CHEAP EDITIONS OF POPULAR NOVELS. Post 8vo. Illustrated Boards, 28. each. Most of these books may also be had in crown 8vo. cloth extra, at 3s. 6d each. EMBELLISHED EVERY MONTH WITH A STEEL PLATE ENGRAVING Among the Contributors to BAILY'S MAGAZINE are to be numbered the leading Sporting writers of the day, whose excellence of literary style has enabled the Magazine to attain its present popularity. NEW VOLUME of CHARLES READE'S COLLECTED WORKS. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 3s. 6d. With a Steel-plate Portrait. READIANA: Comments on Current Events. 'The idea of this book was to collect those not few writings which Mr. Charles Reade has addressed to the public in his own name, and as speaking for himself. Such are his famous letters on copyright, or " the rights and wrongs of authors," which appeared in the Pall Mall, his contemporary comments on the Tichborne case and other causes célèbres, most of which were contributed to the Daily Telegraph, and his retorts upon his critics passim. The letters on "Cremona Fiddles" every one will be glad to find reprinted. We know no book more characteristic of a great charact. r. The portrait is excellent.'-ACADEMY. The book is not only a collection of Mr. Reade's personal convictions, it contains also a number of letters on Cremona fiddles and on builders' blunders, some narratives of unremembered heroes of every-day life, and one short story. The letters on Cremona fiddles are the most instructive, and are, indeed, of permanent interest: but Mr. Charles Reade is no doubt right when he says in his preface, with pardonable vanity, that his honest and lasting convictions are worth something, and will be better learnt from this volume than discerned from a study of his novels. But it is because he is an able novelist that the public will care to hear his personal opinions. His position as a writer of fiction, though recognised in England, is perhaps under-estimated. In America certainly he takes one of the foremost places among living English novelists, and in France probably he would be ranked almost as high. In his letters on Cremona fiddles Mr. Reade is admirable. Here is the true enthusiast giving the result of researches which have been delightful to him. He speaks now with a genuine tenderness, and his vigorous style only adds warmth to the expression of his affection for the marvels of the fiddle's mechanism. One tale of the romance of fiddle-dealing is charming.'-ATHEN.EUM. A month or two ago Messrs. Chatto and Windus published, in sixteen volumes, an exceedingly handsome and handy edition of the novels and short tales of Mr. Charles Reade. The binding was brilliant and attractive, the paper good, the printing neat; and the wealth of illustration quite exceptional. The volumes could be obtained singly or collectively; the price-three and sixpence-was marvellously small; and the edition, altogether, was one well worthy of the powers and popularity of the novelist. The frontispiece is an excellent portrait of Mr. Reade; the preface is as characteristic as the rest of the book; and the whole forms a volume which many people will be glad to possess, because it displays Mr. Reade in a very interesting and impressive light. It is essential to the completeness of the edition of Mr. Reade's works, all of which ought to be upon the shelves of every well-appointed library.'-NOTTINGHAM GUARDIAN. Not long ago, Messrs. Chatto and Windus published a complete edition of the works of Charles Reade. There were, if we remember right, sixteen volumes then published. A seventeenth has now been issued, with the title of "Readiana." It contains a number of what Mr. Reade calls Comments upon Current Events. In reality, they are the stories of current events, told with shrewd comment by a man of whom no one can say that he states his opinions in any doubtful manner. No reader could take up a book of Mr. Reade's without seeing in what direction his sympathies ran, and what he would do with some institutions that find favour in the world if the power were only in his hands. These qualities give a piquancy and relish to his novels which no one would care to lose. He speaks strongly because he thinks strongly, and he never speaks badly. The best and the worst qualities of his work are shown in this volume. No one could know what he was, though all his novels had been read, if this volume were not read also. It is very amusing, and not least amusing where it is most likely to jar on the opinions of the reader.'— SCOTSMAN. "Readiana" forms a very curious and interesting collection, and displays a wide range of knowledge, mature experience, and keen criticism. Mr. Reade has given his life to the study of men as they are, with a wonderfully minute observation of the actualities of daily life. But it is not on men and manners only that he has bestowed minute attention. He has written enough to fill a small volume on Cremona fiddles. He may, indeed, be accepted as an authority on Cremona fiddles. And this is no small praise, for a man who can make himself master of such a subject must be familiar with a multitude of others. Those who have derived pleasure from his fiction will be pleased to find he is so unwearied an observer of facts.'-TABLET. For many years Mr. Charles Reade has been in the habit of throwing off some of his superfluous energy in letters to various journals. In so doing he has dispersed among the public a valuable store of original thought. Mr. Reade is the most genuine of all modern authors, using the adjective, of course, in its true sense, for he is the representative of a rare and good kind of authorship; and is almost a kind in himself. His new volume "Readiana" purports to be a collection of comments on current events. A more interesting, a more stimulating book of its size and range, no intelligent man or woman could wish. Mr. Reade has a happy directness of carnest, nervous diction which carries a proposition home. He has taken up many a cause out of pure impulsive warmth of feeling. Mercy more than justice moves him to glowing utterance. Championship is the vital force of half this book; but there are many excellent sketches and stories in it that depend for their interest on facts or suppositions unconnected with the sense of wrong. The author's power of giving life and universality of attraction to special subjects, such, for instance, as Cremona fiddles, is truly admirable. Nothing that was dry and dull remains dry and dull after he has touched it.'-DAILY TELEGRAPH. MR. READE'S OTHER WORKS ARE AS FOLLOWS: Peg Woffington. Illustrated by S. L. FILDES, A.R.A. Christie Johnstone. SMALL Illustrated by WILLIAM It is Never Too Late to Mend. Illustrated The Course of True Love Never did run The Autobiography of a Thief; Jack of Love me Little, Love me Long. Illustrated The Double Marriage. Illustrated by Sir JOHN The Cloister and the Hearth. Illustrated by Hard Cash. Illustrated by F. W. LAWSON. Foul Play. Illustrated by GEORGE DU MAURIER. A Terrible Temptation. Illustrated by EDWARD The Wandering Heir. Illustrated by HELEN A Simpleton. Illustrated by KATE CRAUFurd. Also a Popular Edition of all but the last four, in post 8vo, illustrated boards, 28. each. CHATTO & WINDUS, Piccadilly, W. 3 vols. crown 8vo. At every Library. VAL STRANGE. By DAVID CHRISTIE MURRAY, Author of Joseph's Coat' &c. Valentine Strange, who treads the tempting but perilous primrose way, is only the nominal hero of Mr Christie Murray's clever and attractive novel, the real centre of interest being found in the character of Hiram Search, a conception which, among other charms, has that great and increasingly rare charm of freshness.... The story, as a story, is deftly constructed; and Mr. Christie Murray's style is just the right style for fiction-not garish, but still full of colour and movement, neither too literary nor too free and casy. Here is a sentence which might have been written by George Eliot......" Val Strange" is emphatically an able and interesting book.' THE ACADEMY. 'A novelist who has been making rapid advances of late years is Mr. David Christie Murray. To our thinking "Val Strange" shows Mr. Murray decidedly at his best. There is not a dull page in it. Even Mr. Murray's padding is not like the ordinary padding in novels. It is bright, well-written moralising, with a flavour that only a man acquainted with many sides of human nature could give to it........The lover of a good novel will find Mr. Christie Murray's three volumes far too few for him, and he will wish, when the last page of the book has been read, that he had another equally good ready to his hand. The story is bright, wholesome, interesting, and shows the hand of a man who really understands his fellows and the art of writing good fiction.'-ScoTSMAN. The author of "Joseph's Coat" is, without doubt, gaining every day a further hold on popular favour, and he is one of those few writers of novels who are not content to live on a single success, but make steady progress in each work that they publish......While we are occasionally reminded, and very pleasantly reminded, of Reade, Dickens, and even of Thackeray, we recognise that Mr. Murray has now a very powerful and individual style of his own...... Mr. Murray's very precious gift of humour would give savour to work of much less intrinsic interest, and he can even be epigrammatic on occasion. Altogether, we can confidently recommend "Val Strange" as a capital story by a powerful and promising writer.'-MANCHESTER EXAMINER. Val Strange" presents many of the characteristics which have gained for the author of "Joseph's Coat a considerable place among present-day novelists. There are in it strong situations well put, there is genuine insight into character, and there are bits of landscape-painting that recall the peculiar power of Mr. Bret Harte. Mr. Murray is all himself in telling the adventures in love and fortune-hunting of Hiram Search, a humorous and shrewd American, whose heart and whose worldly philosophy are very nearly as good as Sam Weller's.' SPECTATOR. 'In the dramatic interest of the story, in the careful delineation of character and motive, in the construction of the plot and its adaptation to the ethical purpose which is kept steadily in view throughout, this new story is certainly equal to, if be not better than, its predecessors. The author's powers seem to us to be ripening, and he has certainly done here an excellent piece of work.'-CONGREGATION ALIST. 'Mr. Christie Murray seems to be making a distinct mark as a novelist. His new work, "Val Strange," is unquestionably very powerful and original. The opening is singularly uncommon, the first hundred pages or so being worthy of almost any living writer...... We have no doubt that it will have a wide circle of admirers.' CHRISTIAN LEADER. "A Life's Atonement" was a book of considerable merit, and "Val Srange" is a book of merit more con. siderable still; the attractions of the book are manifold.'-PALL MALL GAZETTE. THE 3 vols. crown 8vo. At every Library. GOLDEN SHAFT. By CHARLES GIBBON, Author of 'Robin Gray' &c. 'Mr. Charles Gibbon is a novelist whom the critic of novels is always glad to meet, because his books are Always both readable and workmanlike. Mr. Gibbon is now a practised novelist; but it is evident that he has Lot got to the hack condition. In all his books there is some freshness; and freshness is certainly not wanting in A Golden Shaft."........A novel of interest and merit much above the average......... Mr. Gibbon is to be congratulated on the character of "Fiscal" Musgrave, which is as original as it is lifelike, and as attractive as it is original. The situation which chiefly displays it is well imagined, powerfully worked out, and sufficiently striking in itself.'-ACADEMY. ⚫ Excellent in every important respect; the story is interesting, the plot is most ingeniously devised, the characters are cleverly conceived and consistently drawn, while several of them stand out picturesquely in their quaint originality...... Altogether, we may certainly congratulate Mr. Gibbon on his book.'-SATURDAY REVIEW. Scottish life has rarely had a better interpreter and describer than Mr. Charles Gibbon. Everybody will remember his justly popular "Robin Gray," and he has just put lished an equally charming novel, "The Golden Shaft"; altogether, the story is one of the best we have read for a long time.'-CHRISTIAN LEADER, KEPT 2 vols. post 8vo. cloth extra, 128. At every Library. IN THE THE DARK. By ANTHONY TROLLOPE. With a Frontispiece by J. E. MILLAIS, R.A. "Those who can appreciate a novel entirely devoid of sensationalism or even excitement, simply a tale of ordinary people well told and worth telling, will delight in Mr. Trollope's latest work......It is a genuine and delightful book.'-MORNING POST. "Kept in the Dark" is an amusing "society" story, told in the well-known style of the author.'-ATHEN.EUM. Mr Trollope's writing is easy reading itself. The narrative and dialogue alike flow on without interruption. Though mainly sly in the sarcasm contained in it, it often has as much point as the sentences of Lord Beaconsfield. "Kept in the Dark" is a thoroughly skilful story, so full of interest that there is not a dull page in it from first to last. Moreover, the moral is excellent.'-NOTTINGHAM GUARDIAN. Mr. Anthony Trollope excels in domestic tragedy. His last novel is a veritable storm in a teacup, but a storm stirred up with so much dexterity, hurried to fury by such simple and natural expedients, and quelled with such judicious calm, that its rise and fall are witnessed with much amusement.'-DAILY NEWS. One of Mr. Anthony Trollope's most attractive stories has recently been published with the title "Kept in the Dark." It is a novel based upon the slightest of plots, and, like many of Mr. Trollope's productions, it seems calculated to show how much of human suffering might be saved if men and women had but the courage. Bot only to do right, but to do what is right at the proper time. Mr. Trollope has told the story with all his asual grace and force, and it will certainly be read with interest.'-SCOTSMAN. OTHER NOVELS BY ANTHONY TROLLOPE.-Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 38. 6d. each. THE CHATTO & WINDUS, Piccadilly, W. Beautifully bound in a novel style, with numerous fine Illustrations, small 4to. 16s. THE LADY OF THE LAKE. By SIR WALTER SCOTT. In order to secure accuracy as well as freshness of treatment, the publishers commissioned Mr. A. V. S. Anthony, under whose supervision this edition has been executed, to visit the Scottish Highlands and make sketches on the spot. Nearly every scene of the poem was personally visited and sketched by him, and these sketches have afforded the basis of the landscapes offered in this book. These landscapes, for obvious reasons, depict the scenery as it is at the present time; while the costumes, weapons, and other accessories of the figurepieces are of the period of the action of the poem, being carefully studied from contemporary pictures and descriptions, or from later authoritative works. 'Nothing finer in wood-engraving and in the printing of woodcuts has been seen of late than is to be found in this charming volume. The publishers are to he congratulated upon it; they have produced a book which for beauty and intrinsic merit will not easily be surpassed.'-SCOTSMAN. "The Lady of the Lake," by Sir Walter Scott, has been republished by Messrs. Chatto & Windus, with several pretty woodcuts representing scenes associated with the poem. These cuts and the neat printing of the volume ensure it a welcome as a gift.'-ATHEN.EUM. 'These illustrations will do more to realise for us what was in the mind of Scott while he was writing this charming poem than thousands of imaginary designs, no matter how artistic in themselves; or a whole library of prose description of Highland landscapes and knightly costume.'-R. H. SrODDARD, in New York Mail. By far the most noteworthy pictorial edition of this stirring metrical romance since that on which Mr. Birket Foster and Sir John Gilbert expended some of their best work many years ago. The drawings, 120 in number, include many admirable bits of landscapes, incidents in the story, and other objects, and are engraved in the best style.'-DAILY NEWS. Post Sro. Illustrated Cover, 2s.; cloth, 2s. 6d. THE FELLAH. By EDMOND ABOUT. The publishers are evidently in the belief that "The Fellah" contains a good deal that is likely to be useful to those who wish to form an opinion as to the present and future of Egypt. In this they are right. About was a keen observer, and he seems to us to have mastered in this story a great many of the causes that have led to the present state of things in Egypt. There is no keener or more powerful exposure of the effect of some of the capitulations and of other regulations in Egypt than About presented. The story, regarded as a vehicle for conveying information about Egypt and a knowledge of its institutions, cannot be too highly praised. It is thoroughly readable.'-SCOTSMAN. At this period M. About's work will be read with special interest, and not the less so because it is amusing as well as full of information.'-FIGARO. The interest so generally felt in Egypt at the present time has induced Sir Randal Roberts to translate this popular French story into English. It abounds in vivid pictures of modern Egyptian life, painted in language that glows with almost Eastern brilliancy.'- CHRISTIAN WORLD. An amusing book; worth consulting just now, because it records the testimony of an uncommonly shrewd observer.'-TIMES. This charming volume, of which the style is most bright and taking, or, in other words, worthy of the accomplished writer, has the double attraction of being at once a tale and a description. It recounts the love story of one Ahmed, an Egyptian fellah, and Ahmed and his inamorata are both of them delightful persons. But what makes the reissue so appropriate to the occasion is the fact that the fictitious part of "The Fellah" is, after all, only a species of excuse for a series of very brilliant and entertaining sketches of Egyptian life and character, penned by one who shows himself an acute observer and an accurate describer of what he sees.' Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 38. 6d. NOTTINGHAM GUARDIAN. THE FLOWER OF THE FOREST. By CHARLES GIBBON, Author of Robin Gray' &c. If our readers are in love with sensationalism, and are comparatively indifferent to its quality or likelihood, tney can hardly fail to enjoy "The Flower of the Forest," or to own that the author is a master of his art.' SATURDAY REVIEW. 'Anyone who loves a story full of life and adventure will find a book to his mind here. The tale is full of movement, of exciting situations, and of thrilling incident.......The book is undeniably clever, and some of its characters are drawn with great art and beauty.' CONGREGATIONALIST. Mr. Gibbon's story is well done. It shows a great power of imagination, and it recalls to greater or less extent some of the features of Lanarkshire half a century ago. There is no dulness in the story; it is bright from frst to last.'-SCOTSMAN. A tale of absorbing interest, full of imaginative power, and written with great vivacity and vigour.' CHATTO & WINDUS, Piccadilly, W. NOTTINGHAM GUARDIAN. |