Ford, Ellis A. Challenge of the spirit. **30c. Crowell.
A monograph whose keynote is sounded in the following: “Life itself is revelation,” says Mr. Ford, “in all that I myself have felt or have known through watching others I find the triumph of spirit over sense, the gain on things unseen through the instrumentality of the seen.”
Ford, Richard. Letters of Richard Ford. 1797–1858; ed. by Rowland E. Prothero. *$3.50. Dutton.
Mr. Ford’s letters are filled with the inimitable humor that made his guide book to Spain so popular. These letters written in 1830 from Spain to Henry Unwin Addington, then British minister to Madrid, “convey in piquant language Mr. Ford’s first impressions of ‘an original peculiar people, potted for six centuries.’” (Ath.) The editor says “To the artist, the historian, the sportsman, and the antiquary, to the student of dialects, the observer of manners and customs, the lover of art, the man of sentiment, Spain in 1830 offered an enchanting field, an almost untrodden Paradise. In Ford all these interests were combined, not merely as tastes, but as enthusiasms.”
“Mr. Prothero’s connecting narrative is skilful and clear.”
+ – Ath. 1906, 1: 389. Mr. 31. 870w. + Dial. 40: 265. Ap. 16, ’06. 360w. + Lond. Times. 5: 64. F. 23, ’06. 950w.
“A graceful but slight book. Only the ghost of Ford has passed into these pages.”
+ – Nation. 82: 492. Je. 14, ’06. 430w. + N. Y. Times. 11: 256. Ap. 21, ’06. 650w. + Outlook. 83: 92. My. 12, ’06. 40w.
“Excellent letters ... edited with the utmost discretion.”