saint-Langenscheidt. Zweiter Teil: Deutschenglisch. Grosse Ausgabe. In 24 pts. Pt. 6, Deist-Eindr. [N. Y., The International News Co.,] 1898. 465-560 p. 8°, pap., 50 c. [2270 Continuation of Muret's Encyclopædic EnglishGerman and German English Dictionary, popularly known as Muret-Sanders's dictionary.

*Silloway, P. M. Sketches of some common birds. Cin., O., The Editor Publishing Co., 1898. 352 p. il. 12°, cl., $1.50. [2271 Stern, Sigmon M. First lessons in German. N. Y., H: Holt & Co., 1898. C. 7+292 p. D. cl., $1. [2272 The first of a series of books to cover the study of modern languages, which are to appear at short intervals. The secret of making a pupil speak a foreign language is to have him hear it from the beginning. The lessons are arranged for the teacher to read aloud, and the same words are then changed around in positive and interrogative sentences until they are wholly familiar to the pupil. The readings and conversations of each volume are followed by a short grammar, condensing the instruction covered in the lessons. *Stewart, W: M. Analysis of the functions of money. Wash., D. C., W: Ballantyne & Sons, 1898. 94 p. 16°, cl., 50 c.; pap.,

[2273

25 c. Terhune, W: L. My friend the captain; or, two Yankees in Europe: a descriptive story of a tour of Europe. N. Y., G: W. Dillingham Co., 1898. c. 2+278 p pors. il. D. cl., $1.50. [2274

A record of personal impressions and interesting incidents of foreign travel, supposed to have been noted during a continental tour taken in the summer of 1897. Germany, England, and France are the countries visited.

Thomas, R: H., M.D. Penelve; or, among the Quakers: an American story; il. by Osman Thomas. Phil., J. C. Winston & Co., 1898. 7+366 p. il. O. cl., $1.25.

[2275

Penelve, Pennsylvania, is the scene of a novel written for the purpose of portraying the Quaker home life of that section, also with the intention of showing the spiritual side of the Quaker character. Robert Strongwood, who comes to Penelve hoping to regain physical strength, meets Bessie Bruce, destined to play an important part in the religious life of Strongwood, who, previous to his association with Bessie, was a pronounced agnostic. The novel gives incidents of the hero's life before and after going to Penelve, ending with his love-story.

Tiernan, Mrs. Frances C. Fisher, ["Christian Reid," pseud.] The chase of an heiress. N. Y., G: P. Putnam's Sons, 1898. c. '96. 4+261 p. D. (Hudson lib., no. 32.) cl., $1; pap., 50 c. [2276

An American lawyer named Leslie goes to Santo Domingo to find the heiress to a large fortune. Soon after arriving in Santo Domingo Leslie hears that he has been outwitted by a man called Standford, with whom the prospective heiress, Felisa Ancrim, has left the city. The lawyer thereupon begins a search for the missing Felisa. The results of this interesting quest are made known in a novel, in which two women play equally interesting parts.

Tolstoi, Count Lyoff Nikolaievich. What is art? from the Russian, by C: Johnston. Phil., H: Altemus, 1898. C. 7+298 p. D. cl., $1. [2277

Tolstoi, Count Lyoff Nikolaievich. What is art? from the Russian original, by Aylmer Maude; embodying the author's last alterations and revisions. N. Y., T: Y. Crowell & Co., [1898.] 16+237 p. por. D. cl., $1.

[2278 "Art is," says Tolsto!, "a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also experience them." He begins with a critical analysis of the term art, as defined by English, German, and French philosophers, showing how the inestimable quality of art is often marred, and sometimes rendered meaningless, by the misapplied term, beauty. The art of industry, science, literature, and religion is also defined after Tolstol's conception. He contends that the mission of the Christian religion is to establish unity of thought and peace. According to author's preface, "What is art?' appears now for the first time in its true form," the changed by the censor. Russian edition having been rewritten and materially

Trask, Spencer. Bowling Green. N. Y., G: P. Putnam's Sons, 1898. 5+84 p. maps, plans, il. O. cl., 75 c.

[2279

The author says "There is no piece of land on Manhattan Island which has retained for a longer period its distinctive name and at the same time fulfilled more thoroughly the purpose of its creation than the small park at the extreme southern end of Broadway known as Bowling Green." A history of the locality gotten scenes of the burgher life of New Amsterdam, from 1621 to the present year. Mr. Trask revives forintroducing much personal history. Many old plans and maps are included, notably a plan of New York in 1695. Quaint and characteristic illustrations accom pany the text.

United States bankruptcy act, approved July 1, 1898. N. Y., T. & J. W. Johnson & Co., [1898.] 35 p. O. pap., 25 c. [2280 Text of "An act to establish a uniform system of

[2281

bankruptcy throughout the United States." United States. Treasury Department. Warrevenue law of 1898; with index. Phil., T. & J. W. Johnson & Co., [1898.] 35 p. O. pap., 25 c. Text of "An act to provide ways and means to meet war expenditures, and for other purposes." *Washington. Index laws, including all the general, local, and private laws, memorials and resolutions, also miscellaneous laws affecting land titles, 1854-1897; by Frank Pierce; to be revised after each legislature. Seattle, Tribune Ptg. Co., 1898. c. 67 p. D. pap., $1. [2282

*Watson, W: The hope of the world. N. Y., J: Lane, 1898. 83 p. 8°, cl., $1.25. [2283 Wellby, M. S. Through unknown Tibet. Phil., J. B. Lippincott Co., 1898. 14+440 p. por. il. O. cl., $6.

[2284

The author, a captain in the 18th Hussars [English], says in his preface: "In publishing the following account of a journey across Tibet it has been my object to describe in a simple manner all that I did and saw, in the hope that some future traveller may learn not so much what he ought to do as what he ought not to do." The journey was begun at Lucknow in March, 1896, amidst the distractions of polo and other field games, continued from Simla, the summer capital of India, and ended in the wilds of Waziristan, November, 1897. Profusely illustrated.

NEW ENGLISH BOOKS. Selected from the current [London]“ Publishers' Circular."

Bennett, A. W. The flora of the Alps: being a description of all the species of flowering plants indigenous to Switzerland, and of the Alpine species of the ad, jacent mountain districts of France, Italy, and Austriaincluding the Pyrenees; 120 col. pl. New ed., ex. cr. 8,8% x 5%, 418 p., 158., net........ ....J. C. Nimmo

Bruce, R. Food supply: a practical handbook for the use of colonists and all intending to become farmers abroad or at home; appendix on preserved and concentrated foods; by C. Ainsworth Mitchell; v. 2 of the new land series; 49 eng. from photographs of representative animals, il. the chief breeds of live stock. Ex. cr. 8°, 8 x 54, 176 p., 4s. 6d...... Griffin Capes, B. Adventures of the Comte de la Muette during the Reign of Terror. Ex. cr. 8°, 8 x 54, 310 p., 6s. Blackwood & S De Thierry, C. Imperialism; introd. by W. E. Hen ley. 12, 73% x 42, 126 p., 25...... ......Duckworth Dolmetsch, H. The historic styles of ornament; containing 1500 examples from all countries and all periods, exhibited on 100 plates, mostly printed in gold and colors; historical and descriptive text, trans. from the German. Folio, 13% x 91⁄2, 258., net. Batsford Firth, G. The adventures of a martyr's bible. Cr. 8°, 74 x 5, 390 p., 6s...........

Lane

TRIBUNE PRINTING CO., Seattle, Wash. Washington, Index laws, 1854-1897 (Pierce)....

J. C. WINSTON & Co., Phila. Thomas, Penelve......

Fryer, A. Potamogetons (pond weeds) of the British Isles; pts. 1-3; 12 col. pls. Roy. 4°, 24 P., 218., net.

L. Reeve Hewlett, R. T. A manual of bacteriology, clinical and applied; with an appendix on bacterial remedies, etc. Ex. cr. 8°, 8% x 5, 448 p., 10s. 6d......Churchill Lilley, J. P. The principles of Protestantism: an

examination of the doctrinal differences between the Protestant churches and the Church of Rome. Cr. 8°, 72x4%. 262 P., 2s. 6d. (Handbooks for bible classes). T. & T. Clark Melrose, A. Mr. Gladstone: a popular biography. 8°, 83% x 52, 260 p., gilt, 3s. 6d................ ...Oliphant Moghuls of Central Asia, a history: English version; ed., with notes, etc., by N. Elias; tr. by E. D. Ross. 8°, 10s. 6d... ..Low Our kin across the sea: 192 American views; incl. among others some places of interest in connection with the Spanish-American war and the gold-fields of Alaska. Obl. roy. 4°, 11 x 132, 58...........Greig Read, C. Logic, deductive and inductive. Ex. cr. 8°, 8 x 54, 340 D., 6s..... ......Richards

Shakespeare reference book: being some quotations from Shakespeare's plays; selected and arr. by J. Stenson Webb. Cr. 8°, 7% x 54, 124 p., 2s. 6d........ Stock Smith, G. B. The Right Honorable William Ewart Gladstone; new ed. 8°, 81⁄2 x 52, 658 p., 5s. Ward & L

The Publishers' Werkly.

FOUNDED BY F. LEYPOLDT.

JULY 30, 1898.

views expressed in contributed articles or communications.

All matter, whether for the reading-matter columns or advertising pages, should reach this office not later than Wednesday noon, to insure insertion in the same week's

issue.

Books for the "Weekly Record," as well as all information intended for that department, must reach this office by Tuesday morning of each week.

Publishers are requested to furnish title-page proofs and advance information of books forthcoming, both for entry in the lists and for descriptive mention. An early copy of each book published should be forwarded, as it is of the utmost importance that the entries of books be made as promptly and as perfectly as possible. In many cases booksellers depend on the WEEKLY solely for their information. The Record of New Publications of THE PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY is the materia! of "The American Catalogue" and so forms the basis of all trade bibliography in the United States.

"I hold every man a debtor to his profession, from the which, as men do of course seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavor themselves by way of amends to be a help and an ornament thereunto."-LORD BACON.

THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF PUBLISHING.

A HIGHLY interesting and quite instructive study is the tracing of ordinary usages and customs to their original causes. In giving the subject careful thought, it often appears strange that the effects of such causes are stubbornly adhered to long after the causes have been battled with and overcome, and long after almost all concerned have recognized that the usage in question is out of date and almost a menace to the result for which it was first adopted.

Consider in this connection the present system of publishing more than one-half of the books put upon the market for a year during three months of that year. The months of September, October, and November have been selected for the publishing of more books than appear in the other nine months of the year combined. It would seem that this system was inaugurated when methods of communication throughout this vast country were inadequate and inordinately dear, and also when centres of distribution were few, distinctive, and indispensable. It did not pay the jobber to travel more than once a year, and what he did not see when he came to look up stock for his waiting customers remained unsold upon the publishers' hands until the jobber's business justified another trip and he had so little to do that he had time to consider it. The work of getting the publishers' books fell

retailer; he even advertises the retailer's stock

to the consuniers of his locality. The old-time jobber's occupation is practically gone, but the considerations his methods required in the days gone by are retained, although they have really become almost a detriment to the retailer who has taken his place. It is becoming impossible, also, for the reviewer to keep pace with the quantity of new books with which he is swamped during two or three months, and until he has directed the reader the bookseller might as well have poor books as good ones. The average public reads what it is told to read by its newspaper or by public opinion, which cannot be started except by time and opportunity; and the bookseller feels himself overstocked and discouraged before the demand for his most promising investments has been naturally and surely created.

It has been stated that one of the reasons for publishing such vast quantities of books just before the Christmas season is that books are

more and more used as holiday souvenirs. But would not a book sell just as well for a gift if the public had had time to hear of it and to know from hearsay that it was a desirable book to have? In fact, do not the successes of "The Christian," and "Helbeck of Bannisdale," not to extend the list, which were published in what is generally regarded as an unpromising season, seem to prove that people will read and buy certain books at any season of the year?

Then, again, the publisher spends more money in getting up his books in such a rush and all at one time. The printers and binders get through the enormous accumulation of work with the greatest difficulty. It is said that the amounts paid for overtime during the winter season are enormous. And yet even the workman is not really benefited, because he makes up for a little extra money by half a year of comparative idleness.

The trade seems to have accepted the existing state of things. Everybody grumbles at it, but no one seems to have the necessary courage and originality to make the needed change; and yet such a change would help all concerned, and it might benefit publisher and bookseller financially in the end.

THOUGH the new bankruptcy law went into force on the day it was approved, July 1, 1898, "no petition for voluntary bankruptcy can be

filed within one month," after the act becomes law, which will be next Monday, August 1, and "no petition for involuntary bankruptcy can be filed for four months thereafter," or November 1, 1898. The courts of bankruptcy are the United States courts only.

Any person who owes debts, except a corporation, shall be entitled to the benefits of the act as a voluntary bankrupt.

Any natural person, except a wage-earner or a person engaged chiefly in farming or the tillage of the soil, and unincorporated company, and any corporation engaged principally in manufacturing, trading, printing, publishing, or mercantile pursuits, owing debts to the amount of $1000 or over, may be judged an involuntary bankrupt upon default or an impartial trial, and shall be subject to the provisions and entitled to the benefits of the act. Private bankers, but not national banks or banks incorporated under state or territorial laws, may be adjudged involuntary bankrupts. A wage

earner is defined to be a person who does not earn more than $1500 a year.

AN ENGLISH PUBLISHER'S FIGHT

WITH A MONOPOLIST.

THE English trade is watching with great interest just now a lively struggle between Harmsworth Brothers and W. H. Smith & Son, the great distributing house. In England the firm of W. H. Smith & Son is all that the American News Company is in this country and something more. They have a practical monopoly of railway paper and book stalls, and for long they have used their power, which is that of a giant, like a giant. The paper that inclines to the unconventional must keep well on the right side of the line drawn by W. H. Smith & Son, or it must forego the custom of the traveller; the novelist of "realism" must keep his eye on that same line. W. H. Smith & Son have settled the vexed question of bookseller's discounts by giving none. The founder of the firm, the late W. H. Smith, M.P., left personalty to the extent of some $20,000,000, all made out of the business. The estimate of the present annual profit of the firm varies. No one

places it lower than $1,000,000, while some put it at twice that amount. Harmsworth Brothers control daily and weekly publications without number, including the Daily Mail, which claims to have the largest circulation in England.

The casus belli between these two firms is a monthly magazine, entitled Harmsworth's Magazine. Harmsworth Brothers, according to the correspondent of the New York Sun, "determined to produce a monthly for threepence which was to equal, if not surpass, those published at sixpence and more. Had this magazine been a pill or a soap it would not have been more lavishly advertised. A few days before it was to burst upon an astonished world an advertisement appeared, in large letters, in the papers. W. H. Smith & Son regretted to inform their customers that they would not supply them with the new magazine, as the

terms upon which it was offered them precluded them from selling it save at a loss.

"Harmsworth Brothers replied with an advertisement in larger letters. They did not, of course, tell the Smiths that they were saying what was not true; but, to use the words of a costermonger who was criticising the evidence of a policeman one day in a London police court, they insinuated that the great firm was handling the truth werry carelessly.' Harmsworth Brothers added words to the effect that they could do without the Smiths; that the Smiths that if any wholesaler provided Smiths' agents should not have a copy of their magazine, and they would put a stop to it.

"W. H. Smith & Son then appealed to the retailers against the publishers' tyranny. Now was the time, said they, for the retailer to make a stand. To this Harmsworth Brothers replied by advertising the terms on which they had offered to supply the Smiths, namely, 24 d. per copy, which would give them a profit of more than 33 per cent. One must suppose that to the wealthy Smith a profit of a mere 33 per cent. appears a dead loss. Be that as it may the wonderful magazine has appeared, and the mutual boycott. After all the interest roused Smiths and Harmsworths still maintain their by the fierce controversy the magazine was perhaps in itself a little bit of an anti-climax. But 617,000 copies had been ordered, and the printing of No. 2 has been suspended to allow No. 1 to be reprinted. So far the honors of the fight lie with the magazine; it sold in the streets of London as fast as a specially engaged band of hawkers could handle it. In fact it sold everywhere, save at the book stalls and agencies of those who had given it its grandest advertisement-W. H. Smith & Son."

PENNSYLVANIA'S "BIRD BOOK."

FORMER State Printer Clarence M. Busch will invoke the machinery of the law to collect his bill of $57,662 from the State of Pennsylvania for printing the innocent-looking pamphlet entitled "Enemies and Diseases of Poultry." This pamphlet was originally about a hundred pages in size and contained a few simple cuts. It was issued by the Agricultural Department, under a law permitting such printing, and took so well that the legislature ordered, by special resolution, 15,000 more copies, the resolution providing that the same should be printed with such other matter added as the editors thought proper.

When the book was finished it was found to be over a thousand pages in size and filled with beautiful pictures of the birds of the State, views in the wooded regions of the State, and other costly plates that were not in the original.

The enlarged condition of the book was brought to the attention of the Attorney-General by Private Secretary Beitler, who denounced the new "bird book" as a 66 grab." Former Superintendent of Public Printing Robinson refused to audit or approve the bill and soon after went out of office. His successor, Thomas M. Jones, has been served with notice that an alternative mandamus has been granted to compel him to audit, certify, and approve the bill. The matter will come before the court on September 1, when the AttorneyGeneral will defend.

societies of book-lovers:

Société des bibliophiles français. Honorary-president, S. A. R. Mgr. le Duc de Chartres, 27 rue Jean Goujon, Paris; Secretary, M. le Comte de Laborde, 5 avenue du Trocadéro, Paris.

Société des amis des livres. President, Eugène Paillet, conseiller à la cour d'appel, I rue Volney, Paris; Secretary, Alfred Bégis, avocat, 16 boul. de Sébastopol, Paris.

Les cent bibliophiles. President, Eugène Rodrigues, 40 rue de Berlin, Paris; Secretary, Emile Collet, 24 avenue de l'Opéra, Paris. Les XX. President, Pierre Dauze, 10 boul. Malesherbes, Paris.

Société des bibliophiles bretons, Nantes. Société des bibliophiles de Guyenne, Bordeaux. President, Louis Philippe de Bordes de Fortage, 86 rue Billaudel, Bordeaux; Secretary, Jacques Boucherie, rue Bardineaux, Bordeaux.

Société des bibliophiles lyonnais. President, Henry Morin-Pons, 15 quai Saint-Clair, Lyon; Secretary, William Poidebard, 11 rue Jarente, Lyon.

Société des bibliophiles normands, Rouen. President, Ch. de Robillard de Beaurepaire, 24 rue de Beffroi, Rouen; Secretary, Christophe Allard, 32 rue St. Nicolas, Rouen.

Société normande du livre illustré.
Société rouennaise des bibliophiles.

OBITUARY NOTES.

JAMES E. NESMITH, brother-in-law and biographer of the late Governor Greenhalge, died suddenly at Lowell, Mass., on the 26th inst. He was a graduate of Harvard, and, while fitted for the law, had done much literary work and published several volumes of poems, entitled “Monadnoc, and other sketches in verse," and "Philoctetes, and other poems and sonnets.

PROFESSOR ALPHONSE PIERRE OCTAVE RIVIER, of the University of Brussels, a wellknown authority on questions of international law, died at Brussels on the 21st inst. He was born at Lausanne, Switzerland, November 9, 1835, and studied law in the Lausanne University and at Berlin. From 1863 to 1867 he served as professor in the University of Berne, and since 1868 in the University of Brussels. Among his better-known works are "Introduction Historique au Droit Romain" (1872), "Traité Elementaire des Successions à Cause de Mort en Droit Romain" (1878), and Revue Littéraire et Historique des Systèmes et Théories du Droit des Gens Depuis Grotius" (1885). He was also the editor-inchief of the Revue de Droit International, and of the first six volumes of the "Annuaire de l'Institut de Droit International."

NOTES ON AUTHORS.

RICHARD HARDING DAVIS is at work on a book entitled "The War of '98, from First to Last," which is to be published in due time by Charles Scribner's Sons.

A SHORT dramatic sketch dealing with Clive's career in India has been finished, and may be

McFall.

ACCORDING to "A Man of Kent" in The British Weekly, Ian Maclaren is the most popular English author in Holland. The leading bookseller in Rotterdam said: "Other books have three months, six months. Yan Maclairen, he goes on."

Colin, is about to publish her souvenirs of the THE gouvernante of Alfred de Musset, Adèle de Musset's death, married a M. Martellet and poet. She is an old woman of 82, who, after became proprietor of a small jewelry shop in the Rue du Faubourg St. Honoré, which she has just sold.

MRS. FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT'S divorce has had an unexpected result. She wishes to be known as Mrs. Frances Hodgson. Her publishers say that under any new name she would have to win fame anew, as the reading public knows not Mrs. Frances Hodgson. The name of a well-known writer carries with it a real money value, hence her publishers insist she must retain in some way that under which she won honor and fortune.

LORD RONALD GOWER is at present engaged bids fair to be an important and interesting upon a life of Sir Thomas Lawrence, which work. It is to contain many reproductions of portraits by Sir Thomas which have not previously been published, a large number being taken from private collections and some, by permission of the Queen, fron the famous Lawrence portraits in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor, which have not been reproduced hitherto. Goupil & Co. will publish the work next spring, and Lord Ronald Gower has laid aside another work upon which he is engaged so that he may at once finish the Lawrence. This second book is a "History of the Tower of London," for which elaborate original illustrations are being prepared.

LEO TOLSTOY contributes to the current number of The New Age the opening chapters of a work entitled " Christian Teaching," (translated by V. Tehertkoff,) which he evidently thinks will be his last message to the world. In his introduction he says: "So that I am urged to do what I do, not by wish for gain or fame, nor by any worldly considerations, but only by fear to fail in what is required from me by Him who has sent me into this world, to Whom I am hourly expecting to return. I, therefore, beg all those who shall read this to follow and understand my writing, putting aside, as I did, all worldly considerations, and holding before them only that eternal Principle of truth and right, by Whose will we have come into the world, whence, as beings in the body, we shall very soon disappear; without hurry or irritation, let them understand and judge what I say. If they disagree, let them correct me; not with contempt and hatred, but with pity and love. If they agree, let them remember that if I speak truth, that truth is not mine, but God's, and only casually part of it passes through me, just as it passes through every one of us when we behold truth, and transmit it to others."

ACCORDING to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Mrs. Voynich, the author of "The Gadfly," now in