OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
A deputy-assistant of the Baron has been perusing with great contentment The Catch of the County, by Mrs. Edward Kennard, a lady who is already responsible for The Hunting Girl; Wedded to Sport, and a number of other romances dear to the heart of those who follow the hounds. The deputy-assistant reports that he was delighted with the newest of the authoress's novels, and found the three volumes rather too short than too long. Now that London is in the midst of November and its fogs, those who dwell near the frosted-silvery Thames can take a real pleasure in stories of the country. To sum up, The Catch of the County must (to adopt the slang of the moment) have "caught on." A fact that must be as satisfactory to Mrs. Kennard as to her readers. And when both supply and demand are pleased, Messrs. F. V. White & Co., the publishers, must also (like Cox and Box) be "satisfied."
A Baronitess writes: "Gaily-bound Christmas books have been facing me for some time, and, with an insinuating look, seem to say, 'Turn over a new leaf.' We do; many new leaves."
Blackie and Son could be called first favourites in the boys' field of literature. They make a good start with Wulf the Saxon and In the Heart of the Rockies, both by G. A. Henty. They are both capital specimens of the Hentyprising hero.
In Press-Gang Days. By Edward Pickering. A story, not a newspaper romance, though it is a new edition of the type of the wicked uncle, who makes use of "the liberty of the Press" to have his nephew bound—as if he were a book worth preserving—and taken off to sea. This proceeding made an impression on our good brave youth, who, after fighting with Nelson, learnt that "an Englishman should do his duty," escapes a French prison, and returns to "give what for" to his uncle.
Most interesting and practical is The Whist Table, edited by Portland, especially to those whose only idea of the game is after the style of the man in Happy Thoughts who knows that the scoring had something to do with a candlestick and half-a-crown. In this book they will find a helping hand which gives the "c'rect" card to play. Both these books, published by John Hogg, are pig-culiarly good.
"A powerful finish," quoth the Baron, leaning upon the chair-arm, and, like the soldier in the old ballad, wiping away a tear which he had most unwillingly shed over the last chapter of Children of Circumstance, "a very powerful finish. There is some comedy, too, in the story (which, I regret to say, is spun out into three volumes)—rather Meredithian perhaps, but still forming some relief to the sicknesses, illnesses and deaths—there are certainly three victims of Iota's steel and one doubtful—of which the narrative has more than its fair share." Of the comedy portion, the courtship of Jim and Rica is excellent. But where other novels err in superfluity of description and lack of dialogue, the fault of this one is just the other way, and the dialogues may be, not "skipped," but bounded over. Nothing of the earlier portion, nor the powerful final chapter of this story can be missed: as for the intermediate stage, when the intelligent and experienced novel-reader has once grasped the characters, he can drop in on them now and then, in a friendly way, and see how they are getting on.
The Baron congratulates Messrs. Macmillan on a charming little book called Coridon's Songs, which are not all songs sung by that youthful Angler-Saxon whose parent was Izaak Walton, but also songs by Gay, Fielding, and Anonymi. To these worthy Master Austin Dobson hath written a mighty learned and withal entertaining preface, the gems of the book being the illustrations, done by Hugh Thomson in his best style, "wherewith," quotes the incorrigible Baron, "I am Hughgely pleased." 'Tis an excellent Christmas present, as, "if I may be permitted to say so," quoth the Baron, sotto voce, "to those whom Providence hath blest with friends and relatives expecting gifts in the coming 'festive season,' is also a certain single volume entitled Under the Rose, an illustrated work, not altogether unknown, as a serial, in Mr. Punch's pages, and highly recommended by