Part 38 (2/2)

My Commonplace Book. J.T. HACKETT. Dem 8vo, Cloth.

12s. 6d. NET. Inland Postage, 6d.

The t.i.tle of this bock, it is needless to say, does not mean that the contents are commonplace. It is a very rich collection of choice extracts from the verse and prose of famous writers, and writers who deserve to be famous. Swinburne is particularly well represented, as is seldom the case in anthologies. The arrangement of the book and the accuracy of the matter have been the subject of careful consideration.

Some Greek Masterpieces in Dramatic and Bucolic Poetry Thought into English Verse. By WILLIAM STEBBING, M.A., Hon. Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, and Fellow of King's College, London.

7s. 6d. NET. Inland Postage, 6d.

The author, who is a scholar, presents in this volume an English verse anthology of two departments in Greek poetry. Among the pa.s.sages and poems which he has rendered are the charge against Olympus by Prometheus, the ”Hymn of the Furies,” Iphigenia's appeals to her father and mother, ”Hue and Cry after Cupid,” etc. To convey the poet's thought has been the translator's purpose, and his versions are particularly intended for the reader who has cla.s.sical tastes without having had a thorough cla.s.sical education.

The Legend of Roncevaux. Adapted from ”La Chanson de Roland,” by SUSANNA H. ULOTH. With four ill.u.s.trations by John Littlejohns, R.B.A. Small 4to, cloth.

5s. 0d. NET Inland Postage, 6d.

Of all the legends circulating round the name of Charlemagne none is more famous and popular than that of the Paladins Roland and Oliver. The poem known as ”La Chanson de Roland” is the earliest epic in the French language, dating in all probability from a period not long after the conquest of England by William of Normandy and before the first Crusade.

Mrs. Uloth has written a metrical and rhymed version of the most important part of the ”Chanson,” namely, the story of the treachery which led to the battle of Roncevaux, and the thrilling series of encounters which terminated in the heroic death of Oliver and the lonely and mystical death of Roland. There are not many rivals in the field, and her work should, therefore, command a good deal of interest. It may be added that Mr. John Littlejohns, who ill.u.s.trates the work, has won a considerable reputation for originality and charm in drawing and painting.

The Collected Stories of Standish O'Grady. With an Introduction by ae. First 3 volumes now issued. Crown 8vo, cloth.

4s. 6d. NET EACH Inland Postage 6d.

THE CUCULAIN CYCLE.

(1) The Coming of Cuculain.

(2) In the Gates of the North.

(3) The Triumph and Pa.s.sing of Cuculain.

These three books contain the essential and most beautiful portions of Mr. Standish O'Grady's ”Bardic History of Ireland,” the work which proved to be the starting-point of Ireland's Literary Renaissance. That work has long been un.o.btainable, and is now offered for the first time in a convenient and popular form, which will enable every reader to make the acquaintance of the most striking figure in contemporary Anglo-Irish literature. The debt which a generation of brilliant poets and dramatists owe to the author of these Cuculain stories has well been described by one of his disciples, who wrote:--

”In the 'Bardic History of Ireland' he opened, with a heroic gesture, the doors which revealed to us in Ireland the giant lord of the Red Branch Knights and the Fianna. Though a prose writer, he may be called the last of the bards--a true comrade of Homer.”

A NEW VOLUME OF THE TALBOT LITERARY STUDIES.

Irish Books and Irish People. By STEPHEN GWYNN, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth

4s. 6d. NET. Inland Postage 6d.

Whatever Captain Gwynn writes is worth reading. He has a knowledge of the literary value of Irish books, and the complex personality of Irish possessed by few present-day writers, and he imparts his knowledge with that peculiar detached conviction of the hurler on the ditch. Whether one accepts or rejects the opinions expressed, they are always worthy of consideration, while the fine choice of language and beautiful literary style will well repay a second reading. Capt. Gwynn deals with such subjects as Novels of Irish Life, A Century of Irish Humour, Literature Among the Illiterates, Irish Education and Irish Character, Yesterday in Ireland, etc., etc.

To Book Lovers.

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