Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/467

 ii s. va JUNK 7, MIS.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

459

Thomas a Becket, and was become so deep and heavy as to be perilous.

On 20 May, 1367, and again on 24 June of the same year, were issued documents regulating the carrying of coals to Newcastle.

Book -Prices Current. Vol. XXVII. Part II.

(Elliot Stock.)

AMONG the chief items recorded are the first edition of ' The Compleat Angler,' 1653, hound in modern morocco extra, SOW. ; Rowlandson's 'Political and Humorous Works, 1774-1825,' collected by Francis Harvey, with specially printed title-pages, and vignettes by Cruikshank, nearly 2,000 prints and drawings (41 being original pen, pencil, and water-colour drawings), l.OOO/. ; a collection of Historical Tracts relating to the Grand Rebellion, 32 vols., morocco extra, 1626-1721, 4to, }15L ; first edition of Montaigne, original calf, 50Z.; Combe's ' English Dance of Death,' first edition, original 24 parts, 100/. ; Combe's * History of Johnny QUPB Genus,' Rowlandson's plates, 521. ; Marbecke's ' The Bookeof Common Praier Noted,' black-letter, 1550, 140/. ; Audubon's ' Birds of America,' 4 vols., 4to, half morocco by Zaehnsdorf, 1827-38, 540/. ; Gould's 'Birds of Australia,' 8 vols., morocco extra, 1848-69, 180/. ; and first edition of 'Jane Eyre,' 3 vols., original cloth, 27 J. Particulars of the sale of Andrew Lang's library are given. There were 555 lots, and the amount realized was 1,7932. 17-9. Qd. The largest sums were for a presentation copy of Scott's ' Rokeby,' "Mrs. Laidlaw, with the author's kind respects, Abbotsford, 21 April, 1813," 45J. ; ' The Lay of the Last Minstrel,' also a presentation copy to Mrs. Laidlaw, and left by her to her nephew Andrew Lang, Sheriff Clerk of Selkirkshire, 39J. ; and the 'Rubaiyat' of Omar Khayyam, rendered into English verse by Edward FitzGerald, second edition, with two original quatrains by Andrew Lang, 1868, 22/. Among the books in the library of the late Mr. Ralph Clutton, which realized 3,8221. 18s., were a large-paper copy of the first issue of ' Anacron, Sapho, Bion et Moschus, Traduction nouvelle en prose par M. M*** C*V Paris, 1773, 4to, 64. ; Boccaccio, engravings after Gravelot and others, 5 vols., old morocco, Paris, 1757-61, 51 J. ; and ' Robinson Crusoe,' 1719, 'Further Adventures,' 1719, and 'Serious Reflec- tions,' 1720, first editions, 3 vols., morocco extra, 110Z.

The People's Books. The Sixth Dozen Volumes.

(Jack.)

SCIENCE, in the new instalment of these admirable little publications, is represented by Dr. Phillips's The Science of Light ; by Mr. Kirkman's British Birds ; and by Youth and Sex, the joint work of Dr. Mary Scharlieb and Dr. Sibly. In the way of literature we have Miss Flora Masson's lively and discerning life of Charles Lamb, which gives as accurate and full an account of him as could well be brought within these pages though perhaps, in case of the book being a person's first intro- duction to Lamb, the discussion of his work might have been somewhat extended. Mr. Sydney Waterlow's Shelley is, in this matter, well-proportioned,- giving about half the space available to Shelley's biography, and the rest to an estimate of his work which is acute and well- balanced, only perhaps erring a little on the side of assuming in the reader a knowledge and appre- ciation of Shelley which requires correction,

whence defects are somewhat over-emphasized. Canon Rashdall contributes an account of Ethics? and Mr. Wildon Carr a discussion of The Problem of Truth, which, as was inevitable, is largely a criticism of pragmatism, and of that new exami- nation of the processes by which " knowledge " and " truth " are acquired, associated principally with the name of Bergson. Mr. Wilfrid Ward has been chosen to expound The Oxford Movement ; another line of religious tradition is included here in Mr. Ephraim Levine's Judaism. One of the most interesting books of the whole batch, worthy of careful consideration alike from students of history and from students of sociology, is Mr. Bede Jarrett's Mediceval Socialism. The two other books which make up the dozen are Mr. Clayton's Trade Unions and Mr. Bartlett's Gardening.

WE have received from Messrs. A. & C. Black The Social Guide for 1913. This is the fourth year of issue of this useful annual, and its accuracy is a credit to its editors, Mrs. Hugh Adams and Miss Edith A. Browne. The arrangement is that best of all arrangements alphabetical. We just note a few of the contents to show how varied they are Americans in London, Ascot, Canadians in London, County and Provincial Societies in London, Indian Season, Ladies' Clubs, and Oxford Com- memoration. Under Grasmere a full account is given of the surviving festival of Rushbearing, which takes place every year on the Saturday nearest to St. Oswald's Day, August 5th.

IT is scarcely a matter of surprise, the tension of European feeling having recently been so great,, that a considerable portion of the contents of The Fortnightly deals with momentous national issues. ' The Problem of Austria-Hungary ' and ' The Dissensions of the Balkan Allies,' by Politicus and Mr. Spencer Campbell respectively,, follow a powerful article by Mr. Archibald Hurd," which directs attention to ' The Racial War in tho Pacific.' Literature is, however, not neglected. Both Mr. W. L. Courtney in continuing his salutary study of ' Realistic Drama ' and Mr. Gilbert Thomas in ' Mr. Masefield's Poetry ' deal with new methods and motives in contemporary, literature. ' The Chinese Drama ' is the theme of a fascinating article on an important feature of Oriental life by Mr. A. Corbett-Smith. Residence in China for half a century may not qualify a man to speak with authority on that wonderful race, yet such " impressions " as these could scarcely have been written by one less well acquainted with the land and its people. ' The Death of Satire ' is associated by Mr. Herman- Scheffauer with the usurpation of the feminine and the establishment of emasculated standards of taste. The decay of much that is ugly in satiric expression may be viewed without regret, but few would not agree with the author in wishing satire a long life, if only for the verbal adroitness, the agility and cunning felicity of diction, with which the names of its greatest wielders are linked. Mr. Wilfrid Ward defends the brilliant Prime Minister in ' Lord Cromer on Disraeli,' quoting graphic passages contained in letters to his friends. ' Vocational Education and the Nation,' by Mr. Cloudesley Brereton, is full of suggestion, as is also a tribute by Miss Constance E. Maud to ' The First Persian Feminist.'