Harper's Christmas Number (S. Low and Co.) is an imposing
one, as perhaps it ought to be, seeing that the price is half-a-crown. But in shape it is most unwieldy, being at once too long and too broad. A Christmas number should be not only a thing of beauty, but a joy for an hour or so, while one is sitting over a winter fire and reading it; but that before us can only be read when spread out on a table. The illustrations are numerous and large. We like best " A Widow," "Peter Stnyvosant," and the delineations of Dutch life in old New York generally. , The stories are all high-class, and very much above the ordinary Christmas-number standard. That illustrated by the picture of "A Widow," already mentioned, is full of genuine sentiment, and "The Queen of the Swamp" has a flavour of New-England humour. We are disappointed with the work of the "stars," engaged to give special attractiveness to the number. Mn, W. D. Howells contributes "A, Farce" of an
American eleeping.car, which suggests Douglas Jerrold-and-water; Mr. Hardy, a weak shepherd's story about Bonaparte having landed privately on the British coast to prepare the way for an invasion,— and each his respective autograph.
We have received Bobbie and Burdie (R. Washbourne), by Frances J. M. Kershaw, a lively children's story, written from the Roman- Catholic point of view, and ending with "Uncle Charlie not going to be a bad Catholic any more."--Rock me to Sleep, Mother. (S. Low and Co.) By Elizabeth Akers. The illustrations are much superior to the letter-press, melancholy as both am—Dick' s Holidays, and What He Did With Them (Unwin), edited by James Weston, a sprightly combination of natural history and boyish amusement.—The first volume of a large, well illustrated, and, on the whole, carefully. written History of the World. (Ward and Lock.)—Sunny Hours and Pretty Flowers (Dean and Son).—Tho illustrations from sketches made by the artist, Mr. George Lambert, "during a summer's sojourn in a quaint, old Oxfordshire village," are really exquisite.— Happy Sunday Afternoons for Little Ones (Wells Gardner), con- sisting of simple Bible outlines to colour and write about.—A Friend's Hand (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.) consists of short texts and simple prayers in largo type, as "consolation for the sick and
weary, and comfort to the dying." The illustrations, though simple, are striking.
Messrs. David Douglas, Edinburgh, have sent us various novels of Mr. Howells', viz. :—A Counterfeit Presentment, A Foregone Conclu- sion, A Chance Acquaintance, The Undiscovered Country, The Lady of the Aristoolc, Their Wedding Journey, Out of the Question, A Fearful Responsibility, author's edition, all enclosed in a casket as a gift- book. And a very pretty and amusing Christmas or New Year's gift it will make. The print is singularly clear, and the tales are all marked by Mr. Howells' special power,—a power of studying charac- ter, much more than of conceiving plots.
Among reprints, suitable as gift-books, are Isaac Diemen Curiosities of Literature (Ward, Look, and Co.); and the delightful old Evenings at Home, of Dr. Aikin and Mrs. Barbauld (Routledge). The one is well printed and well illustrated. The other, revised and corrected by Mr. Cecil Hartley, and profusely illustrated, is almost as good a book as one could think of for a boy or girl who has really mani- fested a thirst for knowledge.
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