AT the time this is written it is of course too early to pick the favorites of the fall. It is clear, however, both from the publishers’ announcements and from those titles which have already appeared, that there will be no lack of attractive books to fetch people into the bookshops. I shall run no risk by predicting that Angel Pavement, by J. B. Priestley (Harper), will find its way into a good many homes, that Jeb Stuart, by Captain John Thomason (Scribner), will be one of the most glamorous biographies of the season, and that Memories and Vagaries, by Dr. Axel Munthe (Dutton), will be sought for by three out of five of those who read The Story of San Michele. Incidentally the royalties earned by the latter volume have been expended by Dr. Munthe on a bird sanctuary at Capri, which is to remain a preserve after his death. The income from his Swedish edition is to go for bird sanctuaries in Sweden. A fine action, recalling as it does the will of the late W. H. Hudson. . . . It is interesting to observe that of the tall novels reviewed in these columns thus far one is priced at $3.00, three at $2.50, and four at $2.00. . . . In the October Scribner’s, as some will have seen, the generously disposed William Lyon Phelps enumerates his choice of the one hundred best novels of all time. His list, which might serve as a New Year Resolution for the conscientious, is composed of thirty English authors, twelve American, nine French, four Russian, three German, three Scandinavian, and one Polish
THE BOOKSHELF’S List of prominent books in 1929-1930 will be sent free on request to the Editor