All book-lovers know the attraction of looking through publishers' catalogues.
Tho mere list of titles has a charm which it is difficult to define. And in the Bibliography of Unfinished Books in the English Language, by Albert Corns and Archibald Sparke (Bernard Quaritch, 10s. 6d. net) the fact of the incompleteness of the works seems to add to the attractive- ness. As Mr. Sparks says in his interesting and informing introduction, " literary fragments have and will ever have a charm, a fascination, and a pathos peculiarly their own." This is essentially a book to sit over in the evenings with the blinds closely drawn and a big fire blazing, to turn the pages idly and pause hero and there, speculating, for example, why George Wither, writing in 1666, never produced more than Part I. of his " Echoes from the Sixth Trumpet, reverberated by a review of neglected remembrances," and for what reason that alluring work, The Anatomy of Dress, was never taken further than " Shirt Collars " or Part I. Again, the lover of curious titles will linger with delight over Mr. Thomas D'Urfey's " Essay towards the theory of the intelligible world ; intuitively considered ; designed for forty-nine parts. Part 3, consisting of a preface, a postscript, and a little something between."
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