that account. I hope that the translator may be persuaded, if the volume
goes into the second edition it so richly deserves, to omit his very
contentious preface, which can be of interest only to himself and two
other people. Then our delight in this volume would be complete.

THE DUEL (Macmillan), THE HOUSE WITH THE MEZZANINE (Scribner), THE LADY
WITH THE DOG (Macmillan), THE PARTY (Macmillan), and ROTHSCHILD'S FIDDLE
(Boni and Liveright) by _Anton Chekhov_. TO THE DARLING, which was the
first volume, so far as I know, of Chekhov, to be presented to the
American public, five new collections of Chekhov's tales have been added
during the past year in excellent English renderings. Three of these
volumes are translated by Constance Garnett, whose superb translations
of Turgenieff and Dostoievsky are well known to American readers.
Because Chekhov ranks with Poe and De Maupassant as one of the three
supreme masters of the short story, it is a matter of signal importance
that these translations should appear, and in them every mood of Russian
life is reflected with subtle artistry and a passionate reality of
creative vision. Chekhov is destined to exert greater and greater
influence on the American short story as the translations of his work
increase, and these five volumes prove him to be fully equal to
Dostoievsky in sustained and varied spiritual observation. These stories
range through the entire gamut of human emotion from sublime tragedy to
the richest and most golden comedy. If I were to choose a single author
of short stories for my library on a desert island, my choice would
inevitably turn to these volumes.

THOSE TIMES AND THESE by _Irvin S. Cobb_ (George H. Doran Co.). This is
quite the best volume of short stories that Mr. Cobb has yet published.
Since "The Escape of Mr. Trimm," which was his first short story, was
printed in the Saturday Evening Post seven years ago, Mr. Cobb's
literary development has been rapid, if not sure; but he may now with
this volume lay claim fairly to the mantle of Mark Twain for the rich
humanity with which he has endowed his substance and the inimitable
humor of his characterizations. In "The Family Tree" and "Cinnamon Seed
and Sandy Bottom" Mr. Cobb has added two stories of permanent value to
American literature, and in "Mr. Felsburg Gets Even" and "And There Was
Light" Mr. Cobb's literary art is almost as well sustained. My only
quarrel with him in this book is for the inclusion o