THE GARDEN'S STORY; or, Pleasures and Trials of an Amateur Gardener. By George H. Ellwanger. With Head and Tail Pieces by Rhead. 12mo. Cloth, extra, $1.50.
A literary ramble amid the flowers of the garden, with practical hints upon the cultivation of plants, and gossipy comments upon the characteristics of favorite flowers.
"Mr. Ellwanger's instinct rarely errs in matters of taste. He writes out of the fullness of experimental knowledge, but his knowledge differs from that of many a trained cultivator in that his skill in garden practice is guided by a refined æsthetic sensibility, and his appreciation of what is beautiful in nature is healthy, hearty, and catholic. His record of the garden year as we have said, begins with the earliest violet, and it follows the season through until the witch-hazel is blossoming on the border of the wintry woods…. This little book can not fail to give pleasure to all who take a genuine interest in rural life."—New York Tribune.
ASTRONOMY WITH AN OPERA-GLASS. A Popular Introduction to the Study of the Starry Heavens with the Simplest of Optical Instruments. By Garrett P. Serviss. 8vo. Cloth, $1.50.
This is a unique book, quite alone in the field that it occupies. The call for a fourth edition within two years after its first publication attests its popularity. As one of its reviewers has said, "It is the most human book on the subject of the stars." It would have supplied Thomas Carlyle's want when he wrote, "Why did not somebody teach me the stars and make me at home in the starry heavens?" Interest in the geography of the heavens is increasing every year, as the discoveries of astronomers with the giant telescopes of our day push back the limits of the known universe, and this book is to those who read of such discoveries like an atlas to the student of history.
Some of the compliments that the book has received are these:
"A most interesting and even fascinating book."—Christian Union.
"The glimpses he allows to be seen of far-stretching vistas opening out on every side of his modest course of observation help to fix the attention of the negligent, and lighten the toil of the painstaking student…. Mr. Serviss writes with freshness and vivacity."—London Saturday Review.
"We are glad to welcome this, the second edition, of a popular introduction to the study of the heavens…. There could hardly be a more pleasant road to astronomical knowledge than it affords…. A child may understand the text, which reads more like a collection of anecdotes than anything else, but this does not mar its scientific value."—Nature.
"Mr. Garrett P. Serviss's book, 'Astronomy with an Opera-Glass,' offers us an admirable hand-book and guide in the cultivation of this noble æsthetic discipline (the study of the stars)."—New York Home Journal.
"The book should belong to every family library."—Boston Home Journal.
"This book ought to make star-gazing popular."—New York Herald.
"The author attributes much of the indifference of otherwise well-informed persons regarding the wonders of the starry firmament to the fact that telescopes are available to few, and that most people have no idea of the possibilities of the more familiar instrument of almost daily use whose powers he sets forth."—New Orleans Times-Democrat.
"By its aid thousands of people who have resigned themselves to the ignorance in which they were left at school, by our wretched system of teaching by the book only, will thank Mr. Serviss for the suggestions he has so well carried out."—New York Times.
"For amateur use this book is easily the best treatise on astronomy yet published."—Chicago Herald.
"'Astronomy with an Opera-Glass' fills a long-felt want."—Albany Journal.
"No intelligent reader of this book but will feel that if the author fails to set his public star-gazing the fault is not his, for his style is as winning, as graphic, and as clear as the delightful type in which it is printed."—Providence Journal.
"Mr. Serviss neither talks over the heads of his readers nor ignores the sublime complexity and range of his themes, but unites simplicity with scholarship, scientific precision with life-long enthusiasm, and a genuine eloquence with rare touches of humor. Considered as a product of the publishing industry, the book is elegance itself."—The Chautauquan.
FICTION SERIES FOR YOUNG READERS.
A series of Stories elaborately illustrated, which includes
I.
CROWDED OUT O' CROFIELD. By William O. Stoddard. Illustrated by C. T. Hill.
How a plucky country boy made his way. One of the most successful of this popular author's stories.
II.
KING TOM AND THE RUNAWAYS. By Louis Pendleton. Illustrated by E. W. Kemble.
The strange experiences of two boys in the forests and swamps of Georgia.
III.
THE LOG SCHOOL-HOUSE ON THE COLUMBIA. A Tale of the Pioneers of the Great Northwest. By Hezekiah Butterworth, author of "Zigzag Journeys." Illustrated.
In a story romantic, exciting, and instructive as well, the author introduces his readers to a new field which will prove to be one of absorbing interest.
Also stories by Octave Thanet, Richard Malcolm Johnston, and other well-known authors, which will be published shortly.
The series, bound in cloth, with specially designed uniform cover. Per volume, $1.50.
FIRST VOLUME IN THE SERIES OF THE YOUNG HEROES OF OUR NAVY.
LITTLE JARVIS. By Molly Elliot Seawell. Illustrated by J. O. Davidson and George Wharton Edwards. The story of the heroic midshipman of the frigate Constellation. The second of the Youth's Companion prize stories. Bound in cloth, with specially designed cover. 8vo. $1.00.
Recent Issues in Appletons' Town and Country Library.
THE NUGENTS OF CARRICONNA. An Irish Story. By Tighe Hopkins. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.
"An extremely racy Irish story, quite separated from everything that savors of the present agitation in Ireland, and one of the best things of the kind for several years."—Springfield Republican.
A SENSITIVE PLANT. A novel by E. and D. Gerard, joint authors of "Reata," "The Waters of Hercules," etc. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.
"An agreeable and amusing love-story, the scene of which is part of the time in a coal-mining district in Scotland, and afterward in Venice, and a prominent character in which is a shrinking girl whose sensitiveness is suggestive of the little mimosa flower which gives title to the book."—Cincinnati Times-Star.
DOÑA LUZ. By Don Juan Valera. Translated by Mrs. Mary J. Serrano. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
"A triumph of skillful execution as well as of profound conception of modern Spanish character and social life. It is full of the best traditions of Spanish thought, both sacred and secular, of Spanish proverbial wisdom, and of the humor of Cervantes and other lights of the past in the literature of Spain."—Brooklyn Eagle.
PEPITA XIMENEZ. By Don Juan Valera. Translated by Mrs. Mary J. Serrano. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
"A very striking and powerful novel."—Boston Transcript.
"'One of the jewels of literary Spain' is what a Spanish critic has pronounced the most popular book of recent years in that language, Don Juan Valera's novel 'Pepita Ximenez.'"—The Nation.
THE PRIMES AND THEIR NEIGHBORS. Ten Tales of Middle Georgia. By Richard Malcolm Johnston, author of "Widow Guthrie." 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.25.
"The best of Southern tales."—Chicago Herald.
"The thorough excellence of Col. Johnston's work is well known. He was among the first of the successful short-story writers of this country. The steady increase in his fame is the best indication of the solid appreciation of the reading public. This public will give the new volume the same reception that made 'Widow Guthrie' one of the most successful of recent novels."—Baltimore American.
THE IRON GAME. By Henry F. Keenan, author of "Trajan," "The Aliens," etc. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
"An entertaining romance which covers the time from just before the war until soon after the peace. Six young people carry on their love-making under countless difficulties, owing to two of them being on the wrong side of the 'unpleasantness.' Of course, there are all sorts of adventures, plots, misunderstandings, and wonderful escapes…. The book is written in excellent taste."—Pittsburgh Bulletin.
STORIES OF OLD NEW SPAIN. By Thomas A. Janvier. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
"The author does for the Mexicans much what Longfellow has done for the Acadians."—New York Commercial Advertiser.
"Mr. Janvier has evidently explored the ancient ruins and studied the old church records thoroughly, and has drawn therefrom much hitherto unused material."—Cincinnati Times-Star.
"Another lot of those tales of Mexico, which their author, Thomas A. Janvier, knows how to write with such skill and charm. Nine of the stories are delightful, and nine is the number of stories in the book."—New York Sun.
THE MAID OF HONOR. By the Hon. Lewis Wingfield. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.
"A story of France just before, during, and after the Reign of Terror. There are not many novels in our language which portray rural conditions in France in this troubled period, and this has a unique interest for that reason."—Chicago Times.
"A very graphic story of those troublous times which witnessed the temporary triumphs of 'the people.'"—Rochester Herald.
"It may safely be said that up to the last page … the reader's attention is not allowed to flag."—London Athenæum.
IN THE HEART OF THE STORM. By Maxwell Grey, author of "The Silence of Dean Maitland." 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.
"The plot is compact, deftly constructed, free from extravagances and violent improbabilities, with a well-managed element of suspense running nearly to the end, and strongly illustrative throughout of English life and character. The book is likely to add materially to the author's well-earned repute."—Chicago Times.
CONSEQUENCES. By Egerton Castle. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
"It is a real pleasure to welcome a new novelist who shows both promise and performance…. The work is distinguished by verve, by close and wide observation of the ways and cities of many men, by touches of a reflection which is neither shallow nor charged with the trappings and suits of weightiness; and in many ways, not least in the striking end, it is decidedly original."—Saturday Review.
THE WHITE MOUNTAINS: A Guide to their Interpretation. With a Map of the Mountains and Ten Illustrations. By Rev. Julius H. Ward. 12mo. Cloth, gilt top, $1.25.
"Books descriptive of the White Mountains are too few. Any lover of the Granite Hills will gladly welcome this valuable addition to White Mountain literature, both for the pleasure he himself will derive from its perusal, and for the good it will do in exciting an interest in the minds of strangers. So far as we know, Mr. Ward's is only the sixth of such books…. If we were to attempt to classify Mr. Ward's book, we should place it along with that of Starr King, for its sympathetic treatment of the subject. It seems to us, however, to occupy a place not filled by any of them, and to share the merits of all. It is not a guide-book, and yet its systematic arrangement and the intelligent hints in its preliminary chapters give it a real value as a guide to the tourist."—Rev. Ithamar W. Beard, in White Mountain Echo.
"Mr. Ward's aim has been something apart from the aims of these who have gone before him. He has sought to write neither a guide-book nor an itinerary. He aimed not at mere description, nor did he permit his imagination alone to guide his pen. His was rather a sympathetic and intelligent attempt to interpret for the contemplative mind the great lessons which these impressive elevations are capable of imparting to men…. Mr. Ward's sympathy with his subject is keen and alive. He writes as one who loves Nature profoundly. The faith and devotion of such students we are assured that she never betrays. His in truth is a volume to carry along with one to the mountain and to open and read anywhere. It is also a volume to read at home. Even those who have not in years looked upon those glorious pageants of mountain-tops and moving clouds will find it of great interest and of much practical service in recalling their early impressions and suggesting new ones."—New York Times.
"The author of 'The White Mountains' is a mountain enthusiast possessing keen poetic conception, the hardihood of a mountaineer, and the especial knowledge of a mountain guide. He, therefore, thoroughly covers his chosen field. Little or nothing is left to any future gleaner; for he has studied this region in all its summer moods and winter tenses, from North Conway to the retreat to Lonesome Lake, from the great wall of the Glen to the heart of the wilderness, from little Jackson Valley to wild-wooded Moosilauke, and the interest of the author is soon communicated to the reader, so that he feels, if he has once visited this region, that he must go again with this book in his hand, to look with wider eyes and finer intelligence, to dream with poets and think with sages."—The New York Home Journal.
"The volume, although it covers familiar ground, is unique in its plan and treatment, and opens up a new and wonderful source of enjoyment to the lover of natural scenery. It humanizes Nature, or, rather, it brings the single individual soul into communion with that vast and universal soul which pervades the material universe."—Boston Transcript.
"Description of the perpetually changing mountain view (assisted by ten good photogravures), and interpretation of it after the manner of the poet and the believer in the Divine Immanence, are the two offices which Mr. Ward has so successfully discharged that his volume will become a classic on the White Mountains."—Literary World.
"It furnishes a great deal of practical information which will be of inestimable service."—Boston Gazette.
"The book is replete with noble thoughts expressed in language of exquisite beauty."—New York Observer.
"The author is thoroughly in love with his subject and not less thoroughly acquainted with it."—New York Tribune.
Footnotes