Among the rarer Stevensoniana, what is known as the Davos Platz pamphlets have for a long time been a desideratum for the collector. They have brought as high as $13 apiece in the American auction-room, but a complete set has never been offered for sale before. In February, at Messrs. Puttick & Simpsons, in London, a complete set fetched £51. It may be interesting to record their names, viz.: "Moral Emblems" (Part I and II); "Black Canyon; or, Wild Adventures in the Far West;" "Hotel Belvedere" (two programmes, February 4 and April 14th, 1882), notices of publication of Black Canyon" and the "Second Collection of Moral Emblems."

It is only recently that any considerable attention has been paid to collecting first editions of Walt Whitman. If he is our only truly original American poet, it is high time he received his corner in the shelves of American first editions. As all the world knows Whitman was most erratic in his methods, and a most careful study of the various issues of his books has resulted in the following check list, furnished by an ardent admirer of his writings as well as an enthusiastic collector. Each of these volumes contains some variation from the other, and each contains some peculiarity dear to the heart of the ardent collector. There is a good opening for a careful bibliography of this author, but it must be made by the combined knowledge of the Whitmaniacs and the collector.

lyn 1856 (Tinted Plate) Thayer & Eldridge, 12mo, Boston 1860 12mo, New York 1865 12mo, .. 66 1867 12mo, Washington 1871 12mo, 12mo,

8. Passages to India, 9. Democratic Vistas,

16. 17.

66

1871

1871

10. After All Not to Create Only, Roberts Bros., 12mo, Boston 1871 11. " As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free," Author's Edition, 12mo, Washington 1872 12. Memoranda During the War, Author's Publication, 12mo, Camden 1875 13. Leaves of Grass, Author's Edition with Portrait from Life, 12mo, Camden 1876 14. Two Rivulets, Author's Edition, 12mo, 1876 15. Leaves of Grass (suppressed), James R. Osgood Co., 12mo, Boston 1881 "Author's Edition, 12mo, Camden 1882 Rees, Welch & Co., 12mo, Philadelphia 1882-3 18. Specimen Days and Collect, David McKay, 12mo, Philadelphia 1882-3 19. Leaves of Grass, David McKay, 12mo, Phila20. November Boughs, David McKay, 12mo, Phila21. Complete Poems and Prose, (1855-1888), Author's Edition, 8vo., Philadelphia 1888 22. Leaves of Grass, with Sands at Seventy, and a Backward Glance o'er Travelled Roads, (Author's Edition, 300 copies printed),12mo. Philadelphia 1889 delphia 1891

delphia 1884

delphia 1888

23. Good-Bye, My Fancy, David McKay, 12mo, Phila24. Leaves of Grass, David McKay, 8vo, Philadel phia 1891-2 25. Complete Prose Works, David McKay, 8vo, Philadelphia 1892 26. Leaves of Grass, Small, Maynard & Co., 8vo, Boston 1897 27. Complete Prose Works, (Portraits, etc.) Small, Maynard & Co., 8vo, Boston 1898 Ernest Dressel North.

HE publication of the Browning let

THE

ters has probably been the most important item of the season so far. The naïve intimacy of the epistles gave them an audience presumably much larger than Robert Browning or his wife have as authors; yet nobody seems to have been offended by the tone of the correspondence. Another important biographical work is the life of Millais, which the Methuens will publish, for it touches not only art, but letters as well. It will be interesting to see how the author, Mr. J. G. Millais-Sir John's youngest son-will treat the Ruskin episode. There is a certain pathos in the later history of the Millais family. Sir John himself died on August 13, 1896; his eldest son and successor died on September 7, 1897; his widow died on December 23, 1897. The present baronet is a boy of eleven, being the son of the second baronet. The biography will contain chapters by Sir William Harcourt and Mr. Val Prinsep, and it will be elaborately illustrated. The biography of George Borrow will also be a book to look forward to.

The re-issue of some of the early novelists of the reign goes on apace. Whyte Melville is once more before us (from the houses of Ward, Lock & Co. and Messrs. Thacher); and now Messrs. Downey are to follow up their Lever with an edition of Frank Smedley. Smedley has had a big public, although I fear literary people have been prone to forget him. He was born in Bucks, eighty-one years ago. Although his books form such excellent pictures of outdoor life, it is a curious fact that poor Smedley was a permanent cripple, and was thus debarred from taking part in any sort of sport. He began his career by writing "Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil" fifty odd years ago. He

died in 1864, and was buried at Great Marlow.

Dr. William Barry, who has made a hit with his novel, "The Two Standards," published by Mr. Unwin, is a Roman Catholic priest of Irish origin, although he was born in London. He used to be a constant contributor to the Dublin Review, and in 1887 became known to a wide audience by his romance, "The New Antigone." Six years ago Dr. Barry made a lecture tour in America.

I hear that Mr. G. W. Steevens will reprint his letters on India, which he is contributing to the Daily Mail through the Blackwoods. His Khartum book has been an enormous success. Fifty thousand copies of it, at six shillings, were sold, and the sixpenny edition was subscribed for in one day. Mr. David Meldrum, who represents Messrs. Blackwood in London, has just written a book on "Holland and the Hollanders," which is to be published simultaneously in America. Mr. Meldrum is the author of two clever novels, and is a great authority on angling. He married a Dutch lady, hence his acquaintance with Holland.

The identity of "Fiona Macleod" has been the subject of a long newspaper controversy, which will probably do more to popularize this "Celtic" writer than all the eulogies of the critics. Mr. William Sharp, who is a kinsman of the lady, has been boldly identified by some people with "Fiona" and has denied the impeachment. Miss Macleod, I understand, is really a married woman, who wants to keep herself quite apart from "literary circles," and to remain an enigma. She lives in Scotland, but all her letters reach her in such a roundabout way that none of the gossips have been able to "spot" herwhich is very clever of the lady when you

It is difficult to account for the boom in the "Hundred Books" craze which several newspapers are running. Apparently the original discussion, which Mr. Stead raised when he was editing the Pall Mall Gazette, was premature. Since that time, however, the Compulsory Education Act has had time to turn out a generation of omnivorous readers, though it seems incredible that any one man can hope to digest all the items in Sir John Lubbock's famous pie. It was American enterprise that got the Times to offer the Encyclopædia Britannica (a very expensively advertised affair), and that induced the Harmsworths to do the "Hundred Best Books." Several London publishers then set to work to get rid of some of their own publications in this wholesale way. The Daily Telegraph is offering the "Hundred Best Novels," which include several copyright books. Sir Edwin Arnold has made the selection.

The

The vogue of Omar Kháyyám has become so widespread that it can no longer be attributed to the operations of the dining club which bears his name. Macmillans are publishing Fitz Gerald's translation of the Golden Treasury, and in a year or two, when the copyright expires, we are certain to have cheap editions from several houses, for every classic that passes out of copyright is eagerly pounced on by competing publishers. Meantime those firms which deal in the exotics of literature carry on a merry rivalry. M. Heron Allen has followed up his translation by a study of Fitz Gerald's transcript compared with the original.

Mr.

Bernard Quaritch publishes it. Fitz Gerald seems to belong so much to early Victorian literature, that many people were surprised to find that his widow was alive until quite recently. Mr. Holbrook Jackson, who issued an essay on Fitz Gerald and Omar the other day (through Mr. Nutt, the bookseller), speaks of "Fitz" as being "by nature a bachelor."

I cannot remember any retirement which has caused so much regret among bookish people as the disappearance of Dr. Richard Garnett from his post as Keeper of Printed Books in the British Museum. Dr. Garnett is only sixty-four, but he has toiled and moiled at the Museum for eight-and-forty years, and he apparently wants to devote his later years to the literary occupations which have filled up all his spare time during nearly the whole of his official career. Dr. Garnett is probably the best-informed (and certainly the best-known) librarian in the world. Under his direction the old manuscript catalogue at the Museum (which new possesses two millions of books) has been printed, running into 3,000 volumes. In his capacity as librarian he has been consulted by writers in all countries, and to one and all, from the greatest authority down to the poor out-at-elbows hack who haunts the famous Reading Room from morn to night, he has always been the very pink of courtesy, of a certain gentle, old-fashioned type. But he has been much more than an official bibliographer. He has written excellent verse-his first volume, Primula, appeared so long ago as 1858. He has made notable translations from Greek, Latin, German and Italian poetry. His father, who was also in the Museum, was a great philologist. His place as a critic-notably of Shelley, Keats and the early Victorians-has long been high; while the amount of work he has contributed to dictionaries and encyclo

pædias has been simply enormous, covering a great area of knowledge. Dr. Garnett realizes for one, more than almost anybody else, the traditional bookworm. He is tall and thin, with a stoop in the shoulders, as if caused by poring over dusty tomes. He never seems to give his tailor an unnecessary amount of attention. It is only now that the man in the street is beginning to realize what a great man Dr. Garnett really is. I fear that the state authorities themselves have failed to take him at his true worth, for he is the quietest of workers. Hence he is only a Companion of the Bath (C.B.). Everybody who has come under his influence hopes that his retirement may be marked by a knighthood at the very least. Dr. Garnett has spent about £10,000 a year on books for the Museum. One of his most recent purchases has been the valuable state papers and manuscripts (702 lots) which the Earl of Hardwicke was to have dispersed at Sotheby's. His lordship's family was founded by the great Lord Chancellor, who tried the Jacobites; and since his day the Yorke family have occupied very important state offices. The present Earl owns the Saturday Review.

Despite the pessimists, there is a keen interest in literary circles, at any ratein a higher form of drama. As a people, we shall never, perhaps, take the playhouse very seriously; but there will always be a section of book readers who will expect the theatre to give them work approaching the strenuousness of the study, Thus, when the New Century Theatre produced Mr. H. V. Esmond's tragedy, "Grierson's Way," this section of playgoers was pleased for once, although it must be confessed that the "advanced" people demand not so much a new drama as a new philosophy worked out as a play. Mr. Esmond's thesis was practically a culde-sac; but it was stated with a strong

perception of theatrical possibilities, for Mr. Esmond is an actor, and knows exactly what the stage can do for him. Three or four years ago he wrote a very clever play, called "The Divided Way," for the St. James's, which is now giving us John Oliver Hobbes's comedy, "The Ambassador." He made a financial hit with "One Summer's Day," and great things are expected of him. Meanwhile Messrs. Duckworth continue to issue their series of famous foreign plays. A play by Mr. Martyn, which they recently published, has caused a tremendous storm in a teacup, Mr. William Archer, Mr. George Moore and others joining in the fray in the pages of the Daily Chronicle. Mr. Archer, by the way, visits you on behalf of Mr. Astor's journal, the Pall Mall Gazette. He is a Scot of forty-two, and, like all his countrymen, has a strong strain of strenuousness in his composition; so that he, almost alone among contemporary critics, has taken the stage in a perfectly serious mood. Mr. Archer will always be remembered as the real pioneer champion of Ibsen; for if Mr. Gosse and others were in the field before him, they had no influence with play-goers. One branch of Mr. Archer's family has long been connected with Norway, and his uncle Colin built the Fram for Nansen. Hence his intimate knowledge and appreciation of the Scandinavian drama. He has been the theatrical critic of the World for many years, and reviews a great deal for the Daily Chronicle, which, by the way, has just lost the services of Mr. Henry Norman as its assistant editor. Mr. Norman's politics have never been those of this Radical organ, and, now that he has taken Harold Frederic's place, he has his hands quite full enough of work. He is keenly interested in agriculture, and has a farm in Hampshire, where he and his wife (Menie Muriel Dowie) will be able to work at leisure.

Speaking of dramatic critics, I am reminded that Mr. J. F. Nisbet, who represents the Times, has written for Mr. Grant Richards a sort of sequel to his wellknown book, "The Insanity of Genius," under the title of "The Human Machine." So far as England is concerned, Mr. Nisbet was rather a pioneer on the subject, for when he wrote his story neither Lombroso nor Nordau were known in this country. Like Mr. Archer, Mr. Nisbet is a Scot; but unlike him he is never carried away by his enthusiasm. There is little There is little or nothing of the personal impressions about his theatrical criticisms: they are, rather, unbiased reports of plays; but for that reason they will be more valuable for the future historian than almost any other "notices" that now appear. Mr. Nisbet does a great deal of anonymous journalism, and supplies Londoners on Sunday (in page 1 of the Referee) with his views on the questions of the day. He has written largely on bimetallism among other current topics.

Miss

Everybody with a memory for literature has been very much interested in the marriage of Miss Judith Blunt and the Hon. Neville Lytton, which was celebrated at Zeitoum in the Egyptian desert. Blunt is the great-granddaughter of Lord Byron, and the daughter of Mr. Wilfred Scawen Blunt, the poet, while her husband, who is just twenty, is the grandson of the famous Lord Lytton and the son of "Owen Meredith." Mr. Blunt is a breeder of Arab horses-he has a fine stud farm at Crabbet Park, Sussex-and possesses a big estate at Metamieh. The honeymoon was spent at Heliopolis, and

the young couple were escorted part of the way by a bodyguard of mounted Bedouins. Literary people have been also interested in the marriage of Mr. William Heinemann and Donna Magda Stuart Sindici, the author of the novel, Via Lucis, which he recently published. The alliance of Mr. Heinemann and "Kassandra Vivaria". -as the lady elects to be known on a title-page-recalls the wedding between Miss Braddon and her publisher, Mr. Maxwell, long ago. Mr. Heinemann has writtten two plays, The First Step and Summer Moths, which our inscrutable censor tabooed.

While Dr. Johnson's house in Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, is doomed, the Johnson Club, which dines at regular intervals in the neighboring Cheshire Cheese, keeps his memory green. It is publishing, through Mr. Fisher Unwin, who is a member of the Club, a volume of papers read at its meetings. The book is edited by Mr. John Sargeaunt (one of the masters at Westminster School, and the historian of that venerable seminary), and Mr. George Whale, who manages to practice law and literature. Dr. Birkbeck Hill and Mr. Augustine Birrell, who is the best speaker in the Club, are among the contributors. Mr. Birrell is also a lawyer. A recent speech of his in Parliament on the church question was one of the best literary efforts that had been heard at St. Stephens for many a day. Mr. Birrell is married to the widow of the Hon. Lionel Tennyson, and his oldest stepson, Alfred Browning Tennyson, attains his majority this year.

J. M. Bulloch.