“Books and Reading" is the significant title of a volume written by Dr. Noah Porter, of Yale College (Scribner). This book is of very great importance. Prof. Porter is one of the ripest scholars and one of the most comprehensive and discriminating readers in America. He is familiar with every branch of the literature of the past and the present. The ideas of such a critic, in regard to the merits of different authors and the ends and uses of literary studies, are of very great moment. His book is written in popular form, and in a didactic style. It abounds in illustrations from the best authors, which serve to give point to the principles laid down for the development of correct judgments and tastes on the part of the reader. The very important questions which parents are asking in respect to the best and safest courses of reading for their children, is answered in a manner that shows a vast range of knowledge, and a deep conscientiousness on the part of the author. such a time as the present, when there is so much of light, trashy, and hurtful literature, and so much of superficial acquaintanceship with, if not total ignorance of, the productions of the best authors, there is greatest need of just such a book as this by Dr. Porter. Its careful reading will not fail to "stimulate to a wise selection of books, and to enlightened and successful methods of reading."Watchman and Reflector.

At

A very useful little manual for students is Moore's "What to Read, and How to Read" (Appleton), containing a classified list of books in each department of study, with hints and suggestions to the reader. The lists are divided into first class, second class, and third class, which arrangement enables the reader to take up first the most important in any series, and continue at his option with the subsidiary volumes.

It

BARNES.-Among the last labors of the late Rev. Albert Barnes, accomplished with very great difficulty, owing to his almost complete loss of sight, was the careful and thorough revision of his popular "Notes on the New Testament." seemed eminently desirable, both to author and publishers, that these Notes should be made more valuable by incorporating in them the vast amount of light which science and discovery have in the last twenty years thrown upon Scripture. In the new edition much has been added in the way of notes, and many valuable and interesting illustrations have been inserted. At the time of the author's death all the volumes were ready for the press; the Gospels, in two volumes, are just ready, and the Acts, in one volume, will be published shortly. The volume on Romans is stereotyped, and will soon be issued. The other volumes will appear at suitable intervals. The success which has attended these Notes encourages the hope that the new edition, made so much more valuable, will be eagerly welcomed by all students of Scripture.

DARWIN.-The literary sensation of the season will undoubtedly be Darwin's new work, "The Descent of Man," the first volume of which will probably appear during the present month (Apple

ton). Mr. Darwin had originally intended this work as a posthumous publication, but the continually-increasing interest manifested in his first work, "On the Origin of Species," induced him to believe that the public were ripe for the most advanced deductions from his theory of "natural selection." In the present work Mr. Darwin assumes, without hesitation or qualification, that man has descended, or perhaps we should say, ascended, by gradual development, regulated by the principle of natural selection, from the lowest point of animal life.

MR. LOWELL'S new volume, says the Boston correspondent of the N. Y. Evening Mail, is entitled My Study Windows, a most appropriate name, happily indicating its character, inasmuch as standing at his study windows the poet commands a view of life and nature without, and also of the books that enter so largely into the life within his charmed study. Among the papers in this book are, 66 My Garden Acquaintance" and "A Good Word for Winter,"-two of the richest and most delightful essays of their kind in the world's literature,--and articles on Josiah Quincy, President Lincoln, Carlyle, Percival, Chaucer, Pope, Swinburne, and Thoreau.

A New Variorum Edition of Romeo and Ju liet, edited by Horace Howard Furness (Lippincott). This work constitutes the first volume of a proposed Variorum Edition of Shakespeare, edited by Horace Howard Furness, A. M. The Text of this edition of Romeo and Juliet is formed upon the principle of following, where various readings occur, such readings as have been adopted by a majority of the ablest editors. The TEXTUAL NOTES embrace the various readings of the following editors: Rowe, Pope, Theobald, Hanmer, Warburton, Johnson, Capell, Steevens, Malone (the Var. of '21), Harness, Singer (Edd. 1 and 2), Knight (Edd. 1 and 2), Campbell, Cornwall, Collier (Edd. 1 and 2), Verplanck, Hazlitt, Hudson, Ulrici, Delius, Dyce (Edd. 1 and 2), Staunton, White, Chambers, Halliwell, The Cambridge Editors, Clarke and Keightley. The COMMENTARY contains all the notes of the Variorum of 1821 that have been adopted by editors since that date, and the original notes of these editors. Illustrations and Criticisms are also given from the following sources: Douce, Nares, Coleridge, Hunter, Brown, Sidney, Walker, Halpin, Mitford, Hartley Coleridge, Craik, Massey, Lessing, Goethe, Schlegel, Franz Horn, Gervinus, Delius, Ulrici, Kreyssig, Rötscher, Sträter, Mommsen, Chateaubriand, Villemain, Marc-Girardin, Guizot, Lacroix, Mézierès, Lamartine, Chasles, Taine, and many others.

Mechanism in Thought and Morals, by Oliver Oration delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Wendell Holmes (Osgood), contains Dr. Holmes's Society, at Harvard University, in July, 1870, with copious notes and amplifications. It discusses some very curious psychological questions with great clearness and force, so that a subject which in ordinary hands would be simply tedious, is made exceedingly interesting by the wealth of illustration and characteristic freshness with which it is treated.

Life and Nature Under the Tropics, by H. M. and P. V. N. Myers. (Appleton.)-The following pages are a narrative of a scientific expedition from Williams College to the tropical regions of South America. The desire of many that a complete narrative of the expedition from our College should be given in a permanent form, and our own wish that others might share with us the pleasure we experienced in viewing a tropical Nature in three equatorial regions, where she presents herself in forms so strange and grand, coupled with the fact that so little has been written upon these interesting portions of the continent to which sections our work is principally devoted, are the only considerations that could have led us to undertake the preparation of the present volumes. -Extract from Preface.

The History of Paraguay, by Charles A. Washburn. In two volumes. (Lee & Shepard.)—| "The first volume comprises the history of that little-known country, from its earliest discovery and occupation by Europeans until the beginning of those strange, intricate, and much misunderstood transactions which have made so much diplomatic difficulty within the last few years. The second volume gives, in pretty full detail, Mr. Washburn's personal experiences, and those are of the most interesting and exciting kind, and show how politics and false dignity, and perhaps corruption in high places, have to do with a great deal of public

business."

is

Wm. Morris's Earthly Paradise (Roberts) now complete in three volumes and issued in two styles, viz.: in 8o, $9; and in 16o, $6.75. A new and cheap edition, printed on white laid paper and bound neatly in plain cloth, 3 vols. 16o, per vol. $1.50, will be published immediately.

66

on

WHIPPLE. A new volume by Mr. Edwin P. Whipple is to consist of several essays and lectures hitherto unprinted, including his lecture Shoddy," having for a central idea practical advice to young men entering life, and for a general title "Success and its Conditions." At the same time a new edition of all Mr. Whipple's books will be issued, with some rearrangement and modification of titles. Mr. Whipple's biography of Gov. Andrew, which ought, from the subject and his own favorable opportunities, to be the great work of his life, is steadily advancing toward completion, and its publication this year may be confidently looked for.

Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, ed. by Wm. J. Rolfe, a neat and handy volume in flexible covers, issued by the Harpers, is intended for use as a text-book of English in schools or colleges, or by private students, and certainly will render most valuable service. The drama is prefaced with an historical account and selections from the critical comments of Schlegel, Mrs. Jameson, Hudson, and White. The appendix contains copious notes, designed to render the same assistance to an English student that academical editions of Homer, Æschylus, or Virgil, furnish the Latin classes. The same house have issued the History of Louis XIV., by John S. C. Abbott, exhibiting the events in the extraordinary reign of that monarch in a popular narrative.

Counsel to a Mother, by Pye Henry Chavasse, M.D., author of "Advice to a Wife," etc. (Lippincott) forms a continuation and the completion of "Advice to a Mother," by the same popular author, whose works should be in the hands of every wife and mother. The present volume treats of the following subjects: I.-Infancy: Preliminary Conversation; Ablution; Navel Rupture; Diet; Wet-Nurse; Vaccination; Exercise; Sleep; The Bladder and Bowels;-II.-Childhood: Ablu. tion; Clothing; Diet; The Nursery; Exercise; Amusements; A Poem on Childhood; Educa tion; Sleep; The Hair of a Child;-III.-Youth: Ablution; Management of Hair; Whitening the Skin; Clothing; Diet; Air and Exercise; Amusements; Education; Household Work for Girls; Teeth and Gums; Sleep.

66

Simple, practical, intelligible."-Phila. Ev. Bulletin.

Insanity in Women, by H. R. Storer, M.D. (Lee & Shepard), is chiefly devoted to the causes of mental disturbance in a large proportion of the cases in which it occurs in women, with a view to the establishment of a more rational treatment than is generally adopted. Like the previous writings by which the author has become known to the public, the volume shows intense earnest. ness of conviction.

PROF. COMFORT has followed his German

course with a copious German Reader (Harper). The selections are from the best authors, with especial prominence given to the distinguished writers of the last twenty years. Some of the best specimens of German lyric poetry are included. A vocabulary, explanatory notes, and indexes give the book completeness. Prof. Comfort has done his work with his usual care and thoroughness.

Ginx's Baby; His Birth and Misfortunes, first American from the fifth English Edition. (Routledge.)-The great popularity which this pungent satire has gained in England within a very short time is a tribute to its truthfulness and the thoroughly earnest purpose of the writer.

The Snow Man, says the Literary World, is a novel of surpassing interest, and possesses the elements of popularity in a higher degree, we think, than any of George Sand's novels which are familiar to the ordinary reader. It is a novel, påre and simple, unburdened with philosophy and unmarked by those idiosyncrasies of the author which, while beautifying some of her books to the eye of culture, have made them "caviare to the general." The action of the story moves with a grace which charms, and a rapidity which gives no respite to the reader's attention; the scenes are strange, the characters such as novel-readers rarely meet, the plot is vigorous, and worked out with pleasing effect.

The same authority says of Birth and Education, the second volume of the edition of Madame Schwartz's novels (Lee & Shepard) :-" It is a more pretentious work than Gold and Name, and, regarded strictly as a literary performance, must be pronounced superior to it. It has more of philosophy than the other, and enters more deeply into the im portant question indicated by its title. It is one

of those books on which it is not safe to pronounce a hasty judgment; he who pushes on beyond the somewhat tedious opening will find himself rewarded by the enjoyment which is derived from the display of true dramatic power and the skilful development of an absorbing plot. From the middle of the book forward, the reader's interest increases with every page, and to two or three of the characters his sympathies go out in a fervor rarely aroused by any merely fictitious personages."

The Cryptogram, a novel by James De Mille, author of the "Dodge Club" (Harper), is a clever sensational novel by the popular author of "Cord and Creese" and other striking works of fiction. The title refers to the existence of a cypher among the papers of a wealthy retired general officer, and which seems to attach deep guilt to his name. The story of love and crime which is built upon this foundation is full of incidents and startling events, and never flagging in interest from beginning to end.

Woven of Many Threads (Osgood) is a story of great interest and ingenuity, of long and severely tried affections, of noble resolution and deep suffering, of highly wrought situations, and picturesque description. The scenery is laid chiefly in England and Rome, though the characters are for the most part American, and the book opens in this country. The Story of My Life, by Hans Christian Andersen (Hurd & Houghton), the eighth in the uniform series of Andersen's works, is now first translated into English, and contains, in addition to the matter published in the Copenhagen edition, "The Last Fourteen Years of My Life," contributed especially to this edition by the author.

Shiloh, or Without and Within (Dutton), is a story of common life, of which the twofold object is to realize in apprehension the struggle between good and evil in the heart, and to give pictures of New England farm and parish life. Its tone is religious.

By the Sea, by Mrs. Sophronia Currier (Dutton), is a quiet story in the main, though it has some stirring incidents. It is nearly all "by the sea," and though it contains few elaborate descriptions, there are many attractive sea-side pictures scattered through its pages. The style is pure and graceful, and the characters well drawn.-Commonwealth.

ZSCHOKKE.-There has never been a more charming story-writer than Heinrich Zschokke. Any father of a family who wishes to keep his children at home, and rollicking with healthful laughter and instructive entertainment, these long winter evenings, should hunt through the bookstores for all translated works of Zschokke that can be found. Dodd & Mead, New York, have

lately issued, in the neatest style, his holiday

tion;

story, Labor Stands on Golden Feet, translated by John Yeats, LL.D. The good German Swiss author has some very original notions of civilizabut in a republican country like ours, they will be read with interest, if not hearty acceptHis pious sentiments gem all his works, and come in very quaintly sometimes with his inexhaustible humor.-Methodist.

ance.

The William Henry Letters, by Mrs. A. M. Diaz. (Osgood.)-Every boy in the country owes Mrs. Diaz a hurrah! Never has the honest, fearless, loving character of the genuine boy been so delightfully drawn. And some such championship of the cause of boys is really needed, for it has frequently struck us that of all classes in the community they have especial need to agitate for their "Rights." To every one whose relationship gives them any authority over boys, this book officious or dictatorial manner, but just flavoring is full of weighty lessons not obtruded in an the whole like

"Lucent syrups tinct with cinnamon." We can easily imagine how much more good books of this kind would effect in Sunday School Libraries than do those histories of saintly boys with whom a really honest, natural lad can have no sympathy whatever.-Christian Union.

Chubbs, Fr., a Story for Boys. (Martien.)—A very well written story of school-life, teaching some excellent lessons on the evils of thoughtlessness and bad temper, as well as on the happiness of unselfishness and gentleness. The boys of the book are real boys, such as we meet with every day. Chubbs, Jr., is a great character.

Under the Fir Trees, by Helen W. Pierson.-Alfred Martien has beautifully published this sweet, simple story, which embodies a good picture of serf-life with the customs and superstitutions prevailing in Russia before the abolishment of serfdom. It is pervaded with right feeling, and is a pretty book for a Christmas gift.— Christian Register.

THE AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION have published two more of the eight prize stories for which in 1867 it offered premiums, entitled respectively In the Clearings, by Mrs. K. G. Wells, and Faithful to the Light and other Tales, by Mrs. E. D. Cheney. Both are sweet and wholesome volumes, and will gratify the young people greatly. There is little denominational formalism about either, and so much the better for their readers' favorable regard.

L. W. SCHMIDT, N. Y., has published a General Catalogue, being a classified list (with Am. prices) of his large stock of miscellaneous books, works of art, maps, atlases, etc. This catalogue is an excellent guide to German literature, and shows great care and experience in its compilation. It is especially valuable by giving, in all instances, the latest and best editions. The classification is right of some of the most prominent German such as to facilitate prompt reference. classical works having lately expired, considerable changes have been made regarding both prices and

editions of the same.

The copy

itous distribution by George W. Childs, in adThe Public Ledger Almanac, issued for gratudition to the usual calendar and tables has a variety of statistical and miscellaneous matter which makes it a serviceable book of reference, especially for Philadelphians.

MISS YONGE. Last year D. Appleton & Co. issued a new, uniform edition of Grace Aguilar's novels, in handsome but low-priced 12° volumes,

and with illustrations. The success of these has induced the same publishers to now undertake a new edition of Miss Yonge's novels. The "Heir of Redclyffe" and "Heartsease" will appear in January.

GOULD & LINCOLN, of Boston, have received advance sheets of the long-announced "Life and Letters of Hugh Miller," by Peter Bayne, and will publish the work early in the spring.

MISS LOUISA M. ALCOTT was at Rome, cember 18, in better health than usual: so well, indeed, that she had resumed her pen and was working away on Jo's Boys." The prospect is that her numerous friends will have the pleasure of welcoming home the popular author of "Little Women" in the spring or in the early summer. -Boston Transcript.

THE HARPERS have added Tennyson's new poem, The Window, or the Songs of the Wrens, to their complete edition of the Laureate's poetical works, with the music which was composed for them by Mr. Sullivan.

A critic in The (London) Athenæum speaks of Howells's "Suburban Sketches" as "one of the finest works on Venetian (!) life he ever read."

A posthumous novel by Miss Austen, "Lady Susan," is shortly to be published in a volume which will contain also some hitherto unpublished sketches.

The first volume of the Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Buckle will shortly make its appearance in London. It will be edited by Miss Helen Taylor, who has enriched the publication by a biographical sketch containing much fresh material.

An "Illustrated History of the War between France and Germany" is announced by Messrs. Cassell, Petter & Galpin, in monthly parts and weekly numbers.

CHARLES COWDEN CLARKE is preparing a series of papers on "The Comic Writers of England." The Athenæum promises a series of sketches, under the general title of "Dramatists of the Present Day."

The Merchants' and Bankers' Almanac for 1871, issued at the office of the Bankers' Magazine, New York, 23 Murray street, contains: I. List of 1700 National Banks, December, 1870; location, names of president and cashier, capital and name of New York correspondent of each. 2. List of 300 State Banks in operation; names of president and cashier of cach. 3. Names of 1900 private bankers in the United States and Canada, and name of New York correspondent of each. 4. Names of 1800 bankers and brokers in New York City, Members of the Stock Exchange, &c. 5. Monthly Prices of Cotton, Wool, Corn, Pork, Sugar, Molasses, Tobacco, Iron, Copper, Coal, Coffee, Wheat, Oats, Hops, Rye, and Flour, for forty-six years (1825-1870). 6. The Daily Price of Gold, in New York, from January, 1864, to December, 1870. 7. List of banks and bankers in Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,

&c.

8. Progress of Railroads in the United States, and in each State, from 1866 to 1869, number of miles, cost, &c. 9. The Cotton Crop

gration; Table of income and expenditure of the United States Government. 15. Monthly Statement of the Public Debt of the United States, New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Mary1867-1870. 16. List of 450 Savings Banks in land, New Jersey, California, &c., number of depositors, and amount of deposit in each. 17. Liabilities and Resources of each of the seventyfour banks in the City of New York, Oct. 1870. 18. Annual Coinage of Gold, Silver and Copper in the United States, from 1793 to 1870, with facsimiles of foreign coins. 19. List of Submarine Telegraphs throughout the world, 1870; length and cost of each.

The Bible (or, Speaker's) Commentary.-The most important publishing enterprise of the season is the announcement of the simultaneous publication of the "Speaker's Commentary" by John Murray, in London, and, from stereotype plates, by Charles Scribner & Co. (for full particulars see the Book Buyer for February). This work has been in preparation some eight years, employing upwards of thirty clergymen of the Church of England, with other co-laborers, and is designed to be a plain and popular commentary of the Scriptures, devoid of purely scholarly discussions, but correcting the manifest mistranslations of the authorized version of 1611. The American publishers hope to compress the Pentateuch into one volume, royal octavo, of 1,000 pages, which, in cloth, will be sold at the low price of $5.00. Nine other volumes, at the same price, will, it is hoped, embrace the entire Commentary. first volume of the Bible Commentary, it is expected, will be published during the month of April, simultaneously with its appearance in England. It will contain: The Pentateuch, which is expected to be ready in April, will be divided as follows, among the contributors named: Genesis, Rt. Rev. E. Harold Browne, Bishop of Ely; Exodus, Chap. I-XIX. The Editor; Chap. XX. to the End, and Leviticus, Rev. Samuel Clark, M.A.; Numbers and Deuteronomy, Rev. T. E. Espin, B.D., Warden of Queen's College, Birmingham. The American edition of the Bible Commentary will be printed from stereotype plates, duplicates from those upon which the English edition is printed, and will be fully equal to that in every respect.

The

The Art Journal for January is an admirable specimen of this beautiful monthly. The leading engravings of this first number of the year are of great excellence, of subjects well chosen and admirably executed. The first is of the "Duel Interrupted," by Mr. Stone; the second, of O'Neill's 'Armorer," a painting of great merit both in story and treatment; the third important engraving is of the sculptured group by Bell, symbolizing

"America," which is to form part of the Albert Memorial, Hyde Park. The engravings alone are worth the price of subscription; but not less valuable are the art reviews, sketches, and descriptions, which in the present number are even more comprehensive than usually.

BRET HARTE, author of "The Heathen Chinee," the most popular humorous poem of the day, has been engaged to write a series of poems for Harper's Weekly, illustrative of certain picturesque phases of Spanish-American life in California, which are rapidly passing away, and which will soon exist only in the creations of the poet and the artist. The poem will be illustrated by some of our best artists.

THE publication of The Radical has been resumed, beginning with the February number, 1871. The full list of old contributors is retained, and

new ones are to be added. It will endeavor to represent, as heretofore, the thoughtful, radical sentiment of the country on religious, social, scientific, and political questions. The Radical is published in Boston, at three dollars a year. The present is the eighth volume.

The American Journal of Microscopy is the title of a monthly, devoted to the specialty of microscopic science, which has just been started by George Meade & Co., in Chicago.

THE first number of a new Art Quarterly, called The Sacristy, under the editorship of the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, is to make its appearance this month. It will contain essays and criticisms on church architecture and ecclesiastical art generally.

Those whose charity commonly takes the form of a quid pro quo have a good opportunity of contributing to the French fund by purchasing one or more copies of Father Hyacinthe's London Address (France et Allemagne: Discours prononcé à Londres, le 20 décembre, 1870"), which may be had for twenty-five cents, of Messrs. Macmillan & Co. or the trade generally. The words are those of a man, who, if not possessed of an absolutely clear vision, is able to rise above the feelings of the hour, and to discuss in a beautifully calm and philosophical manner the relations between the two contending nations in Europe. The discourse is devoted to disproving the assertion that the present war is essentially one of races and religions-a position first and at the outset assumed by the French themselves, from Napoleon to Laboulaye, and never echoed by the

Germans unless in defiance.-Nation.

Books for the Country.

A GENTLEMAN in Kentucky writes me to the following effect :

"I would like to obtain a book of instructions for young farmers or persons who have but little practical knowledge of farming. If you know of such a book, will you be kind enough to inform me of its name, and where it can be obtained?"

My observation and private answer to this correspondent were, that single books on so extensive a topic were apt to be lacking in the requisite minuteness of detail which new beginners require. As a single work, I believe the five volumes of

In an early number of Appletons' Journal will be commenced a new serial novel, entitled "Morton House," from the pen of Christian Reid, author of "Valerie Aylmer." "Morton House" is a Southern novel, the scenes being laid principally in the Carolinas. The author is a Southerner, whose novel of "Valerie Aylmer," published last summer, attained a great success.

Oliver Optic's Magazine for 1871 ("Our Boys and Girls") will be issued in monthly parts only, in order to enable the publishers to give more continued stories, illustration, editorial talks, dialogues and declamations, general information, fun and head-work, than heretofore.

It

The Year-Book and Almanac, compiled by the New York Observer for 1871, is a large and wellarranged publication, well put together, and fairly beyond the similar compilations of the year. contains much useful information, statistical and otherwise, together with certain valuable and interesting matter, which will not be found elsewhere collectca. The Observer is living fully up to its old reputation for energy and enterprise. The Directory, especially, will be found as valuable as it is unique.-Am. Newspaper Reporter.

MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY and E. E. Hale are soon to begin new serial stories in Old and New.

MR. JAS. DE MILLE has begun a new humorous serial in Harper's Monthly.

lished by Luther Tucker & Son, to be practically

the best.

But my observation is, that the best way is to purchase the best book on each of the several specialties, and not to stop at one. A small sum teen or twenty farm books, to be read, is one of of money discreetly expended in a library of fifthe best investments the beginner can make. And here is my list, taking into account the books I have read and know to be good.

If a person has had good advantages of education, he ought first to have some of the scientific books bearing on the subject; but if he be hunting practice without a reason for it, he can let these alone.

How Crops Grow. By Prof. S. W. Johnson.
How Crops Feed. By Prof. S. W. Johnson.
Draining for Profit. By Waring (or French).
Farm Implements. By J. J. Thomas.
Variation of Animals and Plants. By Darwin.
Field, Garden, and Forest Botany. By Gray.
Weeds and Useful Plants. By Darlington.
*Grasses and Forage Plants. By Flint.
Burr's Vegetables of America.
Henderson's Gardening for Profit.
Downing's Fruit and Fruit-Trees.
Thomas's Fruit Culturist.

Husman's Grapes and Wine-Making.
Fuller's Small Fruits.

Hoope's Book of Evergreens.
Parkman's Book of Roses.
Rand's Bulbs.

Rand's Seventy-five Flowers.
Tenney's Natural History.

*Embraced essentially in his Milch Cows and Dairy Farming.-ED.