PUBLISHERS' NOTES. L' EST some who may be interested have not noticed our prize offer for articles, we here repeat the announcement made in our January number. To aid in the cause of local history, THE CONNECTICUT MAGAZINE has decided to offer prizes to undergraduates of the high or preparatory schools in Connecticut that fit pupils for a college or university, as follows: FIRST. A cash prize of $10 for the best article on Major General Israel Putnam, the article to be not less than 3,000 or more than 4,000 words. A framed picture of Gen. Putnam will also be given to the school to which the successful competitor belongs. SECOND. A cash prize of $10 will be given for the best article on any local historical subject. Choice of subject, such as biography, town history or description of local place or occurrence, to be optional with competitor. Length to be not fewer than 2,000 or more than 4,000 words. Illustrations, either photographs or drawings, or both, may be furnished in either of the above competitions and will be taken into consideration in the awards. The manuscript must be submitted on or before March 1, 1899, signed with a fictitious name and accompanied by the name and address of the author in a separate, sealed envelope, which will not be opened until the decision has been made. The manuscript must not have been published. The editor, at his discretion, may withhold the award in any class in case no manuscript is thought worthy of the prize. The successful competitors will be announced in the April number and their articles published sometime during the year. In case of no award, no article will be published. THE CONNECTICUT MAGAZINE reserves the right to print any of the prize manuscripts upon the payment of $2 for each one used. It has been decided, since the announcement in our last number to have the second article of the series on "Iron Mining in Connecticut" appear in the February number, to run the articles in every other number instead of consecutive numbers, as at first planned. The second of the series will therefore appear in the March number, the third and concluding one in May. LITERATURE BOOK NOTES AND REVIEWS. "THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND," by John Fiske. Illustrated Edition. 8 vo. $4.00; half calf, gilt top, or half polished morocco, $6.25. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. Smith & McDonough, Hartford. The lectures originally given in various places by Professor Fiske upon this subject are here brought together and placed before the public in a manner that leaves nothing to be desired. The reader or student of history will here find a treasurehouse of information, treated in a most exhaustive and scholarly manner. Upon the ability of the author in writing history houses, churches, and reproductions of rare documents, maps and title-pages of books, the author in his preface says that nothing is admitted for the mere sake of embellishment, but only those that possess real historical value. Some portraits are here published for the first time-chief among them that of the regicide, William Goffe. The Notes on the Illustrations, are copious and interesting, making sixteen pages alone. The book is thoroughly indexed and withal is gotten up in most handsome and attractive style. impartially and philosophically, it is need- BROTHERS OF THE BOOK less for us to comment. His assured position in the field of historical research renders any praise from us superfluous. Suffice it to say that the 300 pages, comprising six chapters, entitled as follows: The Roman Idea and the English Idea, GOUVERNEUR NEW YORK The Puritan Exodus, The Planting of New England, The New England Confederacy, King Philip's War, The Tyranny of Andros, are all treated in their the various phases and brought to a well-balanced completeness, in a style that is most fascinating and instructive. Of the illustrations, nearly two hundred in number, comprising thirteen photogravures, more than sixty autographs, and over one hundred and twenty portraits, In the "BROTHERS OF THE BOOK," whose plate is reprinted above, we find another of those delightful attempts toward the centralization of a few book lovers and literary-minded folk, for purposes of mutual stimulation and sympathy;-this time at Gouverneur, New York, by Laurence C. Woodworth. The Association reprinted, last year, Kipling's "Vampire," the "Confessio Amantis" of Richard Le Gallienne, and Walter Pater's essay, "The Conclusion," these in exceptionally dainty pamphlet form. The latest output from the Adirondack press in the name of the esoteric Brotherhood, is a slender volume of verses by Claude Fayette Bragdon, entitled "The Golden Person In The Heart." The book derives its name from its initial poem being a metrical presentation, at some length, of certain of the teachings of Brahmanism, as set forth in the Upanishads and other sacred books of the East. The very limited edition of three hundred and fifty copies, is already nearly exhausted, which fact must prove to Mr. Woodworth, the satisfaction with which his modest venture has been received. We learn that the society has now in preparation a graceful brochure to be circulated upon St. Valentine's Day. HARTFORD IN HISTORY. A Series of Papers by Resident Authors; Edited by Willis I. Twitchell, Principal of the Arsenal School, Hartford Conn. 258 pp. and index. Cloth, Price $1.00. This book, which is just published, is primarily intended as a reading book for the school room, the editor explains, that the child may "make use of those great historical facts which may be made concrete by familiar scenes and objects, to inspire the child with higher ideals of honesty and business integrity, and to lead him into the knowledge of his own relationship to the industrial, social and civil institutions of his city and country." Although the book is thus put out for the children of to-day who are "reading to learn" as well as learning to read, we find upon examination that it has equal interest and instruction for the adult reader. The different chapters treat of Hartford from the earliest times to the present. Mr. Twitchell has shown a wise discrim |