LITERATURE AND LITERARY PROGRESS IN 1865. 



In the Department of ART, which includes 

 Illuminated Books and those whose illustrations 

 constitute their first claim to notice, there 

 were a few books published of great merit. 



The illuminated books were " The Twenty- 

 Third Psalm," with emblematical illuminations 

 of each verse ; " The Three Kings of Orient : 

 a "Christmas Carol," the words, music, and 

 designs, by Rev. John Henry Hopkins, Jr. ; 

 " The Book of Rubies," a collection of the 

 most notable Love Poems in the language, 

 (edited by Thomas Dunn English), with illumi- 

 nated borders, and "The Christian Armor," 

 with illuminated designs, legends, and scrolls, 

 and illustrations of the text in poetry, etc., by 

 Eliza Crawfurd Ball. Mr. G. W. Carleton, a New 

 York publisher, issued a little volume of his 

 experiences as a traveller in Cuba, with fifty 

 drawings on wood, designed by himself, under 

 the title of "Our Artist in Cuba." Three 

 little treatises on the popular game of "Cro- 

 quet," liberally illlustrated, were published 

 during the year one by John Jaques, another 

 by R. Fellow, and a third by one of the mem- 

 bers of the Newport Croquet Club, and a new 

 and enlarged edition of the late Mrs. Jameson's 

 "Legends of the Monastic Orders, as repre- 

 sented in the Fine Arts," was issued. Editions 

 of several of the most exquisitely illustrated 

 English works, such as Watts' " Divine and Mor- 

 al Songs for Children," illustrated by Cooper, 

 Mrs. Barbauld's " Hymns in Prose," by the 

 same artist, "Pictures of Society," Churton 

 and Jones' "New Testament," the superb 

 quarto Testament of Longman, and the Illus- 

 trated Bible of Gustave Dore, were imported 

 and met with a rapid sale. The finest 

 American illustrated volume of the year was 

 " The Festival of Song," compiled by Mr. 

 Frederick Saunders, and illustrated from origi- 

 nal paintings of the members of the National 

 Academy of Design. 



Under the head of MISCELLANEOUS WORKS are 

 included ten manuals and treatises on Masonic 

 subjects, published by the well-known Masonic 

 publishing houses, A. W. Pollard & Co., of 

 Boston, Macoy, Sickles, and Pierson, New 

 York, John Sherer, Cincinnati, and Joseph 

 Covell, of Portland, Me. ; a little treatise enti- 

 tled "Practical Thoughts on Sisterhood, in 

 reply to a Letter of Inquiry, with Extracts 

 from the Principles of Association and Rules 

 of the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion, 

 now at St. Luke's Hospital, by One of their 

 Number; " "Banting's Letter on Corpulence," 

 Mark Lemon's " Jest-Book " (both reprints), and 

 " Umbrellas and their History," by Clyde and 

 Black, with illustrations by Bennett, are the 

 other noticeable books of this department. The 

 year was prolific in NEW PERIODICALS, literary, 

 scientific, critical, technological, humanitarian, 

 artistic, political, and antiquarian. Some of 

 these we have noticed in connection with the 

 topics to which they were devoted, but others 

 deserve mention here. Of monthly periodicals 

 there were twelve commenced in the course of 



the year : two, " Hours at Home," and " The 

 Catholic World," devoted to literature with a 

 religious leaning ; one, " Beadle's Monthly," 

 commenced just at the close of the year, occu- 

 pied exclusively with the lighter, though in- 

 structive literature ; one, " Our Young Folks," 

 having for its aim the instruction and amuse- 

 ment of the young; one, " The New Path," de- 

 voted mainly to art criticism ; three, " The Pro- 

 gressive Review," "The Radical," and "The 

 Monthly Review," advocating what are called 

 liberal and progressive views in religion, poli- 

 tics, and social reform ; the " Social Science 

 Review " professed to deal with social, politi- 

 cal, and economical questions ; the " Heraldic 

 Journal " had for its object to record the armo- 

 rial bearings and genealogies of American 

 families ; the " Mining Chronicle " was occu- 

 pied with the statistics, discoveries, and difficult 

 questions pertaining to the mining and petro- 

 leum interests ; and " The Temple of Public 

 Opinion " presented the opinions of the leading^ 

 papers on the current questions of the day, with 

 some original comments of its own. There 

 were two or three new Quarterlies, devoted to 

 scientific or professional topics; the most no- 

 ticeable was the " American Journal of Con- 

 chology," edited by George W. Tryon, Jr., and 

 published at Philadelphia. In weekly periodi- 

 cals a new field was entered, at least new in 

 this country, for England has had for some 

 years weekly periodicals, which, while maintain- 

 ing a high literary character, and devoting 

 much space to criticism in literature and art, 

 discussed, from a somewhat independent stand- 

 point, political and social questions. " The 

 Round Table," which had been published for a 

 short time in 1864, but then discontinued, was 

 revived under more favorable auspices, and 

 soon made itself felt as a critic in literature, 

 art, manners, and morals. " The Nation " 

 having a somewhat wider scope, brought within 

 its purview not only literature, art, and science, 

 but the political questions of the day, and 

 handled them with great ability. " Progress," 

 a weekly, originally devoted to the interests of 

 the Israelites, took a wider sweep, and em- 

 braced general criticism, politics, and religion 

 also. Of the weekly periodicals of a lighter 

 class, "The Chimney Corner," occupied with 

 fiction, biography, and incident, and "Every 

 Saturday," a reprint of the lighter articles from 

 the foreign periodicals, were the best examples. 

 A kind of historical record, entitled " The 

 Weekly Register," containing a record of im- 

 portant documents and events of the times, with 

 essays on subjects connected with art, science, 

 and literature, conducted by A. M. Trimble and 

 0. A. Schaffter, was issued at Lynchburg, Va. 

 Mr. Alexander Strahan, an enterprising pub- 

 lisher of London and Edinburgh, established a 

 publishing house in New York, and issned 

 from thence, though manufacturing them in 

 Great Britain, his three popular monthly maga- 

 zines, " The Sunday Magazine," " Good Words," 

 and "The Contemporary Review." 



