The new volume of the Gift surpasses in the style of its typography and the merit of its pictorial embellishments any annual ever published in this country; and its literary contents will not suffer by comparison with those of any work, American or foreign, of the same description. To prove the correctness of this opinion we have only to remark that all the writers—save one or two of an indifferent stamp of whom we never heard before—are contributors to this magazine. The picture from Huntington—miscalled “Mercy’s Dream"—is one of the most exquisite productions in its way with which we are acquainted; “The News-Boy,” from Inman, represents the class which it is designed to portray to the life; and the head from Malbone shows that the high reputation of that artist was not undeserved. The picture from Chapman we cannot praise—a head of eight on a body of eighteen is in bad taste, to say the least of it. The best prose papers in the volume are those by Mrs. “Mary Clavers,” Mr. Smith, Mr. Herbert and Mr. Simms; and the best poem is the one commencing on the first page, by Mrs. Seba Smith.
The Hand Book of Needlework: With Numerous Engravings. By Miss Lambert. One vol. 8vo. New York, Wiley & Putnam.
One of the most beautiful books of the season. It embraces ample instructions for drawing patterns, framing and properly finishing needlework, and a curious history of its progress from the days of Moses to the accession of Queen Victoria! The American edition is superior in its execution to that published in London. It will doubtless be among the most popular gift works of the approaching holiday season.
Hope Leslie: or Early Times in the Massachusetts. By the Author of “The Linwoods,” “The Poor Rich Man,” “Redwood,” “Live and Let Live,” “Letters from Abroad,” etc. Two vols. New York, Harper & Brothers.
We are pleased to see a new edition of this popular novel—the first, and in some respects the best, of Miss Sedgwick’s productions.
The Rose of Sharon: a Religious Souvenir; for 1843. Boston, Abel Tompkins.
A very elegant volume, in which the sentiments of the Universalist denomination are inculcated.