LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1876. 



407 



written by our contemporaries, and which the 

 g .-Hi-nil public fights for with meritorious zeal. 

 If tlu> smaller bookshops of Paris and the 

 province-* are doing but a bad trade, it is not 

 so with the business of the great publishers. 

 That is in the heyday of prosperity ; and, since 

 peopK; like figures, I shall give you two: In 

 tiio course of 1876 the chief publishers in 

 Paris MM. Hachette, have turned over 16,000,- 

 OUU francs ; and tlio greatest house for ready- 

 made garments, the Belle Jardiniere, turned 

 over 22,000,000 facts that prove that tho 

 French, superficial people as they are styled, 

 are beginning to caru for the inner man as well 

 as the outer. 



The house of Hachette, founded by a profess- 

 or dismissed under the Restoration, is an edu- 

 cational firm. Its honorable and lamented head 

 took as his device, " Sic quoque docebo" "I 

 shall teach all the same." He kept his word. 

 But not content with offering to the pupils of 

 our schools editions of Greek and Latin authors, 

 printed with an accuracy unknown before his 

 time, he presently aimed at higher game, and 

 worked for grown-up people without abandon- 

 ing the young. By the side of the school edi- 

 tions of ancient authors, the firm publish learn- 

 ed editions which England and Germany may 

 perhaps rival. But passing over the lexicons 

 and thesauri of Alexandra and Quicherat, one 

 has seen appear in quick succession the " Dic- 

 tionnaire d'Histoire et de Geographie " of 

 Bouillet, and his " Dictionnaire des Sciences, 

 des Lettres, et des Arts ; " " Le Dictionnaire 

 G6ographique de la France," by Adolphe 

 Joanne ; " Le Dictionnaire Historique de la 

 France," by Ludovic Lalanne; the Littre\ that 

 incomparable monument of national philology ; 

 and the " Dictionnaire des Contemporains," in- 

 cessantly revised and revised again by Vapereau. 

 Now we have the " Dictionnaire des Antiquit6s 

 Grecques et Romaines," a treasure of arch3- 

 ology, collected and classified by MM. Darem- 

 berg and Saglio. Each part, illustrated with 

 one hundred and fifty to two hundred wood- 

 cuts, costs five or six months of work, and the 

 book is still at the letter B. Here, again, is the 

 first part of the " Dictionary of Botany," edited 

 by learned M. Ballon, and a whole host of con- 

 tributors. The work will be completed in I 

 do not know how many years. It will be il- 

 lustrated with 10,000 cuts, and carry light into 

 the most minute recesses of the vegetable 

 world. Finally, there is another Vapereau, of 

 which the third part is just out. This is the 

 " Dictionnaire Universel des Litteratures," a 

 repository very rich in documents about au- 

 thors, books, periodicals, and plays, of all times 

 and all countries. The manuscript of this 

 enormous book is finished. 



M. Edouard Charton, forty-three years ago, 

 founded the Magatin Pittorequ4, the oldest es- 

 tablished of our illustrated papers; he it is who 

 for seventeen years past has conducted for MM. 

 Hachotte the Tour du Monde, a fine large pub- 

 lication, at least in Franco unique of its kind. 



Our tutors taught us to look npon geography 

 as a cold and mummified subject: in the Tour 

 du Monde is presented to us a living g- 

 phy. 



History, which the MM. Hacbetto have al- 

 ways made to keep pace with geography, 

 has never failed to sustain the reputation of 

 their house. After finishing the " Histoire de 

 France," as related by M. Guizot to his little 

 children, Madame C. de Witt, armed with the 

 paternal note-books, begins a " History of Eng- 

 land " that is equally favorably received by our 

 children. 



M. Hetzel, after sundry enterprises and va- 

 ried fortunes, is at present concentrating all 

 his resources and devoting all his talent to a 

 work which may be summarily entitled " Edn- 

 cation and Recreation," his principal fellow- 

 workers being M. Jules Verne, M. Jean Mace 1 , 

 M. Eugene Muller, and M. Stahl, who, entre 

 nous, is none other than M. Hetzel himself. 

 The estimable author - publisher, whom the 

 Academic Francaise has often crowned, this 

 year gives us " Les Histoires de Mon Parrain," 

 written in his own amiable, clear style ; " Le 

 Jardin d'Accliraatation," by M. Grimard ; u La 

 Morale en Action par 1'Histoire," one of the 

 best works of honest, simple Eugene Muller ; 

 " Le Petit Roi," by M. Blandy ; the translation 

 of Mayne Reid's " Young Voyagers ; " and 

 " Michel Strogoff," M. Jules Verne's last work. 

 Add to these eight or ten elegant little books, 

 extremely well illustrated, which swell the 

 library of Mdlle. Lili and her cousin Lucien, 

 and you have the list of the productions of the 

 Librairie de 1'Education et de la Recreation, 

 which reserves all its efforts for the month of 

 December. 



At the establishment of Michel LeVy's broth- 

 er and successor, a crowd of writers have 

 passed, one after the other writers of every 

 class, serious and light, among whom some are 

 first-rate. "Les Actes et Paroles," by Victor 

 Hugo, vol. ii., "Apres 1'Exil;" "Les Dialo- 

 gues Philosophiques," by Ernest Renan ; the 

 correspondence of M. Doudan, have, from the 

 first, found a place in the library of every one 

 fond of letters. Amid the numerous novels 

 edited by M. Caiman Levy, from day to day, 

 wo must put aside "Etienne Moret" and " Le 

 Piano de Jeanne," two charming works by 

 Francisque Sarcey ; " Mon Oncle Barbasson," 

 by M. Mario Uohard, a fantastic and frequent- 

 ly absurd tale, which is redeemed, however, 

 by tho drawing of a most original character, 

 and a very happy opening; and the " Nouveaux 

 Recits Galiciens," by Sacher-Masoch, trans- 

 lated byM. Bentzon. MM. Erckmann-Chatrian 

 have added another to their already long list 

 of popular novels, called "Maltre Gaspard 

 Fix," which appeared at M. HetzePs, like their 

 former productions. M. Plon has issned " Les 

 Deux Femnies du Major," the fourth volume 

 of the " Menages Miiit-aires," by Madame Claire 

 de Chandeneux, which is not entirely devoid 

 of merit. But, above all, I must congratulate 



