heir works. But what the general reader asks
is only, whether the compiler has shown skill in suiting the general
taste, as well as judgment in directing it. We think this collection
the most catholic and impartial we have ever seen. That is the
highest praise we can bestow, and it implies that the editor has
attained the success most difficult as well as essential in such an
undertaking.

_Curiosities of Literature_. By ISAAC DISRAELI. 4 vols. Boston:
William Veazie. 1858.

Possessing this book, Robinson Crusoe might have enjoyed all the
pleasures of what Dr. Johnson called "browsing in a library," and
that a large and choice one. It contains in itself all the elements
of a liberal education in out-of-the-way-ness.

Everybody knows and likes this _Museum Absconditum_, as Sir Thomas
Browne would have called it,--and we take particular pleasure in
being able to recommend to our readers so beautiful an edition of it.
It is in all respects equal to the handsomest kind of English
printing, and has the added merit of being cheap. It is from the
press of Houghton & Company, which has done so much to raise the
standard of American printing. If Mr. Houghton go on as he has begun,
his name will deserve a place with those of Elzevir, Baskerville,
Foulis, and others of his craft, who have done good books the
justice of a mechanical that matches their intellectual workmanship.

* * * * *

We have not space in this number to give Mr. White's Shakspeare the
welcome it deserves. We have examined it with some care, and can
speak with decision of its very great merits. It is characterized
by taste, industry, and conscientiousness. We believe it to be,
in all essential respects, the best--it is certainly the most
beautiful--edition of Shakspeare. This is also from the press of
Houghton & Company.

* * * * *

We notice with pleasure among recent literary announcements those of
a History of France, by Parke Godwin, Esq., and of New England, by
Dr. J.G. Palfrey. Both are _desiderata_, and the reputation of the
authors is such as to warrant the highest anticipations.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Atlantic Monthly, Vol. II., November,
1858., No. XIII., by Various

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY ***

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