“This little book has been compiled for the average person in business, whether executive or stenographer, who wants a statement in simple and direct form of the elementary things that are essential to good letters. It is a first-aid manual of style for business correspondence, suitable for adoption by any commercial concern, large or small.” (Introd.) Contents of part 1—The letter itself: Appearance; Substance; Phraseology; Punctuation; Paragraphing; Abbreviations; Miscellaneous. Contents of part 2—Words, right and wrong; Some misused words; Verbal vulgarisms; Similar words often confused; Pronouns: their use and abuse; Miscellaneous.
Booklist 17:17 O ’20
BIERSTADT, EDWARD HALE, ed. Three plays of the Argentine; tr. from the Spanish by Jacob S. Fassett, jr. *$1.75 Duffield 862
20–4775
In his introduction to these plays Mr Bierstadt has given us a glimpse of the culture of one of our American neighbors to the South, of whom we have hitherto known too little. His historical sketch of the folk drama of the Argentine, known as the drama criollo, shows it to have sprung from the very heart of the people, the gaucho, and to have had its inception in the sawdust ring of the circus. As given in the translation, the plays are transcriptions from the original popular and unprinted versions and although modified, have retained their true atmospheric and colorful qualities. Of the two first Mr Bierstadt says: “They are perhaps the most famous in all the category of gaucho plays, and carry as do no others the very spirit of the pampas.” These are “Juan Moreira” and “Santos Vega.” The third, “The witches’ mountain,” is not in the same sense a gaucho play, as it is set in the mountain country, but is considered as marking the last milestone in the epoch of truly native drama.
+ Booklist 16:336 Jl ’20
“‘The witches’ mountain’ is the only one of the three plays included that conforms to the canons of real drama.”
+ Dial 59:664 D ’20 80w