NEW EDITION OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS.
It is rather late in the day to speak of what is technically termed the "getting-up" of this elegant edition of the most popular works of our time. There are now three volumes published—Waverley, in two vols. and one vol. or half of Guy Mannering. Each of the former contains upwards of 400 pages, and the latter nearly that number—beautifully printed in what we call a very inviting type, on excellent paper, of rich colour, and not too garish for the eye of the reader. The engravings to Waverley are by Graves, C. Rolls, and Raddon, after E.P. and J. Stephanoff, Newton, and Landseer—a frontispiece and plate title page and vignette to each volume. To our taste the vignettes are exquisite—one by Landseer, David Gellatley, with Ban and Buscar, is extremely beautiful. The illustrations to the volume of Guy Mannering are by Duncan, and C.G. Cooke, after Leslie and Kidd. The volumes are in substantial canvass binding. Their low price, a crown a-piece, is the marvel of bookselling, for were they only reprints without copyright, they would be unprecedentedly cheap. The whole series will extend to forty volumes, to be published in three years, and will cost ten pounds. Fifteen-pence a week for the above term will thus provide a family with one of the most elegant drawing-room libraries that can be desired. They will about occupy three cheffonier shelves;—or what delightful volumes for fire-side shelves, or a "little book-room," or a breakfast parlour opening on a carpet of lawn—or to read by the hour, with a golden-haired lady-friend, and chat awhile, and then turn to the most attractive scenes in the novel, while we ourselves are perhaps enacting the hero in a romance of real life. Few novels admit of a second reading; but the Waverley series will never lose their attraction—and to remember when and where, and with whom you first read each of them, may perhaps revive many pleasantries.
Of the literary Notes and emendations of the present edition, we have already expressed our opinion by the selection of several of them for the pages of the MIRROR; and in the progress of the publication, we shall endeavour to award similar justice to each of the works.
In the Athenaeum, of August 5, the presumed profit on the whole edition is estimated at £100,000.! The calculation of the sale of 12,000 of each work is a reasonable one, and splendid as, in that case, the reward will be, the reading-public will be the gainers.
THE FAMILY LIBRARY.
History of the Jews.
We scarcely know how to do justice to the high character of the series of volumes now publishing under this denomination. In printing and embellishment they take the lead of the Periodical Works of our day, (and some of these are extremely beautiful,) while their literary worth is even of superior order. Although they are matter-of-fact works—as in history and biography—they are not mere compilations of dry details and uninteresting lives; but they are so interspersed with new views, and the facts are so often re-written, that the whole have the appearance of original works. Excellent principles, and economy of cost are, likewise, two important points of their recommendations; for many works which have already appeared on the same subjects, have been deformed by party spirit, and written to serve a sect, or are so expensive as to be purchaseable only by the wealthy ranks, and scarcely accessible by the middle classes of society; whereas the Family Library is published at a rate within the reach of two-thirds of the reading public, who may therefore possess what they read, and appreciate the value of these volumes as works of reference and authority.
The division of the series which has called forth this notice, is No. 5, or the first volume of the History of the Jews, to be completed in three volumes, by the Rev. H.H. Milman, Professor of Poetry at Oxford, and the author of the splendid poem—The Fall of Jerusalem; and judging by the portion before us, this work will form one of the most attractive in the whole series. In proof of this it would be easy to select many passages which are beautifully picturesque; a few, however, will suffice:
"The Jews, without reference to their religious belief, are among the most remarkable people in the annals of mankind. Sprung from one stock, they pass the infancy of their nation in a state of servitude in a foreign country, where, nevertheless, they increase so rapidly, as to appear on a sudden the fierce and irresistible conquerors of their native valleys in Palestine. There they settle down under a form of government and code of laws totally unlike those of any other rude or civilized community. They sustain a long and doubtful conflict, sometimes enslaved, sometimes victorious, with the neighbouring tribes. At length, united under one monarchy, they gradually rise to the rank of a powerful, opulent, and commercial people. Subsequently weakened by internal discord, they are overwhelmed by the vast monarchies which arose on the banks of the Euphrates, and transplanted into a foreign region. They are partially restored, by the generosity or policy of the Eastern sovereigns, to their native land. They are engaged in wars of the most romantic gallantry, in assertion of their independence, against the Syro-Grecian successors of Alexander. Under Herod, they rise to a second era of splendour, as a dependent kingdom of Rome: finally, they make the last desperate resistance to the universal dominion of the Caesars. Scattered from that period over the face of the earth—hated, scorned, and oppressed, they subsist, a numerous and often a thriving people; and in all the changes of manners and opinions retain their ancient institutions, their national character, and their indelible hope of restoration to grandeur and happiness in their native land. Thus the history of this, perhaps the only unmingled race, which can boast of high antiquity, leads us through every gradation of society and brings us into contact with almost every nation which commands our interest in the ancient world; the migratory pastoral population of Asia; Egypt, the mysterious parent of arts, science, and legislation; the Arabian Desert; the Hebrew theocracy under the form of a federative agricultural republic, their kingdom powerful in war and splendid in peace; Babylon, in its magnificence and downfall; Grecian arts and luxury endeavouring to force an unnatural refinement within the pale of the rigid Mosaic institutions; Roman arms waging an exterminating war with the independence even of the smallest states; it descends, at length, to all the changes in the social state of the modern European and Asiatic nations."
At page 32, there is an interesting picture of the state of society in Patriarchal times—the whole of the life of Moses is extremely well written—the description of the Plague is indeed terrific—and the death and character of the Prophet drawn with a masterly and vigorous hand. The reigns of David and Solomon, as might be expected, are magnificently told. Among the picturesque sketches none exceed the—