SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



81 



Life and Letters of Gilbert White of Selborne. 

 Written and edited by Eashleigh Holt-White. 

 xxv + 630 pp., 9 in. x 6 in. In 2 vols. With 36 plates 

 and a sheet of pedigree. (London : John Murray. 

 1901.) 32s. 



This is the most important and trustworthy of 

 the many editions of White's " Natural History of 

 Selborne." Mr. Holt- White, who has written the 

 Life and edited the letters, has had exceptional 

 opportunity, as he is great-grandnephew of the 

 naturalist. Mr. Holt-White has therefore had 

 access to the family papers, and in consequence 

 of his connection, received the ready assistance 

 of others who were in a position to aid him in his 

 research. The editor, in his preface, commences 

 by announcing that he is not a naturalist, so that 



to the public, once and for all, an edition 

 which could be held to be authoritative. It 

 is evident that he has been most painstaking 

 and conscientious, and the result is that Eash- 

 leigh Holt-White's edition of the " Natural 

 History of Selborne " will have to be in every 

 important library in this country and America, 

 whether of a public character or that of a lover 

 of Nature. The general production of the book is 

 worthy of its publisher, and the illustrations are 

 admirable ; one, that of Annie Holt, being 

 deliciously tinted. In fact, we may say that the 

 artistic merit of this edition is of high order. By 

 permission of the publisher we reproduce a view of 

 Selborne as we ourselves have seen it from " The 

 Hanger." There is a good deal in the two volumes 



Selbohne, prom the Common above " The Haxger." 

 From Holt-White's " Selborne." 



we have really a more valuable record of the family 

 history. In some of the former editions of White's 

 " Selborne " the author has been obscured by the 

 editor's comments on his writings. Not that Mr. 

 Holt-White has entirely neglected the Nature 

 notes, as they have been supervised, with judi- 

 cious comments, by Professor Newton, who has not 

 only advised the author with regard to them, but 

 permitted his notes to appear above his initials. 

 In his preface Mr. Holt-White protests with regret 

 that " erroneous statements concerning the philo- 

 sopher of Selborne were constantly occurring in 

 proportion to the interest taken in him, which 

 seems to be ever-increasing." It was this which 

 led the writer of the Life before us to give 



that is new in connection with the naturalist, 

 especially a number of family portraits, the 

 frontispiece of each volume being embellished by 

 a picture, in the one case of the grandfather, and 

 in the other of the father of Gilbert White. With 

 regard to that in Volume I. it would have been 

 well to have stated in the list of illustrations that 

 it is of the grandfather, as those who do not 

 know that there is no known portrait of the 

 naturalist might mistake it for him. Notwith- 

 standing the apparently high price of these 

 volumes, we can assure our readers that not 

 only are they well worth the money, but we be- 

 lieve they will soon be at a premium among book- 

 buyers. 



