Part 12 (1/2)
The Athenaeum.
”The appearance of this tasteful reprint would seem to indicate that the present generation is at last waking up to the fact that it has neglected a great writer, and if so it is well to begin with Landor's most adequate work. It is difficult to overpraise the 'Imaginary Conversations.' The eulogiums bestowed on the 'Conversations' by Emerson will, it is to be hoped, lead many to buy this book.”
Scotsman.
”An excellent service has been done to the reading public by presenting to it, in five compact volumes, these 'Conversations.' Admirably printed on good paper, the volumes are handy in shape, and indeed the edition is all that could be desired. When this has been said, it will be understood what a boon has been conferred on the reading public; and it should enable many comparatively poor men to enrich their libraries with a work that will have an enduring interest.”
Literary World.
”That the 'Imaginary Conversations' of Walter Savage Landor are not better known is no doubt largely due to their inaccessibility to most readers, by reason of their cost. This new issue, while handsome enough to find a place in the best of libraries, is not beyond the reach of the ordinary bookbuyer.”
Edinburgh Review.
”How rich in scholars.h.i.+p! how correct, concise, and pure in style! how full of imagination, wit, and humour! how well informed, how bold in speculation, how various in interest, how universal in sympathy! In these dialogues--making allowance for every shortcoming or excess--the most familiar and the most august shapes of the past are reanimated with vigour, grace, and beauty. We are in the high and goodly company of wits and men of letters; of churchmen, lawyers, and statesmen; of party-men, soldiers, and kings; of the most tender, delicate, and n.o.ble women; and of figures that seem this instant to have left for us the Agora or the Schools of Athens, the Forum or the Senate of Rome.”
The Sunshade, m.u.f.f, and Glove.
By OCTAVE UZANNE.
ILl.u.s.tRATIONS BY PAUL AVRIL.
Royal 8vo, cloth, gilt top, 31s. 6d.
NOTE.--_This is an English Edition of the unique and artistic work ”L'Ombrelle,” recently published in Paris, and now difficult to be procured. No new Edition in French to be produced._
This Edition has been printed at the press of Monsieur QUANTIN with the same care and wonderful taste as was his French Edition.
Glasgow Herald.
”'I have but collected a heap of foreign flowers, and brought of my own only the string which binds them together' is the fitting quotation with which M. Uzanne closes the preface to his volume on Woman's Ornaments.
The monograph on the Sunshade, called by the author 'a little tumbled fantasy,' occupies fully one-half of the volume. It begins with a pleasant invented mythology of the parasol; glances at the sunshade in all countries and times; mentions many famous umbrellas; quotes a number of clever sayings.... To these remarks on the spirit of the book it is necessary to add that the body of it is a dainty marvel of paper, type, and binding; and that what meaning it has looks out on the reader through a hundred argus-eves of many-tinted _photogravures_, exquisitely designed by M. Paul Avril.”
Athenaeum.
”The letterpress comprises much amusing 'chit-chat,' and is more solid than it pretends to be. The ill.u.s.trations contain a good deal that is acceptable on account of their spirit and variety.... This _brochure_ is worth reading, nay, we think it is worth keeping.”
Scotsman.
”This book is to be prized, if only because of its text. But this is by no means its sole, we might say, its chief attraction. M. Uzanne has had the a.s.sistance of M. Paul Avril as ill.u.s.trator, and that artist has prepared many designs of singular beauty and gracefulness. It would be difficult to speak too highly of them; they have a piquancy and grace which is in the highest degree attractive. It is one of the prettiest and most attractive volumes we have seen for many a day.”
The Complete Angler; OR, THE CONTEMPLATIVE MAN'S RECREATION, Of IZAAK WALTON and CHARLES COTTON.