rhapsodies are unintelligible to minds less mystical and more normal than his own. The illustrations with which he accompanied his poems are no less remarkable than the Poems themselves. Palgrave endorses particularly his "Infant Joy." Eliot lists twelve of his short poems. Morris and Swinburne commend his Select Works; while his Poems are endorsed by Scott and Bennett. It is with surprise that one notes the omission of his name from A. L. A. Boccaccio, Giovanni ists" 1313-75 "The Father of Italian Novel. 8 endorsements. "The Decameron." To this collection of one hundred tales mainly of clerical misconduct and feminine guile, mostly humorous and often indecent, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dryden, and Molière are indebted for many of their plots. The blameless story of "The Falcon" has been retold by both Tennyson and Longfellow. J. M. Rigg's translation (published by both Dutton and Lippincott) has given general satisfaction. The interpretative essay from the competent hand of J. A. Symonds is a good introduction to Boccaccio. Listed by Swinburne, Morris, Smith, Keller, Graham, Halsey, Parsons 2, and Gray. Not in A. L. A. Boissier, Gaston 1823-1908 5 endorsements. "Cicero and His Friends"; translated by A. D. Jones. An interesting study of Roman society through Cicero's letters. Endorsed by Smith, Putnam, A. L. A., and Keller. Gray recommends his "Tacitus and Other Roman Studies." Bok, E. W. 1863 5 endorsements. "The Americanization of Edward Bok" (1921). A good autobiography is always fascinating reading. This is the best and most successful one that has appeared in a genera tion. Endorsed by Horton (25), Booksellers' 31, A. L. A. Sup. 2, Int'l Book Rev., and A. D. D. Borrow, George 1803-81 12 endorsements. No man's writing can take you into the country as Borrow's can: it makes you feel the sunshine, see the meadows, smell the flowers, hear the skylark sing, and the grasshopper chirrup.-Who else can do it? I know of none.-Theodore Watts. "Lavengro” and its sequel "Romany Rye" form a sort of autobiography of this vagrant philologist and student of gypsies, in which, as W. E. H. Henley says, "this strange wild man holds on his strange wild way, and leads you captive to the end." One or both books are listed by Morris, J. L. Bennett, Graham, Roosevelt, Everyman, Soulsby, Bennett, Putnam, Halsey, Gray, A. L. A., and Keller. "The Bible in Spain" and "Wild Wales" are sponsored by Halsey, Graham, Roosevelt, A. L. A., Gray, and Everyman. Many critics consider the former book the author's best. Keller and Roosevelt endorse also "Zincali." Not all readers are devotees of the open road, bird-song, boxing, and strong ale. But those who are will be grateful for life to him who introduces them to this most original writer. To paraphrase a popular song, it is always fair weather when Borrovians get together. Boswell, James 19 endorsements. "The Bear-Leader" 1740-95 Johnson described Boswell as one who had missed his only chance of immortality by not having been alive when Pope's "Dunciad" was written. But Boswell has been prankishly avenged by fate. For nobody reads Johnson to-day and it is Boswell who has made his burly friend better known to us than any other man of the 18th Century. "Life of Johnson" (1791-93); edited by G. B. Hill. This book about the sententious dictionary maker is the best and perhaps the longest biography that has ever been written. Carlyle rated it above any other product of the 18th Century, and Edmund Gosse placed it among the five or six most interesting and stimulating of the world's books, "according to the universal verdict of mankind.” Endorsed by Everyman, Keller, Melcher, Smith, Horton (9), Halsey, Putnam, Parsons 1, Collins, Swinburne," Raffety, Soulsby, Bennett, Fitch, Gray, Graham, A. L. A., Lubbock, and Stanley. Macaulay says, "Boswell is the first of biographers. He has no second. Many of the greatest men that have ever lived have written biography. Boswell was one of the smallest men that ever lived, and he has beaten them all." Bourget, Paul 1852 5 endorsements. "The Disciple." Although Bourget is a self-confessed "maniac of psychology" and "passionate lover of analysis" this novel is meant as a warning against the habit of analysing and experimenting with the emotions. Endorsed by Keller, Gray, and Powys. Graham and Gray mention "Divorce," "The Blue Duchess," and "A Woman's Heart." A. L. A. lists "Domestic Dramas" and "Outre Mer" (observations of American society). Brandes, Georg 1842 5 endorsements. Brandes is a critic "who is fond of tracing the interrelations of literature, politics, philosophy, science, and religion. His style is made eminently readable by his definiteness of opinion, forcefulness of statement, and copiousness of citation and illustration." He is probably the greatest critic of our day. "Eminent Authors of the Nineteenth Century" and "Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature" are endorsed by Keller, Gray and A. L. A. "Reminiscences of My Childhood and Youth" is recommended by Graham and 1816-55 20 endorsements. The first of women writers of every age.-A. C. Benson. Not until the greatest of women romancers arose in Charlotte Brontë was passion represented as it could only have been conceived by a woman.-Walter Raleigh. "Jane Eyre." This original love story of a hero, elderly and not handsome, and a plain-faced heroine is Miss Brontë's masterpiece. J. G. Lockhart wrote a friend: "I have finished the adventures of Miss Jane Eyre, and think her by far the cleverest that has written since Austen and Edgeworth were in their prime. Worth fifty Trollopes and Martineaus rolled into one, with fifty Dickenses and Bulwers to keep them company-but rather a brazen Miss." Thackeray was equally enthusiastic: "How well I remember the delight and wonder and pleasure with which I read 'Jane Eyre.' .. I could not, having taken up the volumes, lay them down until they were read through!" Endorsed by Newark, Wilson's 48, Horton (41), Raffety, Matthews, Melcher, A. L. A., Smith, Parsons 2, Stanley, Scott, Swinburne, Gray, Graham, Keller, Bennet, Soulsby, Halsey, Putnam, and Everyman. "Shirley"-the heroine is drawn from her sister Emily-is "a historical allegory based on the introduction of machinery into Yorkshire"; it is endorsed by Everyman, Putnam, Bennett, Soulsby, A. L. A., Graham, Gray, Swinburne, Halsey, and Keller. The same sponsors, lacking Keller, vouch for "The Professor" and "Villette." Some consider "Villette" the author's masterpiece. It is an expansion of "The Professor." Andrew Lang says "Villette” is “a thing of memories rather than of dreams-of bitter memories, too, and of despairing resignations." But Charlotte Brontë wrought all her books out of the tissues of her own unhappy heart. Brontë, Emily 1818-48 10 endorsements. The most striking genius that 19th Century womanhood has given us.-Clement K. Shorter. She should have been a man-a great navigator. Her powerful reason would have deduced new spheres of discovery from the knowledge of the old; and her strong imperious will would never have been daunted by opposition or difficulty-never have given way but with life.M. Héger. No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere: And faith shines equal, arming me from fear. -Emily Brontë, Last Lines, 1848. "Wuthering Heights"—"a nightmare of the superheated imagination," Frederic Harrison calls it—may be set down as one of the three strongest tales of horror in English, the other two being Mrs. Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Bram Stoker's "Dracula." Endorsed by Everyman, Keller, Bennett, Scott, Powys, Halsey, A. L. A., and Swinburne. Emily was the poet of this gifted family. "Last lines"considered by some critics to be the greatest verse ever written by an Englishwoman-and "The Old Stoic" are commended by Eliot and Graham. The strange Brontë family has inspired much first-rate biographical writing by Mrs. Gaskell, Swinburne, Clement Shorter, Birrell, and May Sinclair. Brown, John 1810-82 7 endorsements. "Rab and His Friends" is the simple story-probably the best known dog story ever written-for which this author is best known. "Spare Hours" contains "Rab" and most of his best work with the exception of his "Letters." Endorsed by Bennett, Everyman, Keller, Gray, Halsey, St. Nicholas 1, and A. L. A. |