The Unequal Yoke. Mrs. H.H. PENROSE. [Now Ready.
The Discipline of Christine. Mrs. BARRÉ GOLDIE. [Now Ready.
Peter Binney, Undergraduate. ARCHIBALD MARSHALL. [Now Ready.
Peace on Earth. REGINALD TURNER. [Now Ready.
The Countermine. ARTHUR WENLOCK. [Now Ready.
The Friendships of Veronica. THOMAS COBB. [May 17.
Hugh Revel, A Public School Story. LIONEL PORTMAN. [July 25.]
Notes on Books.
In issuing a list of new and forthcoming publications, Mr. Alston Rivers cannot but express his gratification at the spirit of fair play which has enabled him to realise such a striking series of successes. The primary business of a publisher is to discriminate, both as to intrinsic literary merit, and with regard to what will hit the public taste, a classical illustration of the difficulty in gauging the latter being the rejection of "John Inglesant" by the late James Payn, then "reader" for an eminent firm. While fully recognising the remarkable gifts of the author Mr. Payn's hesitancy as to the book's attractions got the better of his judgment; and with "The House of Merrilees" it is now an open secret that very much the same point of view was taken in more than one instance. Mr. Marshall's "Peter Binney, Undergraduate," had been and is still decidedly popular, but his new book was more ambitious, possessing such a plot as to require peculiarly delicate handling. Had it been handled in a way that combined a really high literary standard with more stirring qualities? The question requires no answer now, for the triumph which the publisher at once foretold on reading the manuscript has been more than attained, and "The House of Merrilees" is indisputably the novel of the season. It has at the same time demonstrated to the publishing trade that a sensational story does not labour under any disadvantage by the abduction of literary style.