The Author to His Readers Only
When, to my great surprise, I published four years since a novel called “Joseph Vance” a statement was repeated more than once in some journals that were kind enough to notice it, that its author was seventy years of age. Why this made me feel like a centenarian I do not know, especially as it was five years ahead of the facts. But that was its moral effect. Its practical one was to make me endeavour to set it right. I then learned for the first time how hopeless is the pursuit of an error through the columns of the press, and soon gave up the chase.
But in the course of my attempts to procure the reduction to which I was entitled, I expressed a hope that the said author would live to be seventy, and, further, that he would write four or five volumes as long as his first in the interim. To my thinking, he has been as good (or as bad) as his word, for this present volume is Vol. II.1 of the fourth story published since then, and the day of its publication will be the author’s seventieth birthday; or, if you consider the day of his birth as a birthday, his seventy-first. I see nothing to be ashamed of in the way this author has come to time, and can (so far) look with complacency on the fact that we are each other.
At the risk of more Early Victorianism—I have a heavy score against me!—may I use the rest of this fly-leaf, otherwise blank, to touch on another point? I know that gossiping with one’s readers is a disreputable Early Victorian practice, and far from Modern, which everything ought to be. But I will not detain mine long.
I wish to protest against a misinterpretation that readers of fiction will probably continue to make to the end of time, however strongly authors may appeal against it.
I refer to the practice of ascribing views—political, religious, or otherwise—expressed by characters in a book to its author. It is as unreasonable to do so as to impute every opinion spoken in a dream to the dreamer himself. In this foregoing book, as in others, the author has merely put on record what the characters he was dreaming of seemed to him to say.
I repudiate responsibility on his behalf. Hold a writer of pure fiction answerable for the opinions of every one of his dramatis personæ, and he will be limited in the choice of them to folk who are on all fours with everyone else—conformists of a venomous type—good to be read about in bed by persons who suffer from insomnia, but good for nothing else. Take the words of each character for what they are worth, and if a character alleged by the tale to be sane says something you don’t agree with, condemn it as ill-drawn, if you like, but don’t call the author to account as if he had ventured to question the validity of your own persuasions. Leave him a free hand, and he will verser comme si c’était pour soi, and his books will be infinitely more readable, even if some of his favourite characters utter incorrect opinions.
I may add that if the readers of this novel want anything altered in it, it shall be done in the second edition, provided that they are unanimous and that it will leave the text consecutive.
W. De Morgan.
1. The English edition of this book is published in two volumes.
NOVELS OF EVA LATHBURY
“Those weary of the banalities of current fiction will greatly enjoy it.”—The Providence Journal on “The Long Gallery.”
THE LONG GALLERY
A romance dominated by the influence of dead ancestors whose pictures hang in the Long Gallery of Southern court in England, with which mingles the glamour of the days spent in the old playroom at the Court. $1.50.
“It holds a distinct place among recent fiction. There is material enough for several plots... well told, it shows creative power, imagination, sincerity.”—Outlook.
“Remarkably fascinating.”—Philadelphia Ledger.
“A story of unusual quality, written with uncommon distinction of style... striking characters... Griselda, a gypsy-like creature with a strange mixture of innocence and sophistication... Alva, strangely alluring and scarcely seeming to belong to those practical days.... Back of the characters stands the old Court, with its long gallery filled with portraits of the dead Southerns. Alva, Griselda and Anthony feel their influence; it is symbolism of an unusual sort... there is a soupcon of high comedy in the story;... the dialogue is keen and vivid.... The book will hold the discriminating reader as much by its finesse of style as its interesting play and interplay of characters.”—New York Times Review.
“Singularly enjoyable. A spontaneous wit, a fascinating play of idea upon idea make excellent reading.”—Chicago Tribune.
“There are really three stories in ‘The Long Gallery,’ of which each maintain its separate interest while coherently connected with the other two. If Griselda proves the most captivating, she scores a distinct victory over her rivals for favor, for they in widely differing fashion are worthy of her steel.... Griselda fought a good fight and the manner of it is worth the reading.”—Boston Transcript.
“Both girls have been educated by good teachers who have so trained their minds and hearts that they are able to break the meshes entangling them, and to save their souls alive.... ‘The Long Gallery’ is equally remarkable in its English and in its personages.”—The Living Age.
THE SINKING SHIP
A notable new novel of theatrical life. “The Sinking Ship” is the title of a play with which Vanda Conquest, a popular actress, endeavors to buoy up her waning fortunes. She is a fascinating figure, standing midway between her scandalous old mother and her noble daughter, both of them also actresses. Vanda’s placid actor-husband and the aggressive young dramatist are other vital characters in vivid scenes of the players’ lives on and off the stage. $1.50.
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY.
THE BUILDERS OF SPAIN
By Clara Crawford Perkins.
With photogravure frontispieces and 62 half-tone plates. 2 vols. 8vo. $5.00 net, boxed, carriage extra.
A sumptuous and popular work similar to the author’s “French Cathedrals and Chateaux.” Its elaborate illustrations and historical and architectural comment make this work an admirable guide to intelligent sight-seeing.
“It is a pleasure to take up a beautiful book and find that the subject matter is quite as satisfactory as the artistic illustrations, the rich covers and the clear print.... The author handles with much skill a subject with which she is familiar and one which is much neglected by the average reader.”—Springfield Republican.
“Written from ample knowledge and with much enthusiasm. They describe what is charming and interesting in a manner that is usually interesting and often charming.”—Chicago Post.
“Her work on Spain is especially to be commended. Everyone knows that the history of the peninsula is a tangle of racial elements. Few writers are skilful enough to make that tangle clear, or, if they have the skill, they are disposed to leave it in abeyance while they indulge in large generalisations. The very modesty with which Miss Perkins has undertaken her task has contributed to its more effective fulfilment. She does not try to tell too much, but in brief chapters surveys the broad phases of her subject, glancing at the Romans, the Vizigoths, Arabs and Moors, and finally the Christian kings.... The different forces that have helped to build up the Spanish people are justly and interestingly characterized.”—New York Tribune.
*** Uniform in style and price with the above the author’s French Cathedrals and Chateaux.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
The narrative merges into that of the author’s “Napoleon.”
Contents: The Perspective of the French Revolution, Versailles, Economic Crisis, Convocation of the States General, France Comes to Versailles, From Versailles to Paris, The Assembly Demolishes Privilege, The Flight to Varennes, War Breaks Out, The Massacre, Ending the Monarchy, The Fall of the Gironde, The Reign of Terror, Thermidor. The Last Days of the Convention, the Directoire, Art and Literature.
“An almost ideal book of its kind and within its scope... a clear idea of the development and of the really significant men of events of that cardinal epoch in the history of France and of Europe is conveyed to reader, many of whom will have been bewildered by the anecdotal fulness or the rhetorical romancing of Professor Johnston’s most conspicuous predecessors.”—Churchman.
*** By the same author “Napoleon: A Short Biography” $1.25 net; by mail, $1.37. Leading American Soldiers, $1.75 net; by mail, $1.88.
*** If the reader will send his name and address, the publishers will send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY.
MRS. R. S. GARNETT’S THE INFAMOUS JOHN FRIEND
$1.50.
“The book has many fine qualities. As an historic picture it is not merely conscientious and painstaking, but vivid and full of the stir of life. As the study of the awakening of a timid, gentle, pious woman... the book shows unusual analytical powers; as a tragedy... it shows that fine sense of the narrow boundary line which separates the truly dramatic from the melodrama.”
—Bookman.
“Exceedingly vivid and interesting,... strongly told... great directness and full of sharp effects.... The reader... will read it all... a dramatic and a remarkably good story.”—New York Sun.
“A telling and dramatic novel. Unusual, well constructed, well characterized, and replete with keen interest. The plot, which deals with Napoleon’s proposed invasion of England, shows strength and simplicity and in John Friend, at once rascal and hero is presented a portrait equally convincing and unique.”—Chicago Record-Herald.
“A very able book. Extremely powerful and interesting.”—The Spectator (London).
“A historical novel of the first quality and which is not only the best of the year but of many years... the keenest interest is aroused.”—San Francisco Call.
W. P. EATON AND ELISE M. UNDERHILL’S THE RUNAWAY PLACE
A May Idyl of Manhattan. Mr. Eaton is ex-dramatic critic of the N. Y. Sun. $1.25.
“A sweetly whimsical tale.... A flavor that spells inevitable fascination for all whose heart freshness has not been left too far behind.... It’s by no means easy to suggest the half humorous, half wistful, wholly tender and delightful charm of this lovable ‘idyl of Manhattan.’”—Chicago Record-Herald.
“One of the most charming little idyls. Should be strong in its appeal to many readers.”—Springfield Republican.
*** If the reader will send his name and address, the publishers will send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY.
The primary object of this series is to answer questions which the contemplation of Nature is constantly arousing in the mind of the unscientific intelligent person. But a collateral object will be to give some intelligent notion of the “causes of things.” The books will be under the guarantee of American experts, and generally from the American point of view. The series will be in six divisions. (Prospectus on request). The following volumes are ready:
FISHES, by David Starr Jordan, President of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 8vo. 789 pp. With 18 colored plates and 673 illustrations; $6.00 net; carriage extra.
AMERICAN INSECTS, by Vernon L. Kellogg, Professor in the Leland Stanford Junior University. 8vo. 694 pp. With 13 colored plates and many illustrations; $5.00 net; carriage extra.
BIRDS OF THE WORLD. A popular account by Frank H. Knowlton, M.S., Ph.D., Member American Ornithologists Union, President Biological Society of Washington, etc., with Chapter on Anatomy of Birds by Frederic A. Lucas, Chief Curator Brooklyn Museum of Arts and Sciences, and edited by Robert Ridgway, Curator of Birds, U. S. National Museum. 8vo. 872 pp. With 16 colored plates and 236 illustrations; $7.00 net; carriage extra.
NORTH AMERICAN TREES, by N. L. Britton, Director of the New York Botanical Garden. 8vo. 894 pp. With 781 illustrations; $7.00 net; carriage extra.
FERNS, by Campbell E. Waters, of Johns Hopkins University. 8vo. 362 pp. Many illustrations; $3.00 net; by mail, $3.30.
THE BIRD: ITS FORM AND FUNCTION, by C. W. Beebe, Curator of Birds in the New York Zoological Park. 8vo. 496 pp. With frontispiece in color and 370 illustrations from photographs. $3.50 net; by mail, $3.80.
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY, New York
MELCHISEDEC
By Ramsey Benson. $1.50.
A deeply felt story of a quarter blood Indian in the Northwest, who felt he had a mission.
“Rich in interest alike of religious psychological and ’pure human’ order. The narrative spell is keen and tensely absorbing, nor could the lightest nature peruse the unassuming but vital pages unthinking, unmoved.”—Chicago Record-Herald.
“May it not be that this wandering shepherd of the sheep, solely because of his unselfish sincerity in seeking after righteousness, has much to say to every normally comfortable Christian?... worth a score of those stories in which an author sets up his conception of a modern incarnation of Our Lord, and modestly asks readers to regard its superior artistic merit to the picture given by the evangelists.”—Living Age.
“A theme well out of the ordinary... in many respects a noteworthy piece of fiction... as a whole the tale is picturesque, unusual, and has the always gratifying quality of suggestiveness.”—New York Times Review.
A LORD OF LANDS
By Ramsey Benson. $1.50.
The unusual and convincing narrative of the experiences of a man of good sense, with wages of $50 a month and five children, following his determination to leave the city and farm it in the Northwest.
“A book of real adventure—an adventure in living. More thrilling than an African jungle story, and not lacking in humor and pathos. Nothing is more wonderful than the way the commonest details contribute to the homely interest, just as long ago we were fascinated by the ‘Swiss Family Robinson.’”—The Independent.
“Does for the humble workingman what ‘The Fat of the Land’ did for the well-to-do. Will appeal instantly and throughout its entire length to the lover of the outdoor life.”—Boston Transcript.
“Unique in literature... holds many fascinations... told with the utmost art.”—San Francisco Chronicle.
OVER AGAINST GREEN PEAK
By Zephine Humphrey. $1.25 net, by mail $1.33.
The homely experiences of a bright young woman and her Aunt Susan, not to mention the “hired girl,” in making a New England home.
“Verily it is a delicious piece of work and that last chapter is a genuine poem. Best of all is the charming sincerity of the book.”—George Cary Eggleston.
“A record of country life far above the average of its class in the qualities which go to make such a book enjoyable.... The author sees the things that are worth seeing, and she has a rather unusual command of simple, dignified and effective English.”—The Nation.
*** If the reader will send his name and address, the publishers will send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY.
WILSON VANCE’S
BIG JOHN BALDWIN
The Romance of a Cromwellian soldier, big of heart and body, in England and in Virginia ($1.50).
“The love story is charming with its intimate analysis of the big fellow’s emotions and honest awkwardness, never folly.... His wit is clumsy... but it is wit, and, slowly perhaps, it gets there.”—Hartford Courant.
“A book to read leisurely as one sips and enjoys good wine.”—Detroit Free Press.
MRS. ALICE DUER MILLER’S
LESS THAN KIN
The story of a likable youth, who returning to New York from South America, is welcomed as a son by a family of strangers ($1.25).
“One of the best of the lighter novels of the season.... The situations are developed with humor and cleverness, and the reader’s interest is held to the dénouement. Mrs. Miller has a pleasant gift of story telling and a knack of mixing cleverness, humor, and sentiment in just the proper proportions.”—N. Y. Times Review.
“If you can absent yourself from this before it is ended, your bump of curiosity must be insignificant.... The story is witty, terse, and swift. The characterization is surprisingly sharp and vivacious.... In fact the young woman in the case comes pretty near being a very memorable creature.... Whenever she appears the sparks fly. So crisp is the dialogue, so unconventional the action.”—Nation.
“It keeps the reader quietly chuckling even when matters of love and life and death hang in the balance... all done so delicately and in such good taste that the reader’s sense of propriety is never shocked.”—Putnam’s Magazine.
“Admirably written and full of interest.... The story is ingenious. It has quick turns and surprises. It is very well done.”—New York Sun.
“A delightful story... romantic and capital reading.”—Baltimore Sun.
If the reader will send his name and address the publishers will send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
RICHARD BURTON’S
MASTERS OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL
Contents: Fiction and the Novel,—Eighteenth Century Beginnings: Richardson,—Eighteenth Century Beginnings: Fielding,—Developments: Smollett, Sterne and Others,—Realism: Jane Austen.—Modern Romanticism: Scott,—French Influence, Dickens,—Thackeray,—George Eliot,—Trollope and Others,—Hardy and Meredith,—Stevenson,—The American Contribution,—Index.
RICHARD BURTON’S
RAHAB, A DRAMA OF THE FALL OF JERICHO
“A poetic drama of high quality. Plenty of dramatic action.”—New York Times Review.
WILLIAM MORTON PAYNE’S
THE GREATER ENGLISH POETS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
“The sound and mellow fruits of his long career as a critic.... There is not a rash, trivial, or dull line in the whole book.... Its charming sanity has seduced me into reading it to the end, and anyone who does the same will feel that he has had an inspiring taste of everything that is finest in nineteenth-century poetry. Ought to be read and reread by every student of literature, and most of all by those who have neglected English poetry, for here one finds its essence in brief compass.”—Chicago Record-Herald.
If the reader will send his name and address, the publishers will send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
THE LADY OF THE DYNAMOS
By Adele Marie Shaw and Carmelita Beckwith
A very appealing love story dominates this tale of the heroic struggle of a young American electrical engineer and an English girl, against treachery, superstition and open opposition, to harness a great water power and reclaim a wilderness in Ceylon. There is plenty of humor as well as of peril and suspense, and it works up to a climax, the most exciting chapter being the last. The characters, principally American and English, are so well defined that the effect is almost that of a play acted before the reader’s eyes.
“Striking and fascinating... a charming young woman... the devil dances and the outbreaks of the natives are described with vivid detail... stands out as a bit of real life.”—Boston Transcript.
“A good story... a fine likeable American man and a charming English girl... personages standing out clearly... the stirring action and picturesque setting will help many a pleased reader to compass a verdict of praise.”—Chicago Record Herald.
“A vivid romance, combining marked virility with the most delicate play of fancy and of sentiment... holds the interest from beginning to end. The surprise of the narrative is the consummate ease with which two women writers handle the details of the great electrical power plant and mammoth business enterprise.”—San Francisco Chronicle.
THE PILGRIM’S MARCH
By H. H. Bashford
A happily written English story with a theme of wide appeal. A likable youth with artistic tendencies is converted, for a time at least, to the ways, and works, and daughter of a puritan family. The situation is worked out with humor and in an atmosphere of good breeding.
“Extremely clever and charming.”—Prof. Wm. Lyon Phelps of Yale.
“A sureness of touch, a sympathetic understanding that deserve high praise.”—The Bookman.
“Really charming. They’re all very real, these good people—altogether too nice and wholesomely lovable to shut away with the memory of their story’s single reading.”—Chicago Record-Herald.
“Those critics who have asserted that all possible plots have been used will be compelled to retreat. A remarkable first novel.”—The Living Age, Boston.
*** If the reader will send his name and address, the publishers will send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
“The most complete and authoritative... pre-eminently the man to write the book... full of the spirit of discerning criticism.... Delightfully engaging manner, with humor, allusiveness and an abundance of the personal note.”—Richard Aldrich in New York Times Review. (Complete notice on application.)
CHAPTERS OF OPERA
Being historical and critical observations and records concerning the Lyric Drama in New York from its earliest days down to the present time.
By Henry Edward Krehbiel
Musical critic of the New York Tribune, Author of “Music and Manners in the Classical Period,” “Studies in the Wagnerian Drama,” “How to Listen to Music,” etc. With over 70 portraits and pictures of Opera Houses. Second edition, revised.
$3.50 net; by mail $3.72. Illustrated circular on application.
This is perhaps Mr. Krehbiel’s most important book. The first seven chapters deal with the earliest operatic performances in New York. Then follows a brilliant account of the first quarter-century of the Metropolitan, 1883–1908. He tells how Abbey’s first disastrous Italian season was followed by seven seasons of German Opera under Leopold Damrosch and Stanton, how this was temporarily eclipsed by French and Italian, and then returned to dwell with them in harmony, thanks to Walter Damrosch’s brilliant crusade,—also of the burning of the opera house, the vicissitudes of the American Opera Company, the coming and passing of Grau and Conried, and finally the opening of Oscar Hammerstein’s Manhattan Opera House and the first two seasons therein, 1906–08.
“Presented not only in a readable manner but without bias... extremely interesting and valuable.”—Nation.
“The illustrations are a true embellishment.... Mr. Krehbiel’s style was never more charming. It is a delight.”—Philip Hale in Boston Herald.
“A readable and valuable book, which no one who is interested in the subject can afford to leave out of his library... written in entertaining manner, and it is comprehensive.”—Putnam.
“Invaluable for purpose of reference... rich in critical passages... all the great singers of the world have been heard here. Most of the great conductors have come to our shores.... Memories of them which serve to humanize, as it were, his analyses of their work.”—New York Tribune.
*** If the reader will send his name and address, the publishers will send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
“The most important biographic contribution to musical literature since the beginning of the century, with the exception of Wagner’s Letters to Frau Wesendonck.”
—H. T. Finck, in the New York Evening Post.
(Circular with complete review and sample pages on application.)
Personal Recollections of Wagner
By ANGELO NEUMANN
Probably no man ever did more to make Wagner’s music dramas known than Angelo Neumann, who, with his famous “Wagner Travelling Theatre,” carrying his artists, orchestra, scenery and elaborate mechanical devices, toured Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Austria and Russia, and with another organization gave “The Ring” in London. But the account of this tour, interesting as it is, is not the main feature of his book, which abounds in intimate glimpses of Wagner at rehearsals, at Wahnfried and elsewhere, and tells much of the great conductor, Anton Seidl, so beloved by Americans. Among other striking figures are Nikisch and Muck, both conductors of the Boston Symphony orchestra, Mottl, the Vogls, Von Bulow, Materna, Marianna Brandt, Klafsky, and Reicher-Kindermann.
It is doubtful if any book gives a more vivid and truthful picture of life and “politics” behind the scenes of various opera houses. Many of the episodes, such as those of a bearded Brynhild, the comedy writer and the horn player and the prince and the Rhinedaughter are decidedly humorous.
The earlier portions of the book tell of the Leipsic negotiations and performances, the great struggle with Von Hülsen, the royal intendant at Berlin, Bayreuth and “Parsifal.” Many of Wagner’s letters appear here for the first time.
ILLUSTRATIONS.—Richard Wagner: Bust by Anton zur Strassen in the foyer of the Leipsic Stadttheater.—Angelo Neumann: From a picture in the Künstlerzimmer of the Leipsic Stadttheater.—Anton Seidl: Bas-relief by Winifred Holt of New York. Replica commissioned by Herr Direktor Neumann.—Hedwig Reicher-Kindermann—Facsimile of letter from Wagner to Neumann, received after the news of Wagner’s death.
If the reader will send his name and address, the publishers will send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK (1774–1882)
De Alva Stanwood Alexander, A.M.
Vols. I. & II. (1774–1861). 840 pp., 8vo. $5.00 net (carriage 40c. extra)
Vol. III. (1861–1882). 561 pp., 8vo. $2.50 net (carriage 28c. extra)
A history of the movements of political parties in New York State from 1774 to 1882, and embraces a series of brilliant character studies of the leaders, most of them of national importance, who, from the days of George Clinton, have drawn the attention of the nation to New York. The astute methods and sources of power by which George Clinton, Hamilton, Burr, DeWitt Clinton, Van Buren, Seymour and Thurlow Weed each successively controlled the political destiny of the State are clearly and picturesquely set forth. The third volume narrates, fully and entertainingly, the futile efforts of Weed and Dean Richmond to reorganize existing parties, the rise and fall of the Tweed Ring, Conkling’s punishment of Greeley and defeat of Fenton, Tilden’s defiance of Tammany and struggle with Kelly, and the overthrow of the Stalwart régime by the crushing victory of Grover Cleveland. Throughout it is characterized, too, with a fairness which must appeal to the strongest partisan. (Circular with sample pages on application.)
“It meets a want widely felt and repeatedly expressed during the past hundred years.... It would be impossible in a dozen notices to render any sort of justice to the extensive scope of this work and to the multiplicity of its interesting details.”—From two leading articles, aggregating over ten columns, in the New York Sun.
“Will undoubtedly take its place as the authoritative work upon the subject.”—Boston Transcript.
“The most entertaining story of state politics in American history.”—Review of Reviews.
“Will be read with great interest and profit outside the Empire State.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer.
JOHN DAVIS’ TRAVELS OF FOUR YEARS AND A HALF IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (1798–1802)
Dedicated by permission to Thomas Jefferson. Esq. First Published, London, 1803. With Introduction and Notes by Alfred J. Morrison. 8vo, 429 pps. $2.50 net, by mail $2.65.
The only book of the period written by a traveller in the United States the object of which is not so much statistical narrative as narrative purely. It is a story of wanderings from New York to South Carolina, and as such affords a most interesting picture of the greater part of the United States at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The author was a novelist and shows it in his book. A necessary book for even an exclusive collection of Americana. Measured by any standard an unusual book of travel.
Trevelyan in his “American Revolution” says of this book: “Among accounts of such voyages, none are more life-like; an exquisitely absurd book, which the world, to the diminution of its gaiety, has forgotten.”
If the reader will send his name and address, the publishers will send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
BOOKS THAT CHEER
By CHARLES BATTELL LOOMIS
A holiday touch; and Other Tales of Undaunted Americans.
Illustrated by Thomas Fogarty, F. R. Gruger, Peter Newell, Charles B. Loomis, “Hy.” Mayer, H. G. Williamson, and John Wolcott Adams.
Perhaps Mr. Loomis’s greatest charm is his old combination of American buoyancy with an unobtrusive pathos. The “hard-up” one who does not whine or ask for help, but smiles and wins out, dominates these pages, which fairly sparkle with Yankee ingenuity and pluck. There are also some delightful burlesques.
“Mr. Loomis at his clever best. He succeeds in embodying the shrewdness and ingenuity of our national spirit in terms of great human kindliness—a combination of keen insight and deep sympathy which always makes for the best kind of humor.”—Chicago Evening Post.
POE’S RAVEN IN AN ELEVATOR
Being a later edition of “Moore Cheerful Americans.” Illustrated by Mrs. Shinn and others.
Eighteen humorous tales in the vein of the author’s popular “Cheerful Americans.” To these is appended a delightfully satirical paper on “How to Write a Novel for the Masses.”
“Really funny. You have to laugh—laugh suddenly and unexpectedly.”—N. Y. Times Review.
CHEERFUL AMERICANS
Illustrated by Mmes. Shinn, Cory, and others.
Seventeen humorous tales, including three quaint automobile stories, the “Americans Abroad” series, “The Man of Putty,” etc.
“The mere name and the very cover are full of hope.... This small volume is a safe one to lend to a gambler, an invalid, a hypochondriac, or an old lady; more than safe for the normal man.”—Nation.
DAVY JONES’ YARNS and other Salted Songs
By Thomas R. Ybarra. With over 30 illustrations by Henry Mayer of the New York Times. $1.25 net.
A wild book in which the imagination and humor of both versifier and artist are restrained by nothing but propriety. Davy Jones has mad adventures with the Swiss Admiral, Cannibals, the Czar, Mince Pirates, the Revolution Bug, etc.
“A volume of delightfully whimsical humor... rollicking rhyme... the pictures are as merrily grotesque as the verses.”—Chicago Record-Herald.
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY