“‘Aphrodite’ is a story of the Greece of olden time, the scene being laid in Miletus, 551 B. C., and concerns itself with the art-life of a young sculptor named Acontius, who won fame by his statuary in Miletus, and won at the same time the love of Cydippe, the daughter of Charidemus, the archon of the city. It is a simple story, which Eckstein has to tell, a story which has been told in all lands and tongues ever since there were young people in the world, and they were in the habit of loving each other; but there must be something in it after all, for as he tells it, it seems to have happened yesterday, and not further away than the next street. There is in it that touch of nature which makes the whole work kin, and which puts back the clock of time until its hands touch the dead and gone centuries. Acontius and Cydippe may have lived and died twenty-three hundred years ago, as Eckstein tells us, but we doubt it, for reading his glowing and picturesque pages we feel that they are alive and exempt from death, as exempt as Paris and Helen, Romeo and Juliet, or that pair of pure and happy lovers, Porphyry and Madeline. The charm of this story, or one of its charms, for they are many, consists in the life which Eckstein has imparted to his characters, and the vividness with which he has realized the scenes in which they lived, moved and had their being.”—Mail and Express, N. Y.
William S. Gottsberger, Publisher, New York.
THE KING’S TREASURE HOUSE.—A Romance of Ancient Egypt, by Wilhelm Walloth, from the German by Mary J. Safford, in one vol. Paper, 50 cts. Cloth, 90 cts.
“It deals, in the main, with the cruel bondage of the Israelites in Egypt, and is remarkably varied in incident and impressive in dramatic power. The interest is uncommonly exciting, and is sustained with great skill to the very end. A fine poetic feeling pervades the narrative, and the descriptive portions of the book often glow with picturesque splendor. The work is also very attractive in the cleverness and the vividness with which the manners and people of ancient Egypt are depicted, showing in this aspect careful thought and study. The story may take a foremost rank in the long line of German romances which have aimed at reproducing the life of antiquity.”—Boston Saturday Evening Gazette, May 23, 1886.
THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN.—An Adventure in Ancient Rome, by Ernst Eckstein, from the German by Mary J. Safford. One vol. Paper, 25 cts. Cloth, 50 cts.
“The ‘Chaldean Magician’ is a tale of Rome in the days of the Emperor Diocletian, and is an exposé of the so-called magical art of that period. The love story which runs through it will please the sentimental, while the pictures given of Roman life and society will interest the general reader.”—Chicago Evening Journal.
William S. Gottsberger, Publisher, New York.