Amateur Publishers.

...145.

.Ios. 6d.

It seems to be a popular superstition that the American publisher revels in oceans of the jingling greenback, as John Paul calls it, and that one has only to publish a book to make a "'tarnal fortune" at once. We suppose it is in this frame of mind that the newspapers, which ought to know better, occasionally trench upon the regular trade. The latest case is that of the Evening Telegraph, of Philadelphia, which is playing publisher just now in opposition to the Harpers. That journal has been publishing serially its own translation of Victor Hugo's "Ninety-three," and now proposes to issue it in complete form in rivalry with the Harper's edition, as it has the perfect legal right to do. But the thing doesn't pay. The public will however be the gainer, for the Harpers propose to issue immediately a paper edition at twenty-five cents. same journal is now printing "A Very Young Couple" (Scribners), but whether it will reprint in complete form we do not know; in that case the Scribners propose a like course with the Harpers. These semi-occasional publishers are outside the "courtesy" and rules of the trade, and if they choose this course can scarcely complain

The

of the retaliation. But we can assure others who

desire to play at publishing, that the business is not quite as rich a gold mine as they seem to think. Amateur publishing is in the nature of things usually disastrous.

The Book Trade Union.

We learn from Mr. John H. Thomas, Corresponding Secretary of the American Book Trade Union, that over 400 endorsements of the action of the Convention have been received from booksellers all over the country, and that this number has been added to the membership of the Union. A meeting of the Executive Committee to which many other booksellers in the region were invited, was held in Columbus, Ohio, on May 5th, and was numerously attended. It was called to meet with Mr. Aston, who comes East soon, and to consider what had been done and devise plans for the future. Mr. J. W. Gunn, Corresponding Secretary, read many of the letters he has received from all parts of the country endorsing the movement and making suggestions.

Palmer, E. H. A Grammar of the Arabic Language. 8°. W. H. Allen.....

Smith, R. B. Mohammed and Mohammedanism. 8. Smith & E....

.18s.

Post ..6s.

Stanley, H. M. Coomassie and Magdala: the Story of two British Campaigns in Africa. Illustr. 8°. Low.......16s. Stoughton, J. Ecclesiastical History of England; the Church of the Revolution. 8°. Hodder & S..........12S. Symonds, J. A. Sketches in Italy and Greece. Post 8°. Smith & E... ......95.

Zincke, F. B. Swiss Allmends, and a Walk to See Them. Post 8°. Smith & E....

....

..7s. 6d.

It was resolved to hold the next General Meet

ing at Put-in Bay, on the 21st, 22d, and 23d of July, when the Committee on Prices and Underselling will make their report of their conference with the publishers, and arrangements are being made to have addresses and papers of interest prepared for that occasion.

Mr. Hubbard, of Columbus, was appointed chairman with authority to determine number and names of members for a committee to secure

half-fare rates on all the leading railroads.

Messrs. Brown of Toledo, Gunn of Springfield, and Olds of Sandusky were appointed a com

mittee to make arrangements for accommodation at Put-in Bay and vicinity at the usual reduced

rates.

As soon as the details of the arrangements are completed the committee proposes to send out 3,000 circulars, that every bookseller in the United

States may be informed of them.

They have already written to booksellers in thirty leading cities in different States calling attention to these points and asking them to stir up interest in this movement and the July meeting in their localities, and suggesting that they call preliminary meetings in railroad centres, each for his section, and form district organizations, that

they may learn who can attend at Put-in Bay and formally authorize them to act and vote as repre

sentatives.

The committee will spare no effort to make this meeting notable in the history of the American book trade, and they have reason to hope that there will be a full representation of the whole of the trade in the United States.

Mr. Hubbard writes us that he is making satisfactory arrangements by which booksellers from the extreme Northwest and Southwest may reach the Convention at half rates, come on East to transact their business, and return to their homes on an excursion ticket at low rates, thus killing two birds with one stone.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

NINETY-THREE, by Victor Hugo. Translated by Frank Lee Benedict. (Harper & Bros.) A Cheap edition of Hugo's last work. 8vo, paper 75 cents.

CHAPTERS ON ANIMALS, by Philip Gilbert Hamerton. (Roberts Bros.) Few more genial or readable books have been written on our demestic animals than the above. The author it is evident has been a close observer of animals and a lover of them, and he says, "describes what he has seen rather than what other writers have recorded." No one can go through the chapters without pleasure, so many new and curious stories are contained in them, with so much that is amusing and at the same time true. The illustrations, 20 in number, are by two celebrated animals painters, Karl Bodmer and J. Veyrassat. 12mo, cloth, $2.00.

WALDFRIED. A novel, by Berthold Auerbach. Translated by Simon Alder Stern. (Henry Holt & Co.) The form in which Auerbach presents his last, and, according to his own judgment, his best novel, is most unpretentious. It is autobiographical, its narrator, Heinrich Waldfried, telling the story of his long and eventful life, in a quiet, easy, gossipy manner, to all appearance utterly devoid of art. He relates the history of each member of his family, their loves, hopes and vicissitudes, with so many details and anecdotes of his friends and neighbors, that the reader will probably grow impatient. His story covers the eventful period in German history dating from 1848 to 1872. The old man has been a delegate to the German Parliament, and an eye-witness to the successful struggle of Germany towards unity, and of the last desperate fight with France over Alsace. Out of his apparently aimless talk grows a vivid history of this time and its various actors, wrought in with so true a portrait of the German character of to-day, that from what at first may seem a purposeless story is gained as perfect a picture of the period as will ever probably be written. The work must be judged as a whole, and by the impression it leaves behind, as it is impossible to apply to it the tests used in judging an ordinary novel. The plot is nothing, nor are the characters remarkable, and yet over all is thrown the spell of Auerbach's genius. We must call attention to the binding in which "Waldfried" appears. It is quite unique-a delicate, pearl-colored cloth, bearing upon the front cover the Prussian arms in five colors. $2.00.

12mo,

BRIEF ESSAYS AND BREVITIES, by George H. Calvert. (Lee & Shepard.) The subjects of Mr. Calvert's essays are so various, that it would be impossible in our limited space to note even a portion of them. We can only recommend them as most charming reading. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. BAEDEKER'S SWITZERLAND. Hand-book for Travellers. (James R. Osgood & Co.) The travelling community will be glad to know of an American edition of these favorite hand-books. They are noted for their accuracy and completeness, and the care bestowed upon the maps, timetables and various other aids to travelling which they contain. 16mo, cloth, $2.50.

THE FOUR CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WORLD, by Henry Wikoff. (J. B. Lippincott & Co.) The author states that the object of his book is to give a "concise andintelligent exposition of the history of France, England and the United States." To clearly explain the bearing of many questions of the present day, he traces out the world's history from the very beginning. Asia and Africa, the first two civilizations, are briefly disposed of. The early history of America is condensed into three pages, and labelled "Mystery." To the fourth

civilization" Christianity," is devoted almost the entire space of the book. Under this heading we have a resume of the history of Europe and of the United States through the various administrations down to that of John Quincy Adams. Mr. Wikoff speaks in his concluding chapters of another work, which he proposes giving to the world, and to which this seems but an introduction, "The History of my Times." We know no one so well fitted for this task as himself. 12mo, cloth,

$1.50.

A SATCHEL GUIDE TO EUROPE. (Hurd & Houghton.) This is the third annual edition of this little book. It has been revised and corrected to date, and has had a new feature added to it, in the "Traveller's Calendar" of ecclesiastical and popular festivals, pilgrimages, fairs, etc. It will also be found to contain three new maps, covering all the routes described in the book. 12mo, $2.00.

LITERARY AND TRADE NEWS.

THE first volume of the Bric-a-Brac series is

already in a second edition.

MISS NELLIE M. HUTCHINSON, who for some time did up many of the "Literary Notes" in the Tribune, is now writing literary chat in letters from Staten Island, under the title of "The Gossip in Literature." In her last she states that Miss Anna Dickinson's book-which is not to be a novel, nor a Protest, nor anything of that sort is coming in a short time. It is a series of talks or sketches of her experiences in going up and down and round and about in lecturing.

"THE History of the International,” translated from the French of Edmond Villetard, editor of The Journal des Debats, by S. M. Day, with an Introduction by Professor Henry N. Day, is announced for immediate publication by Geo. H. Richmond & Co., New Haven, Conn. This is the authoritative book on the subject, giving by far the best statement of this powerful social organization. The book is sure to interest all interested in labor, in politics, or in social progress.

MESSRS. THOMAS COOK & SON, the "excursionists," are about to issue in conjunction with Tourists' Guides. The series is to commence a London publishing house, a series of popular with 66 Switzerland," which will be issued the present month, and is to be followed by similar handbooks to Holland, Belgium and the Rhine, and Italy.

THE Evening Mail states that Mr. Parton is collecting material for a history of caricature, in which its influence on American politics, through the pencil of Nast and others, will have promi

nence.

A NEW Volume by the venerable Dr. Leonard Bacon, of New Haven, is in press at the Harpers. It is on the important subject of "The Genesis of the New England Churches," upon which he is especially qualified to write.

MR. CATHCART'S "Literary Reader" will give especial space to specimens of the best modern scientific literature, from the works of Huxley, Tyndall, Agassiz, Gray, Dana, and others. A concise biographical sketch precedes the selection from each author.

BAZAR BOOKS of the Toilet and of the Household are to follow those on Health and on Decorum at the Harpers.

A LIFE of Rear-Admiral Foote, one of the model officers of our navy, whose loss called forth the grief of the whole nation, has been written by Professor Hoppin, of Yale College, and will be issued by the Harpers.

WE learn from an exchange that the work on which Mr. Edward H. Knight, civil and mechanical engineer and editor of the United States Patent Office Gazette, has been for some time engaged, promises to be of special interest and value to mechanics, and all who are interested in the progress of invention and art. It is an American mechanical dictionary, giving descriptive definitions of machines, tools, instruments, and processes in an alphabetical order, forming a complete reference book of information concerning the mechanical appliances of science and the industrial and fine arts. Every instrument named is to be found fully described in its alphabetical place, as, for instance, the 900 terms used in civil and hydraulic engineering, 500 surgical instruments and appliances, 900 terms in mining, metallurgy, and metal working, and 500 agricultural implements. Mr. Knight, by the way, was the compiler of Bryant's Library of Poetry and Song.

IN the U. S. Circuit Court at Portsmouth, N.H., in the case of H. E. Hunter, R. W. Day and H. R. Vialle, of the firm of Hunter & Co., of Hinsdale, indicted October 9, 1873, for sending through the mails matter prohibited by the United States statutes, the first-named retracted his former plea of not guilty and entered a plea of nolo contendere. He was fined $500, which he paid, and also gave bonds in $3,000. A nolle prosequi was entered in the cases of the other parties.

"THE Story of a House," an entertaining account of house-building in all its stages, for youthful and other unprofessional readers, written and illustrated by Violet le Duc, the celebrated French architect, is a promised venture of Jas. R. Osgood & Co.

JULES VERNE'S "Adventures of Capt. Hatteras is now to be issued by the Osgoods instead of the Lippincotts.

MR. VAN NOSTRAND has in preparation a new work by Julius W. Adams, the well-known engineer, and at present Chief Engineer of the Board of City Works, Brooklyn, entitled "Sewers and Drains for Populous Districts, embracing Rules and Formulas for the Dimensions and Construction of Works of Sanitary Engineers." Col. Adams has had long practical experience in this branch of engineering work.

A "Cyclopædia of the Practice of Medicine," to be issued in a series of independent treatises, is preparing by a number of the most eminent clinical instructors in Germany. Dr. H. Von Ziemssen, Professor of Clinical Medicine at Erlangen, appreciating the view of a work corresponding to the present advanced standpoint of medical science, was the originator of the plan, and it is at his request the articles are written. The work will be completed in fifteen volumes, large octavo of from 500 to 700 pages, and will embrace the entire range of special pathology and therapeutics. Messrs. Wm. Wood & Co. of this city are to publish an English translation of the work, of which the first volume will be ready in August, and subsequently one at intervals of three months.

It is not an unheard-of thing for private enterprise to outstrip official solemnity, but a curious instance in publishing is at hand. The Illinois Legislature has been making and revising laws like other legislatures, and at the session just closed provided for the official publication of the Statutes of Illinois. The acts passed go into force on the first of July next, and it is announced that the official publication will be not earlier than September. The Illinois people, however, will not be able to plead ignorance, for Col. W. L. Gross, well known as a lawyer of Springfield, Ill., and publisher of Gross's Statutes, had no intention of waiting till all the laws had a chance to be broken. The Legislature rose March 31, and Col. Gross is now at the Riverside Press, Cambridge, superintending the printing and binding of the third volume of "the Statutes of Illinois,' containing all the Acts of 1873-4. He announces the book, a volume of 500 pages, for the 10th of June, and by the 20th of that month it will be for sale in all parts of Illinois.

HARPER & BROS. have just published a new Descriptive List, changing from the 16mo form to the 8vo. It is an immense catalogue, occupying 213 pages, of which the useful classified and individual index takes up forty.

66

A NUMBER of new volumes will be added shortly to the Harpers brown paper novels, the staple of circulating library literature. They are all English; the first will be "At Her Mercy" by Jas. Payn; Mrs. Muloch Craik's new story of it in the magazine to be among her best works, My Mother & I," which is thought by readers so tender and lovely as it is, will follow; and Miss Braddon's "Taken at the Flood," written by her for the combination of eight English newspapers, will be ready early in June.

cholera, or rather are preparing not to have it. THE Messrs. Putnam are preparing for the Two English books which they will issue on this side are of especial importance in this direction, Sanitary Arrangements for Dwellings," in which Mr. Wm. Earsie gives good advice for the board of health, architects, housebuilders, etc., and "Observations on the Pathology and Treatment of Cholera," by John Murray, M.D., InspectorGeneral of Hospitals, the result of forty years' ex"An Epitome of perience, largely in India. Therapeutics," by Dr. W. D. Stone, is also forthcoming.

Foreign News.

REFERENCE CATALOGUE OF CURRENT LITERATURE.-The London Bookseller, of May 2, says, the delay in issuing this work has been caused by the want of punctuality on the part of contributors in not sending their Catalogues in to time. Advantage was, however, taken in the delay in order to extend the Index, and thus make the work more valuable for Reference. The Index is now complete and in the printer's hands, and the Catalogue itself will be issued about the middle of the month.

A NEW monetary work, intended to show the importance of American municipal bonds as investments, is in the press. It will be published by Messrs. Whitaker & Co.

GREEK Anthology is to be the subject of the twentieth volume of the series of "Ancient Classics for English Readers," and is to be written by

Lord Neaves.