CHAPTER IX. · 4

Part I. Before Tilsit, 1805-1807, in two volumes. Paper, $1.00. Cloth, $1.75 per set.

“ II. The Invasion, 1807-1812 in two volumes. Paper, $1.00. Cloth, $1.75 per set.

“ III. Borodino, The French at Moscow—Epilogue, 1812-1820, in two volumes. Paper, $1.00. Cloth, $1.75 per set.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

“A story of Russia in the time of Napoleon’s wars. It is a story of the family rather than of the field, and is charming in its delineations of quaint Russian customs. It is a novel of absorbing interest, full of action and with a well managed plot; a book well worth reading.”—Philadelphia Enquirer.

“The story of ‘War and Peace’ ranks as the greatest of Slavic historical novels. It is intensely dramatic in places and the battle scenes are marvels of picturesque description. At other points the vein is quiet and philosophical, and the reader is held by the soothing charm that is in complete contrast with the action and energy of battle.”—Observer, Utica, N.Y.

“War and Peace is a historical novel and is extremely interesting, not only in its description of the times of the great invasion eighty years ago, but in its vivid pictures of life and character in Russia.”—Journal of Commerce, New York.

“On general principles the historical novel is neither valuable as fact nor entertaining as fiction. But ‘War and Peace’ is a striking exception to this rule. It deals with the most impressive and dramatic period of European history. It reproduces a living panorama of scene, and actors, and circumstance idealized into the intense and artistic life of imaginative composition, and written with a brilliancy of style and epigrammatic play of thought, a depth of significance, that render the story one of the most fascinating and absorbing.”—Boston Evening Traveller.

Wm. S. Gottsberger, Publisher, New York.

THE COSSACKS.—A Tale of the Caucasus in 1852, by Count Leo Tolstoy, from the Russian by Eugene Schuyler. One vol. Paper, 50 cts. Cloth binding. $1.00.

“The Cossacks” forms the culmination of the period in which he photographed with miraculous realism and no definite purpose, detached pictures of life and studies of the affections, and the period in which he began to see and suggest the spiritual meaning of and the chain of ultimate purpose binding together the panorama of human existence. The book is an idyl of semi-barbarous life and yet the hero begins to struggle with the problems that puzzled Sergius, that Levin half solved, and from which Tolstoi himself escapes in a Quaker creed.

Olenin is a young Russian noble whose career has simulated outwardly that of his companions, but whose soul has been unsatisfied and empty, driving him finally to break away from his old associations and go for a campaign in the Caucasus. With that campaign the story does not concern itself, going on to its conclusion when the young man settles down in a Cossack village to wait for his promotion. This portion of the book is inimitable for the slight, almost imperceptible touches through which Tolstoi has the power, greater than that of any one else, of reproducing the actual scene he wishes to transcribe. This power can scarcely be called realism. It might be better characterized as realization. It is possible in this way to know the exact life of this brave, indolent, good-tempered, healthful race of half-Russians, half-Circassians, and to feel the charm they possessed for Olenin. It is a curious fact that the most civilized natures are most akin to barbarism. The simple directness of barbaric virtues, the healthy passion and aggressiveness of its vices make the process of atavism easy to a nature that has risen above the mere materialism of civilization. The process of this reversion in Olenin is hastened, of course, by love for a Cossack woman, one of those clean-minded girls who think no harm in a kiss or caress, but whose virtue is an absolute and natural thing that admits of no question or discussion. His love is not of the kind that could mean her dishonor, and he asks for Marianka’s hand in marriage, feeling helplessly and hopelessly all the while that real union is impossible between them—that though he can understand her and go down into her semi-barbarism, she can never know him or appreciate the motives that impel him to leave a state that she considers higher than her own. The story ends abruptly and what is called by the professional novel-reader “unsatisfactorily.” Marianka clings in preference to her Cossack lover, and Olenin feeling despairingly that this rude, simple, barbarous life can never absorb, can only encyst him, goes rack to his duties at the front.—New York World.

THE E B E R S G A L L E R Y A COLLECTION OF PAINTINGS ILLUSTRATING THE ROMANCES OF GEORG EBERS BY THE FOLLOWING ARTISTS L. Alma-Tadema, W. A. Beer, W. Gentz, P. Grot-Johann, H. Kaulbach, Ferd. Keller, O. Knille, F. Simm, Laura Tadema, E. Teschendorff, P. Thumann.

TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS WITH DESCRIPTIVE LETTER-PRESS Printed from handsome large new type on plate-paper Photographic Reproduction by Friedrich Bruckmann of Munich

William S. Gottsberger, Publisher, New York.

THE BRIDE OF THE NILE, a Romance, by Georg Ebers, from the German by Clara Bell. Authorized edition, in two volumes. Price, paper covers, $1.00, cloth binding, $1.75 per set.

“This romance has much value, apart from its interest as a narrative. The learned author, who has made the Land of the Nile an object of special study and research, throws a clear, steady light on one of those complicated periods of history when nationality seems submerged in the conflicting interests of sects and factions. The history of Egypt towards the middle of the seventh century, A. D., forms a sort of historical whirlpool. The tide of Moslem invasion and the counter-current of patriotism were temporarily swayed by the intermingling currents of sectarianism, ecclesiasticism and individual self-interest.

“All the leading characters are typical of these contending forces, and also display an unreasoning impulsiveness in both love and hatred, characteristic of a tropical clime.

“The Egyptian heathen, the Egyptian Christian, the Greek Christian, the Moslem and Ethiopian show the feelings peculiar to their political conditions by word and act, thus making their relationship to one another very distinct, and though not an historical study, at least a study of the probabilities of that epoch. It is also a reliable picture of the manners, customs and civilization of a period less generally known than those remote, and consequently more attractive periods of the building of the pyramids, and of the Pharoahs.

“The portrayal of individual character and arrangement of incidents are necessarily secondary to the higher aims of this entertaining and instructive romance. It is only towards the end of the second volume that the significance of the title becomes apparent. The ‘Bride’ was a Greek Christian doomed by the superstitious authorities to be drowned in the Nile as a sacrifice to appease the anger of the creative powers, supposed to be withholding the usual overflow of its waters. She escaped her watery fate, and her rival, an unprincipled heiress, became a voluntary sacrifice through vanity and despair. This author has already won much renown by previous romances founded on interesting epochs of Egyptian history.”—Daily Alta, California.

William S. Gottsberger, Publisher, New York.

THE MARTYR OF GOLGOTHA, by Enrique Perez Escrich, from the Spanish by Adèle Josephine Godoy, in two volumes. Price, paper covers, $1.00. Cloth binding, $1.75.

“There must always be some difference of opinion concerning the right of the romancer to treat of sacred events and to introduce sacred personages into his story. Some hold that any attempt to embody an idea of our Saviour’s character, experiences, sayings and teachings in the form of fiction must have the effect of lowering our imaginative ideal, and rendering trivial and common-place that which in the real Gospel is spontaneous, inspired and sublime. But to others an historical novel like the ‘Martyr of Golgotha’ comes like a revelation, opening fresh vistas of thought, filling out blanks and making clear what had hitherto been vague and unsatisfactory, quickening insight and sympathy, and actually heightening the conception of divine traits. The author gives also a wide survey of the general history of the epoch and shows the various shaping causes which were influencing the rise and development of the new religion in Palestine. There is, indeed, an astonishing vitality and movement throughout the work, and, elaborate though the plot is, with all varieties and all contrasts of people and conditions, with constant shiftings of the scene, the story yet moves, and moves the interest of the reader too, along the rapid current of events towards the powerful culmination. The writer uses the Catholic traditions, and in many points interprets the story in a way which differs altogether from that familiar to Protestants: for example, making Mary Magdalen the same Mary who was the sister of Lazarus and Martha, and who sat listening at the Saviour’s feet. But in general, although there is a free use made of Catholic legends and traditions, their effort is natural and pleasing. The romance shows a degree of a southern fervor which is foreign to English habit, but the flowery, poetic style—although it at first repels the reader—is so individual, so much a part of the author, that it is soon accepted as the naive expression of a mind kindled and carried away by its subject. Spanish literature has of late given us a variety of novels and romances, all of which are in their way so good that we must believe that there is a new generation of writers in Spain who are discarding the worn-out forms and traditions, and are putting fresh life and energy into works which will give pleasure to the whole world of readers.”—Philadelphia American, March 5, 1887.

William S. Gottsberger, Publisher, New York.

THE KING’S TREASURE HOUSE.—A Romance of Ancient Egypt, by Wilhelm Walloth, from the German by Mary J. Safford, in one vol. Paper, 50 cts. Cloth, 90 cts.

“It deals, in the main, with the cruel bondage of the Israelites in Egypt, and is remarkably varied in incident and impressive in dramatic power. The interest is uncommonly exciting, and is sustained with great skill to the very end. A fine poetic feeling pervades the narrative, and the descriptive portions of the book often glow with picturesque splendor. The work is also very attractive in the cleverness and the vividness with which the manners and people of ancient Egypt are depicted, showing in this aspect careful thought and study. The story may take a foremost rank in the long line of German romances which have aimed at reproducing the life of antiquity.”—Boston Saturday Evening Gazette, May 23, 1886.

THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN.—An Adventure in Ancient Rome, by Ernst Eckstein, from the German by Mary J. Safford. One vol. Paper, 25 cts. Cloth, 50 cts.

“The ‘Chaldean Magician’ is a tale of Rome in the days of the Emperor Diocletian, and is an expose of the so-called magical art of that period. The love story which runs through it will please the sentimental, while the pictures given of Roman life and society will interest the general reader.”—Chicago Evening Journal.

William S. Gottsberger, Publisher, New York.

QUINTUS CLAUDIUS.—A Romance of Imperial Rome, by Ernst Eckstein, from the German by Clara Bell, in two vols. Paper, $1.00. Cloth, $1.75.