Karen Borneman and Lynggaard & Co., by Hjalmar Bergström, translated from the Danish by Edwin Björkman; The Gods of the Mountain, The Golden Doom, King Argimenes and the Unknown Warrior, The Glittering Gate, and The Lost Silk Hat, by Lord Dunsany; Peer Gynt, by Henrik Ibsen, with introduction by R. Ellis Roberts. [Mitchell Kennerley, New York.] New volumes in The Modern Drama Series.
What Is It All About? A Sketch of the New Movement in the Theatre, by Henry Blackman Sell. [The Laurentian Publishers, Chicago.] The “art theatre” is explained illuminatingly for those who are vague about the movement. Condensed, to the point, and really informing.
The Beginning of Grand Opera in Chicago (1850-1859), by Karleton Hackett. [The Laurentian Publishers, Chicago.] Mr. Hackett is a man of ideas and he might have written an interesting book by taking “grand opera in Chicago” as his theme. Instead, he has done a hack job with its early history and been given the distinction of tasteful binding and printing.
Tuberculosis: Its Cause, Cure, and Prevention, by Edward O. Otis, M.D. [Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York.] A revised edition of an old, popular book “for laymen.” Abounds in hard, cocksure rules that, if followed, ought to discourage any germ whose host could outlive it. A valuable work for persons who must have a definite programme to guide them in fighting an always individualized disease.
Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, classified and arranged so as to facilitate the expression of ideas and assist in literary composition, edited by C. O. Sylvester Mawson. [Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York.] A revised edition in large type on thin paper.
Richard Wagner: The Man and His Work, by Oliver Huckel. [Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York.] Between W. J. Henderson’s characterization of Wagner as “the greatest genius that art has produced” and Rupert Brooke’s as an emotionalist with “a fat, wide, hairless face” there ought to be a man worth biographies ad infinitum. Dr. Huckel’s is simply a clear condensation for the general reader of standard biographical material, and is worth while.
The Book of the Epic: All the World’s Great Epics Told in Story, by H. A. Guerber; with introduction by J. Berg Esenwein. [J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.] The most satisfying compilation in the field that has ever been offered to the young student or general reader.
The Practical Book of Garden Architecture, by Phebe Westcott Humphreys. [J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.] A weighty chronicle of garden architecture, observations in many lands and under many conditions. “A pick up and browse” book for the nature lover, with delightful illustrations and much interesting general data of sunny gardens, cobble walls, and running streams.
I am that which unseen comes and sings, sings, sings; which babbles in brooks and scoots in showers on the land, which the birds know in the woods, mornings and evenings, and the shore-sands know, and the hissing wave.—Walt Whitman.