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LIFE and LETTERS
MAINLY ABOUT BOOKS.
(By 'Autolycus.')
Some Rare Australian Books.
In Messrs. Myerss catalogue of scarce
and interesting books, principally . of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centures, are
included a number of works dealing with
.Australia and Australian life, among wnicn
?will be found three volumes in one of
an illustrated annual entitled 'The Anti
podean.' edited by G. Essex Evans, J.
Tighe Ryan, and A. B. Paterson (1892-97),
JThese have the original wrappers and ad
vertisements, and include stories, sketches,
Terse, etc., all with an Australian set
ting. The two volumes may be purchased
for 15/. An interesting book is David Col
linB'8 'An Account of the English Colony
in Xew South Wales: with Remarks on
?the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, etc.',
ot the Native Inhabitants. With Some
Particulars of New Zealand; compiled from
tJie AISS. of Lieutenant-Governor King,
and an account of a Voyage performed by
Captain Flinders and Air. Bass.' This was
printed in London,- 1798-1802, in two
volumes containing coloured plates of
birds, etc., engraved plates of views (in
cluding several of Sydney), native cere
monies, charts and so forth. There are
come 'marginal annotations, and a few
plight age diacolourations. In half calf.
Price £2/10/.' Another rare book, valued
ot the same price, is John White's 'Jour-
nal of a Voyage to New, South Wales.'
.This was published in London in 1790, in
one volume, with sixty-five fine colqured
plates .of natural history, etc., and a few
marginal annotations. Then there is R. H.
('Orion') Home's 'Australian Facts and
Prospects: To. .which .is prefixed the
Author's Australian Autobiography,' Lon
don, 1859, 10/; J. .Capper's 'Philips'
Emigrants.' Guide to Australia, Containing
the fullest Particulars relating to Gold
Digging, Cattle-Rearing, Sheep-Breeding,
Mining, etc.' Liverpool, 1855,. 10/; G.H..
'Wathen's 'The Golden 'Colony: or. .Vic
toria in,, 1854. With Remarks ;on the
Geology of the Australian - Gold Fields,
3855,' with map, plates and diagrams, 15/;
'Walter' Roth's 'Ethmological Studies
among the -North- West-Central Queens
land Aborigines,.' 1897, a.first edition '-:opy.l
ynth. between four and five hundred illus
trations, some in, tjolour'a, price, £2/10/;
and J. Russell ' Sothern's 'Zephyrus - and
Other Poems,' printed in Melbourne in
1862, with the author's 'signed presenta
tion inscription. This' mayTse had for six
?hillings.' ? . - . . ?' ? ?-'???'.
' A .' Statesma'ft-Writert.
The' death of Viscount. Grey- of Fallodon
?will be; deplored not' only by those* who
admire his achievements - as &?? statesman,
but also- by 'the many persons to whom
his attainments as a man of letters make
an equally strong ? appeal.' Perhaps: the
most ^popular andK widely read of Lord
Grey's literary 'works is his famous book
on 'Fly Fishing,' 'which was first ? pub
lished rather -more than thirty 'years ago
in the Haddon Hall . Library. This book
has recently been .re-issued hy Messrs.'
Sent and Sons, with the addition of two
new chapters, 'Spring Salmon Fishingr
the Cassley,' .and- 'Retrospect,' the orit
cinal illustrations being replaced by a num
ber of. beautiful wood engravings by Mr.
Eric Fitch Daglish. The ultimate passage
of 'Retrospect' has now a .pathetic in
terest, as well as constituting a 'fine ex
ample of Lord Grey's gifts as a- writer
of prose of great charm and much more
than ordinary distinction of style. Glanc
ing back- over the years of a long and 'Use-
ful life, in which; the hours spent, in a
favourite recreation stand out like land
marks by the wayside, he says\ ' , '?
'As the angler looks back he thinks less
of individual captures and days than of
the scenes in which he fished. The
luxuriance of water -meadows, animated by
insect and bird and trout life, tender with
the green and gay with the blossoms of
early spring: thp nobleness and volume of
great salmon rivers: the exhilaration of
looking at any salmon pool; great or email;
the rich brownness of ^Highland, water:
the wild -openness of the treeless, track
less spaces which. he has traversed in an
explorer's spirit Of' adventure to search
likely water for -sea trout: , now on -one,
now on another of .these scenes -aft angler's
mind will, dwell, as he thinks of fishing.
Special .days' and successes he .will * no
doubt recall, -but always with the remem
brance and the mindVvieion of the scenes
and- the world in. -which, he fished. - For,
indeed, this does seem a separate world,
a world of . beauty -and .enjoyment. The
time must come to all of us, who live long,
when memory is more than' prospect. An
angler who has reached this stage and -
reviews the pleasure of life will be grate
ful and glad that he has been an angler,
for he will look back upon days radiant
with happiness, peaks and 'peaks of enjoy
ment that are not less bright because they
are lit in memory by the light of a set
ting sun.'
Is there not something in this of the
came spirit ,that animated ' Dr. Norvel,
Fometime Dean of. St. Paul's, of whom
Izaak Walton wrote in 'The ?. Compleat
Angler' that he 'was bo noted for his
meek spirit, deep learning, prudence, and
piety, that the then Parliament and Con
vocation both, chose, enjoined, and trusted
him to be .the man to make a catechism
for public use, such a one as should stand
as a rule for faith and. manners to their
posterity;'- -And Walton, goes on to say
that the good' Dean was not fearful of
appearing in: .the eyes of posterity as ? an
angler, as well as a catechist and a divine,
ao may be seen by his 'portrait in Braze
nose College, Oxford,* on which, during his
lifetime, he bestowed many benefactions.
For in thisportrait he is depicted 'gleaning
on a desk, with his -Bible before him, and
' on one- hand of him' his lines, hooks,
end other ' tackle lying in a 'round; and
on his other hand are his angle-rods of
several sorts;- and by them this is writ
ten, 'That he died-. 13 Feb.,. 1601, be
ing aged ninety-five' years, forty-four of
which he had been Dean of St. Paul's
Church; and that his age had neither im
paired his- hearing, nor dimmed his eyes,
nor weakened, his. memory, nor 'made' any
of the faculties of. his mind weak- or use
less,' 'Tis said that angling and - temper
ance were great causes of these blessings,
and I wish the- like to- all that imitate
him, and love the memory of so good a
man.' A true Broker of the Angle! It
only remains to be. said that -Mr. Fitch
?Daglish's illustrations to Lord Grey's book
on 'Fly Fishing1* are well; worthy of the
context. And one could bestow no higher
praise.
On With. the Dance!
*1L D. Calvocoressi's book 'Musician's
Gallery: Music and Ballet in Paris and
London' (Messrs. Faber and. Faber), com
prises- the rn.emo.irs of a music-lover, and
critic who spent the first part of his career
ia Paris at a time when that city was one
of the main centres of interest and ac
tivity in musical matters, and who con
tinued in London after .serving in - the
British Intelligence during the war. Mr.
Calvocoressi enjoys an international repu
tation and for, many, yeara he has exer
cised an influence, not as critic only. .He
has had the good fortune to witness, and
play a part in, many significant develop
ments, and to meet the great artists of
most European, countries. He is an
authority especially ' on modern Russian.
French, and Hungarian music. Grieg and
Schonberp, Debussy, and Riinsky KorsakoS,
Eric Satic. Albeniz, Vaughan-Williams,
CJialiapin, Pavlova, Nijinsky are here, and
various' non-nautical subjects— some of them
most unexpected. Several interesting chap
ters are devoted to the Russian Opera
and Ballet. The author was Diaghileff's
second in command during the first four
years of Diaghileff's activities, and has
much to disclose that is new and vital on
the inner workings of the venture and the
psychology of its protagonist. There are
several chapters, too. on Ravel— most re
vealing and of paramount importance.
Equally revealing and attractive is what
the author has to say about the late Ar
nold Bennett, whom he knew intimately
for some years. With numerous illustra
tions, price 18/ net.
Notes In Passing.
'The Hindu View of Art,' by Mulk Raj
Apaud, with introductory essay by Eric
Gill (Messrs. Allen and Unwin), is an
exposition (for lack of a positive Indian
science of aesthetics) of all such considera
tions, religious, philosophic, sociological,
aesthetic and technical, which have stirred
the imaginations of Indian craftsmen from
.times immemorial, and in the light of
' which alone Indian art should be inter
preted, if such interpretation is to claim
to be just and fair. The author is a dis
tinguished scholar, and his book is the
only one oh the subject in any language,
and it ia specifically designed as a popu
lar, elementary treatise, suited to the tastes
of the plain reader uninitiated into the
mysteries of Indian art. The volume is
..fully illustrated, with an extensive bio
graphy: Price 8/fr net.
Messrs. Angus and Robertson have pub
lished at 4/0 an excellent book for chil
dren, by Brooke Nicholls, the well-known
iVictorian naturalist and lecturer on natural
history, entitled 'Jacko: The Broadcasting
Kookaburra, His Life and Adventures,'
?with a foreword by J. McRae. Director
of Education, Victoria, and numerous illus
trations from drawings by Dorothy Wall.
Among the books included in Messrs.
llptlmen's latest list of publications are
'Still More Misleading Cases/' by A. P.
Herbert, and 'The Collected Poems of G.
K. Chesterton.'-
$