REVIEW
OF NEW BOOKS .
THE BEST CASHMERE SHAWLS, the long shawls with plain ground, crimson, purple, blue, green, or yellow-green are best- never cost less than $675 a pair in India, and are never sold singly. The next kind, or square shawls, much more frequently imported into Europe and America, are eitherloom-worked or needle-worked : needle-worked being the more original ; and they cost from $150 to $250 in the Punjaub, without freight, or interest, or profit to the importer-little facts which we commend to the attention of women who think they can buy the " best Cashmeres" at $150, or even $100 a shawl What they do buy is either an imitation, which was never in India at all, or a Delhi shawl, very good in its way, but no more approaching a Cashmere shawl in beauty than in durability. A man may lie on heather in a black Cashmere for twenty years, and it would be almost as perfect as on the first day. THE CIRCULATION OF THIS MAGAZINE is now equal to the united circulation of all the other ladies' magazines of a similar character in the United States. What better proof could be had of its superior merit? THE COTTAGE WINDOW is a charming picture of rural life, particularly suggestive at this season of the year, when, after an unusually severe winter, the spring is opening in all its beauty. ANOTHER ELEGANT COLORED PATTERN in this number. No other magazine, remember, gives these patterns ! wwwwww… REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS . The Posthumous Papers ofthe Pickwick Club. By Charles Dickens. With Original Illustrations by S. Eytinge, Jr. 1 vol., 18 mo. Boston : Ticknor & Fields.-The rage, just now, seems to be for what are called " Diamond Editions :" that is, for books in type so fine that only the very youngest eyes can read them. We confess such books are not to our taste. But there will always be readers who will prefer a small volume, which may be held easily in the hand, even at the risk of injuring their eye-sight ; and to such persons this edition will be eminently acceptable, for nothing could be neater than its type, paper, and binding. We will make but a single exception. The illustrations, as a whole, do not please us. They are by an artist so thoroughly American that nearly all his faces are Yankee faces ; and as the characters to be illustrated are English, this is a very serious fault. His "Pickwick" is like nobody in England; nor his "Sam Weller;" nor, indeed, hardly any of his others. His "Dodson and Fogg" are types of the fat and lean New Englander: they are not London attorneys at all. One of the best illustrations is " Mrs. Leo Hunter's Party." We believe it is the intention of Ticknor & Fields to issue the entire works of Dickens in this style, publishing one novel each month. Each volume is to be bound in cloth. Price, $1.25 without the illustrations ; or $1.50 with them. The Bride of Llewellyn. By Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth. 1 vol., 8 ro. Philada: T. B. Peterson & Brothers.- We suppose Mrs. Southworth may be ranked at the head of the sensational school in America, now that Sylvanus Cobb, Jr., that most impressible of all melo-dramatic writers, is no more. This is her last novel. Those who like highly-spiced dishes can have one here. The book is printed neatly, and bound in cloth. Price, $2.00. Charles Wesley Seen in his Finer and Less Familiar Poems. 1 rol., 16 mo. New York: Hurd & Houghton.-A very beautiful edition of the selected poems of the Rev. Charles Wesley, the brother of the Rev. John Wesley, the founder and apostle of Methodism. Charles Wesley was no mean poet. He has written some of the best hymns in the language. The book is capitally edited. Price, $1.50.
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The Mutual Friend. By Charles Dickens. 1 vol., 8 vo. Philada: T. B. Peterson & Brothers.-This is an edition of Dickens' last novel, which seems to us to combine, in an eminent degree, many and various merits. The page is double-column octavo ; the type is brevier, a type rather larger than that in which our stories are printed ; and the paper is the very best, and with a highly calendered surface. Every part of the mechanical work is exceedingly well done. The illustrations are numerous, and are worked into the body of the text. It is a volume to please, in every way, the reader of taste : and yet it is so light as not to fatigue one to hold it; such compactness, and such various other merits, it is difficult to find combined in one book. We understand that Messrs. T. B. Peterson & Brothers intend to issue the whole of Dickens' works in a similar style. Each volume will be bound in cloth gilt, like this, so as to match for the library. These publishers own the original and famous illustrations of Pickwick, which, quite as much as the text, first brought Dickens into notice. We regret that, on this account, they did not begin this edition with " Pickwick," instead of " The Mutual Friend ;" with the first instead of the last of Dickens' novels ; for the "Pickwick" of Cruikshank has now become immortal, and no other illustrations will ever satisfy a cultivated public. Price, $1.25. In paper-cover, $1.00. Records of Five Years. By Grace Greenwood. 1 vol., 12 mo. Boston: Ticknor & Fields.- This writer has always been one of our favorites. Ifnot absolutely a genius, she approaches very near one : in this respect she is in advance of most American authors. Her free, bold style ; her true, womanly instincts ; her nobility of soul ; the entire absenéê of affectation in her writings ; the graphic power of her rural descriptions; and the widening and deepening experience, which give to much of what she says a singularly pathetic earnestness : all these qualities, rarely combined in one person, unite in her to make a writer, who is alike original and cultivated. The book is published in the tasteful style for which Ticknor & Fields have long been celebrated. Price, $1.50. Woodburn Grange. By William Howill. 1 vol., 12 mo. Philada: T. B. Peterson & Brothers - This new novel, by William Howitt, is printed from advance sheets. It is a story of English life, the scene being laid in Nottinghamshire, where the Quaker poet resided for several years. The characters are well contrasted, and the incidents natural, yet interesting. We like the book extremely. A strong feeling in favor of the people, as distinguished from the aristocracy, pervades the work ; in this sense it may be called almost republican. The publishers have issued the volume in very neat style. Price, in cloth, $2.00. Faith Unwin's Ordeal. By Georgiana M. Craik. 1 vol., 16 mo. New York: Leypoldt & Holt.- A charming story, charmingly printed, and bound in cloth gilt, with giltedged top. Messrs. Leypoldt & Holt never print anything but what people of taste will like, and always print it in a style to please even the most fastidious. Price, $1.25. The Huguenot Galley Slave. Translated from the French by Jean Marteille. 1 vol., 12 mo. New York : Leypoldt & Holl. The autobiography of a French Protestant, condemned to the galleys for the sake of his religion, in the reign of Louis XIV. An absorbing narrative. Price, $1.50. Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures. By Douglas Jerrold. With Illustrations by Charles Keene. 1 vol., 16 mo. New York: Hurd & Houghton.- We are glad to see these inimitable lectures republished in so neat a manner. The illustrations are excellent. Price, $1.50 Alderman Rooney at the Cable Banquet. New York: Ame rican News Company.-A satire in verse, racily illustrated by Magrath, the engravings being altogether the best part of it. Price, 50 cents.
