REDUCED FROM 46 THOMAS NAST'S CHRISTMAS DRAWINGS FOR THE HUMAN RACE." Copyright, 1889, by Harper & Brothers. = Harper & Brothers' List of Books Suited for Holiday Presents. Boswell's Johnson. Edition de Luxe. Boswell's Life of Johnson, including Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Heb rides, and Johnson's Diary of a Journey into North Wales. Edited by George BIRKBECK HILL, D.C.L., Pembroke College, Oxford. Edition de Luxe. In Six Volumes. Large 8vo, Bound in Fine Leather with Cloth Sides, Gilt Tops and Uncut Edges, with many Portraits, Views, Fac-similes, &c., $30 00. Edition ited to 300 copies, each copy of which is numbered. The Boyhood of Christ. By Lew. Wallace. The Boyhood of Christ. By LEW. WALLACE, Author of "Ben-Hur," &c. 14 Ben-Hur. By Lew. Wallace: Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. By LEW. WALLACE. PP. 552. 16mo, Cloth, $1 50; Half Leather, $2 00; Three-quarter Leather, $2 50; Half Calf, $3 00: Full Leather, $3 50; Three-quarter Crushed Levant, 4 00. Doré's London. London: A Pilgrimage. Illustrations by GUSTAVE DORE. The Raven. Illustrated by Doré. Letter-press by The Raven. By EDGAR ALLAN PCE. Illustrated by GUSTAVE RE The Ancient Mariner. 1 ;*ed. Gi Illustrated by Do The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. By SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. trated by GUSTAVE DORÉ. Folio, Cloth, Gilt Edges, $10 00. (In a Box.) Knox's New Book for Boys. The Boy Travellers in Mexico. By THOMAS W. KNOX. Profusely Illustra pp. xx., 552. Square 8vo, Ornamental Cloth, $3 00. THOMAS W. KNOX'S BOOKS. Richly Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental. THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN MEXICO, $3 00.-THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN AUSTE "Harper's Young People" for 1889. Vol. With about 750 Illustrations and about 900 Pages. 4to, Cloth, Ornam $350. Vols. VIII. and IX., $3 50 each. Vols. I. to VII. out of print. 8 From" Little One's Annual for 1890." Estes & Lauriat. (Copyright, 1889, by Russell Pub. Co.) [FOR CONTENTS AND INDEX, SEE PAGE 98.] From Christmas Stories and Poems for the Little Ones." (Copyright, 1889, by J. B. Lippincott Co.) Hail, blessed Christmas morn, When Christ, a child, was born. From "Lorna Doone." (Copyright, 1889, by Burrows Bros. Co.) SAW three ships come sailing in, come sailing in, come sailing in . . On Christmas day in the morning." It is an allegory, this quaint old carol, of everybody's dream. Every one's ship comes home on Christmas morning, into the fair haven of Heart's Desire. The ship which we signal sails into port from the sea of literature, and brings cargo of good thoughts and pleasant picturings. What visions of anticipation, what delights of realization, come with these bright days of the Christmas-tide! The gifts which overflow the child's stocking, or fill the Christmas bookshelf of the elder who is again a child when "Christmas comes again," are pleasant tokens of something that is very deep down in the heart of human nature love to our kind, delight in the happiness of others, good-will and peace among gentle men. There is no holy-day with so many legends, allegories, and associations, and they are all cheerful: the ships come in, the Christmas stars shine welcome, the reindeer of Santa Claus dash from the frigid North into the warmth of the chimney corner, dear St. Nicholas himself, under as many names as there are languages in Christendom, beams upon us, the Christmas tree typifies the gifts of bounteous nature, the Christmas stocking is the horn of plenty, the Christmas chimes ring out, the Christmas waits sing carols-high above is the angelic choir, sounding its roundelay. It is above all the season of gifts, for it was on this most solemn and most cheerful of days that the great Giver gave to his children the great Gift. Gentle reader-and at Christmas time we are all gentle-here is a modest foretaste of the feast. The name of the CHRISTMAS BOOKSHELF tells its story. It is a bill of fare illustrated as it were with choice tid-bits of the viands set forth for your delectation by your humble servants, the makers of books. Months ago, when the smack of last Christmas's plum-pudding and mince pie was not forgotten from your palate, and when this Christmas was so far off that you did not even dream about it, authors, artists, engravers, printers were already busy at the call of the publishers who were thinking ahead for you. They are always the advance-guard of Santa Claus. Nobody works so hard to please him-and you, as do they. And how much the makers of books have done to make Christmas what it is! How much kindly feeling has been sprinkled over this world from the torch of that ghost of Christmas Present which Charles Dickens conjured in his "Christmas Carol." How much good has been done by that one Christmas verse in Thackeray's "The End of the Play." |