THE DIARY OF A LADY-IN-WAITING. By Lady Charlotte Bury. Being the Diary Illustrative of the Times of George the Fourth. Interspersed with original Letters from the late Queen Caroline and from various other distinguished persons. New edition. Edited, with an Introduction, by A. Francis Steuart. With numerous portraits. Two Vols. Demy 8vo. 21s. net.
⁂ This book, which appeared anonymously in 1838, created an enormous sensation, and was fiercely criticised by Thackeray and in the Reviews of the time. There is no doubt that it was founded on the diary of Lady Charlotte Bury, daughter of the 5th Duke of Argyll, and Lady-in-Waiting to the unfortunate Caroline of Brunswick, when Princess of Wales. It deals, therefore, with the curious Court of the latter and with the scandals that occurred there, as well as with the strange vagaries of the Princess abroad. In this edition names left blank in the original have been (where possible) filled up, and many notes are given by the Editor to render it useful to the ever-increasing number of readers interested in the later Georgian Period.
THE DAUGHTER OF LOUIS XVI.: Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of France, Duchesse D'Angoulême. By G. Lenotre. With 13 Full-page Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.
⁂ M.G. Lenotre is perhaps the most widely read of a group of modern French writers who have succeeded in treating history from a point of view at once scientific, dramatic and popular. He has made the Revolution his particular field of research, and deals not only with the most prominent figures of that period, but with many minor characters whose life-stories are quite as thrilling as anything in fiction. The localities in which these dramas were enacted are vividly brought before us in his works, for no one has reconstructed 18th century Paris with more picturesque and accurate detail. "The Daughter of Louis XVI." is quite equal in interest and literary merit to any of the volumes which have preceded it, not excepting the famous Drama of Varennes. As usual, M. Lenotre draws his material largely from contemporary documents, and among the most remarkable memoirs reproduced in this book are "The Story of my Visit to the Temple" by Harmand de la Meuse, and the artless, but profoundly touching narrative of the unhappy orphaned Princess: "A manuscript written by Marie Thérèse Charlotte of France upon the captivity of the Princes and Princesses, her relatives, imprisoned in the Temple." The illustrations are a feature of the volume and include the so-called "telescope" portrait of the Princess, sketched from life by an anonymous artist, stationed at a window opposite her prison in the tower of the Temple.
THE TRUE STORY OF MY LIFE: an Autobiography by Alice M. Diehl, Novelist, Writer, and Musician. Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.
Daily Chronicle.—"This work ... has the introspective touch, intimate and revealing, which autobiography, if it is to be worth anything, should have. Mrs. Diehl's pages have reality, a living throb, and so are indeed autobiography."
HUBERT AND JOHN VAN EYCK: Their Life and Work. By W.H. James Weale. With 41 Photogravure and 95 Black and White Reproductions. Royal 4to. £5 5s. net.
Sir Martin Conway’s Note.
Nearly half a century has passed since Mr. W.H. James Weale, then resident at Bruges, began that long series of patient investigations into the history of Netherlandish art which was destined to earn so rich a harvest. When he began work Memlinc was still called Hemling, and was fabled to have arrived at Bruges as a wounded soldier. The van Eycks were little more than legendary heroes. Roger Van der Weyden was little more than a name. Most of the other great Netherlandish artists were either wholly forgotten or named only in connection with paintings with which they had nothing to do. Mr. Weale discovered Gerard David, and disentangled his principal works from Memlinc's, with which they were then confused. During a series of years he published in the "Beffroi," a magazine issued by himself, the many important records from ancient archives which threw a flood of light upon the whole origin and development of the early Netherlandish school. By universal admission he is hailed all over Europe as the father of this study. It is due to him in great measure that the masterpieces of that school, which by neglect were in danger of perishing fifty years ago, are now recognised as among the most priceless treasures of the Museums of Europe and the United States. The publication by him, therefore, in the ripeness of his years and experience, of the result of his studies on the van Eycks is a matter of considerable importance to students of art history. Lately, since the revived interest in the works of the Early French painters has attracted the attention of untrained speculators to the superior schools of the Low Countries, a number of wild theories have been started which cannot stand upright in the face of recorded facts. A book is now needed which will set down all those facts in full and accurate form. Fullness and accuracy are the characteristics of all Mr. Weale's work.
VINCENZO FOPPA OF BRESCIA, Founder of the Lombard School, His Life and Work. By Constance Jocelyn Ffoulkes and Monsignor Rodolfo Majocchi, D.D., Rector of the Collegio Borromeo, Pavia. Based on research in the Archives of Milan, Pavia, Brescia, and Genoa, and on the study of all his known works. With over 100 Illustrations, many in Photogravure, and 100 Documents. Royal 4to. £3. 11s. 6d. net.