GEORGE W. CHILDS, PUBLISHER, Nos. 628 & 630 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA. MAY 16, 1864. OUR CONTINENTAL CORRESPONDANCE. PARIS, April 1, 1864. A GLANCE at the advertising columns of the newspapers at this season discovers instantly that we are in a period of time which is scarcely propitious to the trade. Books play their part in the distribution of New Year's gifts, but at Easter, eggs, like some great actor in a play written by his accustomed dramatists, keep the whole stage to themselves. It seems to be contrary to tradition for the hens who lay the Easter eggs to introduce books other than missals, and marriage-services in them. A singular effect has been noticed this Easter. The lectures which have been given in different quarters of Paris were all suspended during Passion-week. These lectures had had a most favorable influence on the trade of booksellers. One of them told me that his daily receipts had increased 50f. by the Lectures. People have their curiosity stimulated by hearing of authors and their works, and the next day they purchase the books which contained them. There were no lectures, as I have said, delivered during Passion-week, and my acquaintance's daily sales fell off 30f.; so he looks upon 20f. as a permanent gain from the establishment of public lectures. This is another illustration of the duty booksellers lie under to acquaint the public with their merchandise on sale. Many a book falls still-"Life of Beaumarchais." M. Ampère was not an born from the press, because it had no good chaperon to introduce it to the world. An interesting discussion has taken place in the French Senate in regard to books. An attempt was made to bring such pressure upon the government as would lead them to prosecute M. Renan and his book. The government stated that the proper legal authorities had examined the "Life of Jesus" with the closest attention, and had been unable to discover anything which could form the ground of legal action. Some interesting statistics were mentioned during this debate; for instance, it was stated that within the last eight years 20,000 different works had been presented to the Commission of Book-peddling (the fine word used by those who appear to possess a smattering of French is colportage) for their stamp, which allows the work to be hawked everywhere in France. This mark was refused to 4,000 different works (among them was M. Renan's "Life of Jesus"). | Book-peddling in France is a great organization, divided into brigades; there are 300 master-peddlers and 3,500 apprentice-peddlers. Their annual sales average 20,000,000 volumes (all of which are stamped); 9,000,000 volumes of these are cheap publications issued at Paris, Rouen, Tours, Limoges, and Epinal; 8,000,000 of the volumes annually sold by them are tainted by immorality. One of the speakers said that book-peddlers were diminishing in number since they were prohibited from selling pernicious books. Since I touch statistics, let me add a few more figures connected with a neighboring subject. There are 1,018 parishes in France without public schools. The government have given orders for this deficiency to be supplied immediately. I quote one phrase of their instructions: "It is true that most of the parishes (communes) which are without schools are those which possess the most meagre resources, and that necessarily they will impose the heaviest sacrifices on the State. Let not this consideration make you pause! If the Emperor's government insist that no expense shall be made uselessly, and require order and regularity in the public accounts, the government likewise insist that no public service be neglected. The government consider the education of the people as their first duty, and they reckon upon the assistance of public servants of all classes to aid them discharge it." I have a sad necrological register this week. We have lost M. J. J. Ampère, the son of the celebrated natural philosopher, and eminent himself by a variety of gifts; he was the author of a history of the early French literature, which is greatly esteemed; a great variety of books of travel (one of which was devoted to North America); antiquarian works on Rome, etc. It is said here that he was passionately in love with Mme. Recamier (although she was old enough to be his mother), and, after the death of Ballanche and Chateaubriand, hoped to marry her, when his wishes were frustrated by her death in 1849. His passion for travelling is traced to a desire to divert his heart from dwelling on this loss. He was Professor of French Literature in the College of France, where he always attracted a large audience. I believe that he has lectured there only one year since his return from America. He appointed M. Louis de Lomenie to supply his place, and seemed to have intended that this gentleman should inherit the chair. He had taken the deepest interest in him all his life long; he married him to a daughter of the adopted daughter of Mme. Recamier (the widow of the late M. Charles Lenormand) and pushed him forward every way. M. de Lomenie is the author of some biographical sketches published under the pseudonym Un Homme de Rien, and the old man, and his death (which took place at Pau) was unexpected; but I was a good deal struck by the change which had taken place in him the last time I saw him. His hair was bleaching fast, and his face was strangely furrowed in every direction by wrinkles. M. Ampère was the nearest friend of the late Frederic Ozanam and Alexis de Tocqueville; he long stood on a most intimate foot of friendship with M. Prosper Merimée (persons familiar with their writings will remember with a smile the literary fraud by which they introduced themselves to the world of books); but I am afraid that politics chilled their old friendship these few years gone. M. Hase, a professor at the Sorbonne, and at the School of Oriental Language, a librarian at the Imperial Library, and a member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, is dead. He was born at Sulze, near_Naumbourg, the 11th of May, 1780; he came to Paris in 1801, and entered the Imperial Library in 1805 as an humble supernumerary; from this place he gradually rose to the highest rank of scholars here. He was one of the masters of young Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, to whom he taught Greek. I was deeply touched by this advertisement in the newspapers: "The funeral of Herr Franz Woepcke, an eminent historian and antiquarian, who died the 25th of this month, will take place on the 27th, at nine o'clock A. M. The Consul of the Duchy of Anhalt, in the name of the family of the deceased, has the honor to beg those of his friends who have received no invitation to be good enough to accept this instead thereof. The funeral will leave the Municipal Hospital." An eminent historian and antiquarian-the consulthe hospital. Can't you read the sad story of the foreigner, the scholar in straitened circumstances of fortune, none near him but his country's consul, dying on the hospital bed in the midst of this great city so indifferent to the foreigner's fate? I mentioned in my last letter that M. Nadar had taken a capital photographic likeness of Mme. George Sand. He has given us this week even a better likeness of M. Michelet. It is M. Michelet himself! There is a rumor abroad that Mme. Sand will quit her old home at Nohant for a residence nearer Paris. Nohant will become the residence of M. Maurice Sand, her son, while she will establish her home at Palaiseau, a beautiful village at the MAY 16, 1864. entrance of the picturesque valley of Chevreuse. I am afraid that she may lament the change. Some time since a new boulevard razed the house of one of our well-known novelists. He laid his damages at $40,000, although he was only the tenant of the house. The grounds on which he built this claim were that it would take him one or two or perhaps more years to accustom himself to his new home, which would be so much money lost to him. There are few literary men who have not felt the pernicious effects of a removal from the study where long custom made work seem easy. Surely the study which inspired the "Marquis de Villemer" and "La Mare au Diable," and "François le Champi" must possess no common enchantment. Mme. Sand is so much encouraged by her success in dramatizing the "Marquis de Villemer" that she has turned her attention to "L'homme de Neige" to fit it for the stage. We wonder here if she will bring from Nohant all her customs. Her servants are all young girls selected for their beauty; they wait on table with bared arms and low-necked dresses. This would be rather combustible material so near this ardent furnace. Mme. Sand certainly is young (I mean for a woman of sixty, and there are not three score years in her eye), but of all young creatures M. Alex. Dumas the elder is the youngest. He actually looks younger than he did when I last saw him two years ago. The other night he was at the Bouffes Parisiens laughing more heartily than anybody in the theatre at the extravaganza played. What a contrast he presents to his son! The latter seems the head of the family. He has taken the miscarriage of his last play deeply to heart; although his father told him, "Alexandre, it is your best work and worst piece." He has cancelled his contract with Messrs. Michel Levy Frères, and refuses to have it printed. They were to give him $1,000 for the first edition. He has declared in a letter, which has appeared in the newspapers, that he will never write another play. A dicer's oath! A broad smile dimpled the face of Paris the other day to see that about the time M. Edmond About's last book appeared he presented two rats of some rare species to the Garden of Plants, where they are placed in the monkeys' palace (the favorite resort in the garden) with "Given by M. Ed. About" painted in large white letters on a black board over them. The malicious pretend to discover an advertisement of the new work in all this. It is said this week that M. Jules Janin is almost sure of his seat in the French Academy. M. Guizot and his friends have all of them promised their voices, and they reckon upon being joined by M. Sainte-Beuve and his suite after the first ballot, when they have promised to give their votes to M. Camille Doucet. Father Gratry opened a course of lectures last week at the Sorbonne, which drew a great concourse of people; he lectures on Christian ethics. The course of lectures which were delivered at Salle Barthelemy were closed recently; the government refused to allow a second series to be delivered; they were believed to have a political tendency adverse to the government. The papers of M. Pietri, some time Prefect of Police (at the time of the coup d'etat), some time Senator, and the negotiator of the transfer of Savoy and Nice to France, were seized by the government at his death. There was a good deal | of consternation felt by the government at first, for they feared his papers had been sent to England for safe keeping; they could find nothing at his Paris residence except some insignificant papers. Their fears were soon allayed by discovering them at his home in Corsica. The dread of this seizure is so great here that all the leading men of France keep their most valuable papers in England. MM. Guizot, Thiers, Berryer, Count de Montalembert, the Duke de Broglie, etc., keep their important papers in the hands of English friends. The papers of M. Garnier Pages, the newly elected deputy from Paris, were seized last week. These arbitrary measures irritate France; for the French attach almost as much importance to these liberties of the subject as the English do, and resent with great spirit any encroachment upon them. M. Emile Augier (the author of "Le Fils de Giboyer") read this week a new play to the actors of the French Comedy. Messrs. Michel Levy Frères pray Heaven send such a successful run as the other piece had; and of which they sold 13,000 copies. They ought not to complain of fortune! They have had within the last twelve months M. Renan's "Life of Jesus," which has had something like the run of Kane's "Arctic Expedition" (the 8vo. edition has been published seven times and the 18mo. has been published nine times); M. Octave Feuillet's "Sibylle" and "Montjoye;" Mme. George Sand's "Mlle. de La Quintinie," and "Marquis de Villemer" (the play), which are the successful books of the year. King Vittore Emmanuele has given to the public library of Naples the famous Firmiana collection of engravings in 221 folio volumes, which contains engraved copies of the most celebrated works of all the masters of every school of painting. This collection was formed by Count Firmian, a Governor of Lombardy in the latter part of last century; he sold it to Marie Caroline of Austria (who made great additions to it), and it went from her into the hands of the ex-royal family of Naples, who placed it in one of the libraries of their palaces. My curiosity was so much roused by the announcement of the fifteenth edition of "The Art of Tying the Cravat" I could not refuse to buy it. I find ("there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy") that there are no less than forty-seven different ways of tying the cravat. One is Ladvocat's way (Ladvocat was the great publisher of his day; he brought out de Chateaubriand's, Victor Hugo's, and de Lamartine's earlier works; he made a great deal of money, met with reverses of fortune, and sank down society until he became box-opener at one of the minor theatres; he died in a hospital and his body was thrown in the potter's field!); another is Byron's way; this is Talma's; that is valise-like; a fifth is giraffe-wise; a sixth is horse-collar-like; a seventh is shell-like; an eighth gastronomical; a ninth is the lazy way; and so on till the forty-seventh way is reached. A grave omission is made in the volume (although it takes care to tell how Napoleon always wore two cravats, the under and broader one white, the upper one black, so that he seemed to wear a black cravat with a white border; the only day on which he wore a white cravat was at Waterloo); the omission would be unpardonable were the work translated and published in English, for were a man of moderate circumstances of fortune to give many hours to this book he would a little sooner or a little later find his neck itching for the knot à la Jack Ketch. The illuminated manuscripts of the Duchess de Berri have been sold. The "Livres d'Heures" of King Henry II. and Queen Catharine de Medicis fetched $12,000; it was purchased by the French government for the Musée des Souverains in the Louvre. The "Livre de Chasse de Gaston Phoebus" fetched $1,000; it belonged to Francis I. and was given by him to Admiral Bonnivet. dolphe le Chartreux's "Liber de Vita Christi," in three double-column folio vols., bound in violet velvet, and adorned with a great many miniatures, Lu MAY 16, 1864. fetched $760. The "Orationes Devotissimæ," &c., which was executed for Louise de Savoie (the mother of Francis I.) and for her daughter Marguerite de Valois, fetched $642. "Prières Chretiennes" fetched $252. "Exercice de Penitence, dedié à la Reine," which belonged to Anne of Austria, fetched $404. "Heures Latines" fetched $264. The "Livre d'Heures of Queen Jeanne de Naples" fetched $200. The total sum of money fetched by the thirty-two manuscripts was $19,615. The two first numbers of M. Ernest Renan's "Mission en Phénicie" have appeared; one number (it is in 4to.) contains the text; the other (it is in folio) contains the plates. The former contains the first hundred pages of the work. M. Renan exhibits the plan of the work in the introduction, the order in which the researches were made, and the share borne by each member of the mission. He then states the discoveries made at Ruad (which is the ancient Aradus), Tortose (Antaradus), and he begins to tell what discoveries were made at Amrit (the ancient Marathus where the more important discoveries of Phoenician monuments have been made). In the next numbers he will conclude the narrative of the discoveries at Amrit and its neighborhood, and go on with the discoveries made at Gebeil (which is the ancient Byblos), Saïda (Sidon), Sour (Tyr), and their neighborhood. The number in folio form contains one map and eight engravings; the former exhibits the typography of the country explored, and is in part a reduction of the great map of the Liban published by the Depot de la Guerre. The engravings present a map of Amrit and pictures of some of its monuments. The letter-press issues from the Imperial Printing Office; the publishers are the lucky Messrs. Michel Levy Frères. The government bear the whole cost of publication; Messrs. Levy are remunerated by a commission. It will be published in ten or twelve numbers and cost from $20 to $24. M. Flourens has published "An Examination of Darwin's Origin of Species," in which he not only attempts to demonstrate the error of Darwin's theory of the continual transformation of species, but to overthrow Lamarck's theory of our origin from polypes. The Literary Society of Stuttgardt (which for the last twenty-five years has published a great many rare or unpublished works) has confided to Messrs. Zotenberg and Meyer the publication of the poem “Barlaam et Josaphat" by Guy de Cambrai, a trouvère of the thirteenth century, hitherto so unknown as not to be mentioned even in the "Histoire Litétraire de la France." M. Em. Amiel has in M. Furne's press, 66 Eloquence during the Reigns of the Cæsars." M. de La Tour de Varan has published a very interesting essay on the formation of a Forezienne Library, or catalogue of the works, memoirs, maps, drawings, relative to the ancient history of Forez, etc. Let me here add that French literature has been greatly enriched these last few years with local biographies, topographies, and monographs; some of the old provinces contain valuable mines of these materials. The Société des Bibliophiles Français is publishing the criminal calendar of the Châtelet of Paris from 6th Sept., 1389 to 18th May, 1392-a very curious book. Messrs. de Carfort and Bazouge have made a violent attack on M. Renan in an octavo of 104 p. entitled "Biography of Ernest Renan." The French postoffice's administration has had printed a model writing book of addresses of letters. The idea is commendable, but one cannot help smiling to see the government descending to this particular. When governments begin to adopt a policy of centralization it is utterly impossible to set bounds to it. M. J. A. Le Roi, the keeper of the Versailles Li NOTES ON BOOKS AND BOOKSELLERS. THE ALLEN SALE.-The sale of the library of the late well-known antiquarian, Mr. John Allen, which commenced in New York on the 2d inst., is reported as having been remarkably successful. Some of the prices obtained were indeed extraordinary. The total amount reached by the sale was $15,000. The excitement and competition were manifest in the high rates reached by many articles. The works were profusely illustrated, and in some cases every page was inlaid. The following are illustrations of prices: "Anacreon," Moore's translation, illustrated with 52 plates, and containing an autograph letter, $60; Barlow's "Columbiad," $31; Blair's "Grave," Blake's illustrations, $22; Ann Eliza Bleeker's Poems, $11; Burnet's "History of his Own Times," $160; the Kilmarnock edition of Burns's Poems, $106; an illustrated edition of Burns, in five volumes, $200; Byron's "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," 145 portraits, views, etc., and 44 autographs, $130; another edition, with 110 portraits, etc., $20; Chatto's work on Wood Engravings, $102; Dibdin's "Bibliomania," 2 vols., illustrated, $720; Eliot's Indian Bible, $825; Francis's "New York during the last Half Century," illustrated, $150; Hogg's "Queen's Wake," illustrated, $39; Ireland's "Chalcographimania," illustrated, $30; Ireland's "Scribbleomania," $50; Irving's "Knickerbocker's History of New York," extended to folio, and illustrated with 275 plates, $1250; another copy, with 107 plates, $400; a third copy, $55; "Mary, Queen of Scots," illustrated with 236 portraits, views, etc., $375; Mathias's "Pursuits of Literature," illustrated, $45; "Life of Sir Humphrey Davy," $50; Mrs. Piozzi's Love Letters to William Augustus Conway, illustrated, $37 50; Pope's "Rape of the Lock," 89 plates, $100; Putnam's "Flying Tour in Europe," illustrated with 145 plates, $82 50; two copies of Ramsay's "Gentle Shepherd," $25 each; Rogers's "Pleasures of Memory," illustrated with 103 plates, $92 50; Knight's "Hamlet," illustrated, $150; Shaw's "Dresses and Decorations," $60; Shaw's "Illuminated Ornaments," $100; "Somerville's Chase," illustrated with 100 plates, $40; Sternhold and Hopkins, $19; Trumbull's Autobiography, illustrated with 100 plates, $80; Walpole's “Strawberry Hill Catalogue," illustrated, $200; Walton and Cotton's "Angler," illustrated with 260 plates, $150; Ward's "Simple Cobbler of Aggawam," $155; Washington's Diary, $50; Whitney's "Choice of Emblems," $55; Wither's "Emblems," $105; Wither's "Psalms of David," $25. A respectable number of missals realized on the average about $75 each; one, however, described in the catalogue as "Missale Splendidissima, brought $400. the large paper copies of the catalogue are now reported as being worth $8, and the small ones $2, the latter being published, we believe, at 50 cents. One of the rarest and noteworthy articles in the sale was the Eliot Indian Bible. It was purchased by Mr. J. W. Bouton, bookseller, of New York, for $825, as above stated. It is one of those bibliographical gems which has great value on both sides of the Atlantic, and it is not likely that an opportunity for collectors to supply themselves will soon occur again. It is understood that Mr. Bouton will entertain an offer of purchase at a reasonable advance upon the price paid by him. Even MAY 16, 1864. CHANGES IN THE TRADE. The following changes of location have taken place recently :New York City. Mr. Wm. H. Appleton has removed to No. 92 Grand Street, west of Broadway, where he will supply miscellaneous works, photograph albums, and children's books. Mr. Henry S. Allen may be found here. Messrs. Baillière Brothers have taken the second floor of No. 520 Broadway for their medical and scientific business. Messrs. Clark and Maynard have removed to No. 5 Barclay Street, a few doors from Broadway, where may also be found Mr. C. M. Saxton, with his agricultural publications and stock. Messrs. Derby & Miller have located themselves at No. 5 Spruce Street, Tribune Buildings, as publishers and commission agents. Messrs. Fowler & Wells have crossed the street to No. 389 Broadway. James G. Gregory has left Walker Street, and taken the store No. 540 Broadway, nearly opposite Mr. John Wiley. "THE Philadelphia Inquirer," in speaking of the | in this rapid glance at the 'National Almanac,' to "National Almanac," says: "If called upon to give any just idea of its character or contents. There point out the most useful volume of reference with- are six hundred and fifty pages of matter, very comin our knowledge, we should unhesitatingly say pactly condensed; the index alone spreading over the "National Almanac," just published. As a ten close pages. It is more than a mere book. It is compend of statistics, as a register of facts, as a a library, and therefore we give it welcome as the record of events, as an epitome of the condition and most serviceable auxiliary we have placed on our progress of the United States, of each particular book-shelves for many a day." State, and of the civilized countries of the world for the last two years, it stands without a peer. When once known it must become indispensable, and no library, public or private, no counting-house, no public office, can be considered completely furnished without it, and as for the professional man, or the man of affairs, he must find it the most useful auxiliary within his reach at any price. If the possessor of this volume desires to know who is Governor of Maine, or Treasurer of Oregon, who is Judge of any district of Minnesota or Massachusetts, who is Secretary at Harrisburg, who is Chief of any Bureau at Washington, who is Minister to England, or who is Consul at Shanghai, all he has to do is to take down his 'National Almanac,' turn to the index, and he has his answer. Should he wish to inquire into the bank circulation of any State, or the pay of an officer of the navy, or the emoluments of an officer of the army, or the national tax on any article, or the amount of internal revenue collected thereon, or the amount of internal revenue collected from any State, or the value of our imports, or the details of our exports, or the condition of our finances, or the apportionment of Members of Congress, or the number of ships in the navy, or the commerce and history of the United States, or the rise and fall of the tides, Messrs. Hurd & Houghton have established themor the tonnage of any railroad, or the strength of selves at No. 401 Broadway, on the corner of Walker any religious denomination, or any similar question, Street, which may be considered as a midway posiall such information is at hand in the National tion between the up-town and down-town publishers. Almanac.' If he wishes to know what laws have been Mr. Joseph Sabin may be seen here by his friends. passed, or who are the Generals in our army, or A. D. F. Randolph has entered his new and enwho are the officers in our navy, or who are the Sen-larged store, No. 770 Broadway, corner of Ninth ators from Ohio, or who are Representatives from New Jersey, or the government, ministry, army, navy, finances, population, or on the public affairs of any foreign country, or the day and particulars of any event of the great rebellion, or the details of the last elections by counties or districts, all that, and a thousand-fold more, he will find in his 'National Almanac.' It is observable throughout the pages of the volume that there is a marvellous approach to accuracy, and that every subject is posted to the latest possible period consistent with authenticity. There is nothing of that unreliability which comes from patching up statistics from second-hand sources. We have some personal knowledge of the severe scrutiny and careful supervision devoted to the preparation of some departments of the book, and have reason to believe that the same labor and the best intelligence have been applied to all. It bears the earmarks of experience and authority all the way through. But what will most strike the attention of the casual observer of its varied and interesting contents, is the rich store of information relating to the volunteers furnished by the several States to the armies of the United States. Here are found names, dates, exact figures in detail, of all the regimental organizations from all the States and Territories, which for the first time spread before the eyes of the patriotic people of the country the particulars of the marvellous development of the military power of the United States during the war to crush the great rebellion. Again we find, in a series of admirably arranged tables, detailed results of the first year's operations of our new internal revenue system. These tables must be examined to be appreciated, and, moreover, they are not to be found in any other book, public or private. We do not expect, Street. Wm. A. Townsend has removed a few doors nearer Broadway, to No. 55 Walker Street, and F. A. Brady to No. 22 Ann Street, a door or two from his former location. Mr. D. Van Nostrand, the military and scientific publisher, proposes very shortly to occupy the first floor of his present building, No. 192 Broadway, for his increasing business. The Messrs. Wm. Wood & Co. are fitting up the second story of their building, No. 61 Walker Street, for a special department of agriculture and scientific books, which they will wholesale and retail. third story will be devoted to their stationery department. Philadelphia. J. B. Lippincott & Co. Mr. J. B. Mitchell, for had charge of the binding and printing department), many years connected with Mr. Lippincott (having has been admitted to a partnership interest in the firm. The firm now embraces an extensive bindery and printing-office, being second perhaps only in the United States to Messrs. Harpers, New York. Cincinnati. Rickey & Carroll have dissolved partnership, Mr. Rickey retiring from the book business. Mr. R. W. Carroll having purchased Mr. Rickey's interest, will continue the business as heretofore at Pike's Opera House Building. New Haven, Conn. Peck, White & Peck, New Haven, have been succeeded by Mr. H. C. Peck, late of the firm of Peck & Bliss, of Philadelphia. Judd & Clark, New Haven, have been succeeded by Judd & White. |