MISCELLANEOUS.
Père Didon, the eminent Dominican, is engaged in the preparation of a work from which great things are expected. It is to be a refutation of Renan's infamous "Vie de Jesu"—a work which, it is declared by the best authorities, conduced more to the spread of infidelity than any that was ever published. Père Didon has paid a long visit to the Holy Land in furtherance of his researches, and intends to make another trip there before he concludes them. The book will probably not be published for six or eight months.
Messrs. John Murphy & Co., Baltimore, have issued a large type edition of the Holy Way of the Cross, new type with new illustrations. It is a great improvement on former editions.
Haverty's Irish-American Illustrated Almanac, for 1886. Price 25 cents.
Persons who invest a quarter in this book will get the worth of their money. Stories, poetry, etc., etc. Address P. M. Haverty, 14 Barclay Street, New York.
I. F. M. in Catholic Universe:—Writing of Catholic publications and Catholic reading we are reminded of the fact that the Catholic public is often really victimized in this very matter. Books are made up out of old materials, a few facts are added on cognate subjects of present interest, the volume is handsomely bound, and an agent goes about the country selling the book, receiving payments in instalments and making sixty per cent. on his sales. Such books ornament a table and are little read; an incubus of instalments is laid on the buyer; he pays twice as much as ought to be asked for the book and the sale of really valuable and much cheaper books is prevented. We have seen handsomely bound Bibles bought for fifteen and twenty dollars, and solely used for an ornament, by poor people who could surely have made much better investments in reading matter. What we say of Bibles may be said equally of certain ponderous volumes containing the Life of the Blessed Virgin, etc. Of course, these are grandly useful books in themselves; but when so gotten up as to be unavailable except for ornament, and when creating an obstacle to the purchase of books more easily and more generally read, they do not serve Catholic interests.
Instructions and Prayers for the Jubilee of 1886. Published with the approbation of his Grace, the Most Rev. Archbishop of New York. 32 mo, paper, per copy, 5 cents; per hundred, $2.00. The same in German. Benziger Brothers, Publishers, New York, Cincinnati, and St. Louis.
St. Vincent de Paul Library.—Instructions on the commandments and sacraments. Translated from St. Francis Ligouri, by the late Rev. Nicholas Callan, D. D., Maynooth. The title of this little book explains its contents. It is the first of a series of instructive books to be issued by the St. Vincent de Paul Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill.
Obituary.
"After life's fitful fever they sleep well."