Dr. Hedin went to Tibet, crossing the Kwen-lun mountain range. With a large caravan he crossed the plateau of Tibet in two months, during which time not a single human being was seen. All this unknown region was investigated with the greatest accuracy, and more than twenty salt lakes were discovered. In the beginning of March, 1897, after a very hard winter journey, he reached Peking, and then returned through Mongolia and Siberia, arriving at his native. town, Stockholm, on May 10th, 1897. The book is not only a story of engrossing and romantic interest; it is also the work of a highly trained scientific observer; the scientific results of this remarkable journey to appear later in a supplementary volume. The entire extent of his travels covers 14,600 miles, or more than the distance from the North to the South Pole. Over 2,000 miles were through regions which no European had ever before visited. Other travelers have perhaps experienced adventures as moving and as strange, other explorers have perhaps been endowed with equal scientific qualities, many have described with a graphic pen things which they have seen or which they have not seen; but probably no traveler has ever united the energy, the spirit of adventure, the scientific knowledge, and the literary and artistic skill of Sven Hedin. His book will therefore not fail to attract wide attention, and will be a welcome gift to all lovers of books of travel. It will form a very important addition to every library.

Recent events have forcibly drawn

6

the attention of the world to the condition and prospects of China, and as Mayo W. Hazeltine says in his book page in the New York Sun: "It is a book indispensable to the comprehension of the drama now being played in the Far East which Mr. Archibald R. Colquhoun has given us under the title of China in Transformation.' (8vo. cloth. Price $2.25. By mail $2.45.) This timely volume, which is published by Harper & Brothers, presents in a compact and popular form such an account of the country as will interest the general reader, and yet be of pronounced value to men of business, politicians, travelers, and others who may wish to be further informed regarding the subject. Mr. Colquhoun is peculiarly qualified for the work which he has thus undertaken and accomplished by many years of service and experience in Burma, and by prolonged visits to Siam and China. His exposition of China's position to-day, position to-day, geographically, politically, and commercially, is of the utmost interest and value.”

Since Nansen's great book “Farthest North" (Price in 2 volumes, illustrated, large 8vo. cloth, $7.50; popular edition in one volume, cloth, Price $2.25) has appeared, and since Andree has started on his daring balloon trip to the North Pole, the interest in Arctic exploration has become more intense than ever. Two extremely interesting works on this subject have been published this year. One is Lieut. Robert E. Peary's book entitled "Northward Over the Great Ice' (2 vols., illustrated, 8vo. cloth. Price

FRIDTJOF NANSEN.

(By courtesy of Messrs. Harper & Brothers.)

$5.85.), which we reviewed at length in the September number, and the other one is Jackson's account of his perilous expedition into FranzJosef Land, which he tells with singular modesty and simplicity in an interesting volume, just published by the Harpers under the title "A Thousand Days in the Arctic." His was not a North Pole but a Polar Expedition, undertaken with a view to increasing our knowledge of the fauna and flora of Franz-Josef Land and the area lying immediately lying immediately north of it, and in every way the venture was a success; but, like all who venture into the far North, Mr. Jackson and his companions had more than their share of peril and suffering. It is an adventurous story, full of hair-breadth escapes, thrilling battles against the fury of the elements, marvellous patience, and persistent progress. What, more than anything else, Mr. Jack son's expedition has served to prove is how widely at fault all previous explorers have been in their estimate of the importance of Franz

Josef Land as a way to the Pole. Not only did Mr. Jackson find all maps and charts of this region utterly at fault, but he learned by personal observation that the longsought path to the Pole cannot by any possibility lie that way. This overthrow of former theories will naturally be of immense value and importance to all those who are interested in the question of Polar research.

Alaska is, if we look over the list of books published about this country, since the discovery of the gold fields, no longer an unknown land. Large as is the number of these books, there are very few, however, which give real satisfaction. Most of them are or profess to be guide books for the gold hunter. One of the few, which give reliable information about the country, its people and its resources, is Alice Palmer Henderson's most readable account of her trip, entitled "The Rainbow's End-Alaska" (12mo. illustrated, cloth. Price $1.08), published by Herbert S. Stone & Co., Chicago. We reviewed this book at length in the October number. It is both entertaining and instructive, and worthy of recommendation. Another excellent book on the same subject is Harry de Windt's account of his journey "Through the Gold Fields of Alaska to Behring Straits," just published by the Harpers. (8vo. illustrated, cloth. Price $1.90.) It is quite an exciting story of travel and adventure, and full of valuable information.

Of books on the Philippines, a subject of intense interest to us at

betray the student's and astute observer's careful researches. A wealth of illustrations from photographs taken by the author, greatly enhance the value of this attractive volume.

Literary History, Essays, etc. The homes and haunts of famous people have forever a peculiar fascination and charm. It seems as if their spirits enlivened, enchanted the empty place. The plain table at which a great man sat, the bed he slept in, the pen he used, even the bare walls that surround the barren cell, in which a celebrity of the past spent his days, appeal to our fancy, force us to silent reverence, give food to our thoughts. Little wonder therefore, that many writers who have pilgrimed to the homes of their literary or historic favorites, should feel moved to jot down their impressions and to describe these these places, revered by memories of the past. To this class of books, ever welcome to the book lover, belongs that charming series of "Little Journeys," published by the Putnams in dainty monthly pamphlets and collected in four attractive volumes. (16mo. bound in cloth. Price $1.35 each.) The first series is devoted to American Authors; the second to Good Men and Great; the third to Famous Women, and the fourth (being this year's) to American Statesmen. The editor is the genial "Philistine," Elbert Hubbard, and this name is sufficient to vouchsafe for the intrinsic value of these charming little monographs. The same house has also published

"Where Ghosts Walk." The Haunts of Familiar Characters in History and Literature. By Marion Harland, author of "Some Colonial Homesteads," etc. Homesteads," etc. (With 33 illustrations, Svo.cloth. Price $1.90.) The clever author of "Colonial Homesteads" has utilized her experiences in Europe and her literary training for the preparation of a series of papers devoted to certain historic places with which are to be connected the names of characters familiar in history and literature. Mrs. Terhune's descriptions are in each case the result of personal observation. It is altogether a most attractive volume, both in its get up and in its interesting contents, which is written in bright and entertaining style.

Some time ago two excellent volumes by Theodore F. Wolfe, of much the same style as the Little Journeys, were published by the J. B. Lippincott Company, of Philadelphia, entitled " Literary Shrines (the Haunts of Some American Authors), and "A Literary Pilgrimage " (Among the Haunts of Famous British Authors). To these, which have already reached the tenth edition-a sure proof of their popular appreciation-a new volume has just been added, entitled "Literary Haunts and Homes of American Authors." (Price per volume, illustrated, 12mo. cloth, 90 cents.) A set of these three delightful books will make a most appropriate gift to every book lover, forming a valuable addition to every library.

Another excellent book comes from

Chicago, from the publishing house of A. C. McClurg & Co.; it is entitled "Personal Sketches of Recent Authors," by Hattie Tyng Griswold. With a handsome and carefully selected portrait of each author. (12mo. cloth. Price $1.10.) This is a companion volume, and in a manner a sequel, to Mrs. Griswold's very successful Home Life of Great Authors. Her easy, delightful style, and her faculty for drawing clear and faithful portraits are very evident in this, as in the former work. The "Sketches" are not long and wearisome, but so sympathetic and appreciative that they impress the reader with a sense of thoroughness which long biographies often fail to give.

An excellent book which has apparently been written for the purpose of introducing the average reader to some masterpieces of the world's literature, but which will be read with no less pleasure and profit by the book lover, already familiar with these works, is Dean Farrar's collection of six essays entitled "Great Books." (16mo. cloth. Price 90 cents.) Dean Farrar, like many other wise men, overwhelmed at the enormous literary productivity of our time, feels that the average reader, and particularly the young, needs a guide and a helper in the choice of what is best. He advises not to attempt to read everything that comes in one's way, but to make a reasonable choice. "Indiscriminate reading," he says "should be resolutely abjured." But there are certain books that should be made the very foundation of a decent literary training, and some of these Dean Farrar takes and

analyzes with consummate skill and insight. He shows the deep moral meaning of Dante's Divine Comedy, the splendid fervor and power of Milton's chaste imagination, the lofty teaching that may be found in Shakespeare's plays, particularly Macbeth, Othello and King Lear, and the simple, but immortal, imagery of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Dean Farrar writes with so much enthusiasm, his appreciations are so sensible, and his illustrations are so rich and varied, that no one could fail to be inspired by him to undertake a first-hand acquaintance with the masterpieces he holds up before us.

Its

The popularization of Dante's Divine Comedy is the purpose of a most commendable volume by Norley Chester, entitled "Stories From Dante." (12mo. cloth. Price 90 cents.) To read Dante in all its entirety requires in our materialistic and fast-living times certainly quite a little courage and endurance. form, the ponderousness of the classic hexameter and a mass of descriptive and philosophic detail stand much in the way of the majestic poem being read by the average reader as much as its poetical beauty and impressive moral should make it desirable. To detach from his life and work, and from the lives of those associated with him, the characteristic incidents and scenes, and to present them, together with the imaginative beauties and the spiritual truths, underlying Dante's great poem, in an attractive form, interesting and intelligible to young people and the general reader, is the