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LITEEATUKE, BRITISH, IN 1886. 



From the report of the Librarian of Con- 

 gress, it appears that no fewer than 7,136 of the 

 books published in 1886 have failed to perfect 

 title to copyright through non-compliance with 

 the law requiring two copies of each publica- 

 tion. This should be taken as a warning by 

 publishers and authors. The figures herewith 

 include only the actual number of publications. 

 The official return is twice as large, both copies 

 of each publication being counted : 



LITERATURE, BRITISH, IN 1886. The list of 

 the publications in Great Britain during the 

 year shows no very marked improvement on 

 1885 as regards works of importance, although 

 it covers a wider surface. More books ap- 

 peared in all the departments, excepting per- 

 haps that of poetry, and a more comprehensive 

 field of subjects was covered. Especially to be 

 noted is the tendency toward out-of-the-way 

 topics, and the opening up of new resources 

 through translation. Thus occultism has found 

 frequent expression not only in philosophical 

 treatises, but largely in fiction ; the movement 

 of exploration and colonization has brought 

 forth a crop of books descriptive of lands 

 hitherto little known, and the more recondite 

 natural phenomena have been enthusiastically 

 investigated. In the department of belles-let- 

 tres, strictly, there has been exhibited but a 

 waning interest, except where this subject, 

 like others, could be made the occasion for in- 

 quiry and technical review. Thus, biography, 

 autobiography, and analytical criticism have 

 been fruitful, and the tendency has been toward 

 a close and thorough examination of the lives 

 and works of authors rather than the repro- 

 duction of their writings. Such subjects, also, 

 as Buddhism, snpernaturalism, and mental, 

 moral, and physical evolution, have encount- 

 ered unusual scrutiny, so that altogether the 

 year may be considered as exhibiting in British 

 literature an anxious and thoughtful spirit of 

 curiosity and investigation more than a desire 

 to amuse or to interest the reader. 



Fine Arts. Of works strictly confined to the 

 theory and practice of architecture, painting, 

 sculpture, and music, while not very many 

 were published during the year, those that did 

 see the light were generally of a high char- 

 acter, and the field of illustration showed a 

 marked advance in beauty and originality of 

 design and excellence of execution. 



Prominent among such works was the auto- 

 type reproduction of one hundred of the prints 

 of the renowned Bartolozzi, the Florentine en- 

 graver, who was the grandfather of Madame 

 Vestris. A work on "Fifteenth-Century Ital- 

 ian Ornament," by Vacher ; Everitt's " English 

 Caricaturists of the Nineteenth Century " ; 

 " Ladies 1 Old-Fashioned Shoes," by Greig ; and 

 " A Book of Fac-similes of Monumental Brasses 

 on the Continent of Europe," by Creeny, are 

 also to be included in this class. In technical 

 art, of a sort, may be mentioned Miintz's work 

 on " Tapestry," translated by Davis ; Lady Al- 

 ford's " Needlework as Art " ; the seventh edi- 

 tion, illustrated, of Chaffers's "Marks and 

 Monograms on European and Oriental Porce- 

 lain " ; and Church's " Hand-Book of English 

 Porcelain." 



Architecture was represented by Mr. Francis 

 J. Parker's work on " Church-Building " ; R. 

 W. and J. W. Clarke's " Architectural History 

 of Cambridge University, England " ; and Will- 

 iam Burges's "The House" and "Designs." 

 Mr. Ruskin began a new series of monographs 

 for the young on the Cathedral of Amiens and 

 the remains at Florence. Among technical 

 books on painting there were Nutter's "Interior 

 Decoration," Field's "Colors and Pigments for 

 the Use of Artists," and Collier's "Manual of 

 Oil-Painting." 



To conclude this department there should be 

 mentioned the " Early Flemish Artists " of 

 Conway, Audesley's " Ornamental Arts," and 

 Anderson's " Pictorial Arts " of Japan. Philip 

 Gilbert Hamerton produced "Imagination in 

 Landscape-Painting," and S. R. Koehler an 

 " Essay on the Recent Development in Ameri- 

 can Art." 



A few special books on music and the drama 

 were published, including Rockstro's " General 

 History of Music," Upton's " Woman in Mu- 

 sic " and a work on the " Standard Oratorios," 

 and Archer's " About the Theatre." 



History. In archaeology and cognate subjects 

 were published during the year Torr's "Rhodes 

 in Ancient Times," Middleton's "Ancient 

 Rome in 1885," Mr. Thompson Watkin's "Ro- 

 man Cheshire," Leggett's " Notes on the Mint- 

 Forms and Coins of the Mohammedans fror 

 the Earliest Period to the Present Time," ai 

 two new volumes of Sir Walter Elliott's " Ii 

 ternational Numismata Orientalia." 



Ancient history has been considered in ". 

 syria," by Prof. Sayce ; by Rev. W. B. Wright, ii 

 " Ancient Cities " ; and Lady Magnus, in 

 lines of Jewish History." Percy Thorpe hj 

 given us a " History of Japan"; Anglo-Egyptif 

 history is covered by " Egypt and the Soudan " 

 of Prince Ibrahim-Hilmy, and Major de Cos- 

 son's "Days and Nights of Service at Suakin." 



In ecclesiastical history we have Hore's " The 

 Church in England from William III to Vic- 

 toria," Gillon's "Literary and Biographical 

 History of English Catholics" from 1534 to 

 the present time, Amherst's " History of Cath- 

 olic Emancipation and the Catholic Church in 



