ON BOOKS AND BOOK-BUYERS. BY JOHN RUSKIN. "I say we have despised literature; what do we, as a nation, care about books? How much do you think we spend altogether on our libraries, public or private, as compared with what we spend on our horses? If a man spends lavishly on his library, you call him mad -a bibliomaniac. But you never call one a horse-maniac, though men ruin themselves every day by their horses, and you do not hear of people ruining themselves by their books. Or, to go lower still, how much do you think the contents of the book-shelves of the United Kingdom, public and private, would fetch, as compared with the contents of its winecellars? What position would its expenditure on literature take as compared with its expenditure on luxurious eating? We talk of food for the mind, as of food for the body: now, a good book contains such food inexhaustible: it is provision for life, and for the best part of us; yet how long most people would look at the best book before they would give the price of a large turbot for it! Though there have been men who have pinched their stomachs and bared their backs to buy a book, whose libraries were cheaper to them, I think, in the end, than most men's dinners are. We are few of us put to such a trial, and more the pity; for, indeed, a precious thing is all the more precious to us if it has been won by work or economy: and if public libraries were half as costly as public dinners, or books cost the tenth part of what bracelets do, even foolish men and women might sometimes suspect there was good in reading as well as in munching and sparkling; whereas the very cheapness of literature is making even wiser people forget that if a book is worth reading it is worth buying."-SESAME AND LILIES; OR, KING'S TREASURES. Square 8vo, cloth, extra gilt, gilt edges, with Coloured Frontispiece and numerous Illustrations, 10s. 6d. The Art of Beauty. If By Mrs. H. R. HAWEIS, Author of "Chaucer for Children. With nearly One Hundred Illustrations by the Author. "A most interesting book, full of valuable hints and suggestions. young ladies would but lend their ears for a little to Mrs. Haweis, we are quite sure that it would result in their being at once more tasteful, more happy, and more healthy than they now often are, with their false hair, high heels, tight corsets, and ever so much else of the same sort."-NONCONFORMIST. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with 639 Illustrations, 7s. 6d. A Handbook of Architectural Styles. Translated from the German of A. ROSENGARTEN by W. Crown 8vo, Coloured Frontispiece and Illustrations, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. A History of Advertising, From the Earliest Times. Illustrated by Anecdotes, Curious "We have here a book to be thankful for. We recommend the present volume, which takes us through antiquity, the middle ages, and the present time, illustrating all in turn by advertisements-serious, comic, roguish, or downright rascally. The volume is full of entertainment from the first page to the last."-ATHENÆUM. Crown 8vo, with Portrait and Facsimile, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. Artemus Ward's Works: The Works of CHARLES FARRER BROWNE, better known as ARTEMUS WARD. With Portrait, facsimile of Handwriting, &c. "The author combines the powers of Thackeray with those of Albert Smith. The salt is rubbed in with a native hand-one which has the gift of tickling.". SATURDAY REVIEW. Small 4to, green and gold, 6s. 6d.; gilt edges, 7s. 6d. As Pretty as Seven, and other Popular German Stories. Collected by LUDWIG BECHSTEIN. With Additional Tales by the Brothers GRIMM, and 100 Illustrations by RICHTER. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. A Handbook of London Bankers; With some Account of their Predecessors, the Early Goldsmiths; together with Lists of Bankers, from 1677 to 1876. By F. G. HILTON PRICE. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. Bardsley's Our English Surnames: Their Sources and Significations. By CHARLES WAREING BARDSLEY, M.A. Second Edition, revised throughout, considerably enlarged, and partially rewritten. "Mr. Bardsley has faithfully consulted the original mediaval documents and works from which the origin and development of surnames can alone be satisfactorily traced. He has furnished a valuable contribution to the literature of surnames, and we hope to hear more of him in this field."-TIMES. Second Edition, demy 8vo, cloth extra, with Maps and Illustrations, 18s. Baker's Clouds in the East: Travels and Adventures on the Perso-Turkoman Frontier. By VALENTINE BAKER. Second Edition, revised and corrected. This book, written by General Valentine Baker Pasha in 1876, bears directly upon the locality of the Central Asian Question, which is now assuming so much public interest. Demy 8vo, Illustrated, uniform in size for binding. Henry Blackburn's Art Handbooks: Academy Notes, 1875. With Forty Illustrations. Academy Notes, 1876. IS. With One Hundred and Seven Illustrations. Academy Notes, 1877. IS. With One Hundred and Forty-three Illustrations. IS. BLACKBURN'S ART HANDBOOKS-continued. Academy Notes, 1878. With One Hundred and Fifty Illustrations. IS. With Sixty-eight Illustrations. IS. Dudley Notes, 1878. [See end of this list. (The Water-colour Exhibition.) With 64 Illustrations, Is. Pictures at South Kensington. (The Raphael Cartoons, Sheepshanks Collection, &c.) With Seventy Illustrations. IS. The English Pictures at the National Gallery. IS. With One Hundred and Fourteen Illustrations. Is. 6d. With One Hundred and Twenty-eight Illustrations. ** The two last form a Complete Catalogue to the National Gallery, and may be had bound in One Volume, cloth, 35. Other parts in preparation. "Our Bank of Elegance notes are not in high credit. But our Bank of Arts notes ought to be, when the bank is HENRY BLACKBURN'S & Co., and the notes are kis Grosvenor Gallery Notes, and his Academy Notes for 1878. Never were more unmistakable cases of value received, than theirs who purchase these two won derful shillingsworths-the best aids to memory, for the collections they relate to, that have ever been produced. The Illustrations, excellent recoras of the pictures, in many cases from sketches by the painters, are full of spirit, and, for their scale, wonderfully effective; the remarks terse, and to the point. After Punch's Own Guide to the Academy, and the Grosvenor, the best, he has no hesitation in saying, are Mr. Blackburn's."-PUNCH, June 7, 1878. UNIFORM WITH "ACADEMY NOTES." The Royal Scottish Academy Notes, 1878. Containing One Hundred and Seventeen Illustrations of the IS. Notes to the Seventeenth Exhibition of the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1878. Containing 95 Illustrations, chiefly from Drawings by the Artists. IS. The Walker Art Gallery Notes, Liverpool, 1878. Notes to the Exhibition of the Works of Modern Notes to the Royal Society of Artists' Autumn UNIFORM WITH "ACADEMY NOTES." Children of the Great City. Notes on the Three Pictures "A Merry Christmas,” “Im- Belgravia One Shilling Monthly, Illustrated. For January contained the First Chapters of Two New Novels (each to be continued throughout the year): - I. DONNA QUIXOTE. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY, Author of "Miss Misanthrope." Illustrated by ARTHUR HOPKINS.-II. QUEEN OF THE MEADOW. By CHARLES GIBBON, Author of Robin Gray," &c. Illustrated. 66 ** The THIRTY-SEVENTH Volume of BELGRAVIA, elegantly bound in crimson cloth, full gilt side and back, gilt edges, price 7s. 6d., is now ready.-Handsome Cases for binding the volume can be had at 25. each. Folio, half-bound boards, India proofs, 215. Blake (William). Etchings from his Works. By WILLIAM BELL SCOTT. With descriptive Text. "The best side of Blake's work is given here, and makes a really attractive volume, which all can enjoy The etching is of the best kind, more refined and delicate than the original work."-SATURDAY Review. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d. Boccaccio's Decameron; or, Ten Days' Entertainment. Translated into English, with an Introduction by THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. With Portrait, and STOTHARD'S beautiful Copperplates. Small crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with full-page Portraits, 4s. 6d. Brewster's (Sir David) Martyrs of Science. |