Hanover Browsing

I HAVE been fortunate in being able to read (so far) parts of two most impressive volumes, numbering together over 1400 pages, called Chronicles from theNineteenth Century. These are family letters of Blanche Butler and Adelbert Ames, who were married July 21, 1870. I was lucky enough to know for many years the fifth child of this marriage, the late Adelbert Ames of Hanover, one of the most talented and intelligent men I have ever known.

Great credit is due Blanche Butler Ames and Jessie Ames Marshall for seeing this mighty job through. It must have taken years of painstaking work. It is a credit to both.

Blanche Butler Ames was the daughter of the Civil War general, Benjamin F. Butler, a controversial figure in history. Adelbert Ames was a man of great talent who, before his thirtieth year, was a Major General in the Union forces, and later was a leading figure in the Reconstruction government of Mississippi. In fact he served the state both as Senator and Governor.

Volume I fortunately starts off: with most interesting letters written during the Civil War, and Volume II describes the Ames' family life and the development of their six children through the nineteenth century up to 1899.

Naturally these volumes will be most interesting to the Ames and Butler families, but they also serve history, as they throw light, both intense and intelligent, on more than forty years of United States history. Historians will find them a gold mine.

These two well-printed volumes are privately issued but I assume that many great libraries will have them on their shelves for all interested.

And while I am on the subject of history, I can recommend, at least as a fine picture book (it is a lot more than that), the American Heritage book of GreatHistoric Places issued by Simon and Schuster. The photographs are lavish, and the narrative by Richard M. Ketchum is quite adequate. Bruce Catton, as editor of American Heritage, contributes an introduction. This one is for the whole family.

A little comic relief alter this would be the Esquire Cartoon Album which reflects the semi-sophistication of that magazine for the past 25 years. I am an admirer of Pogo and Peanuts, and I love cartoons, as do most men, I think. Here is a surfeit. More than 150 of the 550 cartoons ineluded are in color. Many are on the sexy side as would be expected. As I have nothing against sex I enjoyed most of them. Doubleday distributes this for Esquire.

Any of my readers who are interested in (a) banking or (b) politics will find a definitive history in Bray Hammond's Banks and Politics in America from theRevolution to the Civil War. This is a monumental work, and the author, until his retirement, was Assistant Secretary of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington. He writes with charm as well as with authority. He is not only an authority on banking but also a classical scholar steeped in the European and American traditions. I am happy to say he is a friend and neighbor. He is now working on the second volume which will bring his history down to 1935. Princeton University Press published this immensely readable and handsome volume of 771 pages. It is a giveaway at $12.50, for it contains the work and thought of a lifetime.

I seem to be favoring history this month. I did enjoy Cozzens' thoughtful novel, ByLove Possessed, but as it is a best-seller and a book club choice it needs no description from me.

I am also reading with interest Thomas H. Raddall's The Path of Destiny, which is Volume III of the Canadian History series. This covers the period from 1763 to 1850, "Canada from the British Conquest to Home Rule." There are end-paper maps, and other maps throughout the text aid the reader.

Lillian Day has written a somewhat pedestrian account of the life of Ninon de Lanclos, described as a courtesan of quality. She was all that and more. Among her close friends were Mazarin, Richelieu, Molière, Racine, Mesdames Montespan and Maintenon, Scarron, La Rochefoucauld, Louis de Bourbon, and many others. Not all could claim to be her lovers. As she said of them: "They had confidence in my inconstancy. Each one waited his turn."

For the reader of detective fiction I recommend that you get your bookseller to import Macdonald Hastings' four Mr. Cork stories: Cork on the Water, Cork inBottle, Cork and the Serpent, and the latest which I have just finished, Corkin the Doghouse. They are guaranteed to make you Cork fans for life. Michael Joseph is the London publisher.