Larrovitch
Our habitual readers may be surprised at our serving them a book notice. But the circumstances leading to this one are peculiar.
In its thirty-six years, the Authors Club has published but two books: The Liber Scriptorum, and Feodor Vladimir Larrovitch, An Appreciation of His Life and Works, which has recently appeared. The name of Larrovitch was mentioned in the last Casserole; we are now able to describe the permanent tribute to his personality which the Authors has made.
The volume consists of papers read at the Larrovitch centenary celebration (April 26th, 1917—postponed from April 1st) together with others since contributed. The contents page notes a sonnet by Clinton Scollard, Prolegomenon by Prof. Franklin H. Giddings, a personality sketch by Wm. George Jordan, translations and an article on “The Truth and False About Larrovitch” by Richardson Wright, translations of three Larrovitch poems by George S. Hellman, translations of Larrovitch letters by Thomas Walsh, a paper on his recollection of the great Russian by Dr. Titus Munson Coan, who, it will be recalled was one of the original “Friends of Russian Freedom,” bibliography and bibliographical notes by Arthur Colton, whose name is already well known to readers of the Unpopular Review; and a table of references in English, French, German, Spanish and Russian compiled by Dr. Gustave Simonson. There are twelve illustrations in the volume, showing Larrovitch manuscripts, portraits at various ages, portraits of Larrovitch’s parents, the room at Yalta in which the author died, and his grave. The book was designed by William Aspenwall Bradley of the University Press, and executed by Munder of Baltimore, making it a unique piece of typographical excellence.
That the Authors should have picked out this Russian from all the writers whirling in the vortex of literature, is explained in the preface and the dedication. The book is dedicated to the lasting sympathy between the American people and the Russian. And the preface states that the path to peace along which nations can walk to mutual understanding, is the path of the arts—the path of music and painting and literature. This is indeed true.
Our Index
The example of our “Father Parmenides,” is always good, and we shall imitate it in the particular set forth in this extract from The Atlantic for last December:
Following a convention, unquestioned and well-nigh universal, the Atlantic has for sixty years published semi-annually in December and June an index designed for the convenience of readers who bind their magazines. This index with title-page occupies six pages; and while of great service to a couple of thousand subscribers and to a few hundred libraries, it is to eighty-odd thousand readers [These figures make us feel very small.] merely a dead and cumbersome weight. This month, therefore, we are breaking sharply with tradition, … we are printing the index in its usual form, but in a small edition, and as a separate pamphlet, and hold ourselves ready to send it to any reader who applies for a copy within thirty days of the publication of this magazine.
This change will involve the saving of a paper-wastage….
All paper saved tends to lower the price, which has already reached a height obstructive to the diffusion of knowledge.