Page:Lieut Gullivar Jones - His Vacation - Edwin Arnold (1905).djvu/312

 At all Libraries and Bookshops.

JUST PUBLISHED,

THE HANDLOOM WEAVER'S DAUGHTER

By JAMES HASLAM

Crown 8vo, Cloth Gilt, Price 6s.

EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS:

Blackburn Weekly Telegraph—" The old tragic story which many Lancashire men and women know only too well, and which their children have heard many times and oft, is vividly and powerfully told in 'The Handloom Weaver's Daughter.' . . . The story is crowded with incident, and the interest of the reader is closely sustained throughout."

Birmingham Daily Post." One thing is certain from the perusal of this book—Mr. Haslam knows his Lancashire well, has an intimate knowledge of its people, their dialect, and their social life; and has studied at first hand the conditions of the factory life of the county. . . . The bootless, pathetic struggle of the handloom weavers, first to retain their independence, and then their bare existence, is pictured in simple graphic style which commands interest from first page to finish by sheer force of realism, .. ."

The Times.—"A pathetic tale of the last of the handloom weavers."

Pall Mali Gazette.—"It is written by a man who knows his subject and the people, and he has imported into his task a degree of realism that would be quite convincing enough, even if it were not so plain spoken."

Liverpool Daily Post.— Mr. Haslam has tackled, as will be seen from our previous remarks, a very big subject. He knows the handloom weaver with an intimacy which is explained in his little preface. ... The advantage is that we see them here from the point of view of the poor weavers themselves; thus far the world has seen it from the harder judgment of the economist. ... It (the story) is recounted in clear, terse English, and with a duc sense of the canons of plot construction. But the striking worth of the volume is in Its graphic pictures, We see the very inside of the hearts of the handloom weavers, and we appreciate their dread of the advancing tide of organised industry. We see the inside of factory life, too... . The technical details are shown with a vividness which will appeal even to minds far from naturally interested in such matters.... He has shown us how the native nobility of the Lancashire man and the Lancashire woman bore them shrews the stress of the tumult, one of the struggles out of which the triumph of English industry has been accomplished."

Preston Guardian.—"The tragedy of the handloom weaver's supersession by steam power has appealed to many writers, but Mr. Haslam is a descendant of handloom weavers. He has the advantage of first-hand knowledge of the now extinct class of weaver and the one that succeeded it. To Lancashire men and women this book may appeal, for who In this county is not interested in the songs and tales of a class of toilers who were once the backbone of England's industrial wealth?"

Extract from a letter of a Lancashire Librarian sent to a journalist who had presented a copy of 'THE HANDLOOM WEAVER'S DAUGHTER" to the public library.

"T have really enjoyed the book, and I must congratulate the author upon being able to present such interesting reading. The hypocritical cant of the elder Bailey as regards his Methodism, over and above the improvement and education of the people, is excellently portrayed. .. . The terrible sequence of the novel is good. Ihave read many a score of novels lately that have not been half so interesting... . Mr. Haslam's book ought to go well in the north. I thank you for your kindly presentation, which will give a great number of our readers an opportunity of spending some pleasurable hours."