From She Stoops to Conquer." (Copyright, 1886, by Harper & Bros.)

Youth in Twelve Centuries is another de luxe folio, holding twenty-four bold picturesque drawings by Hassam of youthful race-types of both sexes, ranging from Egyptian, 1500 B.C., down through Chinese, Greek, Roman, Scandinavian, Gaul, to the Renaissance of the Medici and the American Colonial. These drawings are in hand-printed photogravures in twelve tones, and are accompanied by twenty-four poems by "M. E. B." The book is in two styles of binding, in rich silk canvas from the New York Associated Artists' art-fabrics, with emerald calf corners and back, and in linen fabric overprinted in photogravure with a rich and mystic design. A popular edition of the same, with wood-engravings, is bound in fine cloth. (Lothrop. pop. ed., $2; ed. de luxe, $10.)

Foreign Etchings.-This is a collection of twenty original etchings by celebrated artists of France, Germany, and England, among whom are Unger, Leibl, Klaus, Paul Rajon, and Woerule, from paintings by Rembrandt, Titian, Palma Vecchio, Gabriel Max and others, with descriptive text and biographical matter by S. R. Koehler. The edition is limited to five hundred copies; five are proofs on genuine parchment, text on vellum paper in parchment portfolios; fifteen are proofs on satin; forty proofs on India paper; forty proofs on Japan paper; and two hundred and fifty are proofs on Holland paper in cloth portfolio. (Estes & L. $15.)

Notable Etchings by American Artists.-The rich line of holiday books published this year by White, Stokes & Allen illustrates the remarkable progress that is being made in this country in art and art printing. This enterprising young firm offer almost exclusively in their illustrated works the best fruits of our leading artists. Their books are not only notably in advance of anything heretofore sent out under their imprint, but are without exception unusually fine examples of artistic book-making. "Notable Etchings by American Artists" is their leading work. This comprises ten plates, folio size, with descriptive text and an essay on the etching of the past year by Ripley Hitchcock. A special purpose was kept in view in making this collection, that it should illustrate all the various phases of our current etching. Its catholicity and representative character are shown in the titles of the plates which we enumerate, which include an etching directly from nature, a painter-etching or two, and a variety of reproductive work. The subjects include landscape and figures and an example of the architecture of old New York. The titles of the plates and the list of etchings are as follows: "Moorish Incense-Burner," by J. L. Jerome Ferris; "The White Rose," by Frederick W. Freer; "The Lily Pond," by Kruseman Van Etter; "Ça Pince," by James J. Calahan ; Old Trinity and Wall Street," by Frank M. Gregory; "The Old Bridge," by Leroy M. Yale; "The Bookworm," by Joseph F. Sabine; "After the Hounds," by W. H. Shelton; Near Montigny," by Charles Volkman; and St. Jerome," by W. St. John Harper. The work, it goes without saying, is elegantly gotten up. It is in the style of Some Modern Etchings" and "Recent American Etchings," and in the same numerous varieties of proofs and portfolios. (White, S. & A. popular ed., cloth, $12.50; portfolio, $15.)

"

American Art.-One of the most valuable and most carefully prepared of Cassell & Co.'s numerous art publications is "American Art." It is issued under the editorship of S. R. Koehler, whose reputation as an art critic guarantees a catholic and impartial treatment, as well as a thorough knowledge of and sympathy with the subject. The primary object of the volume, a handsome large folio, is to gather together a representative collection of the best work of our own artists. After much careful search through public and private galleries, Mr. Koehler selected twenty-five paintings, from an embarrassment of riches, as best

illustrating all the various phases of this art, placing them in the hands of our most noted etchers and engravers for reproduction. Their work has certainly been done con amore, for we have rarely seen finer specimens of graphic art in a single collection. They include landscapes, still-life and figure studies, portraits, decorative pieces, and purely fancy sketches. Among the landscapes are several charming pieces, as "Near the Coast," by R. Swain Gifford, who is also the etcher; "Morning on the St. Johns," by Thomas Moran; "Sunset," by George Inness ; and " A Bouquet of Oaks." (Cassell. popular ed., $15.)

Twenty American Etchings.-Fifteen American etchers are represented in this large, handsome volume. Some of the etchings are after paintings by Gilbert Stuart, Washington Allston, George Inness, George Richmond, etc., but many are original and show fine work. The descriptive biographical text, that tells of the lives of the etchers, is also by S. R. Koehler, author of "Etching and Etchers." The artists represented are Henry Farrer, Wm. E. Marshall, James D. Smillie, J. M. Gaugengigl, Peter Moran, Otto H. Bache, Thomas Moran, Edmund H. Garrett, C. F. Kimball, Stephen J. Ferris, Paul Lerat, F. S. Church, Stephen Parrish, Anna Lea Merritt, and Mrs. M. N. Moran. The edition is limited to 350 copies, divided as follows: 5 copies, proofs on genuine parchment, text on vellum paper, in parchment portfolio, each $150; 15 copies, proofs on satin, text on vellum paper, in satin portfolio, each $75; 40 copies, proofs on India paper, text on vellum paper, in vellum cloth portfolio, each $35; 40 copies, proofs on Japan paper, text on vellum paper, in parchment portfolio, each $35; 250 copies, proofs on Holland paper, in cloth binding, each $15. (Nims & Knight.)

Book of American Figure-Painters.-The beautiful edition of "Lamia," with illustrations by Will H. Low, achieved so brilliant a success last year, that the J. B. Lippincott Co. are again encouraged to use all the facilities of their giant establishment in the production of a volume of original idea and artistic execution. "The Book of American Figure-Painters" contains forty drawings or paintings contributed by forty of our leading figure-painters. By the improved process of photogravure printing the minutest detail of every artist's individual style is preserved and reproduced. The work is issued in large 4to form, 16 x 20 inches, on fine plate paper, with richly decorated cloth binding, gilt top, and rough edges. Some of the designs were suggested by the passages of English prose or poetry which accompany them; and in others passages have been chosen from our best-known authors which harmonize with the artists' creations. Our limited space forbids our mentioning all the forty names that vouch for the value and beauty of these artistic figures, but they are all worthy of a place in the same volume with Kenyon Cox, Elihu Vedder, Alden J. Weir, Will H. Low, Eastman Johnson, F. D. Millet, F. A. Bridges, and Winslow Homer. (Lippincott. $25.)

Legendary History of the Cross.-Uniform with "Biblia Pauperum," that gem of antique book-making, brought out two years ago, Messrs. A. C. Armstrong & Son have now ready The Legendary History of the Cross," a series of nearly one hundred full-page wood-cuts, from a Dutch work published in 1483. The introduction is written by John Ashton, the preface by the Rev. S. Baring Gould. The work is printed in antique style, with old style types and the old spelling. Two colors of ink are used. The head and tail pieces are specially designed to be in harmony with the work. It is printed on paper made in Holland by almost identically the ancient method. The cover, of parchment with brass clasps, is embossed with a fine version of the crucifixion, borrowed from an old engraving of the year 1490. Each copy is numbered. (Armstrong. $3.75.)

Sonnets from the Portuguese. Mrs. Browning's "Sonnets from the Portuguese," first published in 1850, when she had reached the zenith of her powers, record the growth of her emotions toward her poetlover, Browning. In 1844, when she was Elizabeth Barrett, she brought out the first collected edition of her poems, including "Lady Geraldine's Courtship," one of the most beautiful of all her poems, in which she paid a delicate compliment to Robert Browning. He was her junior by some years, and she had never been so much as introduced to him. He soon called on her, and the acquaintance thus formed led to their marriage in 1846. Richard Henry Stoddard says "no woman ever before sang so nobly of the man whom she loved as Mrs. Browning in these forty-four sonnets that have become so dear to many readers." Messrs. Ticknor & Co. now offer them in a book "whose appearance," says the Philadelphia Evening Telegram, "is both a literary and artistic event. The illustrations have been made by Ludwig Sandoë Ipsen, who has for many years been recognized as the foremost leader of art decoration for books, both inside and outside, and has set more fashions for imitation than any other artist. This book is his crowning work, and will afford an inexhaustible treasury of decoration for students of art, and a life study for all lovers of beauty and symmetry." "The artist has wisely preferred," says the Boston Beacon, "to use figures sparingly in his drawings. Most of the sonnets are announced in a round panel, simply decorated, and bearing the number of the poem. The sonnets themselves are surrounded by a decorative border each. These borders show great variety, from geometric figures, scroll-work, and renaissance themes to landscapes, flower themes and full figures. Everything in the volume is as far as possible

removed from mere trivialty and display, and Mr. Ipsen is to be heartily thanked for the chaste modesty of his decorations. They stamp him the prince of decorative artists." "The publishers of this rare and wonderful gift-book," says the Boston Traveller, "may well divide the honors with the artist designer. A more beautiful specimen of the book-maker's art was never seen. The paper is fine, heavy, and just faintly-tinted; each leaf is placed in form so it falls open, separately; the title-pages and the cover, with its silver decoration, are marvels of loveliness. In this is a gift-book with a soul in it; one whose decorative beauty, wonderful as it is, is still subordinate to its artistic and spiritual significance. It is a book to be a treasure for a lifetime." (Ticknor. $15; full calf, $30.)

Lay of the Last Minstrel.-" The imagination," says the N. Y. Commercial Advertiser, "clings to those ideal representations of days when beauty and bravery were the badges of nobility-when the praise of a prince or the smile of a fair woman were incentives to bold and brilliant deeds, and when no sordid calculation marred every human effort. The days of chivalry are gone from the earth, but they will never depart from literature. They are already enshrined in too many masterpieces, and they offer too tempting a field to the lovers of the beautiful, the romantic, and the picturesque. The popularity of Scott's immortal ballads is undiminished by the lapse of time, and their pictorial features present irresistible attractions to the illustraThe edition of The Lay of the Last Minstrel,' just issued by the Ticknors, is a splendid specimen of book-making. In its 200 pages we have a neatly printed text, of which every salient passage affords the subject of a picture. Roslin's Castled Rock' and

tor.

'Haworth's Iron Towers,' 'Kelso Abbey' and 'Fair Melrose, by the pale moonlight,' 'Branksome Turrets' and 'Newark's Stately Tower,' these are some of the historic spots selected by the artist for representation, and the deeds made memorable by the minstrel's song, the tourney jousts, the trystings, the scenes in wood and castle, are even more numerous. The typography of the work is irreproachable, the paper is heavy and unglossed, and the binding tastefu! and appropriate. The refined and artistic appearance of this volume will make it welcome on many a Christmas table." (Ticknor. $6; in cf. or tree mor., $10; crushed levant, $25.)

Home Fairies and Heart Flowers.-The title does not at all prepare the mind for the treat to be given by the handsome book which hides behind it. The home fairies are lovely children and about twenty of their heads have been sketched most happily and tastefully by Frank French, who has surrounded his little child-loves with floral decorations and given the appropriate poems written by Mrs. Sangster their artistic head and tail pieces. Mr. French in preparing the collection has sometimes painted the heads from nature, sometimes from photographs, with the aid of bright faces near at hand. Sometimes the photographs have been used with but slight change. Mr. French very courteously acknowledges the assistance of well-known photographic artists. The head-piece of the table of contents shows a pretty little wondering face peeping out of a shell, surrounded by lilies of the valley. Then begins the gallery of child-beauty. There are two boy figures, one flying a kite, the other dressed as a "blue-jacket." The latter has a beautiful face. The child Mabel who illustrates the poem, "Our Little Love," is one of the most bewitching in the book. A Roman child, a Chinese, a little Highlander, and a little colored child are included among the "heart flowers." Mrs. Sangster's poems are full of love toward the pictured children from whom she caught her inspiration. Her poems have all her usual grace and are naturally not sad, owing to the subjects she is putting into song. The publishers have made a beautiful setting for these poems and pictures of children. The outside cover of the large folio volume is original in design. Two children just putting up their lips to kiss each other and their mother with folded hands are represented in gilt on the olive background. A striking design of passion flowers reaches almost around the book. The paper, type, and print are all good. Ask to see this book before you decide what to buy some doting mother or artistic friend. (Harper. $6.)

Reynard, the Fox.-" Roberts Brothers have four hundred copies of the limited English édition de luxe of 'Reynard the Fox.' This favorite old satire," says the Boston Post, "holds its place in literature, through all changes of taste. Sometimes its popularity seems to have gone by, but then comes a revival of interest, and Reynard makes a new appearance in all the luxury that the printer and engraver can give to him. The origin of this early epic is uncertain-it is claimed by Germany, Flanders, and France. The earliest printed edition extant is that of Gheraert Leew, Goude, Holland, 1479. This is the accredited original from which Caxton made his prose translation, published in 1481. The bibliography of Reynard is interesting, extending through four centuries and many nations. The fox is the type of base selfishness, cleverness in using the weakness of other animals for his own advantage, and perfectly heartless moral obliquity. He is as plausible as the popular politician, and his wit serves him for both attack and defence. This use of the brute creation as types of the weaknesses and vices of men has often been a very effective kind of preaching, and clever, false, amusing Reynard has carried from age to age, and land to land, the stimulus of keen satire, which

It was

usually has some healing in its sharpness. Herder who directed Goethe's attention to the old poem, which he called 'as wise and as original as the Odyssey.' Goethe's own version was published in 1793, the time of the French Revolution, when its bitter satire was keenly appreciated. This version is the standard in Germany, and the one which Mr. Thomas J. Arnold has used in the present translation, for which he has adopted the usual heroic couplet as the most familiar representative of the German hexameters. The book is beautifully printed and illustrated. The fine illustrations by Kaulbach, published forty years ago as full-page steel-engravings in a superb German edition, are reproduced in spirited and faithful woodcuts, and there are twelve India proof engravings by Joseph Wolf. These are admirable; they have not the free action of Kaulbach's animals, but all the details are thoroughly good, and Wolf has even surpassed Kaulbach in the hypocrisy and shrewdness of Reynard's face. This is, without doubt, the finest English edition of the famous old satire, and it comes in good time for Christmas." (Roberts. $9.)

The Mahogany Tree.-When some gentleman friend has been receiving presents for a few years and has a varied assortment of cigar-cases, meerschaums, cigarette-holders, ash-receivers, and a silk umbrella with fancy handle, it becomes an almost unsolvable problem what can be given him next. "The Mahogany Tree," Thackeray's popular poem of the social delights of the Christmas season, would seem specially adapted for a generous gift to a friend of social and literary tastes. The rollicking, witty words of Thackeray, with their undertone of pathos, are exquisitely printed on heavy white paper. Their spirit has been happily caught by Frank T. Merrill, and his graceful designs are reproduced by photogravure and illuminated by hand. The opening cut in our reading-matter is clipped from the large title-page. A fine portrait of Thackeray is given on Japan paper. The size of the It is bound in cloth with a book is II x 14 inches. three-inch panel of real mahogany wood, which is neat and appropriate as well as decidedly handsome. There is also an édition de luxe strictly limited to one hundred numbered copies, which has proofs on Japanese paper, with extra margins and sheets in portfolio. Go to the book-store and ask to see "The Mahogany Tree," and see for yourself how delicate and full of life the designs are. (S. E. Cassino. $6.50; tree cf., $12; éd. de luxe, $15.00.)

Idyls and Pastorals.--This magnificent folio, comprising twenty-four poems by Celia Thaxter, written expressly for this work, accompanied by twenty-four superb facsimile photogravures from paintings, water-colors, and line drawings by eminent American and foreign artists, including Kate Greenaway, Howard Pyle, William T. Smedley, Edmund H. Garrett, Childe Hassam, Jessie Curtis Shepherd, Miss L. B. Humphrey, W. L. Taylor, Joseph Pennell, Thomas Hovenden, F. H. Lungren, T. W. Wood, N.A., Charles Volkmar, Hy. Sandham, F. T. Merrill, and Henry Bacon. These photogravures are printed by hand, in colors, on the finest imported India paper. The book is bound in vellum cloth, with designs in two metals, also in white calf embossed in imitation of antique carved ivory. A popular edition, octavo, with a selection of the above and fine engravings, is bound in both cloth and in embossed leather. (Lothrop. Pop ular ed., $3; mor., $4; éd. de luxe, $15; white cf., $25.)

The Minute Man.-This is a poem written in commemoration of the defence of the old North Bridge, at Concord, N. H., during the Revolutionary war, by the men who served at a minute's notice. The drawings by Sandham are printed in the text, and there are three historical views of Concord in toned photogra vures. Oddly bound in speckled alligator (Lothrop $1.50.

The Earl's Return.-Owen Meredith's smooth verses have been illustrated by W. L. Taylor and Estes & Lauriat have brought them out as their leading holiday book this season. The poem is sketchy. The Earl's young wife is left alone for years in the lonely castle on the rock-bound coast, while her lord and master is amusing himself in the outside world. Her greatest dread is that he may return, which he finally does, and when she hears the dreadful sounds of swearing and revelling that announce his return she dies of fear. The grave is visited by a former lover, who afterwards comes to the castle as a harper and sings his love and sorrow in the fashion of that day. The illustrations are photo-etchings and wood