Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/967

 America 957 ITEMS CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED The fifth volume of the series " Prehistoric America ", by Dr. Stephen D. Peet, has been published (Chicago, The American Anti- quarian). It bears the title: Myths and Symbols: or the Aboriginal Religious of America. The prize of the Due de Loubat for the best work published in five years on the early history of America has bqen awarded by the French Academy to Mr. Henry Vignaud, first secretary of the Amer- ican Embassy in Paris, for his well-known work on Christopher Co- lumbus. A new volume in Harper and Brothers' " Heroes of America " series is Ferdinand Magellan, by Frederick A. Ober. The Macmillan Company have recently issued a reprint in two volumes of Captain John Smith's Generall Historie of Virginia, Nezv England and the Snnuncr Isles, together with his True Trai'cls, Adven- tures and Observations, and his Sea Grammar. It should have been noted in an earlier i.ssue that the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania has republished in facsimile The American Jl'eeklv Mercury, volume HI., 1721-1722. Two hundred and fifty copies were printed, after which all of the plates and negatives were destroyed. The volume contains an index. A recent work which treats of an interesting phase of colonial history is Early Concert-Life in America, 1731-1800. by O. G. T. Son- neck, chief of the division of music in the Library of Congress (Leip- zig, Breitkopf and Hartel). In addition to presenting much interesting material respecting early public concerts in America, the author es- tablishes the fact, contrary to the general belief, that concert-life was developed rather earlier in America than on the continent of Europe. The work opens with a chapter on Charleston, for, the author asserts, " New England's share in the development of our early musical life has been unfairly and unduly overestimated to the disadvantage of the middle colonies and the South." The Journal of the Friends' Historical Society presents in its January issue some extracts from the letters of Edmund Peckover, written dur- ing a journey through America in 1742-1743. The interesting article by Jonas Howe on " Major Ferguson's Rifle- men — The American Volunteers ", which has been appearing in in- stallments in the Acadiensis, closes, in the April issue, with an account of the battle of King's Mountain. Facsimile pages are given of the diary of Lieutenant Allaire, of which much use is made throughout the article. The Library of Congress has issued a List of Works Relating to the French Alliance in the American Revolution, compiled by A. P. C. Griffin. The titles are arranged under several headings, such as " Works