448 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1877. 



bab ; " the first, in its way, not absolutely a 

 masterpiece, but certainly the masterpiece of 

 its author, M. Emile Zola, who has never shown 

 his own characteristic qualities, both good and 

 bad, more clearly than in this book. It is not 

 a good book it is neither beautiful nor true ; 

 but it has been, for author and publisher, a 

 grand success. The dilettanti of realism have, 

 indeed, found in it such powerful attractions, 

 that in the course of the last few months they 

 have called for not less than 30,000 copies. 

 The book calumniates in a brutal manner the 

 working classes of Paris. In this respect it is 

 nothing better than a gross caricature ; but 

 with all its faults the book has such charms 

 for the world of readers to whom it is ad- 

 dressed, that it has been one of the great suc- 

 cesses of French literature in this year. " Le 

 Nabab," by M. Alphonse Daudet, is a book of 

 a superior class; it is, in fact, the disguised bi- 

 ography of an excellent man of his kind Fran- 

 cois Bravay. Especially to be admired in this 

 story are its sketches of several public men, 

 made conspicuous by their relations with the 

 political affairs of the Second Empire. Here 

 you will see the Due de Morny as well por- 

 trayed as M. Bravay himself, and of these two 

 the former is not the less interesting character. 



M. Charpentier has also given us this year sev- 

 eral romances that should, at least, be named: 

 "Alice," by M. Val6ry Vernier; "Trois Roses 

 dans la Rue Vivienne," by M. Gtistave Clau- 

 din; "Raymonde," by M. A. Theuriet ; "Les 

 Nouvelles Campinoises," by M. J. Wilbort; 

 "Les Oontes Choisis," by Alphonse Daudet; 

 and (last, not least) " Trois Contes," by Gus- 

 tave Flaubert, an excellent author, who writes 

 too little. In other departments of literature 

 the same firm has lately given us several no- 

 ticeable books : the " Theatre Ohoisi " of Du- 

 vert; a continuation of the "Memoires" of 

 Philarete Chasles. 



An able writer and a clever draughtsman, 

 MM. Guimet and Regamey, have conspired to- 

 gether to produce the next book to be noticed, 

 a quarto volume, entitled " Promenade Japo- 

 naise," which is instructive, amusing, and pict- 

 uresque. Above all similar books published 

 in this country, this makes us acquainted with 

 life in Japan in our own times. From the firm 

 of Didot we have "LeSiecle XVIII""," anoth- 

 er of their valuable volumes (in large 8vo), con- 

 taining a continuation of various documents, 

 literary, scientific, and artistic, all belonging 

 to the 18th century, and well edited by M. Paul 

 Lacroix. Here we not only read of facts and 

 events, we also see them. All the rich mate- 

 rials that have been collected by wealth united 

 with intelligence and with good taste have been 

 stored in the old house " de la Rue Jacob," and 

 are now displayed in the series of volumes to 

 which that here noticed J belongs. Architect- 

 ure, painting, sculpture, engraving, and the 

 industrial arts requisite for producing the mas- 

 terpieces of the fine arts, all are represented 

 well in these splendid volumes issued by the 



firm of Didot. They display the final efflores- 

 cence, the best artistic result or expression of 

 our whole national life. 



Next to M. Charpentier, the firm of M. L6vy 

 has this year succeeded best in producing the 

 books most widely circulated and translated. 

 The first to be named is, of course, the " His- 

 toire d'un Crime," by Victor Hugo, of which 

 not less than 100,000 copies have been sold 

 here, to say nothing of all the translations that 

 have found readers in other lands. 



To quite another type of literature belongs 

 the story called " Les Amours de Philippe," 

 which has also been very successful. The au- 

 thor, M. Octave Feuillet, the most amiable and 

 refined, as well as the latest, of all our roman- 

 ciers du salon, has of late made himself con- 

 spicuous only by his absence ; but now he has 

 reappeared, and all his fair readers are highly 

 delighted to find that still his style is as charm- 

 ing as ever. This book has been a great suc- 

 cess for the publishing firm of LeVy. 



Two sumptuous volumes, each in octavo size 

 and richly illustrated, have appeared lately, 

 and each deserves at least to be named respect- 

 fully. One is " Francois I"," by M. de Lescure. 

 This book shows extensive reading, and is 

 based upon many studies of original documents. 

 The other, " La Foret," by M. Eugene Muller, 

 is scientific, but at the same time is poetic, and 

 is richly illustrated with a design on almost 

 every page. The firm of Maurice Dreyfous 

 has given us, first, "Les Ascensions" of M. 

 Gaston Tissandier ; secondly, the story of a 

 " Voyage autour de 1'Afrique " made by the 

 Austrian frigate Helgoland. As regards its 

 authorship, the little book is anonymous. The 

 elaborate book, "Mythologie," by M. Dela- 

 grave, must surely be named ; for the subject 

 is treated here in accordance with the latest 

 dicta of our modern science, and moreover is 

 illustrated with 600 engravings, from the de- 

 signs of masters ancient and modern. The au- 

 thor is already a distinguished writer on geog- 

 raphy and on military tactics, and generally is 

 a large contributor to such stores of knowledge 

 as are contained in our encyclopaedias. The 

 brothers Gamier have now completed, in 20 

 volumes 8vo, their new edition of Diderot, and 

 it is, I believe, their intention next to produce, 

 in a similar form (in 46 vols. 8vo), the works 

 of Voltaire. The most careful, perhaps, of all 

 the publishers who supply us with elegant 

 reprints is M. Jouaust. He is now issuing a 

 second volume of his edition of Moliere, and 

 will republish shortly Voltaire's romances, and 

 "Les Comediens," by Sarcey. 



GERMANY. If the quality of the literature of 

 the day could be measured by its quantity, then 

 it might be pronounced to be in the highest 

 state of prosperity. According to the Horsen- 

 llatt of the German book-trade, the number of 

 books that appeared in 1876 amounted to no 

 less than 13,356, that is, 840 more than last 

 year, which numbered 12,516. To come to the 

 different classes : theology has long ago lost the 



