in which he was deeply interested. After his death were published four volumes of "The Remains of Alexander Knox," and they have never been republished. The Archbishop has found them in his own experience so helpful that he feels that this new edition of certain selections is deserved both for their theological content and for their literary style. Four dainty volumes for the young have been issued by Longmans, Green & Co., making the first of a series of "Simple Guides to Christian Knowledge," edited by Florence Robinson, formerly of St. Hilda's Hall, Oxford. There are children's books a plenty in other departments of literature, and so, why not here?-thinks the editor. They are attractive booklets, each volume having several illustrations, often in color, as seems necessary with all book-making now-a-days. The choice here is to be specially commended. "The Story of Our Lord's Life" by Maud Montgomery, is provided with eight colored reproductions from water-color drawings after the frescoes by Gaudenzio Ferrari in the Chapel of Mont de Varallo, Piedmont. "The Early Story of Israel" by Evelyn Thomas, takes its illustrations from Holman Hunt, Millais, Watts, Rembrandt and Michael Angelo. "The Teaching of the Catechism" by Beatrice Ward, shows a Madonna by Murillo, the Litchfield Cathedral, St. Paul's Choir, and representations of windows with designs by Watts. The illustrations in "The Work of the Prophets" by Rose Selfe, reproduce the strong conceptions of Isaiah, Malachi, Daniel and Zechariah by Frederick Shields, in the Chapel of the Ascension, London; Watts's "The People which Sit in Darkness;" the "Joel" of Michael Angelo, from the Sistine Chapel in Rome; and Raphael's "Vision of Ezekiel" from the Pitti Palace in Florence. Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co. also publish two additional volumes of the "Handbooks of the Clergy," edited by Arthur W. Robinson: "Charitable Relief" by Clement F. Rogers, and "Elementary Schools" by W. Foley Norris. The need of instruction and of system in all social work for both town and country, and the confused relations of education with both Church and State, are entire justification for both volumes. A school book, noteworthy in its clearness and judgment as well as by its many well selected illustrations, is the "School History of the United States" (Silver, Burdett & Co., New York), by Dr. Henry A. White, sometime Professor of History in Washington and Lee University. It looks teachable for the younger ones and is attractive to "grown ups." We are in receipt of the first two volumes of the Colonial Records of Georgia edited by Allen D. Candler under the auspices of the Georgia Legislature (Geo. W. Harrison, State Printer, Atlanta). North Carolina has already published her colonial records; the records of some of the oldest eastern counties in Virginia are appearing among the publications of Messrs. Fox, Duffield, & Co., of New York. Further, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi are all active. The historical importance of its early record to every State is now universally recognized, and it is pathetic how much has been permitted everywhere to become lost. In the case of Georgia, certain records painfully copied from originals in England nearly seventy years ago, were lent freely about the State and at last were borrowed by a college professor whose house naturally burned down and, of course, the records with it. One advantage in having waited so long is that, even with actually less material, to-day more scientifically correct historical principles can be applied and the work be thus better done for all time. The spelling of the present text is modern apart from obvious abbreviations of titles. There is needed badly a table of contents-of the chief divisions and headings-even if not an index of important matters. The report of the Librarian of Congress for the year ending June, 1904 (Government Printing Office, Washington) is no mere formal document, but contains much that is both interesting and extremely valuable. The selection of a thoroughly trained librarian in the person of Mr. Herbert Putnam for this important position was a great boon to the nation. This Library has already completely altered our conception of the city of Washington. It is not only a place to visit for its public buildings, its parks, and its streets, for its political importance as the seat of the national Government and its social prestige, for the place where offices are to be distributed and all sorts of measures to be abetted or opposed; but in less than a decade it has become a most serious place for research and investigation and study and writing and work. Such a change can a great Library alone bring at once upon a city or an institution, imparting a new character to it. For similar revolutions, one may take the new developments at Columbia, Yale, and Princeton, the central commanding position of the Library on the campus of prevailingly scientific institutions like Cornell and Pennsylvania, and the case of a State University like Wisconsin. The Boston Public and Harvard Libraries have long given the community surrounding them a definite character. One very natural result is that the Library at Washington is becoming the training spot for librarians over the country. Two who have lately been sent out and are revolutionizing the library idea in their respective States are the librarians of the Virginia State Library at Richmond and of the University of Texas. Many notable accessions have been made to the Library at Washington among the 150,000 volumes, pamphlets, and manuscripts that have been added within the past year: the Hattala collection in Slavic Philology, the Weber collection on Sanskrit, many additions to the files of the government publications, etc. Among important manuscripts are the papers of Martin Van Buren, Elihu B. Washburne, Chancellor James Kent, William Thornton, designer of the Capitol, John M. Clayton, and others. Those of special importance to students of the history of the Southern States are the papers of James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, ninety letters of Duff Green of Georgia, and papers of Governors Pickens and Bonham of South Carolina relating to the Confederacy. |