+ N Y Times p25 Ag 1 ’20 450w Outlook 125:507 Jl 14 ’20 30w
FORBES, GEORGE. Adventures in southern seas: a tale of the sixteenth century. il *$1.75 (2c) Dodd
20–16854
A romance of the days of discovery based on the voyages of Dirk Hartog, Dutch navigator. The story is told by Peter Ecoores Van Bu who sailed on his first voyage with Hartog in 1616. They were bound for the South seas in search of treasure for the Amsterdam merchants who were sending them out. But the islands they reach are poor in treasure, if rich in adventure, and it is only after the lucky discovery of pearls that Hartog is willing to return. Several other voyages follow, on which the hero experiences ship wreck, capture by savages and numerous other adventures. At the end of his second voyage he marries his Dutch sweetheart and gives up the sea, but following her death he again listens to its call.
“The very spirit of high adventure—the manifold dangers and hardships of ancient seekers after treasure—blows through the pages of the book.”
+ N Y Times p21 D 26 ’20 600w
FORBES, JAMES. Famous Mrs Fair, and other plays. *$2 Doran 812
20–21209
The other two plays in this collection are: The chorus lady; and The show shop. Of these plays, Walter Prichard Eaton, in his introduction to the book, comparing their literary qualities, says, that “The chorus lady” can least endure the scrutiny print affords although enormously successful on the stage, while “The show shop” “stands up four square under the test of print” and is a most pungent and amusing satire of American stage life. “The famous Mrs Fair” is a more serious production with reasoned reflections on life and human motives. Its heroine, the wife of a wealthy business man, has become famous as a war worker in France. Coming home she is lionized, can no longer adjust herself to her domesticity and dreams of a career. Not until the family is nearly disrupted with tragic results does she, in the nick of time, wake up to her former responsibilities.