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The friendship between Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins began when Dickens was nearly forty, and Collins about twenty-five years of age. Ten years later the marriage of the daughter of Dickens to the brother of Collins cemented the intimacy then begun, and it continued unbroken until the death of Dickens, in 1870. Part of the familiar correspondence between the two men was printed in "The Letters of Charles Dickens "; but many more letters from Dickens were found after the death of Collins, and from these Miss Hogarth selected the specimens that make up the present volume. As Mr. Hutton says in his introduction: "They not only show their writer as he was willing to show himself to the man whom he loved, but they give an excellent idea of his methods of collaboration with the man whom he had selected from all others as an active partner in certain of his creative works." The replies from Collins cannot be printed, since it was Dickens' rule to destroy every letter he received, not on actual business. It is fortunate that his correspondents did not do the same with his letters, so great is the interest of everything that he put on paper: as Mr. Hutton happily puts it: "It is greatly to be regretted that he did not write letters to himself like his own Mr. Toots and preserve them

all."

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antonyms; a list of forms of addresses; information about writing for the press, proof-reading, writing and printing papers and books; rules for pronunciation and spelling; rates of postage, etc. The book is a compilation rather than an original work, and its chief merit is that it puts together in a single volume a good deal of information of different kinds, not elsewhere to be found in one book. Its spelling list and its list of synonyms and antonyms are the parts most valuable for reference; while the parts devoted to composition and grammar may be studied with profit by those in need of such instruction. The chapter on "Writing for the Press" is short and weak, and the book generally is adapted for use rather by non-professional than by professional writers. W. H. H.

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS; AND HOW HE RECEIVED AND IMPARTED THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. By Justin Winsor. 674 pp. Cloth, $4.00. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, & Company. 1892.

Mr. Winsor's rank as an historian is so high that whatever he writes is read with respectful attention. Especially regarding the early history of America he is an authority, and probably no one in this country is better fitted than he to write the story of Columbus. The view he takes of the life and character of the admiral in this exhaustive study of his career will surprise those who have looked on Columbus as a hero, with ideas far in advance of the age in which he lived, and with no blemishes upon his reputation. Mr. Winsor presents facts, so far as they can be ascertained, rather than the romantic notions of traditions, and his picture of Columbus is not flattering to the explorer. In the opening chapter of the work he gives a review of all the sources of information about the admiral's life, and shows a respect for the investigations of Harisse that is undoubtedly justified. Irving's well-known "Life of Columbus" he treats with scant reverence as an historical work. The genuine Columbus," he says, "evaporates under the warmth of the writer's genius, and we have nothing left but the refinement of his clay." According to Mr. Winsor's estimate, Columbus was a pitiable man, who deserved his pitiable end. His discovery was a blunder, and he became the despoiler of the new world he had unwittingly found. A rabid seeker of gold and a vice-royalty, he left to the new continent a legacy of devastation and crime. Finding America, he thought he had discovered the Indies, and maintained that belief until his death. Claiming to desire the conversion of the Indians to Christianity, he did what he could to establish a slave trade with Spain. Slitting the noses and tearing off the ears of naked heathen are cruelties with which he is charged. In his early life he deserted his lawful wife and became the father of an illegitimate

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son. In his last years his mind weakened, and he became the victim of wild hallucinations. Such is the man as Mr. Winsor describes him, in contrast to the demi-god of whom Prescott says: "Whether we contemplate his character in its public or private relations, in all its features it wears the same noble aspects." As a bold navigator Columbus won the fame of a world-discoverer; but he never knew himself what he had found; and if Mr. Winsor's estimate is just, it is not altogether unfitting that the name of a more clear-sighted voyager than he should be given to the world that he discovered.

W. H. H. PICTURESQUE Hampshire. Edited by Charles F. Warner, 120 pp. Large Quarto. Paper, 75 cents. Northampton, Mass.: Picturesque Publishing Company. 1890. PICTURESQUE FRANKLIN. Edited by Charles F. Warner. 123 pp. Large Quarto. Paper, 75 cents. Northampton. Mass.: Picturesque Publishing Company. 1891.

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At first sight it seems astonishing that such handsome books as these, with their lavish wealth of costly half-tone pictures, can be profitably sold at so low a price. They are exceedingly attractive volumes, and together they make a delightful picture-gallery of New England country life. "Picturesque Hampshire was published in November, 1890, as a supplement to the quarter-centennial issue of the Hampshire County Fournal, and its success was so great as to lead to the publication of "Picturesque Franklin," and to the preparation of "Picturesque Hampden," which will be issued in two parts next fall. Not only the residents of the counties illustrated, and of Western Massachusetts generally, but every cultivated person will be interested in these books. The illustrations are so numerous that each volume is really a picture book of New England life. The illustrations have been reproduced from photographs by the half-tone process, and they retain all the accuracy and sharpness of the original photographs. The text explains them sufficiently, and is generally well written.

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reen," "Holsteiner's Band," "The Hoodoo," "Jay Bird," "The Man in the Moon's Ball," 'Mrs. Craigin's Daughter," "O'Grady's Goat," "The Party at Odd Fellows' Hall," "The Phantom Band," "Romeo and Juliette," "Schneider's Band," and "The Versatile Baby." The book is full of the rollicking college spirit, and college men and their sweethearts will find it an unfailing source of delight. It is adapted either for glee club or home use, and is exquisitely gotten up.

W. H. H.

BRUNHILDE; OR, THE LAST ACT OF NORMA. By Pedro A. De Alarcon. Translated by Mrs. Francis J. A. Darr. With Portrait of the Author. 311 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New York: A. Lovell & Company. 1891. Mrs. Darr has translated this work of the Spanish novelist with fidelity and skill. It is an interesting story, with an unusual plot and a dramatic climax, and it is told in a peculiar style, which gives to it a distinctive charm. A good potrait of the author is given as a frontispiece.

W. H. H. TRIFET'S HARmonized MelODIES. Arranged by Charles D. Blake. 256 pp. Paper, 60 cents. Boston: F. Trifet. 1892.

Four hundred songs, sacred and secular, comic and sentimental, pathetic and humorous, are given in this collection, so harmonized and arranged that they may be played upon the piano or organ or sung with or without accompaniment. Every variety of song is given, and every one will find in the book something suited to his taste. The arranger has done his work well, and the music printer has made the book an attractive one. The selections range from "Old Folks at Home" and the "Sweet By and By" to "Comrades" and "Annie Rooney," and the price of the book, considering the quantity of music it contains, is remarkably low. It will undoubtedly have an extensive sale.

W. H. H.

A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA. By Bret Harte. 301 pp. Cloth, $1.25. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 1892.

The charm of Bret Harte's stories lies in their originality of conception, their well-defined local color, and the chaste richness of their literary style. The power to pique one's interest to the last page belongs to Mr. Harte above all other writers of stories of American life. His latest book has all the good qualities of its predecessors. It tells a perfectly natural story of life in California. The hero is a newspaper man; the other characters are a man who makes a big "strike" in land, and becomes suddenly rich, his two daughters, a newspaper proprietor with an axe to grind and a secret love, a beautiful and rich Boston widow, and a civil engineer. The denouement is startling, being none other than the wiping out by a flood of the town which made the rich man's fortune, and the lesson of the story is the suddenness

with which in the West riches have been made, and also lost. L. F.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

[All books sent to the editor of THE WRITER will be acknowledged under this heading. They will receive such further notice as may be warranted by their importance to readers of the magazine.]

PARAGRAPH-WRITING, WITH APPENDICES ON NEWSPAPER STYLE AND PROOF-READING. By Fred N. Scott, Ph. D., and Joseph V. Denney, A. B. 107 pp. Stiff paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing Company. 1891. THE PRINCIPLES OF STYLE. By Fred N. Scott, Ph. D. pp. Stiff paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing Company. 1891.

51

ESTHETICS, ITS PROBLEMS AND LITERATURE. By Fred N. Scott, Ph. D. 32 pp. Paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing Company. 1891. HELEN YOUNG. By Paul Lindau Translated from the German by P. J. McFadden. 183 pp. Paper, 25 cents. Chicago: Rand, McNally, & Company. 1892.

THE TREASURE Tower. A Story of Malta. By Virginia W. Johnson. 223 pp. Paper, 25 cents. New York: Rand, McNally, & Company. 1892.

THE LIGHT OF ASIA. By Sir Edwin Arnold. With Notes by Mrs. 1. L. Hauser. 309 pp. Paper, 50 cents. Chicago: Rand, McNally, & Company. 1892.

348 PP.

THE BOOK OF RUTH. A novel. By P. L. Gray. 219 pp.
Paper. Bendena, Kan. : P. L. Gray. 1892.
THE BLUE SCARAB. By David Graham Adee.
Paper, 50 cents. Chicago: Laird & Lee. 1892.
A LOYAL LOVER. By E. Lovett Cameron. 294 pp. Paper,
New York: John A. Taylor & Company. 1892.
Mrs. LYGON. A Domestic Detective Story. By Shirley
Brooks. 385 pp. Paper, 50 cents. St. Paul, Minn.: Price,
McGill Company. 1892.

50 cents.

A MORAL INHERITANCE. By Lydia Hoyt Farmer. 240 pp. New York: J. S. Ogilvie. 1890.

HOW TO GET MARRIED, ALTHOUGH A WOMAN. By a Young
Widow. 144 pp. Paper, 25 cents. New York: J. S.
Ogilvie. 1892.

CLASSICAL POEMS. By William Entriken Bailey. 108 pp.
Cloth. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Company. 1892.
THE PARSON. A Satire. By Charles J. Bayne. Twelfth
Edition. 19 pp. Paper. Augusta, Ga. : Chronicle Office.
1892.

HELPFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS.

Envelope Pigeon-holes. One of the most useful appliances that I use in daily work is the row of envelopes in the front compartment of the upper left-hand drawer of my desk. The envelopes are made of stout manila paper, almost as high as the drawer is deep, and eight and one-half inches long. They are arranged in the drawer at right angles with the front, so that as I sit at the desk the face of each envelope is toward me. The flaps are turned inside, and each envelope has an inscription on the upper left-hand corner. They are used for filing ma

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terial wanted for early reference, and they keep such material classified, within immediate reach, and in much smaller space than if pigeon-holes were used. The first twenty-six envelopes are inscribed with the letters of the alphabet, and are used for filing material alphabetically. Those beyond are labelled with subjects, also arranged alphabetically, the subjects being those in which I have an immediate special interest. For instance, if I am preparing an article on Misprints," any examples noted are filed away in an envelope so marked, and when I get ready to write the article the material is ready at hand. "Bills Unpaid," Receipted Bills," ""Ideas and Suggestions," "Postage Stamps," "Addresses," "Cards and Circulars," may be marked on other envelopes. If a drawer is not available, the en velopes may be kept in a box within easy reach, but the drawer is best. The scheme is easily adapted to any special needs. In the case of a writer collecting material, when an envelope bulges too much, it suggests profitable action. SOMERVILLE, Mass.

99 66

W. H. H.

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THEORY OF THE COMMA. American Bookmaker for March.

CHARACTERISTICS OF MAGIC IN EASTERN AND WESTERN LITERATURE. Talcott Williams. Poet-Lore for March 15. WHAT A BIBLIOGRAPHY SHOULD BE. Victor Chauvin. Library Journal for March.

SOME NEWSPAPER BAD HABITS. With Portrait of E. W. Howe. E. W. Howe. Newspaperdom for March.

THE DANBURY NEWS MAN. George Watson Hallock. Newspaperdom for March.

A COMPLETE REFERENCE SYSTEM. I. D. Marshall. Newspaperdom for March.

THE COMPLETE AND AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF A NEWS DESPATCH. Samuel Merrill. Engraver and Printer (Boston) for March.

EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN. Critic for March 26. COUNT LEON TOLSTOI. Madame Dovidoff. Cosmopolitan for April.

GOODRIDGE BLISS ROBERTS. With Portrait. Charles G. Abbott. Dominion Illustrated Monthly (Montreal) for April. LITERATURE AND THE MINISTRY. Leverett W. Spring. Atlantic Monthly for April.

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Daniel Lothrop, head of the D. Lothrop Company, of Boston, died February 18. was born August 11, 1831.

Edward Augustus Freeman, the English historian, died of small-pox February 16, at Alicante, Spain, aged sixty-nine years.

With the issue of March II the Epoch ceased to exist as a separate publication, having been merged with Munsey's Magazine. Edward Everett Hale will be seventy years old April 3.

Rev. George Thomas Dowling, D. D., who has been pastor of the Madison-avenue Reformed Church in Albany for nearly three years, has offered his resignation, to take effect July 1. It is his intention, he says, to devote himself for a few years to rest and literary pursuits, probably in Boston. Dr. Dowling's salary is $6.500.

In the New York Herald for March 13 were printed the opening lines of a story, entitled "The Way Out," which American writers have been invited to complete. The opening lines are by John Habberton. The entire tale, inclusive of the opening, should not exceed eight thousand words, nor contain less than seven thousand words. No limitations are imposed as to scenes, characters, or incidents. The decision will be left to Mr. Charles Ledyard Norton. For the best story offered the Herald will pay $100, the story to become the property of the Herald, and be published in full Sunday, May 1. Manuscripts must be typewritten, and must reach the Herald office not later than Saturday, April 16.

The frontispiece of the Magazine of Art (New York) for April is an etching by Chauvel from Troyon's "The Watering-place."

The Chautauquan (Meadville, Penn.) for April contains an excellent portrait of John Vance Cheney, the popular poet and critic.

Charles Keene, the famous caricaturist of Punch, who died about a year ago, is the subject of an article in Scribner's for April, illustrated with many pictures from his original drawings.

A portrait of Walt Whitman, from the painting by J. W. Alexander, forms the frontispiece to Harper's Magazine for April. Guido Biagi writes of "The Last Days of Percy Bysshe Shelley."

A society of American authors, on lines similar to the British and French societies of the same name, is proposed by Charles Burr Todd, who has set forth the grievances of American authors in a paper in the March Forum. The first meeting is to be held privately in New York on or before May 1, and when one hundred members are enrolled the society will be organized at once. Its objects are extension of copyright, abolition of letter-rate postage on manuscripts, amendment of international copyright law, and the adoption in America of the French statutes in regard to literary property. All persons who have written a book, or are engaged in writing for the press, are eligible to membership.

THE WRITER:

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE TO INTEREST AND HELP ALL LITERARY WORKERS.

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No. 5.

slams on the typos' hook; the typos secure it and arrange it on their frames, put it into metal, and eventually ram it on the hooks over the galley-dump; the traditional imp grabs hold of it, and, after pulling a proof of its printed prototype and rolling it up as tightly as he can in the still wet proof-slip, rushes it into the proof-room; the reader unrolls it and throws it to his companion, the painstaking copy-holder; he smooths it out, and, after it is read, places it upon a heap or files it, according to its class; then, when the paper has gone to press, he does the copy up in neat bundles and stows it away for future reference; at the end of six months it is thrown out, and the paper gatherer carts it away, possibly to become copy again a little later on.

Of all the beings connected with a printing bureau, from the manager-in-chief down to the inky devil, not one requires the commiseration of a reading public more than does the copyholder. He is the ultimate confluence of every stream of blame and blasphemy which flows through the office — and, heaven knows, these streams are legion.

About 7 P. M., Buffer, the copy-holder, wends his way to begin his nightly routine, and on arrival he finds his chief, Krank, the proofreader, already chafingly installed.

"Buffer!" exclaims this one; "you're half a minute late!"

"I am sorry, sir; I am sorry," Buffer rejoins mechanically, and takes his seat.

"Grab hold of that, and let us get to work," pursues Krank, in an irritating tone, as he dumps down a roll of manuscript upon the copyholder's desk.

Quicker than half a wink, Buffer has the

Copyright, 1893, by WILLIAM H. HILLS. All rights reserved

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