? This book has been “boycotted” by Messrs Mudie and Messrs W. H. Smith & Son as being “unfit to circulate in their libraries,” yet it has been praised by the press as being “a powerful sermon and a moral book.”

Daily Telegraph.—“A book by an anonymous author always arouses a certain inquiry, and when the book is clever and original the interest becomes keen, and conjecture is rife, endowing the most unlikely people with authorship.… It is very brilliant, very forcible, very sad.… It is perfect in its way, in style clear, sharp and forcible, the dialogue epigrammatic and sparkling.… Enough has been said to show that ‘The Hypocrite’ is a striking and powerful piece of work, and that its author has established his claim to be considered a writer of originality and brilliance.”

Literature.—“The story strikes the fresh note of having been lived, experienced, and does not come to one as a stale invention. There is human nature in it, and passion, of a kind: tragedy too.… We should say, ‘Read the book by all means.’”

Echo.—“Its general air of out-Bourget-ing Bourget. You will ‘see life’ in its story, no doubt, for it has a measure of pathos, insight and power, but most certainly you will not see life steadily.”

Morning Leader.—“Vivid with the strange lusts and cruel desires of an imagination enslaved to the body … powerful enough in the imaginative treatment of the characters.… The luridness is simply Titanic.”

M. A. P.—“Very light and dainty in its tone. ‘In Monte Carlo’ is a typical example of the work of the great Polish writer.… It is the old, old tale of a man with a maid—plus a lady with the instincts of the vampire, who lives in the gambling hell of Europe.”

Pall Mall Gazette.—“It is beyond all question the work of a great artist. It is subtly analytical and psychologically true. So triumphant is the art of the Polish novelist that we follow the story with lively sympathy and unflagging interest.… It is always interesting; the clear, able and convincing portrayal of the two leading characters gives the book its chief value. There are wise sayings and occasional epigrams, and the thumbnail sketches of Mrs Elsen’s lovers are wholly admirable.”

Monitor.—“‘My Lady Ruby’ is charming, and as witty as she is charming.… ‘John Basileon’ evinces imagination and subtlety of a highly vivid and intense quality. The note of the book is modern, but of a modernity far removed from that of the term understood by the French Symbolists and the English Degenerates. Messrs Greening & Co. are to be congratulated on a publication which is likely to arouse considerable attention in those literary circles from which approbation is praise indeed.”

Graphic.—“The volume will please and amuse numberless people.”

Pall Mall Gazette.—“A pleasant, cheery story. Displays a rich vein of robust imagination.”

Standard.—“There are many pleasant pages in ‘Fame, the Fiddler,’ which reminds us of ‘Trilby,’ with its pictures of Bohemian life, and its happy-go-lucky group of good-hearted, generous scribblers, artists and playwrights. Some of the characters are so true to life that it is impossible not to recognise them. Among the best incidents in the volume must be mentioned the production of Pryor’s play, and the account of poor Jimmy Lambert’s death, which is as moving an incident as we have read for a long time. Altogether, ‘Fame, the Fiddler’ is a very human book, and an amusing one as well.”

St James’s Budget.—“A volume characteristic of the author’s splendid powers.”

M. A. P.—“Mr Kennedy writes powerfully, and can grip the reader’s imagination, or whirl it off into the strangest domains of glamour and romance at will.… There is a future for this clever young man from Tipperary. He will do great things.”

Critic.—“Of a highly imaginative order, and distinctly out of the ordinary run.… The author has a remarkable talent for imaginative and dramatic presentation. He sets before himself a higher standard of achievement than most young writers of fiction.”

Cork Herald.—“Gracefully written, easy and attractive in diction and style, the stories are as choice a collection as we have happened on for a long time. They are clever; they are varied; they are fascinating. We admit them into the sacred circle of the most beautiful that have been told by the most sympathetic and skilled writers.… Mr Kennedy has a style, and that is rare enough nowadays—as refreshing as it is rare.”

Lady.—“A thrilling romance with a mediÆval atmosphere, although the scene is laid in the Cotswolds in the year of grace 1898. The story is well constructed, and is a good example of the widely-imaginative type of fiction that is so eagerly devoured by young people nowadays.”

Eastern Morning News.—“Readers will be fascinated by the stirring scenes, the swiftly-moving panorama, the enacted tragedies, the wild, passionate, lawless loves depicted in the most sensational manner in this volume.”

Outlook.—“The book is both humorous and dramatic.”

Vanity Fair.—“The author has a peculiar knowledge of the ‘Halls’ and those who frequent them; and especially, as it seems to us, of those Jewish persons who sometimes run them. And he has made good use of his knowledge here. But there is more than this in the book; for ‘George Martyn’ has considerable descriptive talent. His account, for instance, of the fight between the hero and the butcher is quite good. The story is straightforward, convincing, and full of human nature and promise.”

The Outlook.—“Mr Bart Kennedy, a young writer of singular imaginative gifts, and a style as individual as Mr Kipling’s.… The writing of this story is strongly original in manner.… A powerful book.”

Weekly Times.—“‘The Wandering Romanoff’ is really good work.… We have read nothing finer for a long while.”