Part 45 (1/2)

[Sidenote: Mr. Herbert Bates, in the Commercial Gazette, Cincinnati.]

In summing, I would say that I have found the book distinctly stimulating. It is odd, but with the oddity of force. It has pa.s.sages of uncanny imagination, but they excellently evade the enormous and extravagant. It is a book that by its t.i.tle and by such features as strike one at a hurried glance might easily repel. Yet it is a book that, studied carefully, calls for re-reading and deep meditation. Its theories are capable of scientific demonstration, its imaginings, while they may not be fact, are always consistent with it. The reader who lets the outside repel him errs sadly. Let him read it, and he will be as changed in his position toward it, as ready to convert others, as is the reviewer, who picked it up with foreboding and laid it down with the sense of having read great thoughts.

[Sidenote: Dr. W. H. Venable.]

”The End of Earth” is not like any other book. The charm of adventure, the excitement of romance, the stimulating heat of controversy, the keen pursuit of scientific truth, the glow of moral enthusiasm, are all found in its pages. The book may be described as a sort of philosophical fiction, containing much exact scientific truth, many bold theories, and much ingenious speculation on the nature and destiny of man.... The occult and esoteric character of the discussions adds a strange fascination to them. We can hardly cla.s.sify, by ordinary rules, a work so unusual in form and purpose, so discursive in subject-matter, so unconventional in its appeals to reason, religion and morality.... The direct teaching of the book, in so far as it aims to influence conduct, is always lofty and pure.

[Sidenote: Letter from Sir Henry Irving, to the Author.]

”_My Dear Sir:_ Let me thank you most heartily for sending me the special copy of your wonderful book 'Etidorhpa,' which I shall ever value. I may say that when by chance I found it in Cincinnati I read it with the greatest interest and pleasure, and was so struck by it that I have sent copies to several friends of mine here and at home. I hope I may have the pleasure of meeting you some day either here or in London.

I remain, sincerely yours, HENRY IRVING.

”20th March, 1896.”

[Sidenote: Etidorhpa as a work of art. Prof. S. W. Williams.]

If a fine statute or a stately cathedral is a poem in marble, a masterpiece of the printer's art may be called a poem in typography.

Such is ”Etidorhpa.” In its paper, composition, presswork, ill.u.s.trations, and binding--it is the perfection of beauty. While there is nothing gaudy in its outward appearance, there is throughout a display of good taste.

The ill.u.s.trations were drawn and engraved expressly for this work, and consist of twenty-one full-page, half-tone cuts, and over thirty half-page and text cuts, besides two photogravures. The best artistic skill was employed to produce them, and the printing was carefully attended to, so as to secure the finest effect.

[Sidenote: Eclectic Medical Journal, Cincinnati.]

No one could have written the chapter on the ”Food of Man” but Professor Lloyd; no one else knows and thinks of these subjects in a similar way.... The ”old man's” description of ”the spirit of stone,” ”the spirit of plants,” and finally, ”the spirit of man,” is very fine, but those who hear Professor Lloyd lecture catch Lloyd's impulses throughout. The only regret one has in reading this entrancing work is, that it ends unexpectedly, for the End of Earth comes without a catastrophe. It should have been a hundred pages longer; the reader yearns for more, and closes the book wistfully.

[Sidenote: New Idea, Detroit.]

One of the great charms of the book is the s.p.a.ce between the lines, which only the initiated can thoroughly comprehend. Don't fail to read and re-read Etidorhpa. Be sure and read it in the light of contemporaneous literature, for without doing so, its true beauty will not appear. Aside from its subject-matter, the excellency of the workmans.h.i.+p displayed by the printer, and artistic beauty of the ill.u.s.trations, will make Etidorhpa an ornament to any library.

[Sidenote: Cincinnati Student.]

This book, to use the words of the editor of the Chicago Inter-Ocean, is ”the literary novelty of the year.”... In a literary sense, according to all reviewers, it abounds with ”word-paintings of the highest order”--in some chapters being ”terrible” in its vividness, several critics a.s.serting that Dante's Inferno has nothing more realistic....

[Sidenote: The British and Colonial Druggist, London, England.]

We have read it with absorbed interest, the vividly-depicted scenes of each stage in the miraculous journey forming a theme which enthralls the reader till the last page is turned. Many new views of natural laws are given by the communicator, and argued between him and Drury, into which, and into the ultimate intent of Etidorhpa, we will not attempt to enter, but will leave it for each reader to peruse, and draw his own conclusions.... Professor Lloyd's style is quaint and polished, and perfectly clear. The printing and paper are all that can be desired, and an abundance of artistic and striking ill.u.s.trations are admirably reproduced.