468 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1876. 



M. Hetzel npon having to do with Madame 

 Henri Gr6ville. The authoress of "Dosia," 

 of " L'Expiation de Saveli," and some ten other 

 volumes which are about to appear consecu- 

 tively for they are already completed is a 

 lady of about thirty, rather under the middle 

 height, very lively, and overflowing with good- 

 humor. 



Speaking of M. Plon, I may say that he is at 

 the head of one of the most active and varied 

 businesses in Paris. He publishes, at one and 

 the same time, novels, almanacs (fancy over 

 twenty almanacs !), memoirs, the travels of the 

 Marquis de Compiegne and of Viscount Mel- 

 chior de Vogue, the " Souvenirs of the Levant 

 Station," by the Vice-Admiral Jurien de la 

 Graviere, two highly-interesting volumes, and 

 some magnificent publications in which litera- 

 ture and art join hands as, for instance, u Am- 

 sterdam and Venice," by M. Henry Havard. 

 The author of the " Voyage aux Villes Mortes 

 du Zuyderzee," and the " Frontieres Menacees," 

 is exiled for the same errors as M. Elisee Re- 

 clus. 



The author of that splendid book, the " Or- 

 nement Polychrome," M. Eacinet, has under- 

 taken to carry this new publication through. 

 It will contain 500 plates, of which 300 are in 

 colors, gold and silver, and 200 in cameo. The 

 first number, which appeared in the autumn 

 of last year, is above all praise. I say nothing 

 of tlie letter-press, for the historical essay which 

 is intended to precede it is still in the press, 

 and the pictures are only accompanied by ex- 

 planatory notes of laconic brevity. 



Those books which appeal to the eyes, and 

 leave to the spectator the pleasure of comment- 

 ing upon them himself, are beginning to be ap- 

 preciated in France. Thus, M. Goupil,the famous 

 publisher of engravings and photographs, has 

 set to work to bring out the annual Salons in 

 large volumes of photogravure, without any 

 other text than a sonnet to each picture. Be- 

 sides, the sonnets, written by M. D6zamy, are 

 excellent in point of style, and most agreeable ; 

 but does it not seem rather like the world be- 

 ing turned upside down, that in this library of 

 pictures, instead of the engraving illustrating 

 the text, the text should be made to illustrate 

 the engraving with a few lines of prose or 

 verse ? 



Works on art abound. Never has been 

 written so much about art, for art, and about 

 everything connected with art ; while M. 

 Charles Blanc has collected in one very hand- 

 some volume the quintessence of all that he 

 has published in his lifetime upon the artists 

 of his day. 



The "Public Works of France," studied and 

 described by the ablest of engineers, will form 

 five volumes, often parts each, and will be fin- 

 ished at the end of 1877, to be sold at the 

 trifling price of 600 francs. As I remarked 

 before, we no longer consider the expense. 

 The " Grand Dictionnaire Universel," of the 

 nineteenth century at length complete is 



being sold at 579 francs, in paper covers. It is 

 a gigantic encyclopedia, in fifteen volumes, 

 that it is impossible to do without when one 

 has not got it, and which one does not know 

 where to put when one has it. 



History, philosophy, and science, compose a 

 vast domain belonging to M. Germer Baillitre. 

 His happy lot it has been to publish this year 

 the ' Synthese Chimique," by Berthelot one 

 of those books that honor not only the author 

 and publisher, but which do credit to the 

 country and to the age. M. Fuchs's work on 

 volcanoes, that of M. Vogel on photography, 

 and M. Luys's treatise on the brain, have corne 

 to enrich the International Scientific Library. 



The same publisher produces every two 

 months a Revue Philosophique, conducted by 

 M. Ch. Ribot, and every quarter the Revue 

 Historique, conducted by MM. Monod and 

 Fagniez ; and we are looking forward to the 

 Revue QeograpJiique M. Ludovic Drapeyron 

 has promised us for a New-Year's gift. 



Religious and political polemics seem to have 

 found refuge with a debutant in book-selling, 

 M. Decaux. In one year this young and enter- 

 prising publisher has effected great things, and 

 obtained a series of considerable successes: 

 "LaVraie Marie Antoinette," by George Ave- 

 nel; "Le Prince de Bismarck," by M. Anto- 

 nin Proust; "Les F6der6s Blancs," by M. 

 Edouard Siebecker ; " Cinq Ans apres," " Al- 

 sace et la Lorraine apres 1'Annexion," by M. 

 Jules Claretie ; " Les Prisonniers du 2 Decem- 

 bre," by M. Hippolyte Baboux ; " L'Histoire 

 Populaire du Consulat, de 1'Empire, et des 

 Cent Jours," by M. Hippolyte Magen. 



GERMANY. The epics of 1876 the year 

 which has witnessed the performance at Bai- 

 reuth of Wagner's " Nibelungen-Festspiel" go 

 back to the old German and Norse times, 

 which, thanks to W. Jordan, R. Wagner, and 

 G. Freytag, are again the fashion, as they were 

 after the War of Liberation. 



The dramatic literature of the year has been 

 of little importance, and it has been quite 

 thrown into the shade by the proceedings at 

 Baireuth. With the performance of the Nibe- 

 lungenring, if we are to believfe the followers 

 of Wagner, begins a new era, not for music 

 only, but also for the drama. The first sketch 

 of Wagner's libretto dates from 1851; the 

 complete text was published as early as 1862. 

 But the " Art-work of the Future " can only 

 be criticised as a vehicle for the common 

 working of all the arts when it has been bodi- 

 ly placed on the boards. That the old Norse 

 saga of the Nibelungen Treasure and Siegfried 

 the Dragon-slayer contains a strong dramatic 

 element has been shown by the numerous dra- 

 matic versions it has given rise to: for in- 

 stance, those of Raupach and Hebbel. But 

 this dramatic element rests essentially upon 

 the mighty ethical pathos that the saga con- 

 tains a pathos inferior in greatness to that of 

 none of the ancient sagas, while it in terror 

 surpasses them. 



