia. *$2 (3c) Knopf 947
20–650
This book, translated from the French by Charles A. Carroll, is from
the pen of a former professor of the College de France, an economist
and sociologist, who as military attaché to the French embassy studied
the Russian situation with its historical background and the character
of the Russian ever in view. The conclusion he arrives at is that
Bolshevist Russia, “if not crushed by a new ‘Holy alliance,’ will
prepare for humanity the spectacle of a singular democracy, such as
the world will not have known until then, a democracy which will not
be made up of gradual conquests plucked by shreds from a plutocratic
bourgeoisie, but which will build itself up out of the very stuff of
the people, a democracy which will not descend from the powerful ones
to the people, as in all present forms of society, but which will rise
voluntarily and surely from the unorganized and uncultivated folk to
an organizing intelligence.” (Conclusion) The contents are in two
parts: Bolshevism and politics; and Bolshevism and society.
* * * * *
“The detailed recital of events in chronological order is
straightforward and clear but for the confusion of names of
individuals and of parties and factions which are almost meaningless
to an ordinary reader in this country. The psychological analysis of
the Russian is interesting, but its over-simplification makes one feel
that it is inadequate.” V: E. Helleberg
+ − =Am J Soc= 26:113 Jl ’20 170w
+ =Ath= p355 Mr 12 ’20 80w
=Booklist= 16:236 Ap ’20
“His record, covering almost the same period as that of Robins in
point of experience, has a much broader historic background and a more
carefully scientific sociological basis.” O. M. Sayler
+ =Bookm= 51:312 My ’20 1000w
=Cleveland= p27 Mr ’20 40w
Reviewed by Harold Kellock
=Freeman= 1:620 S 8 ’20 550w
“He has not only produced the most authentic record that has yet
appeared of the opening months of the second revolution, but has
written some of the clearest and wisest words which have thus far been
uttered about it.” Jacob Zeitlin
+ =Nation= 110:399 Mr 27 ’20 600w
“It is distinctly a relief to read one book about Russia that is not
written by a journalist, amateur or professional. M. Antonelli does
not describe a tremendous historical upheaval in the manner of a
reporter describing a street fight. Some of M. Antonelli’s statements
and conclusions are contradictory; but this circumstance merely
confirms his general reliability as a witness. Every revolution
carries within itself the seeds of many contradictions. It is only the
conscious or unconscious propagandist who smooths out all difficulties
and represents the acts of his own party as uniformly righteous,
correct and consistent.” W. H. C.
+ − =New Repub= 22:384 My 19 ’20 950w
“Valuable as well as interesting. The calm, broad view taken and the
absence of anything like passion or partisanship are not the least
appealing elements in this volume.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:325 Je 20 ’20 800w
“A colorless but informative historical narrative.”
+ − =Outlook= 124:291 F 18 ’20 40w
“Although not himself a believer in Bolshevism, he is capable of
judging fairly the administrative aims of the Lenin-Trotsky régime. At
any rate his contribution contains more fact and less hysteria than
most current publications dealing with Russia.”
+ =R of Rs= 61:335 Mr ’20 100w
“This book inspires confidence in the author’s impartiality and
freedom from bias. This is the best book on the subject we know of.”
+ =Sat R= 130:380 N 6 ’20 170w
“A sane and helpful account of his subject.” Reed Lewis
+ =Survey= 44:48 Ap 3 ’20 150w
“Written with the clarity and quick intelligence one expects from a
well known French sociologist and professor.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p158 Mr 4 ’20 60w
“M. Antonelli describes his work as a ‘philosophical survey’; but the
philosophical or rather psychological study of Bolshevism stands out
less prominently than the very full and interesting account of the
methods by which the Bolshevist leaders grasped and held power during
the first few months after their coup d’etat.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p264 Ap 29 ’20 950w
=ARMFIELD, CONSTANCE (SMEDLEY) (MRS MAXWELL ARMFIELD).= Wonder tales of
the world. il *$2.50 Harcourt 398.2
20–18948
Seventeen folk tales from as many countries compose this collection.
Among them are: The food that belonged to all (America); The birds who
befriended a king (Arabia); The cattle that came (Bulgaria); Lazy Taro
(Japan); The prince and the eagle (Greece); The seven sheepfolds
(Hungary); The clever companions (India); Tom of the goatskin
(Ireland); Cap o’ rushes (England); The little cabin boy (Norway); The
chess players (Wales).
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:120 D ’20 20w
+ =Lit D= p96 D 4 ’20 40w
=ARMSTRONG, DAVID MAITLAND.= Day before yesterday. il *$6 (5c) Scribner
20–18941
These “reminiscences of a varied life” (Subtitle) are edited by the
author’s daughter, Margaret Armstrong. Mr Armstrong was born in 1836
at Danskammer near Newburgh, lived an interesting life as artist,
government official and traveler until his death in 1918. The contents
are: Danskammer; New York when I was a boy; My brothers; The South
before the war; At college; Travels and a shipwreck; New York when I
was a young man; Rome—church and state; Some Roman friends; The
Campagna; Venice; Saint Gaudens and others; Some pleasant summers; The
Century club; My farm at Danskammer.
* * * * *
“It is singular that so sweet and amiable a book should be so
interesting, so amusing. So much of the charm of the man seems to me
to have got into the book that I expect for it a marked success, and,
what is better, a long life in the future.” E. S. Nadal
+ =N Y Evening Post= p5 D 4 ’20 2900w
+ =R of Rs= 62:670 D ’20 90w
“A delightful narrative of one phase of American life at its best.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 Ja 11 ’21 370w
=ARMY= and religion; an inquiry and its bearing upon the religious life
of the nation. *$2 (2c) Assn. press 261
This inquiry had its origin in the desire of certain British Y. M. C.
A. workers “to consider and interpret what was being revealed under
war conditions as to the religious life of the nation and to bring the
result before the churches.” The first step in the inquiry was the
preparation of a questionnaire to be submitted to various classes of
persons, including officers, privates and war workers of all classes.
This questionnaire covered three topics: What the men are thinking
about religion, morality, and society; The changes made by the war;
The relation of the men to the churches. The report is in two parts,
Part 1 dealing with the facts, Part 2 with religion and the army. The
report is edited by D. S. Cairns and has a preface by the Bishop of
Winchester.
* * * * *
=Dial= 68:670 My ’20 100w
“The really disappointing section of this volume is that which deals
with the remedies. One confesses to some occasional irritation in
reading ‘The army and religion,’ due to a certain complacent
assumption that the traditional religious synthesis with its dogmatic
superstructure is still valid.”
− + =Nation= 109:766 D 13 ’19 950w
=Sat R= 128:sup14 N 29 ’19 800w
“The witnesses do not always see eye to eye with one another, or
report the same thing. The result is a certain impression or
spontaneousness and of the actual. The writers do not say what they
feel under an obligation to say; or tell us what they, or those behind
them, wish us to believe. They give us the facts, as they have come to
their knowledge. The compiler, Professor D. S. Cairns, sums up, and he
has done so admirably.”
+ =Spec= 123:896 D 27 ’19 1750w
“A document of much importance both in its enlightening disclosure of
a state of things in many ways disquieting, and in the suggestions of
future policy which arise out of it.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p503 S 18 ’19 200w
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p508 S 25 ’19 1550w
=ARNOLD, JULIAN B.= School of sympathy. *$1.60 Jones, Marshall 824
“Several essays and poems are presented by Julian B. Arnold in a
volume entitled ‘The school of sympathy.’ The author is the son of Sir
Edwin Arnold, author of ‘The light of Asia,’ and is himself favorably
known in England as a traveler, archaeologist and lecturer.”—N Y Times
* * * * *
+ =N Y Times= p17 O 3 ’20 50w
“The reminiscent portions of the book are doubtless the best.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p6 Jl 20 ’20 450w
=ARONOVICI, CAROL.= Housing and the housing problem. (National social
science ser.) *75c McClurg 331.83
20–2757
“Mr Aronovici’s definition of housing reform is: ‘The furnishing of
healthful accommodations adequately provided with facilities for
privacy and comfort, easily accessible to centers of employment,
culture and amusement, accessible from the centers of distribution of
the food supply, rentable at reasonable rates and yielding a fair
return on the investment.’ Nor does he overlook the close connection
of housing policy with larger aspects of industrial development,
distribution and growth of population and national economy. Following
the lines of previous studies of social survey methods, he suggests a
plan of inquiry for the housing reformer who wishes to arrive at an
accurate view of the housing situation in his community and for the
legislator who is concerned with improvement of the law. He has no
easy panacea for stimulating housing activity or supplanting private
by state enterprise, but rather lays down some fundamental
considerations without which either must fail.”—Survey
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:260 My ’20
“This small but weighty volume is likely to do a world of good in
correcting mistaken view-points and vague programs yet all too current
among laymen who tackle housing reform with more enthusiasm than
knowledge and wisdom.” B. L.
+ =Survey= 44:253 My 15 ’20 440w
=ARTHUR, SIR GEORGE COMPTON ARCHIBALD.= Life of Lord Kitchener. 3v il
*$12.50 Macmillan
20–9393
Lord Kitchener’s private secretary has written his life, now issued in
three volumes as the official biography. The marquis of Salisbury
writes a preface in which he says, “Sir George Arthur has undertaken
the difficult task of writing a life of Lord Kitchener within four
years of his death. He has, I believe, in so doing been well advised,
and he has produced a work of great value. The interest of Lord
Kitchener’s career, its extraordinary culmination, the public
enthusiasm which in these last critical years centred upon him, and
the dramatic end, demand immediate treatment by a friend whose inside
knowledge of recent events from Lord Kitchener’s own point of view is
second to none.” There is also a brief introductory note by Earl Haig
on Lord Kitchener and the new army. The first of the three volumes
covers the early years, the Sudan campaign and the period to 1900.
Volume 2 completes the account of the Boer war and deals with India
and Egypt. Volume 3 is wholly devoted to the world war and closes with
a chapter summing up personal traits. Each volume is illustrated with
portraits and maps and there is a full index.
* * * * *
“Sir George Arthur, it will be seen, leaves us with no real vision of
either Kitchener or his work. But there is one characteristic which
the unreality, the romantic haze, and all the clichés of this
biography cannot conceal. Kitchener had a real simplicity and honesty
of mind.” L. W.
− =Ath= p571 Ap 30 ’20 1800w
+ =Booklist= 16:343 Jl ’20
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 Je 9 ’20 1400w
“The book is good history but not light reading for hero-worshippers.”
+ =Dial= 69:435 O ’20 100w
=Lit D= p86 O 9 ’20 2100w
“We have a genuine respect for the workmanship of this long-expected
and interesting book, but it would be a mistake, we think, to ‘place’
it in the line of great biographies. And for a double reason.
Kitchener was admittedly a two-sided man. Wanting the highest military
talent, he was still the most conspicuous example since Wellington of
the handy-man-soldier.... At the same time, he was capable of thinking
and acting for her as a political and a moral force. But Sir George
Arthur is the soldier pure and simple, and if politics talks to him at
all, it speaks to him in the unsophisticated accents of the Guards’
mess. He is also an assiduous, if an extremely competent,
hero-worshipper. There was no need for over-reverence about Kitchener.
His character, built in the main on lines of simplicity, crossed with
shrewd rather than subtle calculation, would well have borne a more
detached view even of its excellencies than Sir George Arthur
maintains.” H. W. M.
+ − =Nation [London]= 27:74 Ap 17 ’20 2400w
“The biography is presented with such vividness that the careful
reader can discern the man apart from his work.”
+ =Nature= 105:319 My 13 ’20 1450w
“That Lord Kitchener served to the very limit of his powers is amply
and nobly proved by these volumes. But they do not solve the deeper
problem of the quality of his powers.” H. J. L.
+ − =New Repub= 25:174 Ja 5 ’21 1500w
“It is a plain, straightforward story of absorbing interest, told
without hysteria, without malice, without criticism of
others—differing so widely in this respect from the books of Lord
French and Sir Ian Hamilton—but with sound judgment.” F. V. Greene
+ =N Y Times= 25:5 Je 27 ’20 2500w
=No Am= 212:567 O ’20 1400w
Reviewed by Archibald MacMechan
=Review= 3:68 Jl 21 ’20 1900w
+ =R of Rs= 62:111 Jl ’20 220w
“Furnished as he is with a keen sense of proportion and a wide
knowledge of men and things, possessor of a literary style which is at
once graceful and trenchant, and having at his disposal much
documentary matter which few besides himself have seen, he was
equipped with special qualifications for undertaking this memoir of
one of the foremost figures of our time when he accepted the task. But
the very fact of his intimate association with his late chief has in
certain directions proved a handicap.”
+ − =Sat R= 129:390 Ap 24 ’20 1650w
=Spec= 124:552 Ap 24 ’20 1850w
+ =Spec= 124:583 My 1 ’20 1800w
“Sir George is no doubt better fitted than any other to weigh without
undue bias the character and achievements of this outstanding British
military figure. His devotion to his chief is revealed throughout, but
at the same time he exercises calmness in weighing his strength and
weaknesses.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p11a Je 13 ’20 1550w
“Here, with its element of mystery, is a great theme for a
master-biography. Sir George Arthur’s three volumes are not that. He
is an easy writer with a simple, unaffected style, who for the most
part contents himself with a plain narrative of concrete facts. He
has, too, something of the reserve of his subject, and when one gets
to the difficult and contentious passages in the life he is apt to
become general and elusive, a bad fault in a biographer. But Sir
George Arthur has the great virtue of honesty with his subject.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p245 Ap 22 ’20 4500w
=ASH, EDWIN LANCELOT.= Problem of nervous breakdown. *$3.50 (4c)
Macmillan 616.8
(Eng ed SG20–45)
In writing this book on nervous disorders the author has had in mind
“the family doctor, the trained nurse, and the anxious relative,” and
his main purpose has been “to review the problem as it affects the
individual and as it concerns the state; to discuss the origin of the
more common disorders, and to indicate in what direction it is
possible for us to redress the balance in favour of nerve and
efficiency.” (Foreword) The four parts of the book are: The origins of
nervous breakdown; the varieties of nervous breakdown: The hygiene of
nerve; and The breakdowns of war. There is an index.
* * * * *
“The subjects are discussed temperately and sanely. He has no fads and
attacks none, though the field is large.”
+ =Review= 3:562 D 8 ’20 840w
“Dr Ash’s book is a timely warning of the dangers of emotionalism as
well as an important contribution to the subject of neurasthenia, and
it is so free from medical terms that it can be understood by all.”
+ =Spec= 124:351 Mr 13 ’20 1400w
“This is a commonsense work on a subject which is of universal
interest.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p22 Ja 8 ’20 70w
=ASHFORD, DAISY (MRS JAMES DEVLIN).= Daisy Ashford: her book. *$2 (2c)
Doran
20–9783
A volume containing the remaining novels of the author of “The young
visiters” together with “The jealous governes,” by Angela Ashford.
Daisy Ashford’s works are: A short story of love and marriage; The
true history of Leslie Woodcock; Where love lies deepest; The
hangman’s daughter. They were all written before the author was
fourteen. Angela Ashford’s offering, “The jealous governes, or The
granted wish” was written by that young person at the age of eight.
Irvin Cobb contributes an introduction to the American edition.
* * * * *
“We think that the author of ‘The young visiters’ has been unwise to
respond to the greedy public’s desire for more. Her new book was bound
to invite comparison with the other; it is not a patch on it.” K. M.
− =Ath= p111 Jl 23 ’20 600w
“Quite a tome in quantity compared to ‘The young visiters’ but except
in the most childish efforts, not so happily naïve in quality.”
+ − =Booklist= 17:30 O ’20
“Nothing is to be found either in Sir James Barrie’s introduction to
‘The young visiters,’ or in Mr Cobb’s tribute to the author of these
tales, to show us that they believe in the identity of Daisy Ashford
or in the claim that their humor is a juvenile product. In fact, at
times both seem to be writing in jest more than earnest, or with a
superficial seriousness that scarcely attempts to cover up the jest.
Sex is the basis of the humor in all these stories, as it was in ‘The
young visiters.’” E. F. E.
− =Boston Transcript= p6 Jl 14 ’20 1150w
=Cath World= 111:836 S ’20 120w
+ =Ind= 103:54 Jl 10 ’20 160w
“None is in the same class with ‘The young visiters,’ though each has
here and there a touch worthy of her best year, her tenth, her annus
mirabilis.” Silas
+ =New Repub= 23:258 Jl 28 ’20 100w
+ =N Y Times= p14 Je 27 ’20 1850w
“We doubt whether the book will repeat the success of its predecessor.
It is hard to say why one doesn’t get as much out of it, but probably
it is because a little of this sort of thing is amusing while a good
deal palls.”
+ − =Outlook= 125:615 Ag 4 ’20 110w
“These five stories, with their deeply romantic titles, contain enough
to give the admirers of the earlier book many of the same thrills of
pleasure and amusement.”
+ =Review= 3:711 Jl 7 ’20 160w
“The present writer would unhesitatingly say that it is upon the
subjects of meals and packing and costume that ‘Daisy Ashford’ shines
pre-eminently.”
+ =Spec= 124:50 Jl 10 ’20 1100w
“‘A short story of love and marriage’ and ‘The jealous governes’ have
the truly original ring of the book that made Daisy Ashford’s name
famous and her identity wondered at. But the longer efforts of the new
volume are merely uninteresting stories amateurishly told. The charm
of the precocious but still unsophisticated mind is gone.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p11a Ag 8 ’20 250w
“None of the surviving products of Miss Daisy Ashford’s pen is quite
up to the standard of ‘The young visiters.’ The longest, ‘The
hangman’s daughter,’ contains some amusing passages, but it is a more
ambitious work, written at a later age, and gives the effect of a
burlesque of a ‘grown-up’s’ novel more than of a spontaneous
efflorescence of childhood.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p426 Jl 1 ’20 140w
=Wis Lib Bul= 16:237 D ’20 50w
=ASHMUN, MARGARET ELIZA.= Marian Frear’s summer. *$1.75 (3c) Macmillan
20–10729
Marian Frear and her mother live together on an isolated little farm
on the lake shore. They have been very happy together and keep busily
occupied with the vegetable garden that supplies their living. But
Marian misses the companionship of other girls and the lack of
educational opportunities troubles both mother and daughter. Then a
happy family of young people comes to spend a summer on the lake.
Marian learns to play with other young people and in the fall finds
the desired way to education open to her.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:120 D ’20
“A cheerful, wholesome, natural story for girls.”
+ =Outlook= 125:615 Ag 4 ’20 20w
“The young people are simple and natural and the incidents are never
strained to produce dramatic effects, but those who have lived in the
country may feel that the absolute superiority of Marian and her
mother to all their neighbors is exaggerated.”
+ − =Wis Lib Bul= 16:197 N ’20 100w
=ASLAN, KEVORK.= Armenia and the Armenians from the earliest times until
the great war (1914). *$1.25 Macmillan 956.6
20–1701
“In this little volume an Armenian historian gives a concise account
of the rise and progress of his people, including the formation of
Armenian royalty, the early religious ideas and customs, the
conversion to Christianity, the dawn of Armenian literature, and
finally the four centuries of bondage to the Turk. Many little-known
facts have been gleaned from the somewhat obscure records of this long
ill-treated people.” (R of Rs) “The work is translated from the
original French by Pierre Crabites, whose introduction is an
impassioned plea for Armenian independence.” (Dial)
* * * * *
“While at times the author seeks to present his nation in the most
favorable light, as in the omission of any mention of the outrages
perpetrated by the revolutionary societies at the close of the
nineteenth century, his book is free from any attempt at propaganda.
Unfortunately, this cannot be said of the preface written by M.
Crabites.” D: Magie
+ − =Am Hist R= 25:748 Jl ’20 500w
“It is a concise and readable outline, giving not only the main
currents of political development but also some information concerning
economic and social organization.”
+ =Am Pol Sci R= 14:363 My ’20 60w
“Unlike most writings on the subject the history is stated in a matter
of fact way free from propaganda.”
+ =Booklist= 17:23 O ’20
=Dial= 68:668 My ’20 40w
“There is grievous need of a map and almost equally of an index. But
the book is good and solid, sober with historical sense and
conscience.”
+ =Review= 2:604 Je 5 ’20 450w
=R of Rs= 61:446 Ap ’20 120w
“A carefully prepared, though naturally sympathetic, history.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p10 My 20 ’20 200w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p242 Ap 15 ’20 80w
=ASQUITH, MRS MARGOT (TENNANT).= Margot Asquith, an autobiography. 2v il
*$7.50 Doran
20–20995
With astonishing frankness Mrs Asquith tells the story of her life and
when she says in her preface that she has taken the responsibility of
the telling entirely upon herself, one can easily believe her. Her
dash and courage and unconventionality, her affectionate nature and
clever wit, her social position and close association with events and
people of prominence make the book unusual. In her own words, she has
related of her “manners, morals, talents, defects, temptations and
appearance” as faithfully as she could. Her reminiscences are all of a
personal nature without reference to politics and public affairs. Both
books are indexed and illustrated.
* * * * *
“Mrs Asquith is a sentimentalist, and a sentimentalist of the worst
kind, one who keeps it all for herself. She imagines that she is a
very rare, very misunderstood person. She has made a serious mistake
in writing this book; in it she delivers up her secret to the
first-comer. Her book is really a very dull one unless it is regarded
as an unconscious self-revelation. From that aspect it is quite
interesting though the type it reveals is not very intriguing.” J. M.
M.
− =Ath= p610 N 5 ’20 1850w
=Booklist= 17:152 Ja ’21
“The self-revelations of Margot Asquith and those of Benvenuto Cellini
present more than one parallel. Margot Asquith’s autobiography is
essentially human. She has painted a portrait of herself that will
live, and she has filled in the background with pictures of many who
are sure of a permanent place in the history of English literature and
of the politics of England.” J. C. Grey
+ =Bookm= 52:356 D ’20 1250w
“Few writers have at once the intimate acquaintance and the analytic
tendency to put forward such keen and living figures. We can hope to
possess very few such living documents as is this record of the last
forty years.” D. L. Mann
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 N 27 ’20 1400w
Reviewed by H: W. Nevinson
+ − =Nation= 111:sup657 D 8 ’20 1900w
“Being a woman born into a society where her game was to be charming,
and where she had no chance to be seriously educated, we find her at
the age of fifty-six publishing idiocies that Marie Bashkirtseff was
too sophisticated to utter at fourteen, and never once attaining Marie
Bashkirtseff’s noble realization that ‘if this book is not the exact,
the absolute, the strict truth, it has no raison d’être.’” F. H.
− + =New Repub= 25:77 D 15 ’20 2600w
“Her lack of reticence is, plainly, offensive to good taste. It is not
the less offensive because it is apparently entirely unconscious. The
surprising thing is, however, that with all the material for
interesting memoirs that Mrs Asquith should have stored away in her
mind, she has given us relatively so little that is of any permanent
value.” Stanley Went
− + =N Y Evening Post= p8 D 4 ’20 1700w
“The book is fascinating from the first page to the last.”
+ =N Y Times= p3 N 14 ’20 1650w
Reviewed by R. R. Bowker
+ =Pub W= 98:1883 D 18 ’20 150w
Reviewed by E. L. Pearson
=Review= 3:531 D 1 ’20 500w
“It is after a fashion moral in tone, even religious, as is
apparently, the writer’s character; it is reticent in political
matters; and it is undeniably clever. With a little more pruning Mrs
Asquith’s ‘Autobiography’ might have been a valuable and innocent
record of a memorable society and an interesting period; as it stands,
it is a scandal. Not, as we have said, for moral reasons in the
narrower sense of the word, but for its wanton disregard of reticence
and decorum.”
+ − =Review= 3:623 D 22 ’20 1000w
“The fascination of the book lies in its bold defiance of British
literary and social tradition, and its studied departure from the
conventional.”
+ =R of Rs= 63:109 Ja ’21 90w
“A book, particularly one written on some of the first figures in the
country, should have some solid worth, and represent some substantial
judgment. Mrs Asquith prides herself on saying exactly what she likes,
on writing exactly what she thinks; but the result is not often
judicious, nor of any importance, except as a tribute to the taste of
the age.”
− =Sat R= 130:418 N 20 ’20 880w
“In spite of the errors in taste, and of certain occasional breaks in
a style quite admirable when its purpose is considered, the book
justifies those who have declared it to be ‘a true piece of
literature’ with all that such words import.”
+ − =Spec= 125:598 N 6 ’20 3000w
“This autobiography is a revealing as well as an amazing book. The
toes on which it treads are all English. Americans may not approve
entirely of its material and its bumptious method, but they still find
in it much significance and a great deal of entertainment.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p8a D 5 ’20 1350w
“Mrs Asquith has moved through great scenes; but the motion is a
flitting, rather than an act of spiritual observation, and therefore
when she sits down to recall her impression, it is apt to lack both
sharpness and refinement.”
− =Springf’d Republican= p8 D 18 ’20 650w (Reprinted from London
Nation)
“She is not well equipped for the panoramic display of the outer
world, and the remarkable fulness of her opportunity in that direction
is largely wasted. Mrs Asquith is no story-teller, it is not her line;
she lacks the seeing eye and the vivifying phrase. And yet she elects
to write a book that is all storytelling, all an attempt to reproduce
the brilliant phantasmagoria in which she has lived.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p716 N 4 ’20 2200w
=ASTON, SIR GEORGE GREY.= Memories of a marine, an amphibiography. il
*$5 Dutton
(Eng ed 20–8797)
“This volume is in autobiographic form and while it does not pretend
to be a complete story of the author’s life it is written along
autobiographic lines. The writer gives us some account of his
subaltern days, when he was a student and then a budding naval
officer. Then he recalls the period of the disturbances in Ireland and
the Phœnix park murders. But he soon leaves this region for the East.
It is the pleasant side of naval service that he shows us. After this
sea experience, the writer tells of his transfer to the admiralty
office in London and his experiences. He gives an agreeable account of
Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee in 1887, at which the German Crown
Prince Frederick, father of the recent Kaiser, was a conspicuous
figure. Then, in 1889, Sir George though not then knighted—had an
experience at the staff college. Then, later, there were some vigorous
experiences to record in connection with the war in South
Africa.”—Boston Transcript
* * * * *
“The book is one to be read with enjoyment and interest.”
+ =Ath= p1243 N 21 ’19 120w
“Sir George throughout his narrative is chatty, never tedious or
prolix and intersperses his story with frequent anecdotes, which are
always fresh and well told.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 S 4 ’20 450w
+ =Brooklyn= 12:132 My ’20 40w
+ =Sat R= 128:563 D 13 ’19 1200w
“Altogether, he has given us an exceedingly attractive addition to the
literature of reminiscence.”
+ =Spec= 124:460 Ap 3 ’20 1650w
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p638 N 13 ’19 750w
=ATHEARN, WALTER SCOTT.= National system of education. (Merrick
lectures) *$1.50 Doran 377
20–4029
“Professor Athearn frankly states that the church cannot ask the state
to teach religion, but the church can teach religion at odd hours
during the week and on Sunday. The church can and must organize and
administrate a national system of religious education that will
parallel and correlate with the national secular system which is in
process of formation at the present time. He regards the Smith-Towner
bill as a large step in the direction of a unified, national, secular
system of education, and accepts it as a challenge to the educational
leadership of the church to produce a program which will be equally
scientific, equally democratic, and equally prophetic. His discussion
of national control, or direction, of a system of secular and
religious education is extremely worth while at this, the most
critical, time in the history of education in the United States.”
(School R) “Bibliography on educational organization and
administration.” (Booklist)
* * * * *
Reviewed by J. A. Artman
+ =Am J Soc= 26:240 S ’20 220w
+ =Booklist= 16:260 My ’20
+ =El School J= 20:633 Ap ’20 180w
=St Louis= 18:217 S ’20 70w
“Timely and vital book.”
+ =School R= 28:392 My ’20 400w
=ATTLEE, CLEMENT RICHARD.= Social worker. *$2.50 Macmillan 360
20–19448
“‘The social service library,’ of which this is the first volume, is
issued under the ægis of the University of London Ratan Tata
department of social science and administration. The subjects dealt
with in order, each subject being treated under certain general
sub-headings, are Social service and citizenship, Charities (these are
classified, and one section discusses Waste and over-lapping),
Organization, Social service in conjunction with central and governing
authorities, the Qualifications and training of the social worker (a
talk on the subject which would be of great value to all entering on
social work), Religious agencies, The settlement movement (one of the
subheads is, The school mission), Varieties of social worker; and
there is an instructive chapter at the end on The social service of
the working classes (The friendly society—The trade union—The
cooperative society—The working men’s club—self-education).”—The Times
[London] Lit Sup
* * * * *
=Ath= p428 Mr 26 ’20 90w
=Cleveland= p92 O ’20 20w
“It is written in a philosophical spirit and with close-hand knowledge
of the subject. Although its descriptions of the various agencies is
based on British material, the book as a whole is bound to be useful
for the American social worker and student of social problems.” J. H.
T.
+ =Int J Ethics= 31:117 O ’20 90w
“The book is full, racily written, and made alive with interesting
first-hand illustration.”
+ =Nature= 106:498 D 16 ’20 350w
“To an American social worker possibly the chief interest of the book
is the philosophy of the author. He reflects a modern faith in the
power of the community as such to deal with the conditions that menace
social welfare.” P. R. Lee
+ =Survey= 44:731 S 15 ’20 1200w
“The book is a singularly thoughtful and instructive study of a
subject in which a widely interested public really needs
well-considered guidance.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p175 Mr 11 ’20 320w
=AUDOUX, MARGUERITE.= Marie Claire’s workshop; tr. by F. S. Flint. *$2
(3½c) Seltzer
21–759
“Marie-Claire,” to which “Marie Claire’s workshop” is a sequel, was
published in 1911. Marie Claire is now employed as a seamstress in a
workshop in Paris, and the book describes her life and work there,
with character studies of her shopmates. Monsieur and Madame Dalignac
are the kindly proprietors and they are portrayed vividly as are
Sandrine and Bouledogue and Duretour and her lover and Gabielle and
the others. There is also Clement, Madame Dalignac’s nephew, who
wishes to make Marie Claire his wife. The strain of working against
time to fill a promised order, the monotony of the dull season when
there is no work, the everyday contact of the girls, all enter into
the picture.
* * * * *
“Very simple and very real, told with sympathy, grace and a fine, sure
artistry, this picture of ‘Marie Claire’s workshop’ is a most
appealing book.”
+ =N Y Times= p20 N 21 ’20 640w
“In short, this is a special type of realism, and the cumulative
effect of it ... recalls as its nearest parallel, not prose but verse,
Hood’s ‘Song of the shirt.’” Calvin Winter
+ =Pub W= 98:1195 O 16 ’20 280w
“This is a book for gentle souls; although it is too deeply human for
the ingenuous.” A. G. H. Spiers
+ =Review= 4:59 Ja 19 ’21 1100w
“Possesses all the qualities of its forerunner, truth, serenity,
freshness, keen observation, united with a deeper understanding of
human nature and an even wider sympathy.”
+ =Spec= 125:708 N 27 ’20 540w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p685 O 21 ’20 30w
=AULT, NORMAN.= Dreamland shores. il *$3 Dodd 821
Poems for children with such titles as My dog, Clouds, Ducks, Pirate
gold, The wind, The weathercock, The magic garden, Seasons, Noah’s
ark, The moon’s adventure, The clock-man, Travels, A castle in the
air, Tree-top. There are six colored plates and other illustrations by
the author.
=AUMONIER, STACY.= One after another. *$2 Macmillan
20–15345
“Success jostles failure in the pages of Mr Aumonier’s latest novel.
His hero is his own biographer, and we follow him through a
picturesque childhood, along a divergent manhood, and into a more or
less ebullient middleage. When the end of the story, but not the end
of his life, is reached, we find that after adverse beginnings he has
become a prosperous business man, whose temperamental sister has
caused him more trouble than any of his own emotions, that he has been
twice a happily wedded husband, that he is the loving father of a very
desirable daughter, and the expectant grandfather of a child whose
father has sacrificed himself to the god of battle in the great war.
Except for that single episode near the end of the story, the
chronicle has to do with the ways of national, if not individual
peace.”—Boston Transcript
* * * * *
“It is rich and poor, cold and hot, dull and deeply interesting. But
the impression of the whole is of something which has just not
succeeded.” K. M.
+ − =Ath= p702 My 28 ’20 470w
“Readers who care for presentation of character rather than for plot,
will like this, though some describe it as tedious. Not for the small
library.”
+ − =Booklist= 17:156 Ja ’21
“Although his theme and the form of his story are conventional, Mr
Aumonier has written in ‘One after another’ an unusual novel.” E. F. E.
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 S 8 ’20 1400w
“‘One after another,’ though reminiscent of Butler and Bennett, is of
the very recent type, the vegetable school, that deals pleasantly with
mediocrity at its best.”
+ − =Dial= 59:663 D ’20 70w
“By this sharp definition of the generations blended with his brooding
sense of life’s fundamental continuance, Mr Aumonier has made his book
as suggestive as it is entertaining and as philosophical as it is
concrete.” L. L.
+ =Nation= 111:sup428 O 13 ’20 320w
“The novel is one whose appeal will be to those who care for style and
thought rather than for plot and incident. It is a better book than
‘The Querrils.’”
+ =N Y Times= p23 S 19 ’20 650w
“Naturally the interest is of the quiet rather than of the exciting
order, but the situations are well thought out and the human interest
and humor of sound quality.”
+ =Outlook= 126:333 O 20 ’20 90w
“Here is something to be read by both the new generation and the old,
for it links them together, with a fine understanding of both.” D. W.
Webster
+ =Pub W= 98:661 S 18 ’20 240w
“The development of the narrator’s character is, to our mind,
particularly well done—a very difficult task, and taken altogether the
author more than justifies the high opinion we hold of his abilities.”
+ =Sat R= 130:40 Jl 10 ’20 90w
“The book tends more to reflection than to entertainment, and is
considerably above the usual run of modern novels.”
+ =Spec= 125:408 S 25 ’20 280w
“Mr Aumonier in this work, while displaying a good deal of keenness
alike of observation and thought, fails in the essential task of
creating people that impress us as individual and significant. Mr
Aumonier’s touch, however, is incisive and dramatic. And, in intention
at least, he is not commonplace.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p11a S 12 ’20 240w
“The scenes are described with the ability which ‘The Querrils’ showed
Mr Aumonier to possess; but the book is less carefully constructed,
and the sense of incomplete finality which marred the effect of the
earlier novel in this one is more obtrusive. Mr Aumonier studies
situations rather than characters, and in contriving a situation with
a climax that is dramatic but not ‘stagey’ he has a particular skill.
At the same time, the book has a tendency to fall into vaguely
connected episodes, while the characters approximate too closely to
collections of impersonal attributes.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p351 Je 3 ’20 430w
=AUSTIN, MARY (HUNTER) (MRS STAFFORD W. AUSTIN).= No. 26 Jayne street.
*$2 (2½c) Houghton
20–9713
The action of the story takes place in the year after America’s
entrance into the war. Neith Schuyler, the heroine, has lived abroad
with an invalid father for a number of years, and following his death
has done relief work in France. She returns home hoping to learn to
understand America. To come nearer to the problem she leaves the
luxurious home of her two great aunts and takes a modest apartment on
Jayne street, just off Washington square. Here she comes into contact
with many shades of radical opinion and contrasts it with the
“capitalistic” attitude of her own family and friends. Two men fall in
love with Neith, Eustace Bittenhouse, an aviator, and Adam Frear, a
labor leader. She becomes engaged to Adam and then learns that there
has been another woman in his life, Rose Matlock, one of the radical
group. The attitude of the two women, who represent the new feminism,
puzzles Adam and he leaves for Russia. Eustace is killed in France and
Neith is left to grope her way into the future alone.
* * * * *
“Rather obscure and vague in some places, it will not have many
readers.”
+ − =Booklist= 16:345 Jl ’20
“Both in subject and in treatment, Mrs Austin’s work discloses its
kinship to the social novel of Wells.”
+ =Dial= 69:432 O ’20 60w
“Mrs Austin’s is a sincere and intelligent handling of an intricate
subject. Owing to her careful consideration and presentation of the
attitudes of her characters the book moves slowly, but it is easy to
feel the dynamic forces behind it.” H. S. G.
+ =Freeman= 1:597 S 1 ’20 680w
“Her attempt is original and subtle and its subtlety of presentation
is heightened by the fact that, before writing this story, Mrs Austin
seems to have steeped herself in Henry James.” Ludwig Lewisohn
+ =Nation= 110:827 Je 19 ’20 550w
“One should not chide Mrs Austin too much for her somewhat blurred
vision of the surface, since the greatness of her work lies in the
much rarer faculty, which she possesses, of being able to focus on the
inner significances.” J. C. L.
+ − =New Repub= 24:151 O 6 ’20 900w
“It gives you no more idea of conditions among New York radicals than
do the New York newspapers. The story moves slowly and
uninterestingly.” Henrietta Malkiel
− =N Y Call= p11 Jl 25 ’20 1000w
“The novel which is written primarily for some purpose outside itself
is a novel which from the beginning is heavily handicapped. Usually
the characters tend, in such instances, to become mere mouthpieces to
express such divergent views as the author may wish to have uttered,
and its situations are likely to descend into the condition of mere
obvious illustrations. Mrs Austin’s new novel, ‘No. 26 Jayne street,’
has escaped none of these dangers. The book is very long, more than a
little intricate, and at times profound.”
− + =N Y Times= 25:271 My 23 ’20 850w
+ =Outlook= 125:431 Je 30 ’20 50w
“Earnestness and background and an adroit hand belong to it, but all
its data, its types, its ‘ideas’ are recognizable and timely. Its
style may easily be called admirable. But its art conceals nothing.
You do not lay down the book with the feeling that it is a big
interpretation effortlessly embodied in its predestined form.” H. W.
Boynton
− + =Review= 3:73 Jl 21 ’20 1050w
=AUTOBIOGRAPHY= of a Winnebago Indian, ed. by Paul Radin. (Publications
in American archaeology and ethnology) pa $1 Univ. of Cal. 970.2
A20–741
“‘The autobiography of a Winnebago Indian’ is edited with explanatory
notes by Paul Radin. A middle-aged Winnebago called ‘S. B.,’ who
belongs to a prominent family of the tribe and has had typical
experiences, relates them in considerable detail and with great
candor. He tells of his youthful amusements and fasts, of his courting
and his many affairs with women, of his various travels, of his time
spent with shows and circuses, of his term in prison charged with
murder, of his conversion to the peyote rite and of his subsequent
visions of Earthmaker (God). The narrative extraordinarily adumbrates
customs and sentiments which have almost always been studied from the
outside but which here have the most intimate ring of
actuality.”—Nation
* * * * *
“A human document of extraordinary value alike for the ethnologist,
the psychologist, and the lay reader.” R. H. Lowie
+ =Freeman= 1:334 Je 16 ’20 880w
“As ethnology the account is of great value, and merely as general
reading it is highly delectable.”
+ =Nation= 111:164 Ag 7 ’20 40w
=AYRES, LEONARD PORTER.=[2] Index number for state school systems. 75c
Russell Sage foundation 379
20–11840
“In ‘An index number for state school systems,’ Dr Ayres finds a
single number which expresses the average of ‘ten different measures
of the diffusion, the quantity, and the quality of the public
education received by the children’ of the several states. The ten
measures averaged into the index are: (1) the per cent of school
population attending school daily; (2) average days attended by each
child of school age: (3) average number of days schools were kept
open; (4) per cent that high-school attendance was of total
attendance; (5) per cent that boys were of girls in high schools; (6)
average annual expenditure per child attending; (7) average annual
expenditure per child of school age; (8) average annual expenditure
per teacher employed; (9) expenditure per pupil for purposes other
than teachers’ salaries: and (10) expenditure per teacher for
salaries. The publication includes tables giving the index numbers of
the several states for the census years since 1890 and for 1918, the
resulting ranks of the states at the several periods, the correlation
between the several items and the final index, and the correlation
between the average of the five items that are based on attendance and
the average of the five that are based on expenditure.”—School R
* * * * *
=School R= 28:709 N ’20 420w
=Springf’d Republican= p11a Je 13 ’20 360w
+ =Survey= 44:495 Jl 3 ’20 190w
=AYRES, RUBY MILDRED.= Richard Chatterton, V. C. il *$1.75 Watt
20–1371
“One fails to fathom the reason why handsome, indifferent Richard
Chatterton, jilted as a slacker by millionairess Sonia, should extort
an iron-clad promise from a nice old gentleman, never to tell of his
departure as a private in the Blank brigade to France where he chums
with his own valet and performs the double deed of heroism which wins
him the most coveted of English decorations. One word of that and
Sonia would never have thrown herself into the artful arms of his
false friend Montague. When unavoidable evidence jams upon her slow
credence the facts about Richard, she sees him in London, invalided
home, and insane jealousy of his pretty nurse makes her conduct still
more complicated. Later, the mistaken report of the hero’s death, the
showing up of the villain in lurid tints and Sonia’s abrupt
disappearance, get things into a grand tangle. The lovers show a
genius for miscomprehension that keeps the action going strong until
the pallid convalescent is accidentally discovered by Sonia in a
convenient sitting-room, where fate and the author have to get behind
the two and push them into each other’s arms.”—Pub W
* * * * *
“The triteness of the story is unrelieved by any felicity of style;
this is the sort of novel dashed off in a hurry to meet an uncritical
demand.”
− =N Y Times= 25:287 My 30 ’20 260w
“There are vivid scenes of departing troops, trench warfare and base
hospitals, contrasted with gay glimpses of London society and country
life. And pleasant is the mellow romance of the plump chaperone and
the ‘God bless my soul’ old family friend—they at least have the
saving grace of humor.” Katherine Perry
+ =Pub W= 97:177 Ja 17 ’20 300w
=AYSCOUGH, JOHN, pseud. (BP. FRANCIS BROWNING DREW BICKERSTAFFE-DREW).=
Abbotscourt. $2 (2c) Kenedy
(Eng ed 20–8732)
This is preeminently a story of human kindness with enough of
harshness in it to throw the kindly people and their doings into
relief. The two sides of the picture are represented by two branches
of the same family: the clerical, younger son side in spiritual and
worldly prosperity throughout successive generations; and the baronet
side in as steady degeneration. At last there is a reversion to type
in Eleanor, the physically and mentally sound and beautiful daughter
of the ramshackle Sir Anthony Abbot of Abbotspark, whom the Rev.
Thomas Abbot of Abbotscourt heroically resolves to adopt into his
family on her father’s death. The story revolves around poor Eleanor’s
plight as a misfit both in the vicar’s family, surrounded by kindness,
and in her dissolute brother’s house, exposed to his low designs. To
escape both she flees into an unknown world and when her trials have
reached their climax a veritable conspiracy of kindness and good will
bring her back to life and love.
* * * * *
“The story is a vivid picture, drawn with the author’s customary
skill, of provincial social life in ecclesiastical circles and
interest is well-maintained.”
+ =Ath= p1168 N 7 ’19 100w
“There is something delicately feminine about John Ayscough’s handling
of his theme, his humor, his almost imperceptible irony. ‘Abbotscourt’
cannot be called a great book, nor would its author claim such a
distinction for it. But it is worth reading for its style, its purity,
and for that fragrance as of lavender and old lace which permeates its
pages.”
+ =Cath World= 112:258 N ’20 220w
+ =Cleveland= p105 D ’20 80w
=Spec= 123:819 D 13 ’19 60w
“It is worth dwelling on the method of approach to the characters; it
differs so greatly from much that passes for character drawings now.
It is open perhaps to a smile here and a shrug there, but it is
supported nevertheless upon a basis of thought which though delicate
is secure.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p629 N 6 ’19 580w
=AYUSAWA, IWAO FREDERICK.= International labor legislation. (Columbia
univ. studies in history, economics, and public law) pa *$2 Longmans 331
20–18736
“This book traces the origin and development of international labor
legislation from the time of Owen (1818), with chapters on progress
toward international agreements (1890–1900), labor conferences and
treaties (1900–1913) and the labor development of the world war. Part
2 deals with the difficulties in international labor legislation and
Part 3 with the Washington conference of 1919 including a summary of
the discussion of the eight-hour day and the employment of women and
children.”—Am Econ R
* * * * *
=Am Econ R= 10:839 D ’20 70w
“The assembled material will be useful to the student in the field of
labor, even though he may be puzzled by several indefinite references
and by some errors (possibly typographical).” Amy Hewes
+ − =Am Hist R= 26:361 Ja ’21 310w
Reviewed by J: B. Andrews
+ =Survey= 45:287 N 20 ’20 180w
B
=BABSON, ROGER WARD.= Central American journey. (Interamerican
geographical readers) il $1.20 (3c) World bk. 917.28
20–4903
This is the story of the Carroll family in their travels through
Central America—an attempt to combine in the form of a story for
children and an account of travel, certain information on our
commercial relations with our southern neighbors. Its aim is to teach
children that, in the process of linking nation with nation the world
over, friendly trade relations contain the romance of the immediate
future, that they imply human relations, fair dealing, and honorable
business standards. Among the contents are: Castles in New Spain; The
gateway of the world; The great waterway; On the trail of Columbus; A
plantation in Costa Rica; Mules and mountain trails; The ancient land
of Nicaragua; The wonders of a wilderness; The treasure of San
Juancito; The small republic of Salvador. The book has an index and
many illustrations.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:120 D ’20
+ =N Y Evening Post= p2 My 1 ’20 250w
=BABSON, ROGER WARD.=[2] Fundamentals of prosperity; what they are and
whence they come. *$2 Revell 174
20–20936
“In this book the statistician of Wellesley Hills holds that we must
look to religion and not to modern efficiency methods to insure
national prosperity. He contends that down to this hour, mankind (or
humanity—or the world at large) has lost its way, chiefly because of
its refusal to accept the golden rule as the basis of true
living.”—Springf’d Republican
* * * * *
“It is a courageous book, inspired by an unshakable faith in the
pricelessness of character, filled with wholesome advice to business
men, and garnished with anecdotes that would be equally appropriate at
a meeting of the stock exchange and a dinner party.”
+ =N Y Evening Post= p8 N 6 ’20 190w
“It is a business man’s call to business to change its aim, a sermon
of a high order of eloquence that if heeded would change the course of
civilization.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p6 D 13 ’20 200w
=BABSON, ROGER WARD.= W. B. Wilson and the Department of labor. *$2
Brentano’s 353
20–1493
“The present head of the Department of labor at Washington has had the
kind of life history that is often described as ‘typically American,’
but it happens that he was born and passed his childhood days in
Scotland. He was taken from school at the age of eight and sent to the
mines. As he grew up he worked as a common laborer, iron miner,
locomotive fireman, lumber-jack, log-driver, farmer, and union
organizer. He was sent to Congress from Pennsylvania for three terms,
and when the Department of labor was created he became by President
Wilson’s appointment the first Secretary of labor. All this and much
more is told in the present volume by Roger W. Babson, the
statistician, who was himself formerly chief of the Information
service of the Department of labor. Mr Babson’s book describes and
analyzes the machinery and policy of the department.”—R of Rs
* * * * *
+ =Am Econ R= 10:363 Je ’20 80w
=Booklist= 17:28 O ’20
+ =Cleveland= p77 Ag ’20 60w
“A well-constructed and interesting biography.”
+ =N Y Times= p30 Ag 1 ’20 160w
“It is a little hard to tell where Babson begins and Wilson leaves
off, for the biographer has not been quite able to play the part of
Boswell to his Johnson.” J. E. Le Rossignol
+ − =Review= 2:333 Ap 3 ’20 420w
=R of Rs= 61:334 Mr ’20 150w
=Springf’d Republican= p8 Ag 6 ’20 290w
“Mr Babson has both succeeded and failed. He has done effectively what
he set out to do. He has failed to do the much greater thing, such for
example, as that which Graham Wallas has accomplished in his life of
Francis Place. In a word, his book is not a biography insofar as
biography is an art.” W. L. C.
+ − =Survey= 44:89 Ap 10 ’20 600w
=BACON, FRANK.= Lightnin’; after the play of the same name by Winchell
Smith and Frank Bacon. il *$1.75 (3c) Harper
20–4438
A novel made from a popular play of the same name in which Mr Bacon
has been playing the title part. Lightnin’ Bill Jones, so-called
because it doesn’t describe him, is a gentle, genial old humorist who
keeps a hotel in Calivada, on the California-Nevada line. In fact the
state line runs thru the house, so that divorcees wishing to obtain
the advantages of the easy divorce laws of one state might do so and
at the same time enjoy the privileges of a California resort. Two land
sharks, who for reasons of their own, wish to get control of the
property, talk Bill’s wife and adopted daughter into their scheme, and
then, unable to win Bill’s consent, persuade the wife to get a
divorce. But their plans are foiled, and Bill with his genius for
“fixing” things also brings about a happy ending to the love romance
of two young people.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:280 My ’20
“The pathos and humor of the play seem dry and forced in the story.
Still the charm of old ‘Lightnin’ Bill’ Jones stands to some extent.”
+ − =Boston Transcript= p4 Ap 21 ’20 220w
“The author continually insists that Jones is a ‘lovable character,’
but to the reader he seems no more than a lazy, shiftless, old
drunkard, who looks to his wife and daughter for sustenance. Mr Bacon
does not succeed in freeing the narrative from the atmosphere of the
footlights.”
− =Springf’d Republican= p8a Ap 4 ’20 150w
=BACON, SIR REGINALD HUGH SPENCER.= Dover patrol, 1915–1917. 2v il *$10
(4½c) Doran 940.45
19–19869
“At Dover during 1915, 1916 and 1917, more operations were initiated
and carried out than under any naval command since the wars at the
beginning of last century.” (Preface) The author enumerates his
reasons for writing the book: to write while memory is still accurate;
to fill the need for an adequate account of the work of the Dover
patrol; to contradict the untrue statements of the press anent his
dismissal. Contents of volume 1: Historical; The ships of the Dover
patrol; Matters of strategy; Coastal bombardments; The work of the
trawlers and paddle mine-sweepers; The Belgian coast, its patrol and
barrages; Landing the guns on the Belgian coast; A proposed attack on
Ostend; Preparations for a great landing; Plans for blocking Zeebrugge
and Ostend; The control and protection of traffic. Contents of volume
2: The incomparable sixth flotilla; The downs and merchant shipping;
The barrages in the channel; The drifters and their tasks; The French
coast; C.M.B.’s, M.L.’s, submarines and smoke; Operations; The air
services of the Dover patrol; Dover harbour and dockyard; Epilogue;
Appendixes; Index. Each volume is abundantly illustrated and supplied
with charts and diagrams.
* * * * *
“An important contribution from the standpoint of historical truth.”
+ =Booklist= 16:273 My ’20
“As a question of strategy one of the most interesting parts of the
book is that dealing with the plans drawn for a joint army and navy
effort to turn the enemy out of his Belgian bases.” C. C. Gill
+ =Bookm= 51:477 Je ’20 1700w
“Admiral Bacon’s book has in it much matter for the layman and much
for the expert. For that reason it is more shapeless than have been
many books written about the war. For that reason also, it is a truer
presentment of the conditions obtaining.” Muriel Harris
+ =Nation= 110:657 My 15 ’20 750w
+ =Outlook= 126:768 D 29 ’20 6Ow
“For this lucid and sailor-like account of an essential service
Admiral Bacon deserves praise.”
+ =Review= 3:707 Jl 7 ’20 1400w
“This notable book wavers a little between treatise and narrative, but
it is well worth reading all the same. A certain sense of grievance
animates Sir Reginald Bacon’s pages. But it only obtrudes itself here
and there, for instance, in a tendency to belittle the method of
Admiral Keyes’s attack on Zeebrugge.”
+ =Sat R= 128:sup13 N 29 ’19 1050w
“Sir Reginald Bacon’s detailed narrative of the Dover patrol is a
well-written and highly interesting book, which will rank with Lord
Jellicoe’s history of the grand fleet among the chief authorities on
the naval side of the war.”
+ =Spec= 123:582 N 1 ’19 1600w
“It is a striking and interesting narrative, gracefully related, with
a thousand sidelights on this little-known field of naval operations.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p6 Je 21 ’20 720w
“The 633 pages of ‘The Dover patrol’ are crowded with statements of
fact, criticisms not indeed of persons (for, apart from his official
enemy, and vague indications of contradicting sinners, Admiral Bacon
is generous in his tone to his colleagues and subordinates), but of
principles and the methods of the art of war at sea. Admiral Bacon
sometimes writes expressly for the professional reader, but he
remembers the little knowledge of most of us, avoids pedantry, and has
a respectable share of the blessed faculty for making things clear.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p599 O 30 ’19 2150w
+ =Yale R= n s 10:437 Ja ’21 270w
=BADEN-POWELL, SIR ROBERT STEPHENSON SMYTH.= Scoutmastership. *$1.50
Putnam 369.4
20–26747
This “handbook for scoutmasters on the theory of scout training” is
the American edition of the author’s book on British scout training
with a few alterations by way of adaptation. Its arguments are
elaborations on the four main principles on which, according to the
author, scout training is based, and which require of the scoutmaster
that “(1) He must have the boy spirit in him; and must be able to
place himself on a right plane with his pupils as a first step; (2) He
must realize the psychology of the different ages of boy life; (3) He
must deal with the individual pupil rather than with the mass; and (4)
He then needs to promote a corporate spirit among his individuals to
gain the best results.” After the introductory exposition of these
principles the contents are: How to train the boy; Character; Health
and physical development; Making a career; Service for others;
Reconstruction; The education act and the Boy scout; The attitude of
labour towards scouting; Be ye prepared; Appendix.
* * * * *
“A readable handbook.”
+ =Booklist= 17:9 O ’20
+ =Review= 3:215 S 8 ’20 80w
=BAFF, WILLIAM E.= Inventions, their development, purchase and sale. *$2
Van Nostrand 608
20–6991
“This book is essentially a manual on the marketing of inventions....
In its broader aspect it is a book on business policy and is sent out
on its mission of enlightening inventors and others about plans by the
aid of which inventions may be profitably exploited.... The problems
discussed are the manufacturers’ problems as well as those of the
individual inventor.” (Preface) Among the subjects covered are: Value
and price of patents; Gauging the merits of an invention; Developing
inventions; The market for inventions; Patents as property; Inventor
and capitalist; Elementary contract laws. The final chapter consists
of Suggestions from the author on every phase of selling inventions.
There is an index.
* * * * *
“It should prove of essential service to the inventor who is about to
market his ideas.”
+ =N Y Evening Post= p15 My 8 ’20 250w
=BAILEY, CAROLYN SHERWIN.= Broad stripes and bright stars. (For the
children’s hour ser.) il $1.50 (3½c) Bradley, M. 973
19–13373
A series of stories from American history. The author says, “I have
written this book because I believe that the story of the American
people as it is embodied in the history of our United States supplies
the most important material for character building in the entire field
of elementary education, and should be offered to children in a new,
humanitarian way as a means of helping them to understand the
present.” (Preface) The stories are arranged chronologically and
include: Pilgrims for freedom; The first fight; The freeman’s charter;
Following the beaver’s trail; At the gate of old Harvard; Ringing in
the fourth of July; In the wake of the first steamboat, etc. A
chronology of main events referred to comes at the close.
* * * * *
“The stories are well told.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p6 My 25 ’20 100w
=BAILEY, CAROLYN SHERWIN.= Wonder stories. il $2.50 (3½c) Bradley, M.
292
20–12815
All the well-known myths are here retold for boys and girls. There is
an introduction on How the myths began, followed by the stories of
Prometheus, Pandora (Hawthorne’s “Paradise of children”), Vulcan,
Orion, Perseus, Pegasus, Phaeton, Apollo, Mercury, Proserpine, Jason,
the golden apples, the wooden horse, and others. There are six
pictures in color by Clara M. Burd.
* * * * *
“An attractive collection.”
+ =Ind= 104:380 D 11 ’20 30w
=BAILEY, HENRY CHRISTOPHER.= Barry Leroy. *$2 Dutton
20–4707
“When the story opens Barry is a spy in the service of Napoleon; the
war is on between France and England. Barry had learned to believe in
the people who were fighting for liberty and equality. But there comes
a time when Barry’s regard for the French consul is turned to contempt
and hatred. The abduction and execution of the Duc d’Enghien, whom
Barry knew to be loyal to Napoleon, was the cause of his revolt.
Asserting that he would never forgive the Little Corsican for his
cold-blooded treachery, he goes over to the other side and offers his
services to the British. He forces a duel on Nelson at one moment and
saves his life at the risk of his own at another.”—N Y Times
* * * * *
“Rather disconnected and has not quite the charm or vivacity of ‘The
gamesters’ or ‘The highwaymen.’”
+ − =Booklist= 16:345 Jl ’20
“In criticizing Mr Bailey’s methods in portraying his most difficult
figures, I would not subtract from the extent of his accomplishment.
He has, we must admit, failed in Napoleon and Nelson. ‘Barry Leroy’ is
an excellent story in spite of this lack. It possesses the fine dash,
the romance, the joy of adventure for itself, that we have come to
associate with other times than our own.” D. L. M.
+ − =Boston Transcript= p6 Ag 4 ’20 1050w
“Throughout the book the action never lags; there are no dull moments.
As a spy-story having an historic background and interwoven with a
charming love affair, ‘Barry Leroy’ is above the average in
construction and sustained interest.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:168 Ap 11 ’20 500w
“The fantastic vein of the story is well sustained, though necessarily
told in episodes with little organic connection, as if written for
serial publication.”
+ =Sat R= 129:234 Mr 6 ’20 80w
=BAILEY, LIBERTY HYDE.= Nursery-manual; a complete guide to the
multiplication of plants. (Rural manuals) il *$2.50 Macmillan 631.5
20–1758
“Rewritten and reset, L. H. Bailey’s ‘The nursery-manual’ is off the
press in its 22d edition. It deals fully with seeds, layers, cuttings,
buds, grafts and otherwise. To those who are acquainted with the
earlier editions—the first having been issued early in 1891—little
introduction is needed, save to say that the material is brought up to
date with addition of observations gained in further research. An
extended alphabetic list of plants with full directions for each is
included. The volume also includes an illustrated account of the main
diseases and insects of nursery stock, valuable to the commercial
grower.”—Springf’d Republican
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:231 Ap ’20
=R of Rs= 61:448 Ap ’20 50w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p10 Mr 12 ’20 240w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p242 Ap 15 ’20 40w
=BAILEY, TEMPLE.= Trumpeter swan. il *$1.90 Penn
20–17175
“The hero, a young soldier, returns from France to face changes of
fortune and soon to realize that the girl he loves has lost her heart
to another man. How Randy makes good, writes the romance of ‘The
trumpeter swan,’ and wins back the wandering heart of his lady, is all
set down. Interwoven is the minor story of baby Fiddle
Flippen.”—Boston Transcript
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:115 D ’20
“The plot of Temple Bailey’s latest story is practically nil, but its
settings are wonderfully picturesque. The hills of old Virginia and
the moors of Nantucket are powerfully contrasted to furnish a
background for a readable light tale.” C. K. H.
+ − =Boston Transcript= p6 N 3 ’20 500w
+ =Cleveland= p105 D ’20 50w
“Her readers will like this new book. The love passages are wholesome,
strike the note of sincerity, and therefore cannot but be acceptable.”
+ =N Y Times= p25 Ja 16 ’21 430w
Reviewed by Marguerite Fellows
+ =Pub W= 98:658 S 18 ’20 190w
“A good simple natural harmless story.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p5a Ja 2 ’21 230w
=BAIN, FRANCIS WILLIAM.= Substance of a dream. il *$1.75 (3½c) Putnam
19–19598
The author disclaims all responsibility for his stories which he says
come to him “suddenly, like a flash of lightning all together.... I
never know, the day before, when one is coming: it arrives, as if shot
out of a pistol.” (Introd.) This exotic Hindu tale is half love-story,
half fairy tale, and depicts in the extraordinary queen, Táráwalí, a
being half male half female. It is in three parts: On the banks of
Ganges; The heart of a woman; and A story without an end.
* * * * *
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton
+ =Bookm= 51:240 My ’20 450w
=Lit D= p91 S 4 ’20 1300w
“Those who have read Mr Bain’s other Hindu stories will not need to be
told of the unique place he now occupies in the world of letters. Here
the exigencies of space will permit us to say only that ‘The substance
of a dream’ is a worthy successor to the other and earlier volumes.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:145 Mr 28 ’20 600w
=N Y Times= 25:190 Ap 18 ’20 20w
“‘The substance of a dream’ will please those whom the other books of
the author have pleased. It is very feminine; sensuous to the point of
orgies of kissing; sensual with soulhuntings and langours and
faintings; fleshly in artistic ecstasies; and psychological in
imaginative suggestion.”
− + =Review= 2:682 Je 30 ’20 280w
“By no means the least delightful of Mr Bain’s long series of Indian
romances.”
+ =Spec= 124:179 F 7 ’20 550w
“You cannot say whether his style is artful or artless; but the words
make new associations for us, create an unfamiliar state of being,
though they are familiar words.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p669 N 20 ’19 1000w
=BAIRNSFATHER, BRUCE.=[2] Bairnsfather case; as tried before Mr Justice
Busby; defence by Bruce Bairnsfather; prosecution by W. A. Mutch. il
*$2.50 Putnam 827
20–21304
In alternating chapters Bruce Bairnsfather and W. A. Mutch tell the
story of Mr Bairnsfather’s life and struggles for success. There are
illustrations from Bairnsfather drawings.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:145 Ja ’21
“If anything in late years has been more amusing than Mr
Bairnsfather’s adventures in print, it is his adventures in black and
white as drawn by himself. Forty drawings grace the book, and many of
them are better than the original ‘fragments.’”
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 D 24 ’20 250w
“It has that satirical note without which a whole book of humour is
apt to be sticky reading.”
+ =Spec= 135:818 D 18 ’20 60w
“The whole book is a happy means of bettering one’s acquaintance, book
fashion, with the delightful Bairnsfather.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p10 Ja 18 ’21 330w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p685 O 21 ’20 40w
=BAKER, ERNEST.= Life and explorations of Frederick Stanley Arnot. il
*$5 Dutton
“Mr Arnot died in May, 1914, at Johannesburg, having just completed
his ‘Missionary travels in Central Africa.’ He first went to Africa,
inspired by the story of Livingstone, in 1881, and during his seven
years’ residence gained the friendship of the King of the Barotse and
was held in much esteem by the natives. Altogether he made nine
journeys to the centre of Africa, and his self-devotion and the vast
distances he traversed give him a high place among travellers and
among missionaries. His life story is worth telling and it is given
almost entirely in extracts from his own letters and diaries.”—The
Times [London] Lit Sup
* * * * *
“A valuable contribution to the literature of brotherhood and
religious democracy.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p7 N 20 ’20 430w
“Arnot was a noble character, and deserves a much better biography.”
− + =N Y Evening Post= p18 O 23 ’20 300w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p602 S 16 ’20 90w
=BAKER, GEORGE PIERCE=, comp. Modern American plays. *$2.25 Harcourt
812.08
20–14860
Professor Baker has in this volume collected five American plays
chosen from the output of the last ten years because decided success
has been theirs, and they are worthy of professional revival, and
because the selection shows the greatest possible variety. In his
introduction he briefly analyzes each of the plays and ends his
general remarks on American play-writing with the assurance that “We
have the right to hope that the next decade will give us an American
drama which, in its mirroring of American life, will be even more
varied in form, even richer in content.” The plays are: As a man
thinks, by Augustus Thomas; The return of Peter Grimm, by David
Belasco; Romance, by Edward Sheldon; The unchastened woman, by Louis
Kaufman Anspacher; Plots and playwrights, by Edward Massey.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:104 D ’20
“All the plays collected here are significant—all have added to the
pleasure of playgoing. This book makes their remembrance the richer.”
W. S. B.
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 O 13 ’20 390w
“Most decidedly, these are not the measure of American drama. They are
just five American plays. When a man has done what Professor Baker has
done at Harvard, it is disappointing to find him fathering so trivial
a venture as the collecting of these five dramas into a single
volume.” K. M.
+ − =Freeman= 2:310 D 8 ’20 190w
“All these pieces, probably, profit by being printed in their
entirety, but a somewhat deliberate study of them leads to the
conclusion that, judged by any moderately critical standard, only two
of them would be marked for revival on account of their actual merits.
The best of them, by all odds, is the somewhat awkwardly named ‘As a
man thinks.’ Of the other pieces in the list, ‘The unchastened woman’
is the only one that has substantial or abiding value.” J. R. Towse
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p4 O 23 ’20 1150w
“Four out of the five at least have interesting stories, and are
flawless in their adaptation to the theatre; but gayly as they trip on
the stage, they drag a little in the reading.”
+ − =Review= 3:389 O 27 ’20 350w
“This book is intended to interest both readers and amateur players.
It has, perhaps, no great significance as a compendium of modern
American drama but it should serve its purpose.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p6 S 13 ’20 240w
=Wis Lib Bul= 16:234 D ’20 60w
=BAKER, KARLE (WILSON) (MRS THOMAS ELLIS BAKER) (CHARLOTTE WILSON,
pseud.).= Blue smoke. *$1.50 Yale univ. press 811
19–14952
“The poems have been written ‘at intervals since 1901,’ the author
says, and consequently their moods are various.” (Springf’d
Republican) “Love, children, the cause of woman all move her to song.
Among other pieces we have specially noted the well-handled conceit
called ‘Winter secrets’; the happy introspective fancy called ‘The
lost one’; the truly heartfelt elegy for ‘The dead fore-runner’ of the
woman’s movement; and the delightful literary reverie called ‘The love
of Elia.’” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
* * * * *
“These poems are not all smoke. There are many glowing embers and a
few blazing coals. Mrs Baker shows something of antique restraint and
not a little of the newer and freer impulse.” C. M. Greene
+ =Bookm= 50:634 F ’20 140w
“Not ambitious in manner, Mrs Baker has the soundness and felicity of
art to make her themes poetically alive.” W. S. B.
+ =Boston Transcript= p5 S 17 ’19 1400w
+ =Cleveland= p85 S ’20 20w
“Hers is a gentle gracefulness, a light timidity that succeeds most
when it is least emphasized.” L: Untermeyer
+ =Dial= 68:532 Ap ’20 150w
“Mrs Baker’s metaphors from nature have an almost unexampled finesse.
She draws down trees, birds, stars, prints them on her page with a
diamond delicacy, heats and lights them into a tender, fiery
transparency. Her ideas are often second-hand, and her ardors, sweet
and genuine though some of them, particularly those for her children,
may be, are not perhaps distinguished enough to wear well. The solid
core of her work, however, though small, is fine.” M. V. D.
+ − =Nation= 110:76 Ja 17 ’20 220w
“‘Blue smoke’ is a book of happiness and hope. It is unpretentious,
modest, and sincere. The poems read as though publication had been an
afterthought; they were not written to catch an exclusive or
‘appreciative’ audience.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p10 Ja 23 ’20 260w
“Mrs Baker, an American writer, is a craftswoman of much skill, who is
never at a loss for ideas, various and fruitful, and can fit them to
apt expression. Hence her book is always interesting, though it does
not succeed in giving us the thrill of beautiful utterance.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p174 Mr 11 ’20 120w
“Possibly given overmuch to introspection, at times a little
over-wistful, this poet gives only her best. Her style is simple,
vivid, never précieuse; there is perfect ease in all the beauty of
these songs.” E: B. Reed
+ =Yale R n s= 10:204 O ’20 170w
=BAKER, RAY PALMER=, ed. Engineering education. *$1.25 Wiley 620.7
19–14693
“These fourteen selected articles, written during the past decade by
eminent engineers and scientists, are designed not only to inform
engineering undergraduates concerning the broad aspects of their
profession, but to serve as examples of good English. Simon Newcomb
and Sir J. J. Thomson discuss the origins of engineering education; J.
B. Johnson and Howard McClenahan deal with the types of engineering
education; the relation of language to the profession is considered by
J. J. L. Harrington and C. P. Steinmetz. The place of mathematics is
discussed by Sir W. H. White and Arthur Ranum; physics by M. A. Hunter
and R. A. Millikan; chemistry by J. B. C. Kershaw and Alfred Senier;
and the role of the imagination in engineering by Isham Randolph and
J. C. Smallwood. The editor is professor of English in the Rensselaer
Polytechnic institute.”—N Y P L New Tech Bks
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:76 D ’19
“Each is not only well chosen for its primary purpose of use in
engineering schools but might also be read, or read anew, by engineers
in practice.”
+ =Engin-News Rec= 83:891 N 13 ’19 240w
“It strikes a reader that these addresses, each advocating the claim
of some one branch of science, interesting as they are, would have
been more useful if there had been a recognition of the distinction
between what should be included in the school course preceding the
technical course, in the technical course itself necessarily
restricted, and what extra academic self-education should be expected
to accompany and follow it.” W. C. U.
+ − =Nature= 105:258 Ap 29 ’20 700w
=N Y P L New Tech Bks= p15 O ’19 150w
=Pratt= p18 Ja ’20 30w
=BAKER, RAY STANNARD= (=DAVID GRAYSON=, pseud.). New industrial unrest;
reasons and remedies. *$2 (4c) Doubleday 331
20–8811
“The battle is on” between employers and employees, says the author in
explaining the raison d’etre of the present volume whose object it is
to “present a survey, for the general reader, of the present
industrial crisis, and the various reconstructive experiments now
under way to meet it.” It is the author’s conviction that the problems
are very pressing, very real and intensely human and that, if the
American people can only be made to see and know and understand where
truly reconstructive experimentation is going on and who are the
thoughtful leaders on both sides, they will decide aright regarding
them. Some of the contents are: The industrial crisis as it appears
from above to the capitalist-employer; The industrial crisis as it
appears from below to the worker; The imputed causes of the unrest;
The real causes of the unrest; Awakening of the public to the
industrial crisis; Approaches to a solution of the problem—by
political action, as suggested by the workers—the new labor party; The
new shop-council system as applied in a typical small industry—the
Dutchess bleachery at Wappingers Falls, New York; Development of the
shop-council system in America—method of organization—the movement in
England and Germany; Foundations of the new co-operative movement in
industry: the new profession of management, and the labor manager.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 16:327 Jl ’20
“As a trained journalist, he sees the problem clearly, without that
hard definiteness such as an economist who is more reliable but less
readable, usually believes essential to correct understanding.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p7 O 9 ’20 280w
“Combining the lucidity of the trained writer, the quick eye of the
reporter and the orderly reflectiveness of the born philosopher, Mr
Baker’s birdseye view of what is wrong with American industry is the
best book of its kind which has yet appeared.”
+ =Ind= 103:319 S 11 ’20 200w
“There is nothing the matter with Mr Baker’s observation, as far as it
penetrates, but it does not penetrate to the causes which maintain the
struggle in spite of anyone’s reasonableness or good intentions.” G:
Soule
+ − =Nation= 111:534 N 10 ’20 190w
“He is always the reporter standing outside, trying to understand a
technical problem and to help his audience to understand.” Ordway Tead
+ − =New Repub= 25:208 Ja 12 ’21 410w
Reviewed by J. E. Le Rossignol
=Review= 3:504 N 24 ’20 350w
=R of Rs= 62:110 Jl ’20 30w
“An outlook free from confusing prejudices and a well disciplined
ability to obtain facts were carried to the inquiry. Mr Baker’s
principal prepossession seems to have been a desire to learn those
things which are favorable to the public well being. That, I take it,
is not an insuperable handicap. On the whole there is perhaps no other
single book which tells so well and so truthfully the story of a large
and important part of ‘the new industrial unrest.’”
+ =Survey= 44:316 My 29 ’20 300w
“Mr Baker’s writings are in more or less popular style which makes
them decidedly readable without detracting in the least from the
accuracy of the facts which he presents.”
+ =Textile World= 57:30 My 15 ’20 220w
“Mr Baker’s honesty and fair-mindedness verge upon genius—though they
are plainly aided by his refusal to break through the surface where he
is unable to see clearly.” W: E. Walling
+ − =Yale R n s= 10:217 O ’20 480w
=BAKEWELL, CHARLES MONTAGUE.= Story of the American Red cross in Italy.
il *$2 (4c) Macmillan 940.477
20–15731
The story tells of the material aid that the American Red cross gave
to Italy: at the front, in canteens, in assistance to hospitals, and
in helping refugees and the needy families of soldiers, but the
emphasis is put less on its achievements than on its contribution to a
better understanding between our two people and on the finer and more
discriminating appreciation of Italian character that our workers in
the field have invariably gained. Some of the topics are: The American
relief clearing house; The Baker commission, Red cross emergency
commission; Organization; Civilian relief and the “inner front”; Cash
distribution to soldiers’ families; Station canteens; Rolling
canteens; Surgical dressings; Hospital supplies; Hospitals; Work with
American troops in Italy. There are numerous illustrations and
statistical appendices.
* * * * *
“A readable book not overloaded with statistics.”
+ =Booklist= 17:139 Ja ’21
+ =R of Rs= 62:671 D ’20 50w
=BALDWIN, CHARLES SEARS.= God unknown. *$1 Morehouse 231
20–8877
A study of the address of St Paul at Athens, based on lectures
delivered at Columbia and Indiana universities. There are five
chapters: Religion in the open; Greek and Jew; Philosophy and
religion; Personality; Symbol and reality. The author is professor of
rhetoric and English composition in Columbia university and has
written a book on “The Bible as a guide to writing.”
* * * * *
“One feels grateful for such an intellectual and scholarly work as
that of the author of this small volume, who has made real one of the
most famous events of ancient times.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 S 8 ’20 520w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p623 S 23 ’20 50w
=BALDWIN, JAMES, and LIVENGOOD, WILLIAM WINFRED.=[2] Sailing the seas;
introd. by E: N. Hurley. il *$1 Am bk. 656
20–5112
“A sailor’s imaginary log, full of interest for boys and written at
the request of the U.S. Shipping board to promote in the younger
generation an understanding of the development of types of American
boats of commerce, of the interdependence of peoples and of the
importance of the merchant marine. Includes whalers, tramp steamers
and ocean liners.”—Booklist
+ =Booklist= 17:120 D ’20
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 O 5 ’20 240w
=BALDWIN, MARIAN.=[2] Canteening overseas; 1917–1919. *$2 Macmillan
940.48
20–15730
“What one Y. M. C. A. worker saw in France is told in a collection of
letters written by Marian Baldwin and published under the title of
‘Canteening overseas.’ The dates on the letters run from June 30,
1917, to June 19, 1919. The first one was written on board the ship
that took Miss Baldwin to France and the last one from Coblenz.
Between the two are letters from Paris, Bordeaux, Aix-les-Bains, the
Lorraine sector, the Argonne, the St Mihiel front, from Verdun and
from Germany. All the letters are reprinted as they were originally
written, except for the insertion of names of places, persons, and a
few other indications, which, because of the censorship, had perforce
to be omitted from the letters as mailed from Europe.”—N Y Times
* * * * *
“There is a gay spontaneity in parts of the book, a sincerity running
through it, and more than all else it serves to reveal the effect of
these dark days of service, of endurance, often of hardship upon the
writer herself.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 N 17 ’20 320w
=N Y Times= p30 Ja 9 ’21 170w
“These letters are made vivid by a natural descriptive touch, by an
ever-present sense of humor, and by an admirable spirit.”
+ =Outlook= 126:378 O 27 ’20 130w
=BALDWIN, SIMEON EBEN.= Young man and the law. (Vocational ser.) *$1.50
Macmillan 340
20–2658
“Professor Baldwin, ex-chief justice and ex-governor of Connecticut,
bears a leading name in the history of the legal profession. He
discusses the majesty of the law and the lawyer as its minister, the
cultivation of mind and heart incident to the legal profession, the
lawyer’s various opportunities, the personal and educational qualities
requisite of success, and the ideals of the profession.”—Boston
Transcript
* * * * *
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 My 5 ’20 120w
“The dominant note of the book is its idealism. Judge Baldwin has the
fortunate faculty of seeing things at their best.”
+ =Nation= 110:524 Ap 17 ’20 280w
“Eminently worth while for any young man who is thinking of the law as
his profession.”
+ =Outlook= 124:657 Ap 14 ’20 50w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p242 Ap 15 ’20 50w
=BAMBER, MRS L. KELWAY=, ed. Claude’s second book. *$1.60 (7½c) Holt 134
(Eng ed 20–8723)
“This book records a continuation of the ‘talks’ already published in
‘Claude’s book,’ which described a young airman’s first impressions
and experiences of life after death in the spirit-world in which he
suddenly and unwillingly found himself when he was killed.” (Preface)
The present volume is furnished with an introduction by Ellis Thomas
Powell and some of Claude’s “talks” are: Some difficulties of
mediumship; The circle of power; Ideal sitters; Spiritualism and
occultism; Man’s reincarnation; Dreams; The power of mind; Spirit
helpers; God—the war—the Christ-spirit; Development of personality;
The prerogative of spirit; Prayer.
* * * * *
“In this second book of Claude’s talks with his mother, we find a
considerable advance in thought. Certain chapters, such as that on
prayer, would be recognized for their worth, even if they were
entirely disassociated with this type of book.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p1 N 27 ’20 280w
“The explanations themselves are as unconvincing and improbable as
usual.”
− =N Y Times= p16 N 14 ’20 310w
=BANGS, JOHN KENDRICK.= Cheery way. *$2 Harper 811
20–13319
“A bit of verse for every day” says the subtitle, and, indeed, the
verses contain a cheery message for every day in the year, full of
courage, humor, sympathetic understanding of all human moods, and good
advice. The page decorations by J. R. Flanagan are in four designs,
one for each season.
* * * * *
“These little stanzas are full of the philosophy of good humor with
some real gospel messages.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 D 31 ’20 340w
=BANGS, MARY ROGERS.= Old Cape Cod; the land, the men, the sea. il
*$3.50 (4c) Houghton 974.4
20–19426
The table of contents indicates the scope of this book about Cape Cod.
The chapter headings are: The land; The old colony; The towns; The
French wars; The English wars; Theology and whaling; Storms and
pirates; Old sea ways; The captains; The county; Genius loci. There
are eight full-page halftone illustrations from photographs and two
end maps, one a modern map of Cape Cod and the other a facsimile of a
part of Captain Cyprian Southack’s map, made in 1717. There is no
index.
* * * * *
“One of the best Cape Cod books.”
+ =Booklist= 17:148 Ja ’21
+ =Ind= 104:242 N 13 ’20 60w
+ =N Y Evening Post= p18 N 13 ’20 220w
Reviewed by B. R. Redman
+ =N Y Times= p9 Ja 9 ’21 260w
“Good stories of pirates, Indians, and sea captains make the book
lively reading.”
+ =Outlook= 126:470 N 10 ’20 40w
Reviewed by E: L. Pearson
+ =Review= 3:531 D 1 ’20 70w
+ =R of Rs= 63:111 Ja ’21 20w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p9a D 5 ’20 290w
=BANKS, LOUIS ALBERT.=[2] Winds of God. *$1.75 Funk 252
A volume containing thirty of the author’s sermons, among them: The
east wind; The north wind; The whirlwinds of life; The need of a
red-blooded Christianity; The banishment of anxiety; The sorrows of a
tangled soul; The freedom of the city of God; Abraham Lincoln; The
blessings that come from prayer; The romance and joy of the pioneer;
Keeping the soul alive; The Bible ideal of a noble womanhood.
=BANNERJEA, D. N.= India’s nation builders. *$3.50 Brentano’s
“Fifteen biographies and character sketches of eminent Indians whom
the author regards as pioneers of modern India. The leaders include
Sir Rabindranath Tagore, Keshab Chandra, Sen., Dadabhoy Naoroji,
Gopala Krishna Gokhale, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and others.” (Brooklyn)
“The writer would urge, by constitutional means, the immediate grant
to India, subject to the stability of the empire as a whole, of a
substantial measure of self-government.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup
Jl 10 ’19)
* * * * *
=Ath= p684 Ag 1 ’19 340w
=Brooklyn= 12:134 My ’20 40w
“The defects of the book lie on the surface. The author follows
neither a logical nor a chronological order of treatment. But when due
allowance has been made for these unfortunate short-comings, Mr
Bannerjea’s realistic character-sketches are on the whole satisfying,
critical and varied enough to attract American readers to a closer
study of the Indian point of view.” B. K. Sarkar
+ − =Freeman= 2:115 O 13 ’20 1000w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p378 Jl 10 ’19 50w
“It is unhappily evident that Mr Bannerjea, for all the sedulous good
nature and tolerance which he consciously or unwittingly affects,
caters for the kindly enthusiasts who find the careful study of
historical origins a bore and an impediment to their pious belief that
all men are alike, that India is and always has been ‘a nation,’ and
that British administration is an oppressive and obsolete anomaly.”
− =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p490 S 18 ’19 1100w
=BANNING, MARGARET CULKIN.= This marrying. *$1.75 (2c) Doran
20–5228
In this tendency novel the problems of the modern woman are
sympathetically discussed. Horatia Grant has taken a course in
journalism at college and breaks away from her dull, respectable,
middle-class home to make her own way. She shocks her relatives by
taking a desk at the Journal, a progressive daily of socialistic
leanings with its editor, Jim Langley, socially under a cloud. She
meets a new class of people, acquires new outlooks, faces new
problems. Putting herself and her friends to the test she learns to
discriminate between the real and the acquired instincts. She finds
herself and she and Jim Langley find each other.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:345 Jl ’20
“The success of the story lies not in an original plot, nor even in an
unusual manner of telling the story, but rather in a certain freshness
and joy in the experience of it all.” D. L. M.
+ − =Boston Transcript= p10 My 15 ’20 750w
=Ind= 103:323 S 11 ’20 40w
“The book is so distinctly pleasing, and is written with such
unmistakable sincerity, that one passes over the blemishes—very
trifling, after all—and gives himself up to the quiet enjoyment of a
work that maintains its interest throughout without any strain or
outbreak of violent emotion.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:17 Je 27 ’20 400w
“Whether one does or does not think all the incidents probable, one
cannot help enjoying the genuine American enthusiasm of Horatia.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p13a My 2 ’20 300w
“A bright and busy story.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p386 Je 17 ’20 90w
=BARBOUR, RALPH HENRY, and HOLT, H. P.= Joan of the island. *$1.75 Small
20–4709
“The story opens in an extraordinary way, by a sailor slipping
overboard into the South Pacific ocean, just after killing the captain
of the tramp steamer in which he sailed. The escaped sailor, who has
taken with him no baggage save just a life-belt, is a strong swimmer
and after some thirty hours of alternately swimming and floating, the
fugitive reaches shore on an island of the South Sea. It is inhabited
and the traveller lands just in time to save Joan, the heroine, from
injury at the hands of an angry native. With such a beginning proceeds
a romance of the Sulu sea and islands. Joan and her brother are the
only whites in this vicinity and the brother is absent in another
island, leaving his sister who is in care of a great Dane. The dog is
poisoned by a treacherous native and Joan is barely saved from attack
by the sudden entrance of the fugitive. Of course there are adventures
without number, thrilling escapes from peril, a love episode and a
pleasant ending.”—Boston Transcript
* * * * *
“Fairly readable.”
+ =Booklist= 16:345 Jl ’20
+ =Boston Transcript= p4 Je 9 ’20 200w
“This is as good a novel of adventure as has appeared for some time,
not only because there is a clean-cut story, but on account of the
splendid lucidity with which it is related.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:308 Je 13 ’20 620w
“The story is hardly more than mildly interesting.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p7a D 26 ’20 130w
=BARBOUR, RALPH HENRY, and HOLT, H. P.= Mystery of the Sea-Lark. il
*$1.75 (3c) Century
20–14289
Jack Holden and his chum George Santo salvage an abandoned sloop, the
Sea-Lark, and fit her up for use as a ferry boat. Sometime before,
Jack’s father had been forced to sever relations with his business
partner, Simon Barker, under a cloud of suspicion and Jack is glad of
the opportunity to help out the family finances. The venture is a
success, but the boys are surprised at the sudden desire of two
strangers to buy the boat. Then comes a series of strange midnight
visits and finally both boat and boys are kidnapped and taken out to
sea. They outwit their captors and in solving the mystery of the
Sea-Lark clear Mr Holden’s good name and restore the stolen money that
had been the foundation of the trouble.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:77 N ’20
“What a boy will call a ‘dandy yarn.’” Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ =N Y Times= p9 D 12 ’20 80w
“A capital story for boys.”
+ =Outlook= 126:600 D 1 ’20 30w
“The story is well told and the interest is cumulative.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p9a O 31 ’20 170w
“A good mystery story which, refreshingly, is quite free from German
spies.”
+ =Wis Lib Bul= 16:197 N ’20 100w
=BARCLAY, FLORENCE LOUISA (CHARLESWORTH) (MRS CHARLES W. BARCLAY).=
Returned empty. *$1.75 (5c) Putnam
20–11496
A strange story of reincarnation. Luke Sparrow is brought up in a
foundlings’ home, where the only clue to his identity is the label
found on him bearing the inscription “Glass with care” on one side and
on the other “Returned empty.” He is a lonely baby, and grows up to be
a lonely man, with one queer trait: he has a passion for peering thru
the windows of comfortable homes, as if seeking for something he
cannot find. And then one day, he finds it in the home of a beautiful
woman. She tells him the strange story that explains his life. In a
previous incarnation he had been her husband, and at his tragic death,
she had grieved so deeply that her love had called him back to this
world to live again. But this great love, altho it brought them
together, cannot keep them so, and she steps out of his life again
leaving him infinitely richer, for the short remaining span of his
life, for the contact.
* * * * *
“She has made a most appealing story which will interest readers who
do not usually number Mrs Barclay among their favorite authors.”
Cornelia Van Pelt
+ =Pub W= 98:660 S 18 ’20 370w
=BARCLAY, VERA C.= Danny again; further adventures of “Danny the
detective.” il *$1.25 (5c) Putnam
20–12601
This sequel to “Danny the detective” is a book of short stories. The
first is a wartime story in which Danny again appears as the captor of
a German spy. The other titles are: Christmas eve; A sporting kid; A
midnight adventure; The secret room; In mid-air; Dicky’s chance; The
bishop’s story. Some of the stories are reprinted from The Wolf Cub,
an English Boy scout publication.
=BARCYNSKA, HÉLÈNE, countess.= Rose o’ the sea (Eng title Pretty dear).
il *$2 (2c) Houghton
20–17652
Eccentric Henry Eton was the only father Rose had ever known since he
had rescued her from the sea sixteen years before. Now at his death,
she determines to go to London to make her way alone rather than stay
in the little village which is so lonely without him. She is fortunate
in London to fall at once into a congenial occupation and among
friendly people. Among her new acquaintances is Denis Mallory, a
lovable, wayward boy, whose father, Lord Caister, is much worried
about the lad. Rose’s sweet spirit and common sense so appeal to the
father that he arranges an engagement between Rose and Denny hoping
thus to keep the boy straight. They both try to enter into the
arrangement honestly altho Rose realizes she is doing it for Lord
Caister’s sake rather than for his son’s. But when she comes into a
large inheritance Lord Caister’s pride releases her from the
agreement, which Denis, by a hasty marriage with an actress, has
already made impossible. There is now no barrier between Rose and Lord
Caister himself except pride, and that is finally broken down by
Denny’s tragic death.
* * * * *
“The heroine is remarkably artless; a little too artless, indeed, to
seem real—in this world, at all events. The author’s experience as a
writer of eminently readable fiction enables her thoroughly to enlist
the reader’s interest in this wild-flower heroine.”
+ − =Ath= p783 Je 11 ’20 110w
“A novel which many girls and women will like.”
+ =Booklist= 17:156 Ja ’21
“Rose in ‘Rose o’ the sea’ is a sort of female St Francis of Assisi.
The novel may help an undiscriminating mind to while away a dull
hour.”
− + =N Y Evening Post= p22 O 23 ’20 70w
=N Y Times= p23 O 24 ’20 350w
“It is a little story sure to delight every lover of impossible
romance.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p7a N 21 ’20 160w
=BARKER, ARTHUR.=[2] British corn trade; from the earliest times to the
present day. (Pitman’s common commodities and industries) il $1 (2½c)
Pitman 338.1
The term corn trade in British usage includes “all trade not only in
wheat, ... but also in any other cereal for which there is any
commercial demand, such as barley, oats, maize, rye or rice.”
Contents: The British corn trade and its units; The corn trade in old
England; The English law on the “cornering” of wheat and other grain;
Two hundred and fifteen years of wheat prices in England; The corn
laws era; The growth and development of the modern corn trade; The
effect of the great war on the corn trade. There are notes at the
close and an index.
=BARKER, D. A.=[2] Great leviathan. *$1.75 (2c) Lane
20–22040
Tom’s life was regulated by principle. As a lad at Harrow his
principles brought him into trouble because they ran counter to the
rules of the school. Later they interfered with his adopting a settled
career and he led a wandering life as a lecturer against social evils.
Even as a child he had begun to look upon marriage as wrong, for he
had witnessed his mother’s unhappiness, and free unions had become a
matter of principle with him. He makes a convert of his beloved Mary.
At first they are happy, but as little by little the great leviathan
breaks her spirit, love goes and she leaves him. His other endeavors
also meet with the world’s scorn and a complete nervous breakdown is
the result. After his recovery he goes to India and there he joins a
devout and aged Hindoo on his last pilgrimage and finds peace in the
“glory of God” as taught by the Bhagavad Gita.
* * * * *
“For a first attempt it is a commendable piece of work, but it does
not—if one may be permitted the expression—cut any ice. It is
pleasantly written, and there are many happy touches, but we are never
certain as to what it is that the author is after.” K. M.
+ − =Ath= p78 Jl 16 ’20 200w
“Mr Barker’s story is really very well told, he is greatly in earnest,
and the ideals he handles are much ‘in the air’ just now, especially
in England.”
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p18 D 4 ’20 170w
“A clever account is given of how he spoils his life by his experiment
in evading the chains of matrimony. The end of the book is not quite
so convincing.”
+ − =Spec= 125:439 O 2 ’20 40w
“Technically ‘The great leviathan’ is interesting as showing what Mr
Wells’s technique may become in unskilful hands. But the book, though
a failure, is an interesting failure. Mr Barker could not have written
it without learning a good deal of the difficulties of novelwriting.
He has things to say. His next book will probably be worth reading.”
− + =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p367 Je 10 ’20 560w
=BARKER, MRS HELEN GRANVILLE (HELEN MANCHESTER HUNTINGTON).= Songs in
cities and gardens. *$1.25 Putnam 821
19–19881
The princess’s garden, The narrow glass, To snow, The garden on the
hill, The wayfarer, The playmate, Lost gardens, On the river, Songs of
the rain and the wind, are some of the titles from part 1 of this
collection of poems. Part 2, containing the Songs in cities, is
devoted to such themes as: The house; The portrait; Night, and the
curtains drawn; Beyond knowledge; Old age; Twilight; To fire; The
city; Harvest of dreams. A note says that some of the verses have been
printed in earlier books by the author, now out of print.
* * * * *
“Mrs Granville Barker’s great technical accomplishment is the source
both of her triumphs and of her failures. Sometimes she is simply
exercising her ingenuity in the void, creating bubble-shapes of a
tenuous and fleeting prettiness. But at other times, when she has good
material on which to employ her skill, she produces finished and
distinguished work.”
+ − =Ath= p1137 O 31 ’19 70w
“Mrs Barker’s verse may not be for those who can ‘see heaven in a
grain of sand,’ but it has a quality that intelligence and taste can
thoroughly enjoy.” W. S. B.
+ =Boston Transcript= p8 Mr 20 ’20 400w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 D 20 ’19 160w (Reprinted from The
Times [London] Lit Sup p595 O 23 ’19)
“These songs are quite short and slight little wisps of fancy, as it
were. But one cannot read on without being truly moved by the passing
thoughts so tenderly expressed.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p595 O 23 ’19 180w
=BARKER, J. ELLIS.=[2] Economic statesmanship; the great industrial and
financial problems arising from the war. *$7 Dutton 330
(Eng ed 20–11567)
“The publishers have brought out a second edition of J. Ellis Barker’s
‘Economic statesmanship.’ When this book was first published in the
autumn of 1918 the negotiations at Spa and Versailles were still in
the future. The new edition accordingly includes about two hundred
additional pages dealing with problems and movements which have come
to the front during the last two years. About half the new material
relates to the economic position and future of Russia and Japan.”—Am
Pol Sci R
* * * * *
“The descriptive and analytical features of the book are admirable;
they contain a wealth of economic facts condensed in statistical form
and ably presented to the reader, retaining his interest throughout
with no sacrifice of accuracy and precision of detail. Mr Barker does
not succeed so well in the development of the theoretical features of
his book.” E. S. Furniss
+ − =Am Econ R= 10:806 D ’20 1000w
=Am Pol Sci R= 14:737 N ’20 60w
“One may not agree with all Mr Barker’s conclusions, but there is no
doubt that his book is a storehouse of important facts and figures.”
+ − =Ath= p224 F 13 ’20 180w
“Neither in the views expressed nor in the compilation of statistics
is there much matter of importance for the American student: moreover,
many of the chapters are inevitably out of date.”
− + =Springf’d Republican= p6 Jl 20 ’20 200w
=BARNETT, EDWARD DE BARRY.= Explosives. *$5 Van Nostrand 662
(Eng ed 20–6748)
In this volume of the Industrial chemistry series “the author has
endeavoured to give a clear but concise account of the manufacture of
explosives, together with an outline of the methods used for
investigating this class of substance.” (Author’s preface) Contents:
Introduction; Gunpowder; Explosive compounds; Smokeless propellants;
Blasting explosives; Safety coal mine explosives; Percussion caps,
detonators and fuzes; Matches, pyrophoric alloys and pyrotechny;
Explosive properties; Sensitiveness and stability; Conclusion. A brief
bibliography follows the introduction. Other references come at the
chapter ends and there is an index.
=BARNEY, DANFORD.= Chords from Albireo. *$1.50 Lane 811
20–4705
This is the author’s second volume of poems. “Dust of stars” was
published in 1916. “The present collection includes the work that Mr
Barney has done since the publication of his first volume, and hence
covers the varied periods before his enlistment, during his service in
France, and since his return and discharge.” (Foreword) The four
sections of the book are headed: 1917; France; 1919: By the sea. The
foreword is by Lawrence Mason of Yale university.
* * * * *
Reviewed by W: S. Braithwaite
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Ag 14 ’20 600w
“‘Chords from Albireo’ is a worthy successor to his ‘Dust of stars.’
It marks a deepening of the poetic instinct and a firmer grasp of
technique. Mr Barney’s work is important because of its spontaneous
evocation of moods, its impressionistic appeal to the senses.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:16 Je 27 ’20 240w
“My complaint against Mr Danford Barney is that my understanding is a
horse which he overworks—and starves. All this would not have been
worth saying in this place, had Mr Barney been destitute of poetical
capacity.” O. W. Firkins
− + =Review= 2:519 My 15 ’20 280w
=BAROJA Y NESSI, PIO.= Youth and egolatry. (Free lance books) *$1.75 (4)
Knopf 868
20–11320
“When I sat down to begin these pages, somewhat at random, my
intention was to write an autobiography, accompanying it with such
comments as might suggest themselves. Looking continually to the right
and to the left, I have lost my way, and this book is the result.”
(Epilogue) The result is a collection of aphoristic, partly whimsical,
partly cynical, always sincere sketches of the author himself, his
personality, his beliefs, his literary opinions and inclinations, the
main facts of his life. The translation from the Spanish is by Jacob
S. Fassett and Frances L. Phillips with an introduction by H. L.
Mencken who says of the writer that he is more Spanish than most of
his famous contemporaries. The contents are grouped under: Fundamental
ideas; Myself, the writer; The extraradius; Admirations and
incompatibilities; The philosophers; The historians; My family;
Memories of childhood; As a student; As a village doctor; As a baker;
As a writer; Parisian days; Literary enmities; The press; Politics;
Military glory. The appendices are: Spanish politicians; On Baroja’s
anarchists; Note.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:60 N ’20
“Baroja is a Latin: lucid reasoning and clear patterns of thinking
teach him to gauge and adapt life.” Stark Young
+ =Nation= 111:693 D 15 ’20 370w
“The book is annoying and at the same time distinctly fascinating. The
pages that are worth while are immeasurably fewer than the worthless
ones; but these are so worth while that the book’s existence is
justified.” C. W.
+ − =N Y Call= p11 S 12 ’20 190w
“He is wilful and headlong, but sometimes discerning in his literary
judgments.”
+ − =Review= 3:322 O 13 ’20 330w
=BARR, MRS AMELIA EDITH (HUDDLESTON).= Songs in the common chord; songs
for everyone to sing, tuned to the C major chord of this life; introd.
by Joseph C. Lincoln. *$1.50 Appleton 821
20–1986
“From among the hundreds of poems I have written during forty years I
have saved enough to make a small volume which some day I may
publish.” So Amelia E. Barr is quoted in the introduction to this, the
promised small volume. Among the titles are: The great happiness; The
old piano; Lost flowers; The empty purse; At fifty years; Quiet hours;
An old street; Harvest song; A country place in heaven; The tree God
plants; At the last; A writer’s question.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:233 Ap ’20
=Boston Transcript= p9 F 21 ’20 320w
“Mrs Barr frankly was content with fireside narrative and easy
injunction, with good deeds and cheerful rhythms. Her rhythm
occasionally cantered too fast, so that her cheeks flushed and her
bonnet bobbed; but there always was a halt somewhere, with no real
effect of a runaway.” M. V. P.
+ − =Nation= 111:247 Ag 28 ’20 150w
“Mrs Barr was no master of the flaming phrase, to be sure, yet she had
her felicity of line. What she looked at she saw clearly, and there
was something of the folk quality in the best of her work.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:245 My 9 ’20 700w
=BARRETT, WILTON AGNEW.= Songs from the journey. *$1.25 Doran 811
20–5607
Among the contents of this book are poems reprinted from Poetry, the
Forum, Contemporary Verse, Boston Transcript, McCall’s Magazine, and
“Victory,” Mr Braithwaite’s anthology of peace poems. The author
employs both free verse and regular meters. Titles are: Songs from the
journey; A New England church; To a pair of scarlet tanagers in the
square; Soldiers, behold your beauty; The valley and the shadow; The
holiday; A song of fulfillment.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 16:336 Jl ’20
“Mr Barrett is one of the quieter young American poets who is not
likely to be very much talked about, but who will leave an influence
upon his readers wherever his book finds them.” W. S. B.
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Jl 7 ’20 550w
“Novel conceits of fancy expressed with appealing grace and fraught
with the glamour of dreams.”
+ =Cleveland= p85 S ’20 30w
“Once only, in ‘Songs from the journey,’ does Mr Barrett touch
authentic poetry—in the suave and colorful ‘The vase.’ The book is not
distinguished verse.”
− + =N Y Call= p11 Ag 1 ’20 210w
“Mr Barrett is a poet of great promise, a spirit clear-eyed and keen.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:193 Ap 18 ’20 160w
“He has mastered the not too recondite, yet also not too facile,
secret of expressiveness in free verse.” O. W. Firkins
+ =Review= 3:171 Ag 25 ’20 100w
=BARRON, CLARENCE WALKER.= World remaking; or, Peace finance. *$1.75
(4c) Harper 330.9
20–4717
“All history is bound up in the human problems of personal and
national finance—personal and national protection to daily
subsistence.” (Foreword) It is the object of the book to set forth
from the point of view of the financier and the enemy of socialism
“the true relations between the work of capital and the work of hand,
and the relation of both to the labor of brain,” and to show their
bearing on our present-day problems. Some of the articles are: England
the great war loser; England’s weakness and restricted output; Ships
and shipping; The value of the pound sterling; Protection and
protected shipping; Reducing hours and increasing efficiency; The
spirit under British finance and business; The social unrest; Peace
“without victory”; Helpless Russia; Indemnities and signatures;
Socialism versus democracy; Inflation by currency, war bonds, and
taxes; Are we to pay for German intrigue at Panama? Bolshevik danger
and the remedy.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 16:260 My ’20
“The book is gossipy and readable, and yet is trustworthy, for Mr
Barron had entrée to authorities who talked freely.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:172 Ap 11 ’20 250w
“There are many little affectations of speech scattered through the
book which some may find irritating. But it is, nevertheless, a good
book and well worth reading.”
+ − =Review= 2:464 My 1 ’20 220w
=R of Rs= 61:556 My ’20 60w
=BARRUS, CLARA.= John Burroughs; boy and man. il *$3.50 Doubleday
20–20968
“The incidents here related have been told me by Mr Burroughs himself,
and are sanctioned by him. During the midsummer and fall for many
years past I have wandered with him over the fields and hills and
through the woods where he roamed as a boy. In these rambles he has
pointed out the places where the narrated events occurred. He has
explained in detail the curious and interesting ways and means of long
ago—old-time ways which will never come again. And not only in his
youthful haunts, but also during many an evening by the fireside at
The Nest, he has again recounted the childish recollections, the
boyish pastimes, and the youthful dreams recorded here.” (Preface)
After a characterization of the “grown-up boy” and his forebears the
contents are grouped under the headings: Childhood; Boyhood; Youth;
Maturity. There are numerous illustrations and an index.
* * * * *
“Originally intended as a boys’ life of Burroughs, this is full of the
human, humorous life of the country boy, with the story of the work
and play of the man written in a way to interest readers of any age.”
+ =Booklist= 17:152 Ja ’21
“Cheerfully condescending and commonplace. Mr Burroughs deserves
something better.” D. M.
− + =Nation= 112:89 Ja 19 ’21 40w
+ =N Y Evening Post= p10 D 31 ’20 220w
“It is true to the life, sympathetic and intimate. No admirer of John
Burroughs can do without this pleasant book.”
+ =N Y Times= p2 D 5 ’20 1450w
“It is a good book for boys and girls as well as for older people up
to the nineties.”
+ =Outlook= 126:600 D 1 ’20 50w
+ =R of Rs= 62:669 D ’20 120w
+ =Wis Lib Bul= 16:236 D ’20 60w
=BARRY, RICHARD HAYES.= Fruit of the desert. *$1.50 Doubleday
20–7295
“A race of sun-worshippers, the Sunnites, rescue the hero, left
starving on the desert of Arizona by bandits. He finds his new friends
to be survivors of an ancient civilization. Inevitably, as in all
stories of this type, he falls in love with their high priestess and
escapes with her to the less romantic but more comfortable life of
every-day America.”—Outlook
* * * * *
“Having elected to write a romance, and a romance of a very romantic
sort, Mr Barry is entirely justified in using romantic methods and in
paying just as little heed as pleases him to probabilities. He writes
with the skill of a craftsman, he keeps the interest well sustained.”
+ =N Y Times= p24 Ag 1 ’20 720w
=Outlook= 125:223 Je 2 ’20 80w
=BARTHOLOMEW, WALLACE EDGAR, and HURLBUT, FLOYD.=[2] Business man’s
English, spoken and written. il *$1.48 Macmillan 808
20–15735
“Bartholomew and Hurlbut have prepared a book which ‘intends to
interpret English as used by the careful business man of today.’
Chapter I of this book indicates the need of a study of business
English. Succeeding chapters take up such subjects as the business
vocabulary, ‘Common errors,’ clearness and emphasis in written
expression. Chapters VIII, IX, and X deal with oral English. Five
chapters are devoted to the study of various forms of letters. The
subject of advertising is given thorough consideration.”—School R
* * * * *
=N Y Evening Post= p9 O 30 ’20 90w
Reviewed by Brander Matthews
+ =N Y Times= p10 D 5 ’20 980w
“The book is well organized for use as a textbook. Persons giving
English courses in secondary schools will find it helpful.”
+ =School R= 28:797 D ’20 320w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p801 D 2 ’20 40w
=BARTLETT, WILLIAM HENRY.= Handbook of American government; rev and enl
ed. by H: Campbell Black. *$1.25 Crowell 353
20–11824
The last previous edition of this book appeared in 1912. The present
revision is designed to cover changes since that time, including three
amendments to the constitution, changes in the judicial system, and
changes brought about by the war. The editor has also “taken advantage
of the opportunity to explain or discuss at greater length various
important topics mentioned in the original text, and to introduce
comments or explanations of some clauses of the constitution, or of
the practical working of government under it, which had not previously
been included.” (Editor’s note)
* * * * *
+ =Survey= 45:26 O 2 ’20 60w
=BARTLEY, MRS NALBRO ISADORAH.= Gorgeous girl. il *$1.75 (2c) Doubleday
20–6713
Stephen O’Valley became rich quick. He strained every nerve to become
so because he wanted to marry the “gorgeous girl,” Beatrice
Constantine, the spoiled daughter of wealth. When the engagement
gaieties, the wedding and honeymoon were over, and Steve proposed to
Beatrice that they quiet down and “find themselves” the
disillusionment began. A perpetual round of social excitement, a
reckless spending of money was Beatrice’s entire world and Steve’s
comparisons between her and Mary Faithful, his right hand in business,
became more searching. In time Mary assumes the rôle of critic holding
the mirror up to Steve, to show not only his own life but Mary’s
heart. When the failure of Steve’s business sends the heartless
Beatrice to Reno another kind of “gorgeous girl” takes her place.
* * * * *
“Nalbro Bartley has mastered the style of American magazine fiction.
She has the light touch, the gift for quick, clever characterization
and a modicum of American slang. It is quite noticeable that the women
of the story are much more real creations than the men.”
+ − =Boston Transcript= p11 Ap 3 ’20 500w
+ =Ind= 104:247 N 13 ’20 20w
“While Nalbro Bartley’s new story of ‘The gorgeous girl’ cannot be
called particularly convincing, it is less glaringly improbable than
some of her other tales. The book has some neat phrasing, Mary’s home
life is nicely sketched, and there are a few clever touches of
characterization.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:199 Ap 18 ’20 480w
Reviewed by E. C. Webb
=Pub W= 97:995 Mr 20 ’20 300w
=BARTLEY, MRS NALBRO ISADORAH.= Gray angels. *$1.90 (1½c) Small
20–17174
The first notice the world took of Thurley Precore was when she “sang
for her supper” and then continued to sing herself into people’s
hearts generally. The rich ghost lady heard the voice in her living
tomb and came out to take Thurley to New York and give her a musical
education. She became a prima donna, lived in an intimate circle of
first class artists, experienced their disappointments, their boredom
and the restlessness of fame. She tried to become reckless and flirted
with the forbidden, when her singing teacher, also a man of genius,
whom she secretly loved, set her right by confiding to her his vision
of America’s supreme mission in art. Winning the violet crown he
called it. Later the war with its war madness showed to Thurley that
her own particular mission lay in helping to restore a hysterical
people to sanity and to become one of the gray angels to the broken
ones of the war.
* * * * *
“The book is entertaining, the characters are well drawn. Fewer
characters would have been better. Thurley’s interesting career, with
its pleasing denouement, might have been told in considerably less
than 420 pages.”
+ − =N Y Times= p10 O 17 ’20 350w
=BARTON, BRUCE.= It’s a good old world. *$1.50 Century 814
20–14616
The book is a collection of contributions to various magazines. They
all look upon the cheery side of life, pick out the amenities from the
commonplaces, and abound in good advice and cheery encouragement for
the passengers on this “Good old world” whose “quiet, patient fashion
in which he goes around about the same old task, day after day and
year after year” the author admires. Some of the titles are: I expect
to be entirely consistent—after ninety; A great little word is “why”;
The second mile; It’s a moving picture world, and the film changes
every few minutes; The fine rare habit of learning to do without; That
fine old fake about the good old days; Everybody has something.
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 17:137 Ja ’21
+ =Ind= 104:249 N 13 ’20 30w
“Brief and pithy and filled with common sense philosophy.”
+ =Wis Lib Bul= 16:234 D ’20 30w
=BARTON, GEORGE.= Celebrated spies and famous mysteries of the great
war. il *$2 Page 940.3
19–17029
“George Barton has gathered together some of the strange happenings of
the war. It is no connected tale of espionage, but rather a series of
pen pictures relating to only a few of those involved in the conflict,
and those few among the best known. The opening chapter deals with the
disappearance of the Hampshire, with Kitchener and his staff; the
final one, with the murder of Ferdinand at Sarajevo. In between are
such dissimilar persons as Edith Cavell, Capt. Fryatt, Bolo Pasha,
Roger Casement, Ram Chanda and Werner Horn.”—Springf’d Republican
* * * * *
+ =Booklist= 16:126 Ja ’20
“Every chapter reads like an Oppenheim novel in little, and there is
matter enough in the book to furnish material for all writers who are
seeking plots for stories of mystery.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p11 D 13 ’19 200w
“This book contains more promise than performance. Whatever interest
the stories themselves might hold is entirely spoiled by the stagey
dressing.”
− =Cath World= 111:406 Je ’20 170w
“An especially interesting chapter is ‘Eugene Van Doren and the secret
press of Belgium.’ If Mr Barton has told nothing new he has at least
gathered together the fragments of interesting and varied careers
reflecting differing aspects of the war.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 D 16 ’19 160w
=BARTON, WILLIAM ELEAZAR.= Paternity of Abraham Lincoln; was he the son
of Thomas Lincoln? an essay on the chastity of Nancy Hanks. *$4 Doran
20–19246
The author says that this book may be considered a footnote to his
earlier book, “The soul of Abraham Lincoln” and as a suppressed
preface to a “Life of Abraham Lincoln” which he plans to write. He
states that in collecting data for the first book he came upon a
considerable body of material bearing on Lincoln’s paternity and
discovered that a number of intelligent collectors of Lincoln books
and students of history were convinced that Abraham Lincoln was not
the son of Thomas Lincoln. “Moreover, the author found himself at
length compelled to ask of himself the question, What if these reports
are true? And he pursued his investigations with an open mind.... The
author has endeavored to trace every rumor and report relating to the
birth of Abraham Lincoln, to assemble all the available evidence in
favor of it and against it, to judge each one of these reports upon
its own merits, and to render what, he believes, is a judgment from
which there can be no successful appeal.” The judgment is a refutation
of the supposed evidence and the author believes that he has covered
the ground so thoroughly that the matter need not be referred to
again.
* * * * *
+ =Boston Transcript= p7 N 20 ’20 840w
“A convincing study which leaves not a square inch of ground for the
scandal to stand on. Mr Barton’s researches have been exhaustive
and—barring a few minor slips—accurate.” C. V. D.
+ =Nation= 111:734 D 22 ’20 820w
“It is undisputedly and indisputably a good work to which Dr Barton
has set his hand.”
+ =N Y Times= p16 O 31 ’20 1750w
=R of Rs= 53:222 F ’21 70w
“A scholarly monograph.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p6 N 15 ’20 480w
=BARTON, WILLIAM ELEAZAR.= Soul of Abraham Lincoln. *$4 (3½c) Doran
20–3862
“The fact that there are so many books on the religion of Abraham
Lincoln is a chief reason why there should be one more.” (Preface) The
author explains his volume by stating the considerations which
differentiate it from earlier works. He has provided an adequate
historical background for the study of Lincoln’s religious life in
successive periods and has been aided in this effort by the fact that
he spent seven years in the same environment in which Lincoln lived
during two important epochs of his career. He has assembled a larger
body of essential evidence than any previous writer has compiled, and
subjected it to a critical analysis. He has opened several entirely
new avenues of investigation and he has set forth his conviction
concerning the faith of Abraham Lincoln aside from his theological
opinions. Accordingly the book falls into three parts: 1, A study of
religious environment; 2, An analysis of the evidence; 3, The religion
of Lincoln. The appendices contain extracts from addresses and books
of other writers and there is a bibliography and an index.
* * * * *
“For libraries attempting a complete Lincoln collection, though it is
rather lacking in charm for general reading.”
+ − =Booklist= 17:28 O ’20
“This book is so important in its field that it must be regarded as
necessary to any library, public or private, fittingly equipped for
the critical consideration of Lincoln’s religious history. His book is
so well done that it is likely long to remain the standard work on the
subject.” L. E. Robinson
+ =Bookm= 51:547 Jl ’20 3200w
“The conclusion of the whole matter is that despite its entertaining
and its authoritative biographical qualities, such a book as ‘The soul
of Abraham Lincoln’ is utterly futile. It leaves us exactly at the
point of its beginning. In its last page we have no clearer idea of
Lincoln’s religious belief than in its first. Despite the mass of
material he assembles, Dr Barton proves nothing.” E. F. E.
− + =Boston Transcript= p4 Ap 7 ’20 1500w
“His viewpoint, the skilful analysis of conflicting evidence, and the
ability which the author shows in reaching a logical conclusion, seems
to us to make this book one with which all students of the lives of
Lincoln must hereafter reckon.”
+ =N Y Call= p10 Mr 28 ’20 340w
“His volume will probably be the final authority on the much-debated
topic of Mr Lincoln’s religious faith.”
+ =Outlook= 124:656 Ap 14 ’20 2000w
=Spec= 124:835 Je 19 ’20 70w
“Like many others who would like to have Mr Lincoln pictured not
exactly as he really was, but as they are eager to think him, Mr
Barton labors hard to show what he believes to have been the
president’s religious ideas. The result is a new literary portrait of
Mr Lincoln, interesting and agreeable in details of the president’s
family life, but leaving one unconvinced regarding his religious
convictions.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p6 Mr 15 ’20 600w
“Mr Barton has done his work with good feeling and well. In one thing
we dissent from him seriously. He quite naturally ascribes Lincoln’s
refusal to follow his wife all the way into the Presbyterian fold, or
some other, to the weak side of his intellect and character. In all
this there is something astray.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p480 Jl 29 ’20 1250w
=BARUCH, BERNARD MANNES.= Making of the reparation and economic sections
of the treaty. *$3 Harper 940.314
20–18667
Having been intimately concerned with the creation of the reparation
and economic sections of the treaty, the writer, in his introduction
to the book, gives an apologetic review of the then existing
conditions. The treaty was made, he says, in the still smouldering
furnace of human passion. In the reparation clauses the conference was
not writing a mere contract of dollars and cents; it was dealing with
blood-raw passions still pulsing through peoples’ veins. He concedes
that the treaty is severe but also insists that it is a flexible
instrument, qualified to help effectuate a just and proper peace, if
that desire and purpose be really present. Contents: How the
reparation clauses were formed; Drawing the economic clauses;
Reparation clauses; Economic clauses; Appendix; Index.
* * * * *
“He writes with more caution and less indignation than Keynes but his
conclusion is essentially the same.”
+ =Booklist= 17:139 Ja ’21
“It is straight history, instead of being, like Keynes’s book, a blend
of history, literary satire and propaganda.”
+ =Ind= 103:442 D 25 ’20 120w
“Though Mr Baruch is still somewhat under the influence of the pall of
Paris, he lifts something of the veil of secrecy, and when he does he
speaks with authority, and not as the journalists. It is an invaluable
contribution.” L. S. G.
+ − =Nation= 111:506 N 3 ’20 1200w
Reviewed by Alvin Johnson
=New Repub= 25:21 D 1 ’20 1550w
“Mr Baruch seeks to explain, rather than to defend—which is the more
enlightening method. His simplicity, candor, and restraint let the
reader in to an apprehension of the true facts as he sees them. Where
is it, then, that Mr Baruch’s conception of the relations of men and
nations fails us and dismays us? Because he counts too low the
significance of words. Mr Baruch comforts himself that the parts of
the treaty which he hates not less than I do are empty because they
are impossible, and harmless because they can never happen. But they
have wounded, nevertheless, the public faith of Europe.” J. M. Keynes
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p3 D 4 ’20 3050w
“The author has given a valuable account of the matter; clear,
dispassionate, uninvolved. His contentions gain in force through the
strictness with which he keeps within the field that he has marked out
for himself.”
+ =No Am= 212:859 D ’20 600w
“Should prove a valuable book of reference.”
+ =Outlook= 127:32 Ja 5 ’21 340w
“Mr Baruch’s chapters are brief and direct, while also persuasive to
the point of carrying conviction. The atmosphere in which the work was
done is well reproduced. This volume will be a necessary part of every
public and private library that includes the essential books relating
to the making of peace.”
+ =R of Rs= 62:668 D ’20 320w
“His new book is short and concise, but it is in some respects the
most illuminating comment upon the treaty that we have seen.”
+ =Spec= 125:778 D 11 ’20 1300w
=BASCOM, LELIA.= Elementary lessons in English idiom. *$2 Appleton 425
20–15172
A work prepared in the Extension division of the University of
Wisconsin as a textbook for students in correspondence-study. It is
“designed to aid two types of students,—those who are not native
Americans but who have had a season of study in night school or
elsewhere so that they read and write English a little; and those
native Americans who are handicapped by a lack of knowledge of good
English usage.” The teaching thruout the book is by examples and
exercises for practice. Rules are reserved for a summing up at the
end.
=BASDEN, GEORGE THOMAS.= Among the Ibos of Nigeria. il *$5 Lippincott
916.6
20–20653
“The country of the Ibos is a district in British West Africa on the
lower Niger immediately above the delta, and mainly on the eastern
bank of the river. The people—some of them—are cannibals and addicted
to the offering of human sacrifices with every circumstance of
cruelty; they eat snakes, except the python which is sacred; their
occupations are primitive, farming, fishing, and hunting—all three it
will be noticed connected with the necessity for procuring the prime
necessity, food. Their customs will be found detailed in this
book.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
* * * * *
“There are annoying misprints both in English and Ibo; the map,
especially in the southern portion, must be termed misleading, it does
not even contain all the names mentioned in the text; but Mr Basden
has brought together much interesting material, some of it novel,
though in many instances insufficiently localized to be of use to the
scientific student. The errors pointed out above need not alarm the
general reader, who will find the life of the people set forth in an
interesting manner.” N. W. T.
+ − =Ath= p580 O 29 ’20 580w
“It is by a missionary of wide experience, rare open-mindedness, and a
real gift of observation. He makes no pretension to literary
excellence, but has made a book that is entertaining as well as
valuable ethnologically.”
+ =Outlook= 126:470 N 10 ’20 60w
“If we did not begin by crediting Mr Basden with sincerity, we should
be convinced of it in a few pages.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p631 S 30 ’20 720w
=BASS, JOHN FOSTER.= Peace tangle. *$4.50 Macmillan 940.314
20–19521
“Mr Bass traces recent diplomatic history from the secret treaties
entered into by various nations through the Paris peace conference and
the subsequent period. He devotes special chapters to conditions in
Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland,
Russia, the Balkans, and Turkey. Particular interest attaches to the
comment on the League of nations.”—Outlook
* * * * *
“Not so much a study of the treaty itself as Scott or of particular
sections of it as Baruch but more an evaluation in terms of actual
conditions and hoped for results. Less well organized than Keynes but
more detached in spirit (opinions are presented coldly, without any
attempt to persuade).”
+ =Booklist= 17:139 Ja ’21
“His book falls short of some of the other accounts, notably that of
Keynes, in organization of material, in charm of style and subtlety of
argument. In compensation it offers superior evidence of candor,
freedom from preconception and party bias and respect for the
independence of the reader’s judgment.” Alvin Johnson
+ − =New Repub= 24:330 N 24 ’20 1700w
“We know of no better volume to commend either to the man in the
street or to the serious student. The matter reveals a keen
observation, a rich experience, and a ripe maturity of judgment.”
+ =Outlook= 126:470 N 10 ’20 330w
“It is the best single book that has been written showing how the
peace treaty has actually worked in its application to political and
economic conditions.”
+ =R of Rs= 62:668 D ’20 110w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p843 D 9 ’20 100w
=BASSETT, JOHN SPENCER.= Our war with Germany; a history. il *$4 (3c)
Knopf 940.373
19–19694
For descriptive note see Annual for 1919.
* * * * *
“Taken all together the account of Professor Bassett is the clearest
and best that has yet attempted in one volume the story of our part in
the world war. New sources will modify parts of the work, but the main
outlines will stand much as this historian has dispassionately
presented them. The chief complaint that some readers will make with
justice is that the book is placid rather than penetrating or
analytical.”
+ − =Am Hist R= 25:737 Jl ’20 650w
“Professor Bassett has written modestly and intelligently in a field
in which it would be easy to go far astray, and has attained more than
the ‘reasonable accuracy’ that his preface hopes for. No better book
is as yet available for the student interested in our participation in
the world war, and no other is so detached and historical-minded as
this. The least successful portion of the book is that which covers
the obscure yet significant leadership of the United States in the
development of the ‘single front,’ military and economic.” F: L.
Paxson
+ − =Am Pol Sci R= 14:351 My ’20 420w
+ =Booklist= 16:198 Mr ’20
“Carefully studied and judicially written, this book is sure to be one
of the useful authorities. In a broad survey of the field, the only
notable lack is a consideration of the economic effects of the war and
of its financing.” Preserved Smith
+ − =Nation= 110:302 Mr 6 ’20 360w
=BASSETT, SARA WARE.= Paul and the printing press. il *$1.50 (2½c)
Little
20–8885
Paul Cameron, president of his class in Burmingham high school,
conceives the idea of a school paper. With boyish daring he approaches
the leading editor of the town with a business proposition and to the
great man’s surprise persuades him into printing the paper. The
venture is a success and Paul learns much of modern printing methods
as well as something of the history of early manuscript books and of
printing. The book is the first volume in the Invention series.
* * * * *
“Miss Bassett has made the story readable and enjoyable. One is not
too conscious of the didactic intention while on the other hand her
information stands out clearly, and she never allows it to be
smothered by the story interest.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Je 30 ’20 150w
=BASSETT, SARA WARE.= Wall between. il *$1.90 Little
20–15702
“A feud of four generations between two New England families is the
motif of Sara Ware Bassett’s new romance, ‘The wall between.’ Since
the days of Great-Grandfather Webster and Great-Grandfather Howe, the
two families have quarreled over who shall keep in repair the stone
wall dividing their farms. Ellen Webster, a narrow-minded, vitriolic
spinster of seventy-five, and Martin Howe, forty, are the respective
heads of the families of this generation. Matters change when Ellen
brings her young niece Lucy from the West into the old home. Lucy, who
has heard nothing of the feud, makes the acquaintance of Howe’s three
timid sisters, and eventually meets him. It follows that the two fall
in love. On her death bed, Ellen discovers how matters stand with her
niece and neighbor and determines on final revenge. When her will is
read it is found that she leaves all her property to Howe provided he
repairs the long-disputed wall. Otherwise it is to become the town
poor farm. The situation develops into a battle between Howe’s pride
and the inclinations of his heart. But love, as usual, finds a way
out.”—Springf’d Republican
* * * * *
“A wholesome and pleasant, though not remarkable story that will
please girls and women.”
+ =Booklist= 17:70 N ’20
“Her previous novels, if one reads right, were somewhat saccharine,
but with growing firmness of touch due to experience in writing ‘The
wall between’ is more natural, more real, than its predecessors.” R.
D. W.
+ =Boston Transcript= p9 O 16 ’20 160w
“While different from her ‘Cape’ tales, this story is fully as
interesting, for, in spite of its artificialities, it is told with
understanding of human nature and the perversion of human instincts.”
+ − =Springf’d Republican= p11a S 26 ’20 320w
=BATES, KATHARINE LEE.= Sigurd our golden collie and other comrades of
the road. il *$2 (3c) Dutton 636.7
19–19679
Under the first title we have the biography of a beloved dog,
household pet of two professional women, teachers in Wellesley
college, who tended him from puppyhood until old age ended his career.
The other comrades of the road were birds, a cat, and Hamlet and
Polonius, another dog and a parrot. Poems occur between the chapters.
* * * * *
“The grownup lover of pets will enjoy this book of dog, cat and bird
biography much as children enjoy their numerous animal books. The
writer’s fondness for collies is tempered with a sly delightful humor
which relieves the book of sentimentality.”
+ =Booklist= 16:169 F ’20
“She has, in short, made literature out of a dog and enshrined one
lovable member of that remarkable race in a work as thoughtful as it
is delightful. Sigurd, I believe, will take his place among the canine
immortals, along with Greyfriars Bobby, John Muir’s Stikeen, and the
great dogs of fiction.” W. A. Dyer
+ =Bookm= 51:575 Jl ’20 750w
“It was almost inevitable that in writing the life-story of Sigurd
Miss Bates should have woven into the book so much of the atmosphere
of Wellesley that it will take on for the alumnæ of those years the
character of an unfading memory.” D. L. M.
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Ja 28 ’20 1100w
+ =Cleveland= p33 Mr ’20 40w
“It may be that Miss Bates really understands dog nature, but she has
not expressed it here.”
− =Nation= 110:861 Je 26 ’20 310w
+ =Outlook= 124:203 F 4 ’20 60w
“We like her writing best when it is most bookish. That is its note.
We have other books on our shelves aplenty in which the canine hero
plays a more tragic or pathetic or even humorous rôle, but none in
which he is more humanly literate than Miss Bates’s Sigurd of the
golden fleece.”
+ =Review= 2:135 F 7 ’20 260w
“Cannot fail to please all animal lovers.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p13 F 1 ’20 1000w
=BATTERSBY, HENRY FRANCIS PREVOST (FRANCIS PREVOST, pseud.).= Edge of
doom. *$1.75 (2c) Lane
20–7652
A novel with scenes laid in England, East Africa and on the western
front. Rumors of Julian Abingdon’s disgraceful conduct in Central
Africa, where he has held official position, reach London, together
with an unconfirmed rumor of his death. Believing him still alive and
desiring to clear his name, his fiancée, Cyllene Moriston, insists on
going out to look for him. His cousin, Jim Chaytor, who has always
disliked Abingdon, takes charge of her expedition. Cyllene is stricken
with fever and is left in the care of German missionaries while
Chaytor goes on to find Julian. He finds him alive and well and living
voluptuously with native women and hence desiring to remain officially
dead. He does not tell Cyllene the truth; marries her himself and is
then separated from her by the outbreak of the war. During his absence
she meets Julian, finds that her old love is dead, and turns with full
hearted devotion to her husband.
* * * * *
“‘The edge of doom’ is a very capable piece of work, serious without
being in any way disagreeable, absorbing both on account of the
intensity of the emotion, the consciousness of beauty both in emotion
and in the physical aspect of things, and the importance of the
historic background.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p9 Je 5 ’20 400w
“The book reads very much as though the author had started out to
write one kind of a story, then suddenly changed his mind and
proceeded to produce another. This is the more deplorable because the
second part of the book, the war section, is well done and
interesting.”
+ − =N Y Times= 25:25 Je 27 ’20 480w
“The story is skilfully told, with a deft, yet sparing use of local
colour which helps to carry conviction. It is well worth its place on
any bookshelf.”
+ =Sat R= 129:111 Ja 31 ’20 200w
“The novel part cannot be commended as a story. At the same time there
is no doubt that the whole book is well written; the dialogue and the
narrative skilfully and vividly handled.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p652 N 13 ’19 280w
=BAXTER, ARTHUR BEVERLEY.= Blower of bubbles. *$1.75 (2½c) Appleton
20–1698
Five unusual stories based on the war, with a sparkling iridescent
quality remote from, yet not antagonistic to, reality. The title story
depicts a delightful, apparently carefree personality, a gentleman,
university bred, who has no set vocation in life, is a dilettante in
almost everything it is possible to be, and who spends most of his
time and energy making unfortunate or gloomy people happy: in other
words, blowing bubbles. In spite of his weak heart he contrives to get
into the war, is permanently crippled, yet sitting in his invalid’s
chair in a picturesque garden on the Isle of Wight, blows brighter,
gayer, more luminous bubbles than ever before, and gives one person,
at least, a lasting happiness. The other titles are: Petite Simunde;
The man who scoffed; The airy prince; Mr Craighouse of New York,
satirist.
* * * * *
“All are readable.”
+ =Ath= p1411 D 26 ’19 40w
=Booklist= 16:242 Ap ’20
“The very fact that the actors are of various nationalities affords a
wide scope in character drawing and the author has done this work with
an incisive delicacy of feeling which one cannot fail to appreciate.
Humor is not lacking and forceful, thought-compelling passages add to
the graceful style of every story.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p6 Mr 24 ’20 160w
“They are whimsically written. But the regularity with which the
various characters undergo a metamorphosis under the stimulus of the
patriotic impulse becomes wearisome.”
+ − =Dial= 68:399 Mr ’20 60w
“In this brightly written collection of five short stories we have
proof—rather sorely needed—that fiction with the recent great war as a
setting can avoid bathos on the one hand and obviously false joviality
on the other. One of the best books of unassuming and yet purposeful
fiction that has seen the light this season.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:123 Mr 14 ’20 1650w
“Perhaps the last is the best—‘Mr Craighouse of New York, satirist.’
His visit as a typical American to Lord Summersdale makes a very
taking story.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p754 D 11 ’19 100w
=BAXTER, ARTHUR BEVERLEY.= Parts men play. *$2 (2c) Appleton
20–20646
Austin Selwyn, an American writer in England, has first hand
opportunity, in his intercourse with the family of Lord Durwent, to
observe the parasitism of the English aristocracy. The colorful
personality of Elise Durwent and her latent protest against the
uselessness of her class arouse his interest and love. When the war
breaks out he sees in it a hideous wrong into which the people of all
countries have been trapped by their ignorance. He embarks on a
crusade against this ignorance and writes pacifist literature, which
leads to a break with Elise. She declares indignantly that, far from
crying out against the infamy and cruelty of the war, women feel the
glory of it in their blood. The usual thing happens: Selwyn is
gradually convinced of the error of his ways and his subsequent
bravery in France wins him Elise.
* * * * *
“When he writes of London society as it was before the world war he
exhibits a deft, light touch in drawing character sketches. Later he
loses his attitude of detachment and ends in a loud outburst of
jingoism which sounds strangely hollow in these disillusioned times.”
+ − =N Y Evening Post= p18 D 4 ’20 80w
“The author wrote another novel, ‘The blower of bubbles,’ which proved
that he had a facile style, a whimsical spirit, and the power to
divine and portray human nature. This book possesses all those
qualities and an original undercurrent of philosophy as well.”
Katharine Oliver
+ =Pub W= 98:1890 D 18 ’20 270w
=Springf’d Republican= p5a Ja 23 ’21 150w
“A work of considerable promise. It is crude in parts, but crudeness
is only a synonym of unripeness, and Mr Baxter’s literary defects are
of a kind that experience can cure. Meanwhile, he has a vitality, a
gift for swiftly moving narrative, and a creative power in flinging
his characters upon the canvas which augur well for his future
development.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p761 N 18 ’20 440w
=BAXTER, LEON H.= Boy bird house architecture. il *$1 Bruce pub. 680
20–7092
Mr Baxter, director of manual training in the public schools of St
Johnsbury, Vt., has prepared this book out of his own experience with
boy architects. “Each drawing offered is of a proven house, one that
has served as a home for some of our songsters and if the directions,
here set down, are faithfully followed, equal success will crown the
builders’ efforts.” (Author’s preface) Some of the topics covered by
the text are: Our friends the birds; Birds that adapt themselves to
nesting boxes; Bird house material; Methods of conducting a bird house
contest; Bird house day; Winter care of the birds. There are twenty
plates with full working drawings for bird houses of various designs.
+ =Booklist= 16:302 Je ’20
+ =School Arts Magazine= 20:41 S ’20 70w
=BAYFIELD, MATTHEW ALBERT.= Measures of the poets. *$2 Macmillan
(Cambridge univ. press) 808.1
20–12409
“Mr Bayfield’s aim in ‘The measures of the poets’ is to ‘provide
students of English verse with a system of prosody that is on the one
hand sound in principle, and on the other not liable to break down
when brought to the test of application.’” (Spec) “The broad outlines
of Mr Bayfield’s system are fairly adequately apprehended if we blend
together our existing notions about a foot in verse and a bar in
music. Metre in music is built up out of a succession of equal time
divisions marked off by the recurrence of an accent, the accented beat
falling at the beginning of each of them. Mr Bayfield considers that
the basis of metrical structure in poetry is essentially the same: and
he therefore lays it down that the first syllable of every foot must
bear an accent. The bulk of English poetry being written in
dissyllabic feet or their equivalents, it follows that the typical
English foot must be the trochee. The main portion of Mr Bayfield’s
primer is devoted to an exposition of the system of scansion which he
deduces from this governing perception.” (The Times [London] Lit Sup)
* * * * *
“Mr Bayfield expounds his theory with bold lucidity, and illustrates
it with telling examples from every variety of English verse.”
+ =Ath= p1017 O 10 ’19 210w
“Like almost all prosodic theories which look at theory first, Mr
Bayfield’s necessitates, even on its own showing, endless easements
and epicycles to get it to work at all. There is no plain sailing; in
fact, Mr Bayfield would seem to agree with Dr Johnson that ‘pure’
metre is dull and inartistic.” G: Saintsbury
− =Ath= p1150 N 7 ’19 2050w
“Mr Bayfield’s general treatment and scansions are by no means so
convincing as those of his predecessors, [Lanier in ‘The science of
English verse’ and Thomson in ‘The basis of English rhythm.’]” J. R.
Hulbert
− =Mod Philol= 17:727 Ap ’20 200w
“The principle of his scheme is sound, and in the application of it to
English verse he has shown, besides the wisdom of his instinct, a
careful patience that is beyond praise.”
+ − =Spec= 122:864 D 20 ’19 1050w
“His theory has not cut him off from vital contact with poetry. The
things of which he is chiefly aware are the essential things, and to
read him is to have the ear quickened to a new enjoyment.”
+ − =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p668 N 20 ’19 1100w
=BAYLEY, HAROLD.= Archaic England. *$7.50 Lippincott 942.01
(Eng ed 20–11405)
“This is in the nature of a sequel to a book which Mr Bayley published
some years ago called ‘The lost language of symbolism.’ He has long
been an enthusiastic and industrious student of symbolisms and emblems
and their hidden meanings, and of esoteric doctrines generally. The
present work is copiously illustrated and offers controversial
theories as to the peopling of Britain. Mr Bayley, among other things,
sees in the Cretan discoveries a wholly new standpoint for the survey
of prehistoric civilization. He believes that the Cretans
systematically visited Britain, and that men of Trojan race peopled
the island.”—The Times [London] Lit Sup
* * * * *
“No doubt, Mr Bayley has worked hard and honestly. Use him as a quarry
and one will find gold, and, may be, other things. But how accept his
doctrine as a whole?” R. R. M.
− + =Ath= p240 F 20 ’20 260w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p22 Ja 8 ’20 120w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p166 Mr 11 ’20 2100w
=BAZALGETTE, LÉON.= Walt Whitman, the man and his work. *$3.50 (2c)
Doubleday
20–2834
This work, the author says, was for him not a mere literary
enterprise, but the fruit of close and fervent communion with
Whitman’s work and character. Speaking of Whitman’s universality he
says: “The America which dreams and sings, back of the one which works
and invents, has given the world four universal geniuses: Poe,
Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman.... And among these four figures, one of
them more and more dominates the group: it is Walt Whitman.” (Introd.)
The translator of the volume from the French, Ellen FitzGerald,
attempts an explanation of the American masses’ neglect of Whitman,
from the geniuses’ inevitable disregard of “untrained” minds, in
deference to whom she has taken it upon herself to abridge M.
Bazalgette’s treatment of the New Orleans episode and to lighten his
emphasis on the “Leaves of grass” conflict. The book is in eight
parts: Origin and youth; The multitudinary life; “Leaves of grass”;
The wound dresser; The good gray poet; The invalid; The sage of
Camden; The setting sun.
* * * * *
“Some remarkable pen portraits, a little Gallic exuberance at times.”
+ =Booklist= 16:241 Ap ’20
“The Frenchman’s biography, sympathetic and glowingly eloquent as it
is, can scarcely rank as an authoritative chronicle of the poet’s
life. It possesses, however, multiple values of its own. The
translator has taken the liberty of abridging M. Bazalgette’s book.
This is regrettable and not easily justified.” J. Black
+ − =Bookm= 51:172 Ap ’20 1100w
Reviewed by James Oppenheim
+ − =Dial= 68:633 My ’20 1350w
“M. Bazalgette communicates an absolute sense of Whitman’s greatness.
His book, like his theme, is ample and magnificent.” V. W. B.
+ =Freeman= 1:68 Mr 31 ’20 500w
Reviewed by B: de Casseres
+ =N Y Times= 25:239 My 9 ’20 1350w
“Well informed, and adjusted to all the aspects of his subject, M.
Bazalgette has written what is in all points as good a short life of
Whitman as a reasonable person could wish. But M. Bazalgette is often
illuminating, seldom penetrating.”
+ − =No Am= 211:719 My ’20 680w
“Admirers of Whitman will find it a stimulating and suggestive
treatment of the poet from a new angle.”
+ =Outlook= 124:336 F 25 ’20 50w
“The book has been prepared with some care. But M. Bazalgette is
inseparable from his subject; his jubilee from page 1 to page 355 is
uninterrupted. When the author is too lavish of exclamation points the
reader parries with the question mark.”
+ − =Review= 2:310 Mr 27 ’20 450w
“The biography, though rhapsodical rather than critical, will rank
high among the scarce half-dozen of impressive books about the poet
which have appeared in the quarter century since his death.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p8 Ap 8 ’20 480w
=BAZETT, L. M.= After-death communications. (Psychic ser.) *$1.60 Holt
134
The communications were received through automatic writing and the
author says of them: “Whether these communications can come under the
heading of telepathy from the living, or whether as the title
suggests, they are partly due to telepathy from discarnate minds, is
for the reader to decide.” (Preface) J. Arthur Hill, in his
introduction to the book is inclined to attribute them to discarnate
agency. Contents: First communications received; Cases where some link
with communicators existed; Cases where relations were present; Cases
where relations were not present; Character sketches; Special
relationships; Erroneous, confused and irrelevant matter; Guides;
Supernormal sense-impressions, etc.; The potential value of
communication; Index.
* * * * *
=N Y Evening Post= p11 N 6 ’20 120w
=BAZIN, RENÉ FRANÇOIS NICOLAS MARIE.= Pierre and Joseph. *$1.75 Harper
20–7722
The story takes us to an Alsatian village at the outbreak of the war
where the German subjects have all remained French at heart. Of the
two brothers, Pierre and Joseph Ehrsam, the elder at once decides to
flee the country and go to France to enlist, while the younger deems
it wise to sacrifice himself in another way, to save the factory and
the Ehrsam estate from confiscation by the Germans, by joining his
German regiment. Pierre, in the French army makes unfavorable
comparisons between French ways and German efficiency and is but
slowly won over to complete enthusiasm for the spirit of France.
Joseph at the eastern front develops an increasing hatred for the
German spirit and when he is sent to the west and faces the necessity
of fighting the French, he kills his superior officer and deserts to
the French side. The translation is by Frank Hunter Potter.
* * * * *
=Booklist= 17:30 O ’20
“This latest novel of the gifted Frenchman adds not a single leaf to
his laurel crown. For the most part, the interpretation is labored,
and much space is devoted to moralizing upon the obvious. The general
effect of the novel is accentuated by a translation which is awkward
and infelicitous.”
− =Cath World= 111:688 Ag ’20 300w
“Interesting in itself, the story has an added interest through what
it tells us of some of the events of the war, events which though
important have not been much written about.”
+ =N Y Times= 25:264 My 23 ’20 1050w
“In its English dress, ‘Pierre and Joseph’ is not markedly
distinguished from several earlier romances of Alsace-Lorraine in
wartime, unless by its simplicity and precision.” H. W. Boynton
+ − =Review= 3:45 Jl 14 ’20 450w
=BEAMAN, ARDERN ARTHUR HULME.= Squadroon. il *$2.50 (3c) Lane 940.48
20–14681
The cavalry in the great war was most of the time in little demand,
and had to take its turn in the trenches and at digging parties to
relieve the infantry. “Towards the end of 1917 ... a horse soldier
could hardly pass an infantry detachment on the road without being
greeted by ironical cheers and bitter abuse.” (Foreword) But the time
came when their prestige was reestablished. The war episodes sketched
in the book are the reminiscences of a clergyman attached to a cavalry
brigade. Among the contents are: Joining the squadroon; Day marching;
The gap; The trench party; The devastated area; The great advance; The
last lap.
* * * * *
+ =Ath= p751 Je 4 ’20 100w
“We commend the book most heartily: it is well and simply written, and
deserves a wide popularity.”
+ =Sat R= 129:545 Je 12 ’20 50w
“Those who happen not to have read many ‘war books’ of the kind, or
not to be tired of them, will find these genial, graphic,
fluently-written pages pleasant enough.”
+ =The Times [London] Lit Sup= p215 Ap 1 ’20 130w
=BEARD, DANIEL CARTER.= American boys’ handybook of camp-lore and
woodcraft. il *$3 Lippincott 796
20–21339
This volume of the Woodcraft series is profusely illustrated by the
author. The first chapters have to do with outdoor fires under the
captions: Fire making by friction; Fire making by percussion; How to
build a fire; How to lay a good cooking fire. Other chapters take up:
Camp kitchens; Camp food; Packing horses; The use of dogs; Preparing
for camping trip; Saddles; Choosing a camp site; Axe and saw; Council
grounds and fires; Ritual of the council fire.
* * * * *
“His book is interesting, cheery, practical and constructive.”
+ =Cath World= 112:697 F ’21 110w
“A really valuable and comprehensive volume.” Hildegarde Hawthorne
+ =N Y Times= p9 D 19 ’20 80w
=BEARD, MARY (RITTER) (MRS CHARLES AUSTIN BEARD).= Short history of the
American labor movement. *$1.50 (4c) Harcourt 331.87
20–7573
As the title indicates, the book is intended as a brief and simple
story of the labor movement in the United States from the day of
independence to the present time. After pointing out that every modern
industrial country has a labor movement and that, although there are
national peculiarities, it has overleapt national boundaries; that the
origin of the movement lies in self-defense; and that it has a deep
spiritual and social significance, the author limits herself to a
plain statement of the facts in each phase of the movement as it
appeared. Contents: Nature and significance of the labor movement;
Origin of American trade unions; The century old tactics of labor;
Labor’s first political experiments; Return to direct industrial
action; Industrial panic, political action and utopias; Trade unionism
and the Civil war; A decade of panics, politics and labor chaos; Rise
of the American federation of labor; The American federation of labor
and politics; Revolutionary philosophies and tactics; Labor and the
world war; Index.
* * * * *
“It is well organized, carefully definitive of simplest terms, and
adapted to a less advanced student or reader of labor policies than
Carlton.”
+ =Booklist= 16:327 Jl ’20
“Mrs Mary Beard has not only supplied the student of the works of
Professor Commons and his associates with a text-book admirably lucid
and condensed, but she has achieved what is far more difficult in
writing a text-book—especially where no text-book exists—a connected
and in many ways a dramatic story.” A. L. Dakyns
+ =Freeman= 1:523 Ag 11 ’20 1500w
“Mrs Beard’s book could hardly be better, as a readable and brief
summary.” G: Soule
+ =Nation= 111:17 Jl 3 ’20 800w
“Naturally, a large field has been covered in so small a work, but the
reader in search of a small volume that will give him the essentials
of this history will find this one valuable for the purpose.” James
Oneal
+ =N Y Call= p10 Je 13 ’20 370w
+ =R of Rs= 61:671 Je ’20 40w
“An excellent summary of American labor history. The book is based on
recent more voluminous works, but the clarity of explanation and the
skill in selecting the salient facts of somewhat complicated
situations and incidents are largely the author’s own.”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p10 My 6 ’20 120w
“In her ‘Short history of the American labor movement’ Mrs Beard
performs with interest, competence and wide sympathy a much needed
service.”
+ =Survey= 44:313 My 29 ’20 150w
“It gives a clear impression of the ups and downs of a movement which
in one form or another goes back to colonial times. But its value is
impaired by the author’s laudable desire for brevity. Her book is so
general that it gives no sense of the real life and color of the labor
movement and but little understanding of the contending philosophies
within it. So important a phase of the modern labor movement as the
development of the Amalgamated clothing workers is not even
mentioned.” N. T.
+ − =World Tomorrow= 3:189 Je ’20 180w
“The book preserves an admirably sane and restrained tone to the end.”
W: B. Walling
+ =Yale R= n s 10:214 O ’20 380w
=BEAUMONT, ROBERTS.= Union textile fabrication. (Pitman’s textile
industries ser.) il *$7.50 Pitman 677
A work dealing with the British textile industry. The preface states:
“‘Union textile fabrication’ touches, in its technological aspects and
interests, the many grades and branches of spun and woven
manufacture.... The subject, when thus viewed, assumes proportions and
bearings of paramount significance to the practitioner, the
manufacturer, and the investigator, whether distinctly associated with
the cotton, the wool, the flax, or the silk trade.” The book is made
up of three sections: Bi-fibred manufactures; Compound-yarn fabrics;
Woven unions; and the illustrations consist of “numerous original
diagrams, sectional drawings, and photographic reproductions of spun
and woven specimens in the text.” The author was formerly professor of
textile industries, Leeds university.
* * * * *
“The book is well printed, neatly illustrated, and will be found
valuable by all who are engaged in these branches of the textile
industry.”
+ =Engineer= 130:281 S 17 ’20 360w
=BEAVER, WILFRED N.= Unexplored New Guinea. il *$5 Lippincott 919.5
(Eng ed 20–8650)
“This interesting book is concerned with the primitive races of
western Papua, where the author, a young Australian, acted as a
resident magistrate for ten years before the war. Professor Haddon, in
a preface, declares that Mr Beaver’s death in Flanders, where he was
serving with the Australian corps, was a great loss to anthropology.”
(Spec) “His narrative is an account of personal experiences along the
Bamu and Fly rivers; and he makes good his claim to be an explorer.
Little is known of the country behind the coastline; means of
transport have to be improvized and the inhabitants are savages. In
fact, savage is a mild term, for many of them are cannibals and all
apparently head-hunters. Mr Beaver enumerates such of their customs as
came under his notice, and throws out suggestions as to their origin,
but without committing himself to any theory.” (The Times [London] Lit
Sup)
* * * * *
“Mr Beaver’s descriptions of the customs of the Goaribari, Bamu, and
other tribes are remarkably interesting; and Dr Gunnar Landtmann has
added a noteworthy chapter upon the religious beliefs and practices of
the Kiwai-speaking natives.”
+ =Ath= p1019 O 10 ’19 250w
“In short, considered from the standpoint of what Sir Richard Temple
would term an applied anthropology, Mr Beaver’s book is eminently
useful and instructive. Lack of space allows but a passing reference
to his important chapter on property and inheritance.” R. R. M.
+ =Ath= p1117 O 31 ’19 950w
“An interesting and sound ethnological study, which is also an object
lesson on the administration of aboriginal tribes by those who would
introduce Caucasian culture.”
+ =Booklist= 17:25 O ’20
“This is one of those books, by no means rare from British pens, that
make the American ethnologist green with envy. It suggests what stores
of information on tribes now extinct or acculturated to the white
man’s ways might have been garnered by our Indian agents if they had
been selected from the class represented by Mr Beaver.” R. H. L.
+ =New Repub= 23:26 Je 2 ’20 900w
+ =Outlook= 124:79 Ja 14 ’20 40w
=R of Rs= 61:221 F ’20 80w
“The author had the gift, not common among anthropologists, of writing
well and of describing savage tribes with sympathy and humour. The
book abounds in curious anecdotes.”
+ =Spec= 122:584 N 1 ’19 180w