BY VICTOR HUGO. 2 vols. beautifully printed, each 37 cents. "His descriptions are wonderfully spirited; full of nerve in their language, and picturesque truth in their detail; and the species of grotesque romance with which he invests the middle ages gives an interest to his scenes, persuading even the most plodding antiquary to pardon the occasionally fantastic heightening received by the picture from the warm fancy of the artist."-Quarterly Review. "The very best book of its class that was ever put together-the best no less on the score of its research, industry and literary labor, and therefore of its completeness as a book of reference and practical utility, than as the most entertaining and intellectual of travelling companions, the most efficient and satisfactory of guides, and the most lively, amusing, and original of story tellers, at least in that class of stories made up of the romantic and the grotesque, which are no less adapted to Victor Hugo's peculiar genius, than to the locality which has evoked them on the present occasion. His capital legend of Le Beau Pecopin,' is as fantastic, as brilliant, as rapid in its progress, and almost as powerful and impressive, as 'Vathek' itself. "These Excursions along the banks of the Rhine' are written in the form of letters to a friend, and this very efficient English version of them has the rare merit of including the whole work; very properly repudiating the impertinence of taking upon itself to think for the English reader what portions he may or may not desire to have placed before him. It is literally a transfer of Victor Hugo's book from the French language and idiom to the English."-New Monthly Magazine. XLVII. FATHER RIPA'S RESIDENCE AT THE TRANSLATED BY PRANDI. 1 vol. beautifully printed, 37 cents. "The combined singularity of the facts, and the mode of narration, render Father Ripa's Memoirs' as interesting a work as any that has appeared, not excepting Borrow's Bible in Spain." "-Spectator. "We have risen from the perusal of this delightful work with much satisfaction; our interest in it never abated.”—Fraser's Magazine. "The important crisis now impending renders this work extremely acceptable at the present moment."-Morning Herald. "The information contained in this admirable work will be very important to those who wish to learn much about this great country."-Times. "Worth a whole cart-load of modern travels.”—Morning Chronicle. XXIX. & XXX. LAMB'S SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DRAMATIC POETS, Who Lived about the Time of Shakspeare. With Notes. 2 nos. $1 00. "We have conveyed our general opinion of this work in what we have already said a word or two as to its peculiar merits. Nowhere in the whole compass of its literature, are the resources of the English tongue in power, in sweetness, terror, pathos, in description and dialogue, so well displayed. These two volumes are by the best hearts of England of their day and generation."-Broadway Journal. "Once more, Sweet Charles Lamb,' we welcome thee to our table. Many of the works whence these specimens are taken, are extremely rare, and others entirely out of print. To the lover of the Dramatic art, the student, and the general reader, these specimens are alike interesting and useful. The critical notes are such as Charles Lamb only could write."Emporium. "Elia' has here presented the reading public with one of the most interesting works on English literature. His elegant taste, ripe judgment and warm zeal in the cause of letters and morals peculiarly qualified him for the task he has so well executed, and his readers acquire a knowledge of the style of thought and expression of many principal writers in the English drama. He has sought for these treasures in hidden flowers, and has restored them to light, and his objects, which were to exhibit not only the style but the principle of thought which moved the minds of writers in those times, the opinions, moral creeds, and in a measure the history of the mind in those times is exhibited in the writings. Mr. Lamb has also given explanatory matter, many useful comments, and in short has opened up many valuable wells of living waters."-Anglo-American. "In these two volumes are contained the pith and marrow-the beauties without the defects of Sackville, Peele, Decker, Webster, Marston, Heywood, Kit' Marlowe, 'rare' Ben Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher and Massinger, and others still, who shone in constellated brightness around the Sun of Avon."--N. Y. Tribune. "This admirable book has been published in their usual style of elegance, as Nos. 29 and 30 of the Library of Choice Reading, by Messrs. Wiley & Putnam. It is, as is almost universally known, made up of the choicest passages from the plays of a large number of gifted but slightly known dramatists of the time of Shakspeare, culled by that rarest and most genial critic ELIA, who, more than any other writer of the last few years, was perfectly pervaded by a love for the rich, neglected writings of old English authors. "The selection is made upon admirable principles and with the nicest possible discrimination The lover of dramatic literature, and indeed every one who relishes rich, passionate and imaginative poetry, will find the two volumes among the best recently published. They are well worthy the place in the Library which the publishers have given them. We cannot doubt that they will be heartily welcomed by a very large class of readers. "Lamb has added a few notes of his own, but chiefly critical and explanatory. He has expunged from the originals everything superfluous or objectionable, and sought throughout, as he says in his preface, to show 'how much of Shakspeare shines in the great men, his contemporaries, and how far in his divine mind and manners he surpassed them and all mankind.” ”— N. Y. Courier XLIII. & XLIV. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENVENUTO CELLINI. The complete and annotated edition of Roscoe, in 2 parts, beautifully printed, each 50 cents. "Cellini was one of the most extraordinary men in an extraordinary age; his life, written by himself, is more amusing than any novel I know," Horace Walpole. [From Roscoe's Preface.] The distinguished eminence of this artist in the times of the "Old Masters "an age so peculiarly fertile in genius, and to which, next to Grecian antiquity, we owe all the most noble monuments of the fine arts;—the intimacy of Cellini with Michael Angelo, Titian, and all the great Italian sculptors and painters of the age; his connections with Francis I. of France, the Emperor Charles V., Popes Clement VII. and Paul III., the Dukes Alessandro and Cosmo of Florence, and with many of the Princes, Statesmen, Commanders, and dignified ecclesiastics of that turbulent age, which called forth all the energies of Europe, and compelled our Author more than once to exchange the chisel for the sword-these circumstances afforded him opportunities of making the most interesting observations; and perhaps no man was ever more capable of availing himself of such advantages. Of those great and prominent characters, who then disposed of the destinies of mankind, and whom the historic page presents in all the formality and dignity of state-ceremony, Cellini gives us, at every turn, a transient, but distinct view—a glimpse which displays them in their private domestic moments, when they little thought they were sitting for their portraits to one whose pen was no less effectively descriptive, than his pencil was strikingly imitative." [From the Retrospective Review.] "This is, perhaps, the most perfect piece of autobiography that ever was written, whether considered with reference to the candor and veracity of the author, the spirit of the incidents, or the breathing vitality of the narrative. it has also the recommendation of having been written at a very interesting period of literary history, and of recording some curious particulars relative to the private character of the great men of the time. We never in the whole course of our life, read a book of a more engaging description. * [From the Encyclopædia Americana.] "In his fifty-eighth year he wrote his own life in Latin, with equal candor and vanity. It has been translated in a masterly manner by GOETHE. It contains striking descriptions of Cellini's own adventures, and of the charac ter of the persons with whom he came in contact. His style is free, strong, and original, and the Academia della crusca often quotes him as a classic." [From Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary.] "Cellini's life is amusing and interesting in a very high degree." WILEY & PUTNAM'S LIBRARY OF AMERICAN BOOKS. JUST READY. JOURNAL OF AN AFRICAN CRUIZER. JOURNAL OF AN AFRICAN CRUIZER; comprising Sketches of the Canaries, the Cape de Verdes, Liberia, Madeira, Sierra Leone, and other places of interest on the West Coast of Africa. By an Officer of the U. S. Navy. Edited by NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. 1 Vol. beautifully printed, in large clear type, on fine paper, 50 cts. "This is the title of a book just issued by Wiley and Putnam, as No. 1 of their proposed LIBRARY OF AMERICAN Books, a series intended to embrace original works of merit and interest from the pens of American authors. The design can scarcely fail to be successful. We have a firm faith that books well worth reading, as well worth it as English books of the same class,-can be produced in this country; and such books, and such only, we presume Messrs. Wiley & Putnam intend to publish in their series. This first number is well worthy its place. It is the jourual of an officer on board an American cruiser on the coast of Africa,-and relates to a field hitherto almost entirely unnoticed by travelling authors. It is written in a plain, straight-forward, unambitious style, and evinces a very keen talent for observation and sound judgment and enlightened discrimination. The book is edited by NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, one of the most gifted writers in this country, whose works we trust will find a place in this series. The volume is very handsomely printed, and sold at fifty cents."— N. Y. Courier. "This is a pleasantly written Journal of a cruise to the western coast of Africa, and embodies a good amount of valuable information. The author spent some time at Liberia, and gives quite a flattering account of the colony. We like the spirit of the work, and especially admire the simplicity and grace of its style."-N. Y. Evangelist. "This series promises to be interesting It is an attempt to get valuable original works, by American authors, into wide circulation, by publishing them in a form at once elegant and cheap. We particularly recommend this to all Colonizationists and Abolitionists, as containing much new information on subjects in which they are particularly interested. And as an account of countries and people but little known to the civilized world, it contains matter for all readers who are curious students of the varieties of human nature and natural scenery."-Boston Courier. "This interesting work supplies us with vigorously written sketches of the settlements and people of the west coast of Africa, and especially IV. THE WIGWAM AND THE CABIN. By W. GILMORE SIMMS. First Series. Price 50 Cents Contents.-1. Grayling; or, "Murder will out." 2. The Twc Camps, a legend of the old North State. 3. The Last Wager; or, the Gamester of the Mississippi. 4. The Arm-Chair of Tustenuggee, a tradition of the Ca tawba. 5. The Snake of the Cabin. 6. Oakatibbe; or the Choctaw Sam. son. 7. Jocassee, a Cherokee Legend. "This is a collection of stories by the great novelist of the South. These short pieces are among the best of Simms's productions. The necessity for bringing his work within a certain compass appears to prevent the diffuseness in which he is apt to indulge in his novels. They have more nerve and not less beauty and grace than his larger works."-Godey's Lady's Book. "We are under great obligation to Mr. Simms for many agreeable hours; his Indian tales are, in our opinion, better than those of any other writer. They have the air of reality, and are evidently the fruit of intimate acquaintance with the life they describe."--Harbinger. "A most interesting series of tales."-N. O. Delta. "These works belong to the class of lighter productions; but they indicate true genius, and overflow with genuine wit. We perceive that there are a goodly number more announced as forthcoming, in the same series, from some of the most popular and attractive writers in the land."--Albany Religious Spectator. "The works of this popular American Novelist are too well known to need any commendation from us."--Golden Rule. “Mr. Simms has published in this volume a number of tales, the accumulation of several years. They abound in descriptions of scenes characteristic of the southern States, and in the delineation of the characters of the planter and his dark dependents, or of an earlier inhabitant, the pioneer and the Indian. Few are better qualified than the author to describe or weave in a story incidents illustrative of the border history of the south."-Hunt's Merchant's Magazine. "THE WIGWAM AND THE CABIN-Being No. 4 of Messrs. Wiley & Putnam's Library of Choice American Reading, has been laid before us, and heartily thank these enterprising publishers-not so much for the favor they nave done us as for the good service they are doing the public-by issuing such interesting reading, and causing it to take the place of trashy shilling novels or smutty French translations."-Daily Globe. "The tales which make up the Wigwam and the Cabin,' were mostly written for the expensive annuals, and although several of them have been Defore published, yet few of them have come within the reach of the great body of readers; and we are glad that the publishers have included these beautifully written and interesting sketches of the early border history of southern States, in their series of American Books. Mr. Simms is one of our most polished and elegant writers, and the work before us fully sustains his well-earned reputation."--Cincinnati Atlas |