bracing the traditions of Canada and Mexico. (12mo. cloth. Price $1.10.) There is more true moral and common sense to be found in folklore than in many of our modern productions of fiction. Fairy tales and folklore, myths and legends reflect better than the cleverest, artificial criticisms and historical and social studies, the true character of a people, its morals and sentiments, and the origin and evolution of its civilization. These books ought therefore to be found in every American home. Another valuable addition to American folklore literature is an interesting little volume by Abby L. Alger, entitled "In Indian Tents:" It contains stories told by Penobscot, Passamaquoddy and Micmac Indians to the author, who visited these Indians in their tents in pursuit of Indian folklore. (12mo. cloth. Price 75 cents.) The same firm (Little, Brown & Company, Boston) has also just published a new collection of Indian tales entitled ..Creation Myths of Primitive America," in Relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind, by Jeremiah Curtin, author of Myths and Folk Lore of Ireland, etc., translator of Quo Vadis and the works of Henryk Sienkiewicz. (8vo. cloth. Price $1.90.) This latest book from Jeremiah Curtin is his first on the unwritten mental productions of primitive America. It contains twenty long myths taken down word for word by him from Indians who knew no religion nor language save their own, and the chief of whom had not seen a white man until years of maturity. In addition to their

intrinsic beauty, these masterpieces of the primitive human mind in America antedate by many ages the earliest forms of thought represented to us in the records of Egypt and Assyria, hence their value may be easily inferred; they explain to us things which had become unintelligible to the priests of Egypt and Assyria in the religious systems which they themselves taught and studied. The volume contains an elaborate introduction and all necessary notes which are helpful to their proper understanding.

A fascinating picture of social and home life in the early days of New York is given in a beautiful volume by Mrs. J. K. Van Rensselaer, entitled "The Goede Vrouw of Manaha-ta." (8vo. cloth. Price $1.50.) It contains the interesting account of six Dutch women who lived during the time from 1609 to 1760, and stood for the highest and finest life at the settlement of Manhattan. The influence which these women exerted upon the development of public and private life, having brought with them the old world's most refined culture, and transplanted into the wilds of the new world a strong, lofty sentiment, together with the perfection of domestic comfort, which is such a deep-rooted virtue of the Hollanders, is told in a most interesting manner and illustrated with charming pictures of all the quaint details of home life in those days.

Old New York is also the subject of the excellent Half Moon Series, published by the Putnams, which, bound up in two attractive volumes, under the title "Historic New York,"

first and second series (Price per volume, bound in cloth, $1.90), form a valuable addition to every library. They comprise excellent monographs on old landmarks, historical events, phases of public and private life, and represent in their collected form most interesting pictures of old New York life.

Of books on our late war with Spain there is of course no lacking, and I cannot here begin to enumerate and review all.

A complete, comprehensive and vivid record of all the essential incidents of the campaign in Cuba is offered in Thomas J. Vivian's interesting volume, entitled

66 The Fall

of Santiago.” (Illustrated, 8vo. bound in parchment, half cloth. Price $1.08.) The book is gotten up in such handsome style as to immediately suggest its purchase as a presentation volume to one's army friend. It is very successfully illustrated, and such care has been taken to verify the facts that it can be accepted as a very worthy and scholarly history. The many thousands of readers of this author's previous effort With Dewey at Manila, can be assured, however, that they will find the same wealth of incident, happy turning of phrases, that will make them for the time forget that they are imbibing irrefutable facts as they read for the pleasure of it.

"The War with Spain" is the title of an excellent complete account of our late war, by Charles Morris, author of "The Nation's Navy," which was noticed in the August number. Both volumes are profusely illustrated, and, though sold separ

ately (at $1.08 each, bound in cloth), form a valuable little set which will be appreciated by many, and will surely find a place in every American library.

66

The Spanish Revolution-1868 to 1875," by Edward Henry Strobel, late Secretary of the U. S. Legation and Chargé d'Affaires at Madrid, and under Cleveland U. S. Minister to Ecuador (12mo. cloth, price $1.08), is an exceedingly readable story of this most interesting period in the modern history of Spain, which marks the transition from the Spain of Ferdinand VII and Isabella II to the Spain of Afonso XII and the regency. It is a most careful study, based on authentic material, and gives a graphic picture of this movement, which, though doomed to failure, bore good fruit in bore good fruit in the improved method of government which has distinguished the reign of Alfonso XII and the regency, and in the twenty years of tranquility enjoyed by the country from the date of the Restoration to the breaking out of the insurrection in Cuba.

An excellent and complete history of Spain is Prof. James A. Harrison's book entitled "Spain in History," from the days of the Visigoths, 350 A. D., to the present hour. (8vo. cloth. Price 75 cents.) If we except the periods of Spanish history dealt with by Prescott, Washington Irving and Motley, little is known of the annals of the Spanish nation, or of the picturesque features and great natural resources of the Iberian peninsula. This work, covering the entire field of Spanish history, written in an attractive, popular style,

historical works dealing with it entirely, with episodes from it, or with personages made famous by it. One which attracts especial attention is "My Scrap Book of the French Revolution," by Elizabeth Wormely Latimer, who has given us several excellent 19th century histories. This new book by the able author shows all the brilliant qualities of her previous work, conscientious research, and a clear succinct style, and is sure to meet with the same success that she had with her other books. It is a graphic and thrilling account of some of the most exciting and interesting phases of the French Revolution. Much of the material is translated direct from the original French sources, many of which are difficult of access to the ordinary student. The narratives of eye-witnesses and those of actors and sufferers in the great drama are frequently quoted in detail. Mrs. Latimer has succeeded in making the great historical event of the 18th century stand out in luminous clearness, fixing itself upon the reader's mind like a photograph. (8vo. cloth, beautifully illustrated with 29 half-tone portraits. Price $1.90.) The other books by the same author, uniform with this new one, are: France in the Nineteenth Century; Russia and Turkey in the Nineteenth Century; England in the Nineteenth Century; Europe and Africa in the Nineteenth Century; Italy in the Nineteenth Century; Spain in the Nineteenth Century.

An entertaining record of some of the notable events of the years 1896 and 1897 is given in Richard Hard

ing Davis'" A Year From a Reporter's Note Book." They include the Coronation of the Czar of Russia; the Millenial Celebration at Budapest; the Inauguration of President McKinley; an account of the GraecoTurkish War; the Jubilee of Queen Victoria, and two chapters on Cuba in War-Time. Although many will have read these sketches in some of the magazines and papers, there is no doubt enough interest in the events, told in that popular author's attractive manner, to vouchsafe a continued sale of their reprint in book form.

Books of Travel.

One of the most remarkable narratives of travel and adventure is A. Henry Savage Landor's work, entitled In the Forbidden Land," an account of a journey in Thibet, capture by the Thibetan authorities, imprisonment, torture and ultimate release.

It is a wonderful romance of adventure. The pluck, courage and endurance of the fearless explorer, the dangers, hardships and tortures which he had to suffer are almost incredible. When within a short distance of the mysterious city of Lhassa he was seized and subjected to the cruelest tortures, his body was racked, his eyesight nearly extinguished, his face roasted, and finally he was placed upon a pony bearing a spiked saddle, and so escorted out of the country. Doubtless the audacity and daring of Mr. Landor's undertaking are responsible for its fearful results to himself. With but two companions he entered the borders of a savage and cruel people, and from the south, the quarter re

explored the Pamirs and the glaciers of the gigantic mountain, Mus-taghata, 25,000 feet high. In FebruaryMay, 1895, he crossed the dreadful desert of Takla-makan, a task which nobody had attempted before, and which nearly cost him his life. The desert was almost waterless, and for nine days the caravan had nothing to satisfy their thirst. After terrible suffering, during which two of the four men and six of the eight camels succumbed, Dr. Hedin with two men and two camels reached the Khotan river. All his baggage and scientific instruments were lost. In October, 1895, having obtained new instruments, he crossed and mapped most accurately, on five different routes, the high mountain ranges which limit the Pamirs to the east. Then, following the Keriya river he crossed the desert to Shah-yar, where several highly important discoveries were made. The remains of two old towns were found buried in the moving sands, with many paintings and sculptures. Dr. Hedin then continued his course down the Tarim river and proceeded to Lake Lop-nor, where he settled a highly important geographical problem. In May, 1896,