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    554 The Publishers' Circular June i, 188...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

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    seven addresses which were so much , appreciated when they were delivered that there are good

    reasons for their publication . From Messrs . Passmore & Alabaster . —In ' All

    of Grace , ' the Rev . C . H . Spurgeon has written a scries of earnest religious discourses , expounded with much force and homeliness of expression .

    They should prove acceptable to the wide circle of the reverend gentleman ' s admirers , and will without doubt add to his ever-increasing

    reputation . From Messrs . Kegan PaulTrench & Co . —In

    , , tile Avon Edition of Shakspeare , Vol . X ., will be found ' Macbeth , ' * Hamlet , ' and ' King Lear . '

    From Messrs . George Philip & Son . —Cheap atlases , in these days of spirited competition , are

    far from being uncommon , but we think few of them can surpass * Philip ' s New Excelsicrr Atlas , ' containing 120 maps and plans , first

    issued at a shilling . It is a wonderiul shillingsworth . From Messrs . SiznpkinMarshall & Co . —The

    , , well-known economist , Mr . James Platt , has just issued a little book called 'Land , ' which gives a thouglitful consideration to the subject at

    present engrossing so much of the attention , of the people , the author ' s arguments being based upon the maxim , * To do unto others as , similarly

    situated , you would that others should < lo unto you . ' From Messrs . SmithElder & Co . — 'No New

    , , Thing , ' by W . E . Norris , has been added to the ' Popular Library' of this firm . This novel will l > e remembered as having achieved a very decided

    and -well-merited success on its first publication , and in its present and cheaper form it should certainly "win the suffrages of a wide circle of

    % / 1 —* readers . From the same . — ' The Mayor of Casterbridge , ' by

    Thomas Hardy . Two vols . Mr . Hardy is never so happy as when depicting rural life , and it is strange in liis new novel how he immediately

    - o - strikes into the familiar path . Two figures are walking along a country road , their clothes thick with dust—one a manthe other a woman with — a , *

    child in her arms . Presently they come to a village , and are met on the outskirts by a turniphoer with the instrument of his labour over

    his slioulder . The first man , a hay-trusser , asks the turnip-hoer whether there is any work of that description to be had in the village . But

    the turnip-hoer stares aghast . * Why , save the man , ' ho exclaims , ' what wisdom ' s in fashion that - _ - - * — _ - _ - ' a — should — - — — come - ^~ - — to — __ Wey - j don ~ - - ~ __ — for w- — - ^^ - p a — ¦ job . -m ^ - ^ w of - ^^ v ^ h that ^ t ^ ^ m *• ^ mV *^

    sort this time o' year ? ' After this we are not surprised to find our travellers sitting in a tent drinking ¦» ' furmity' ( a mixture of ¦ ' corn ¦ in b the

    - ~ - m m - ^ . — - — - — ~ — - — — — -m ^ — - ^ ^ p ^ ^ p—^ v * mm m ^ k ^ grain , milk , raisins ^ , currants , and what net , ' whicli Mr . Hardy terms ' an antiquated slop , ' while the rest of the company with much

    cloliberation discuss matters in general . But now a curious occurrence takes place . The man , who has beon gradually getting drunk on the rum

    with which the furmity is seasoned , falls into a brooding mood over his want of success in lifo — , and , p ¦ perversel - - - - y - associating — - — — —_ - — — . — — „ - _^ k _ his *^ q t-. - wife vr " * j . ^ - ^ with w r <* AdV * his . » 4 A r ^ J

    failure , announces his intention of putting her up to auction and disposing of her to the highest bidder . Tho wife threatens - - that if ho does - this she

    — — .. _ , .. . — . _„ — — ^^ ^ , ^^ . ^^ nv' ^^ ^^ flh ™ »^ ' p ^^ m . . j . ^ hp ^ will take him at his word and go with the buyer . Tho husband doggedly persists , and the auction is carried out . A sailor buvs the woman for five

    —

    guineas , and the wife , taking the child , departs with him . The husband , overcome with drink , falls asleepthe tent is gradually emptied of its

    , occupants , and he only awakens to a full realisation of what he has done when the cold greymorning light breaks in upon him . Thereupon

    C ~ 7 Jk he registers a solemn vow not * to touch , drink for another twenty years , and sets out to look for his wife and child . Here , then , we have a .. jpowerful

    and original beginning , strong enough to arrest the attention of the most careless of readers . Into the further course of the story we have not space A . to

    enter . It will be enough to say that the man , Michael Henchard , is the central figure in the plot —that practically he bears — the whole weight of

    17 ^ J . - -- 0 the narrative on his shoulders , and bears it successfully . In him Mr . Hardy has furnished us with a complete and masterly study of

    character— a being who is all human , who repels us at times by his headstrong masterfulness , and attracts us at others by his thorough honesty and

    «/ tJ I * rugged effort Jk ~^_ to do iH ri ght ^ h . We — can admire « a M his pA A sturdy disposition , and pity the faults that rise up to corrupt it . And if he have faults , he

    There suffers is most , indeed grievousl , something y for them intensel in y pathetic end . about his rude , untutored actions . The women

    of the story are subordinate workers -on the scene , and Donald Farfrae , the Scotchman , practically only occupies a very subsidiary

    position ; but in Michael Henchard Mr . Hardy has drawn a character that is fully equal to any of his best creationsand that will long live , we

    , 9 tj * venture to think , in the mind of all his readers . From Messrs . Swan Sonnenscliein & Co . —

    tainl Headers y feel who satisfied are partial with to * The sensation Young should Marquise cer , - by * Manus . ' A tyrannical husband who , amongst

    other little acts of cruelty , breaks his wife ' s fingers ; a wife who , in a species of sleep-walkiDg trancemurders the said husband ; and a

    motherin-law , whose mind is evidently centred on illicit love-making—these are a few of the plums in this literary pudding i c , while the whole is p lentifully •/

    seasoned with priestcraft . The story is characterised by much solid work and substance , and for this reason we think it almost a p ity «/ that the

    writer has not better dominated his ( or her ) ideas . But lovers of sensation , as we have said , will revel in these pages ; and , in their judgment , all the

    improbabilities of the book will be forgotten , and probably esteemed . From the Southern Publishing CompanyFleet

    , Street . — ' Among the Tetchas of Central Asia' is an amusing ] ittle book , caricaturing in witty fashion the peculiarities and tendencies of the

    age . It is well worthy of perusal . From Mr . E . Stock . —The latest volume of the

    — ^ - ¦ —^— ^ pr »^^ - ^ f ^^^— ^ w ¦ ¦ » —^ m ~ ^^ r- 1 ™ ^ ^ p ^ i ^ B ^^ v ^ b ^ "m ^ r ¦ ¦ ^^^^ ^^* ^~^ r ^^ 0 ^^ ^ f ^ " ^^ " ^ ^^^^ ^ " * . % ^^ ^*^ ^^^^ ^^ " ^^ W P ^ pp ^ ff ^~^ Book-Lover ' s Library is ' Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine / by W . Carew Hazlitt . * It is got up in the usual neat and taking manner of the rest

    of the series of which it forms a part , and is externally a most attractive volume . Of its merits as a literary — ¦ or — ¦ bibliograp ¦ — ¦ —— " — ' ""' ^ p ^^» ~™ ¦¦ ¦ M ^ hical — ^^ ^^ ^* - - ** - ^» ^^ performance m ^ ' » - * —^ p ^» ^^ ^^ p ^~ —^—~ ^^^ >^ p . ^^ h ^^ - ^^ we pf y v

    cannot speak with equal praise . Of course , forming part of a series of books appealing directly to literary studentsthe faults of fiuch a

    volume — ' m sip the ' —¦ ^~ ^ present ~^ -- ^— ' ^ m I v - ^ ar —* wm -p » © - ™ ^ r ^ likel ~ rm -mr" — , pb y ^ k ^ to ^^ be *^ Bfc m ^ v intensified ^ ^ ^* Pp ¦¦ *^ ^^ mm ^^* ^ ^ . ^ ^ m ^ bj ^ mrnvmr its unrealised pretensions . What would satisfy and interest an . ordinary reader —m - ^— ph h would —^ -r * be of littlo

    — — — w - ^ - — - ~ -w — - — — . ~ ^ j — — - ^ ^ r « ^^ m ~ ^ ^ r ^^^ P ^^ ^ B ^ FW f ^ t ^ ^ m ^^ ^^^ ^> BV W ^ m ^ . ^ ^^^ ^ 1 ^ ^ m ^^ or no value to a student . And so in this case- Wo regret that so good an opportunity for the

    compilation ot a valuablo bibliography should have

    554 The Publishers' Circular June I, 188...

    554 The Publishers' Circular June i , 1886

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), June 1, 1886, page 554, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_01061886/page/16/