Collection De Vries

German Series. Vols. I.-X. Boston : De Vries, Ibarra, & Co.

THE present high price of imported books, which is stimulating our publishers to rival their English compeers in typographical triumphs, is also creating an important class of German reprints, to which attention should certainly be called. Until lately the chief business in this line has been done by Philadelphia houses; but we now have editions from Boston publishers which surpass all predecessors in accuracy and beauty. Indeed, the average issues of the German press abroad do not equal these in execution ; and though the books issued are thus far small, yet the taste shown in the selection gives them a peculiar value.

First comes Hans Andersen’s ever-charming “ Picture - Book without Pictures,” — tales told by the Moon, as she looks in at the window of a poor student. There is also a separate edition of this little work, issued by the same house, with English notes for students, by Professor Simonson of Trinity College.

Next comes “ Prinzessin Ilse,” a graceful little story by Von Ploennics, almost as charming as “ Undine,”—with its scene laid in the Hartz Forest, by the legendhaunted Ilenstein, Then follows a similar wreath of fancies, called “ Was sich der Wald erzählt,” by Gustay zu Putlitz, in which fir - trees and foxgloves tell their tales, and there are sermons in stones and all the rest of it. Why is it that no language but the German can possibly construct a Mährchen, so that Englishmen and Americans grow dull, and Frenchmen insufferable, whenever they attempt that delicious mingling of the ideal and the real ?

Then we have two of the most popular novelettes of Paul Heyse, “ Die Einsamen ” and “ Anfang und Ende,” — two first-class æsthetic essays by Hermann Grimm, on the Venus of Milo and on Raphael and Michel Angelo, — and two comedies by Gustav zu Putlitz. There is also Von Eichendorff’s best novel, which in Berlin went through four editions in a year, “Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichits,” or “ Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing, ” — and, finally, Tieck’s well-known story of “ The Elves,” and his “ Tragedy of Little Red Riding-Hood.”

Among these various attractions every reader of German books will certainly find something to enjoy ; and these editions should be extensively used by teachers, as the separate volumes can be easily obtained by mail, and the average cost of each is but about half a dollar. We hope yet to see editions equally good of the complete works of the standard German authors, printed in this country and for American readers. Under present circumstances, they can be more Cheaply produced than imported.