Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/217

 10 S. VII. MARCH 2, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

177

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

'The Collected Works of Henrik Ibsen. Copyright Edition. Vols. II., III., VI., and VII. (Heinemanii.)

WE have here the first volumes of a complete, .authoritative, very handsome, and, as events will probably show, definitive edition of the dramatic works of Henrik Ibsen. The appearance of this is welcome as establishing the fact that the pother raised concerning the Scandinavian poet is over, and that his place in the dramatic hierarchy is at length awarded him. While it endured, the feud concerning him was keenly and obstinately waged, .and the position now assigned him is one among recognized writers, and not in a class apart.

Irregular, as is seen, is the order in which the separate volumes are put forth, and there is some reason to anticipate that the first of the series will be the last to oe issued. To a great extent the order will be chronological, and Vol. I. will consist of the earliest plays in order of appearance ' Lady Inger,' 'The Feast at Solhaug,' and 'Love's Comedy,' while vol. ii., the first to reach us, com-

S irises 'The Vikings at Helgoland' (recently pro- uced by Miss Ellen Terry at the Imperial) and the as yet unseen 'Pretenders.' Like the previous .and incomplete edition, the present is issued under the supervision of Mr. William Archer, who, in a printed excerpt from the general preface, riot yet published as a whole, accepts ultimate and plenary responsibility for all the translations except those of Love's Comedy' and ' Brand,' which, as regards the translations and the introductions, are entirely the work of Prof. Herford. Responsibility does not in Mr. Archer's case extend further in some instances than the exercise on his part of an un- restricted right of revision. With some modesty he adds that in plays translated by others the merits of the English version belong for the most part to the original translator, while the faults may have been introduced, and must have been sanc- tioned, by Mr. Archer himself.

The prefatory chapters or introductions to the various plays are in the main identical with those supplied to the former edition, their purpose being to show the conditions under which the works were written, and the influences to which the dramatist was subject previous to or during their com position. To a much greater extent than previously is literary criticism indulged in. In ' The Vikings at Helge- land,' for instance, the construction is declared to be all Ibsen's own and quite masterly, and the play is awarded a species of praise that a few years ago would have had a dubious sound in the mouth of a critic of the new school, and is described as " well made " in the highest sense of the word. The word "Vikings" in the title is said to be a very free rendering of the original expression, which means warriors as Mr. Archer says, a colourless word. A despairing appeal is made that " Viking " should be pronounced so as to rime, not with "liking," but with "seeking," or "at worst" (?) with " kicking."

The third volume is monopolized by 'Brand,' which appears in the poetical and rimed translation of Dr. Herford. To his translator Ibsen said con- cerning the versification of this poem, "I wanted

a metre in which I could career where I would, as on horseback." And in his hands the metre deve- lopes a versatility of tone rhythm and rime arrange- ment "for which Browning's 'Christmas Eve' and ' Easter Day ' is the only proximate English parallel." The sixth volume contains the two allied plays, ' The League of Youth ' and ' Pillars of Society.' The latter is said to be from the end of the first act to the middle of the last a model of skilful plot- development. For the seventh volume were reserved the two epoch-marking plays ' A Doll's House ' and ' Ghosts ' works which, the editor holds, left the higher and subtler qualities of Ibsen's genius for the most part unrepresented, and were mainly respon- sible for the grotesquely distorted vision of him which for so long haunted the minds even of intel- ligent people.

So far as the edition has been carried out, it is ideal in all respects. That it will be continued on a like scale of excellence is not to be doubted ; and the appearance of the perfect set is an event to be eagerly anticipated by lovers of the drama.

Memoirs of the Verne)/ Family during the Seventeenth Century. Compiled from the Papers, and illus- trated by the Portraits at Claydon House by Frances Parthenope Verney and Margaret M. Verney. Second Edition. 2 vols. (Longmans & Co.)

A WELCOME and an important addition to " The Silver Library " of Messrs. Longman is made in the reissue, with corrections and emendations, of the ' Memoirs of the Verney Family,' published between 1892 and 1899 by two successive Lady Verneys. To the merits of the first edition, with its splendid reproductions of the pictures in Claydon House and elsewhere, we have drawn frequent attention. In the case of few English families have we a record so sustainedly interesting. Though this must be con- sidered a cheap edition, it is, like the first, freely illustrated. .Some attempt at condensation has been made. The treatment, however, is reverent. It is impossible to conceive a library of historical reference or consultation which does not include the Verney memoirs, which, apart from the light they cast upon history and social matters, have much of the charm of romance. A benefit is con- ferred upon the booklover to whom they are presented in a guise so handsome.

The Newspaper Press Director;/. (Mitchell & Co.) Ox the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of this valuable guide we had, it may be remembered, two notes giving its history (1 and 8 April, 1905). The present volume, the sixty-second, continues the record of rapid progress made by our Press. We could wish that in all branches of our commerce like energy was shown to that displayed by the workers in the world of newspapers.

The outstanding event connected with newspapers in the past year was the London daily which pub- lished its first and last issues within five consecutive days. This paper, under the title of The Majority, was " started on July 10th, and ceased on July 14th from lack of capital."

It is curious that at the present time there should be only one paper in the United Kingdom bearing the title of ft tin, and that a weekly journal. The fiun is an historical title among newspapers on account of the evening paper of that name started by William Pitt while he was Prime Minister, with