Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
of what he saw there during the year of tho Great Exhibition , aud ofthe changes Avhich he found had taken place between thc year 1805 , when he visited this country , and that of 1851 . The contrast of the one year with tho other is interesting as veil to Englishmen as to Americans , for it evidences the vast strides this country has made in every department of science and art , —in material luxuries and enjoyments , —and , in a lesser
degree , in education . " Indeed , " says Professor Silliman , " while opening my eyes again in England , I seem to Myself to have been awakened , like Rip Van Winkle , from a long oblivion , —from a sleep of more than twice twenty years ; or to have returned , like the genii of Arabian tales , after a still longer lapse of time , and to find such changes , that in many places I should not suspect that I had ever been there before . " We suspect that the professor will have told his countrymen ere this to look
alive , or they will find , when they shall condescend to give the subject a little consideration , the Britishers quite as go-ahead a race as themselves . In the way of hand-books , * a Mr . Stephenson Ellis has just published at Copenhagen a very excellent one of that city and its environs , for the use of the English travellers . It not only possesses a great amount of valuable and interesting information , but it can boast also of considerable literary merit .
In the ethnological department of scientific observation , a new serial publication has been set on foot , which bids fair to become popular among that class of the public Avho take a deserved interest in the various branches or races into which the great family of man is divided . It is called the " Ethnological Library , "f under the superintendence of Mr .
Edwin Norris , the well-known secretary of tho Royal Asiatic Society . The first volume of the series is from the pen of Mr . George Windsor Earl , the Australian explorer . Its subject is the Oriental Negro , or Papuan , a race condemned to servitude in the East in the same way as his kinsman the African Negro is in the West . This race is found in the Philippine and Adaman Islands , as well as iu those which lie between them and the coast of New Guinea , and , with the exception of not being so muscularly developed as the African Negroare in appearance very
, like to him . Without , however , at the present going deeper into the subject , we can recommend this work with confidence to our readers , trusting that the remainder of the volumes may maintain the character and prestige with which Mr . Earl has so decidedly opened the series . We now enter the world of romance , and apply ourselves with laudable industry , good temper , and an indulgent disposition to the mass of novels with which our library table is crowded . And first , we will notice two
remarkable changes in this line of light literature worthy of comment . Imprimis , Mr . Bentley has changed the standard value of the threevolumecf novel from ll . lis . 6 d . to 10 s . 6 d ., while other adventurous publishers have condensed into two volumes the matter which in olden times would have made three . These innovations ought to be the subject of grave satisfaction ; for still to us has it always been matter of wonderment whether anybody ever gave the first-mentioned price for
any novel that ever was written or published . Since , at least , circulating libraries have been established , no one has certainly ever committed so great an extravagance ; and it must be the knowledge of this little fact that has induced Mr . Bentley to try the experiment of cheaper editions .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
of what he saw there during the year of tho Great Exhibition , aud ofthe changes Avhich he found had taken place between thc year 1805 , when he visited this country , and that of 1851 . The contrast of the one year with tho other is interesting as veil to Englishmen as to Americans , for it evidences the vast strides this country has made in every department of science and art , —in material luxuries and enjoyments , —and , in a lesser
degree , in education . " Indeed , " says Professor Silliman , " while opening my eyes again in England , I seem to Myself to have been awakened , like Rip Van Winkle , from a long oblivion , —from a sleep of more than twice twenty years ; or to have returned , like the genii of Arabian tales , after a still longer lapse of time , and to find such changes , that in many places I should not suspect that I had ever been there before . " We suspect that the professor will have told his countrymen ere this to look
alive , or they will find , when they shall condescend to give the subject a little consideration , the Britishers quite as go-ahead a race as themselves . In the way of hand-books , * a Mr . Stephenson Ellis has just published at Copenhagen a very excellent one of that city and its environs , for the use of the English travellers . It not only possesses a great amount of valuable and interesting information , but it can boast also of considerable literary merit .
In the ethnological department of scientific observation , a new serial publication has been set on foot , which bids fair to become popular among that class of the public Avho take a deserved interest in the various branches or races into which the great family of man is divided . It is called the " Ethnological Library , "f under the superintendence of Mr .
Edwin Norris , the well-known secretary of tho Royal Asiatic Society . The first volume of the series is from the pen of Mr . George Windsor Earl , the Australian explorer . Its subject is the Oriental Negro , or Papuan , a race condemned to servitude in the East in the same way as his kinsman the African Negro is in the West . This race is found in the Philippine and Adaman Islands , as well as iu those which lie between them and the coast of New Guinea , and , with the exception of not being so muscularly developed as the African Negroare in appearance very
, like to him . Without , however , at the present going deeper into the subject , we can recommend this work with confidence to our readers , trusting that the remainder of the volumes may maintain the character and prestige with which Mr . Earl has so decidedly opened the series . We now enter the world of romance , and apply ourselves with laudable industry , good temper , and an indulgent disposition to the mass of novels with which our library table is crowded . And first , we will notice two
remarkable changes in this line of light literature worthy of comment . Imprimis , Mr . Bentley has changed the standard value of the threevolumecf novel from ll . lis . 6 d . to 10 s . 6 d ., while other adventurous publishers have condensed into two volumes the matter which in olden times would have made three . These innovations ought to be the subject of grave satisfaction ; for still to us has it always been matter of wonderment whether anybody ever gave the first-mentioned price for
any novel that ever was written or published . Since , at least , circulating libraries have been established , no one has certainly ever committed so great an extravagance ; and it must be the knowledge of this little fact that has induced Mr . Bentley to try the experiment of cheaper editions .