One Hundred Best Books Part 7

N.Y. EVENING POST: "The best novel one reviewer has read in a good while."

NEW YORK TIMES: "Mr. Powys is evidently a keen observer of life and responsive to all its phases."

N.Y. TRIBUNE: "A good story well told."

N.Y. HERALD: "Here is a novel worth reading."

THE NATION: "A book of distinctive flavor."

REVIEW OF REVIEWS: "An exceptional novel ... a brilliant intellectual piece of work."

PHILADELPHIA NORTH AMERICAN: "A notable achievement in fict.i.tious literature."

SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN: "This is a book which will have more than the ephemeral existence of the average novel."

NEW HAVEN COURIER JOURNAL: "One of the most notable and important novels that has appeared in the last twelve months."

HARTFORD COURANT: "The book is very interesting, provokingly interesting."

DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE, ROCHESTER: "Among the few works of fiction that stand out in the very forefront of this season's production."

G. ARNOLD SHAW, PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS a.s.sOCIATION

GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL, NEW YORK

SHAW'S FALL FICTION

RODMOOR, A ROMANCE BY JOHN COWPER POWYS.

The New York _Evening Post_ said of Mr. Powys' first novel "Wood and Stone" that it was "one of the best novels of the twelvemonth" while the Boston _Transcript_ said that "with a clearer vision he could stand among the masters in literary achievement." The Chicago _Tribune_ said of the same work, "Psychologically speaking, it is one of the most remarkable pieces of fiction ever written." The announcement of a second novel by the same brilliant author is therefore one of extraordinary interest.

In this new novel, Mr. Powys, while unhesitatingly using to his purpose those new fields of psychological interest opened up for us by recent Russian writers, reverts, in the general style and content of his story, to that more idealistic, more simple mood, which we a.s.sociate with such great romanticists as Emily Bronte and Victor Hugo.

QUAKER-BORN, A ROMANCE OF THE GREAT WAR, BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH.

While this is Dr. Hannah's first novel, it is his eighth published work; he thus brings to bear the skill of the literary craftsman upon his dramatic theme of the Quakers' conscientious objections to war. To fight or not to fight is the problem that confronted Edward Alexander when he witnessed the bombardment of Scarborough; he decided as an Englishman, not as a Quaker--but, the next day a telegram came summoning him to the death-bed of his mother, who demanded as her dying wish that he should not abandon the principles of the Friends.

He had the strength to reverse his decision but neither his fiancee nor his best Cambridge friend could understand. How he nearly lost the former while saving the life of the latter on the battle field in Flanders is the basis of an absorbing plot which holds the interest from beginning to end of this thrilling story of young love. An admirable book recommended especially to those who detest alike the mawkish sentiment of the "best-seller" and the revolting realistic novels of our day.

THE CHILD OF THE MOAT, A STORY OF 1550, BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN.

This is a book for girls of from 13 to 16 written for a child rescued from the _Lusitania_. Many complain that girls' books are too tame and prefer those written for boys. Mr. Holborn therefore promised to write a girls' book with as much adventure as Stevenson's "Treasure Island."

He has succeeded and the hair-breadth escapes of the heroine should satisfy the most exacting. The scene is laid in the stirring times of the Reformation and those who know the author as an archaeological lecturer will recognize his bent in several picturesque touches, such as the striking dressing scene before the heroine's birthday-party.

The book is a remarkable contribution to children's literature and suggests a raising of the standard if more were written by men of learning and scholars.h.i.+p who are true child-lovers. After all was not "Alice in Wonderland" written by an erudite Oxford don and everyone who has read the present author's volume of poems "Children of Fancy"

will know him as a lover of children.

G. ARNOLD SHAW, PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS a.s.sOCIATION

GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL, NEW YORK

Recommended by the A.L.A. Booklist

Adopted for required reading by the Pittsburgh Teachers Reading Circle

VISIONS AND REVISIONS

A BOOK OF LITERARY DEVOTIONS

By JOHN COWPER POWYS

This volume of essays on Great Writers by the well-known lecturer was the first of a series of three books with the same purpose as the author's brilliant lectures; namely, to enable one to discriminate between the great and the mediocre in ancient and modern literature: the other two books being "One Hundred Best Books" and "Suspended Judgments."

Within a year of its publication, four editions of "Visions and Revisions" were printed--an extraordinary record considering that it was only the second book issued by a new publisher. The value of the book to the student and its interest for the general reader are guaranteed by the international fame of the author as an interpreter of great literature and by the enthusiastic reviews it received from the American Press.

REVIEW OF REVIEWS, New York: "Seventeen essays ... remarkable for the omission of all that is tedious and c.u.mbersome in literary appreciations, such as pedantry, muckraking, theorizing, and, in particular, constructive criticism."

BOOK NEWS MONTHLY, Philadelphia: "Not one line in the entire book that is not tense with thought and feeling. With all readers who crave mental stimulation ... 'Visions and Revisions' is sure of a great and enthusiastic appreciation."

THE NATION AND THE EVENING POST, New York: "Their imagery is bright, clear and frequently picturesque. The rhythm falls with a pleasing cadence on the ear."

BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE: "A volume of singularly acute and readable literary criticism."

CHICAGO HERALD: "An essayist at once scholarly, human and charming is John Cowper Powys.... Almost every page carries some arresting thought, quaintly appealing phrase, or picture spelling pa.s.sage."

REEDY'S MIRROR, St. Louis: "Powys keeps you wide awake in the reading because he's thinking and writing from the standpoint of life, not of theory or system. Powys has a system but it is hardly a system.

It is a sort of surrender to the revelation each writer has to make."

KANSAS CITY STAR: "John Cowper Powys' essays are wonderfully illuminating.... Mr. Powys writes in at least a semblance of the Grand Style."

"Visions and Revisions" contains the following essays:--