1. IRISH LITERATURE. Ten Vols. 4126 pp., exclusive of introductory essays, which average over 20 pp.

Originally published by John D. Morris & Co. Afterwards taken over by the De Bower Elliot Co., Chicago, and brought out in 1904.

Edited by Justin M’Carthy, M.P., with the help of an advisory committee, including Stephen Gwynn, M.P., Lady Gregory, Standish O’Grady, D. J. O’Donoghue, Douglas Hyde, LL.D., J. E. Redmond, M.P., G. W. Russell (“A. E.”), J. J. Roche, LL.D., of the Boston Pilot, Prof. W. P. Trent, of Columbia University, Prof. F. N. Robinson, of Harvard, H. S. Pancoast, and W. P. Ryan; with Charles Welsh as Managing Director.

Scope and Object: To give a comprehensive, if rapid, view of the whole development of Irish Literature from its earliest days. In the words of the Editor, it is “an illustrated catalog of Ireland’s literary contributions to mankind’s intellectual store.”

The Choice of Extracts is determined by two canons: literary value and human interest. The Library gives examples of “all that is best, brightest, most attractive, readable, and amusing,” in the writings of Irish authors. There is no dry-as-dust. The extracts comprise mythology, legend, folklore, poems, songs, street-ballads, essays, oratory, history, science, memoirs, fiction, travel, drama, wit, and humour. The vast majority are chosen as being specially expressive of Irish nationality. Choice is made both from the Gaelic and the Anglo-Irish literatures, but the ancient Gaelic literature is given solely in translation. A volume (the tenth) is given to modern Gaelic literature, the Irish text and English translation being given on opposite pages. This volume also contains brief biographies of ancient Gaelic authors. The extracts are never short and scrappy, but nearly always complete in themselves.

Other Special Features: Three hundred and fifty Irish authors are represented by extracts. Of these one hundred and twenty are contemporaries, the great modern intellectual revival being thus very fully represented.

The extracts are given under the name of the authors, and these names are arranged alphabetically, beginning in Vol. I. with Mrs. Alexander, and ending with W. B. Yeats in Vol. IX.

To the extracts from each author there is prefixed a biographical notice, including, in many cases, a literary appreciation by a competent authority, and a fairly full bibliography.

Each volume contains an article, by a distinguished writer, on some special department of Irish literature. Thus, the Editor-in-Chief gives a general survey of the whole subject. W. B. Yeats writes on Irish Poetry, Douglas Hyde on Early Irish Literature, Dr. Sigerson on Ireland’s Influence on European Literature, Maurice Francis Egan on Irish Novels, Charles Welsh on Fairy and Folk Tales, J. F. Taylor, K.C., on Irish Oratory, Stephen Gwynn on the Irish Theatre, &c.

Index of authors, books quoted from, titles and subjects dealt with—exceptionally full and valuable (over 80 pp.).

Publisher’s Work: 1. Illustrations, over 100 (several in colour), consisting of facsimiles of ancient Irish MSS., and of ancient prints and street-ballads, portraits of Irish authors, views of places, objects, scenery and incidents of Irish interest.

2. Letterpress—large and clear type.

3. Binding—cloth, and half-morocco.

4. Price—has varied a good deal since first publication.

2. THE CABINET OF IRISH LITERATURE. Four Vols. Super royal 8vo. Pp. 311 + 324 + 346 + 369. (Gresham Publishing Co.). 8s. 6d. each. Illustrations in black and white by J. H. Bacon, C. M. Sheldon, W. Rainey, &c., and portraits. 1903.

Editors: Originally planned by C. A. Read, who collected matter for the first three volumes of the original edition. Completed and edited by T. P. O’Connor, M.P. New edition brought out by Mrs. Katharine Tynan Hinkson.

New edition: The original edition (1879) was published by Blackie. The new edition contains about the same quantity of matter, but large portions of the original edition have been omitted to make room for new matter, which occupies the whole of the fourth volume and a large part of the third. A new Introduction (pp. xi.-xxxiv.) has been prefixed. It is a general survey of Irish literature.

Scope, arrangement, &c.: The authors are arranged chronologically. There is first a sketch (full and carefully done) of each author’s life and works; then follow extracts, as a rule very short, from his works. The principle of selection is to give such extracts as would best illustrate the author’s style, to avoid anything hackneyed, and “anything that would offend the taste of any class or creed.”

In the original edition there was, perhaps inevitably, little of Irish Ireland, still less of Gaelic Ireland. That has been to a certain extent remedied in the new edition. But the old edition had the advantage of containing a mass of information about little known writers and of extracts from curious and rare books.

3. BAKER, Ernest A., M.A., D.Lit., F.L.A.

— A GUIDE TO THE BEST FICTION IN ENGLISH. Sq. 4to. Pp. 813. (Routledge). 21s. New ed., enlarged and thoroughly revised. [1902, Sonnenschein]. 1913.

This new edition is a superb work, deserving the title of an Encyclopedia of English Fiction. It gives information in descriptive notes of between 7,000 and 8,000 works of fiction, including particulars of publishers (both in England and in U.S.A.), prices, and date of publication. It comprises every description of novel, translations of important continental and even non-European fiction, and of early stories and sagas from the Norse and from Celtic languages. The Guide is selective—not everything in the novel line is included—but it is most comprehensive. The arrangement is first by nationalities (English, American, Celtic, pp. 517-521, French, &c.). Each of these divisions is subdivided according to the century in which the book was published, and the entries under the various centuries are arranged alphabetically according to names of authors. The Index, which runs to 170 pp., gives full reference to Authors, Titles, and Subjects. Every specific subject illustrated in the works is indexed with extraordinary accuracy and completeness.

4. — A GUIDE TO HISTORICAL FICTION. Pp. xii. + 566. 1914.

A new ed. of the Author’s History in Fiction; a companion to the preceding and uniform with it in size, publisher, and price. As in the case of the former work, full bibliographical particulars and descriptive notes are given. The main arrangement is according to countries. Under each country it is chronological. The Index (140 pp.) gives information as full as in the preceding work. The standard of selection is “the extent to which a story illustrates any given period of history.”—(Pref.). Ireland is not dealt with separately, the history of the British Isles being taken as a whole.

5. — HISTORY IN FICTION. Two Vols. 16mo. Pp. 228 + 253. (Routledge). 2s. 6d. each. n.d. (1906).

“A kind of dictionary of historical romance from the earliest sagas to the latest historical novel.”—(Pref.). Aims to include “every good work of prose fiction dealing with past times.”—(Pref.). Full bibliographical particulars (date, price, publisher) are given about each book. In most cases a short descriptive note is added. The entries average seven on a page. The titles are arranged first in order of countries. Thus in Vol. I., pp. 1-128 deal with English History; pp. 129-154, with Scotch; pp. 155-167, with Irish, and so on. Vol. II., pp. 1-56, U.S.A.; pp. 61-117, France; pp. 118-131, Germany, and so on. The books dealing with the history of each particular country are arranged in order of date. A copious Author, Title, and Subject Index is appended to each volume. We retain the note on this book as, though now in a sense out of date, it is still in print, and its price makes it more generally available than is the new edition.

6. NIELD, Jonathan.

— A GUIDE TO THE BEST HISTORICAL NOVELS AND TALES. Pott 4to. Pp. xviii. + 522. (Elkin Mathews). 8s. nett. [1902, pp. viii. + 124]. Fourth ed., rev. and enlarged. 1911.

Introd. pp. 16 defends historical fiction. The work is in two parts—the main body as it appeared in the third ed., and a supplement nearly as large. Each is separately indexed. Each part is arranged in chronological order. The titles of the books, the author and publisher, the subject are arranged in three vertical columns. Prices are not given. On pp. 119 sq. there is a supplementary list of noteworthy semi-historical novels. On p. 129 a list of fifty representative historical novels. The Author appends suggested courses of juvenile reading and a valuable Bibliogr. The Indexes are (1) Author and title, (2) Title only. The former give the dates of publication of the books. The number of novels noted is about 3,000. Ireland is, of course, not dealt with separately, as the histories of the various countries are mingled in one chronological list.

7. BUCKLEY, J. A., M.A., and W. T. WILLIAMS, B.A.

— A GUIDE TO BRITISH HISTORICAL FICTION. Pp. 182. (Harrap). 2s. 6d. 1912.

Intended for teachers of Secondary and Elementary schools. Chronological order with author- and title-indexes. Neatly arranged for ready reference. Full notes on each novel. A good many Irish novels are included.

8. KRANS, Horatio Sheafe.

— IRISH LIFE IN IRISH FICTION. Pp. 338. (N.Y.: Macmillan Co.). 6s. 6d. net. 1903.

The Author is a Professor of Columbia University.

Scope of work: A survey and criticism of the leading Irish novelists of the first half of the nineteenth century in so far as give us a picture of the national life and character.

Contents: Chap. i. A general survey of Irish society during the period treated by the novelists, e.g., 1782-1850, based on O’Neill Daunt’s Eighty-five Years of Irish History, Justin M’Carthy’s Outline, J. E. Walshe’s Ireland Sixty Years Ago, Barrington’s Reminiscences, &c. Chap. ii. The novelists of the Gentry. Chap. iii. The novelists of the Peasantry. Chap. iv. Types met with in the novels and typical incidents taken from them. Chap. v. Literary estimate. Then there is a “list of the more important stories and novels of Irish life by Irish writers whose literary activity began before 1850.” Throughout copious quotations are made.

Treatment: Wholly free from bias. Marked by broad-minded, judicial spirit, thorough interest in and sympathy with the subject, wide knowledge, and a remarkable gift of literary characterization. On the whole a work which I can scarcely praise too highly.

9. The following book may be mentioned as possibly useful to reviewers, teachers, and others:—

WHITCOMB, Selden L.

— THE STUDY OF A NOVEL. (Heath). 1906.

It is “the result of practical experience in teaching the novel, and its aim is primarily pedagogical.”—(Pref.). Contents:—External Structure, Consecutive Structure, Plot, The Settings, The Dramatis Personæ, Characterization, Subject Matter, Style, Influence, Rhetoric, Æsthetics, Analysis.

10. THE IRISH BOOK-LOVER. Published by Salmond & Co. Monthly. 2s. 6d. per annum, post free.

This excellent little periodical, edited by Dr. J. S. Crone, Kensal Lodge, Kensal Green, London, N.W., is entirely devoted to Irish books and their authors, and is the only publication of the kind. Beginning in August, 1909, and appearing monthly since then, its six volumes are a most valuable storehouse of Irish book lore of all kinds. As regards fiction, it reviews most of the Irish novels that appear, has many articles on Irish novelists past and present, and supplies a quarterly classified bibliography of current Irish literature, in which there is a section for fiction. The obligations of the present work towards it are very great.