Leather Books

I couldn't believe that I got this Bible the day after I ordered it!! One suggestion to other Marine Recruit Moms, I had several people write encouraging notes to my son and then I put them in various places in the Bible. That way when he got the Bible he also got lots of reminders that there were people back home that loved him and are very proud of him.

I really enjoyed this Bible. I bought it for my brother, who is obsessed with the Marines. I love its compact size and leather bound cover. The details are really there, and it looks like someone really cared about the marine it was going to. I also love at the back there are prayers, songs, hymns, and devotions for a marine on the go, with an index to point to scripture references. Very good, it is like a devo and Bible on the go.

my son was going in the marines right after graduation, so I got him this as a grduation gift. It has prayers from president Washington to Bush. I saw my son reading it a lot the week before he went in.

I purchased this bible for my son before he left for bootcamp the first of March. He also recieved one at his farewell party. He was so glad to have them and has one with him. I looked all over for the right size of bible to get him and found this on Amazon. This is the perfect gift for anyone to purchase a Marine.

My husband and I presented this Bible to our son as a gift prior to entering boot camp. The Marine Corps is very particular about what a recruit can bring with him/her when they enter boot camp. One of the very few things they are allowed to bring is a personal Bible, and then, only if it is small enough to fit in the recruit's pocket. We were very happy to know that this Bible met the requirements and he was allowed to bring it with him. On top of that, it was a very handsome book with the USMC seal embossed in gold on the front. We were very, very pleased with it.

The Hunting of the Snark is a whacky piece of poetical silliness by Lewis Caroll. Complete nonsense, no-one knows what a Snark is, or why Snark hunters hunt it, or why anyone would want to become a Snark hunter to start with. Anyway, the poem is definitely amusing at times with some of the humour he slips in.

The Hunting of the Snark seems to be a very, very short imitation of The Canterbury Tales. The first chapter (titled a fit) introduces all of the occupations of all the different people going on a journey. However, instead of going on a general pilgrimage and telling tales along the way, their trip is very specific to hunting.

The Baker actually attempts to tell a story, but the Bellman (who leads the group) says there's no time for storytelling. They have to catch the Snark before nightfall.

Along with the Bellman and Baker, a Banker, a Bonnet-maker, a Butcher, a Boots, a Billiard-maker, a Barrister, a Broker, and a Beaver tag along to hunt for the Snark. The Beaver is afraid of getting cut by the Butcher, so he puts on a dagger-proof coat and talks to the Banker about buying an insurance policy.

The Beaver is involved in a hilarious scene with the Butcher later, when the two attempt to compute sums. But perhaps the funniest scene of the entire book is in the Barrister's dream when the Snark declares sentence on a pig, only to find out the pig has been dead long before the trial even began.

I'd highly recommend this short poem for Carroll fans, even though it's not big enough to contain but a small portion of what's to be found in the Alice books.

I have read a great deal of nonsense in the past, but this was by far the best nonsense that I have ever read. There is no point, no meaning, no sense, and no boringness. It is a delightful poem (which is well written and very fun to read aloud) about a crew on a ship hunting a snark. The crew includes a captain who only rings a bell, a beaver, a cook who only cooks beavers (the beaver and the cook did not get along well), a man afraid that the snark would turn into a boojum and make him disappear, etc. As you can tell, this makes for an insanely silly poem. The subtitle is rather fitting, as my sides were definitely hurting from laughter when I was done. Well done Mr. Carroll.

Overall grade: A+

Nonsense poems can easily miss the mark
Yet, this masterpiece has that spark.

"How do you kill a _____?", you ask
To find the answer was the hunters' task.

"What was their fate?", you wonder
Did they ever catch their elusive plunder?

A paragon of haunting Carollian lore
Be in no doubt that you'll finish wanting more.

This poem is just great!

First, this one of the most delightful pieces of writing that ever appeared in (more or less) English. It succeeds as a sustained exercise in illogic. I am sure that only a mathematical logician like Dodgson could possibly have pulled it off - only someone with such deep understanding of reason could master unreason so completely.

Second, Martin Gardner's commentary adds depth and background to the reading. Gardner explains terms that are now obsolete, but also adds his own analysis and a rich history of the Snark phenomenon. It should be no surprise that Gardner is still best known as the long-time editor of Scientific American's column on Mathematical Games, a mathematician himself.

I can't add much to the scholarship or praise that already surrounds this incredible poem. I would like to point out, however, that most non-native English speakers are unfamiliar with this poem. Many of them have only ever seen the serious side of the English language, and have never seen English at play. I consider this short work to be the ideal introduction to the very best of English-language nonsense.

//wiredweird

I am an artist, and this book has to be one of the loveliest I've ever seen. The drawings are magical. But beyond the art, the story is magical as well. Who among us hasn't noticed a gnarled old tree, and wondered about its story? This is a delightful take on history.

When I first saw the book, I was stunned by the originality and beauty of the artwork. Then when I looked inside and read it, I just fell in love with the story. I love trees anyway, and don't we all often wonder what tales they could tell if they could talk? This wonderful old tree stands right along the Santa Fe trail and so has tales to tell of history that is fascinating to all ages. I bought several for my grandchildren, and I consider them heirloom books which they will pass down to their children. There is so much to fascinate children--the story, the artwork, the intriguing lettering, and most of all the idea that trees and nature are worthy of respect and care. I highly recommend this book.

This book is a great way to teach a child a bit of Kansas history and to appreciate old trees. Each turning of a page is a wonder - to closely look at the art work and discover all that is there.

If This Old Tree Could Talk To Me! is a children's picturebook featuring gaily ornamented rhymes and vibrant colored pencil illustrations to recount the wonderful moments an ancient tree has observed over the course of its life. "Buffalo once gathered / To graze beneath my boughs. / And once, a loving couple / Stood below to say their vows." A sense of wonder and longevity permeate this thoroughly enjoyable tale, ideal for read-aloud sharing with young people.

Speaking from the perspective of an early childhood educator and mother, this book has so much to offer children and adults alike. This book could be used in the classroom or at your child's bedside as a springboard for many discussions about science, Kansas history, timelines, and sociology. The words spring to life on each page! I love the visual detail they add! The rhyming text and artwork keeps children's interest making them want to revisit each page. I hope Jancy Morgan has many more ideas to share with us! We look forward to collecting and reading many other books by her!

This is a really good study bible for someone who is at a bible teaching church. While in the commentary and footnotes there may be some views that are strongly opinionated, the good heavily outweighs the bad.

In all my study and biblical research, I still find this bible to be a great tool that can used for anyone who is saved and led by God in their studies. He will give you and understanding of what you are reading and your spirit will bear witness to not only the teaching in the footnotes, but even the definitions to biblical terms throughout the scripture.

I will recommend this to everyone looking to seek God and understand the Kingdom.

The King James Study Bible is a very good study guide it has helped me and my husband in our bible study class that we have weekley. If you want to understand the bible and what it has to say this is a great book.

I lost my Liberty Baptist Study Bible and I was felt lost without it.
I searched Amazon for another study Bible with a good concordance and
commentary notes on important verses. Lo and behold the King James Study
Bible was all that I was searching for and much more. I urge all you
avid Bible students to get this Bible if you don't have it. Solomon Price

This is an excellent study bible. It gives great references and brings points together in a cohesive way.

I truly enjoy this book. I can look up almost anything that I may not understand in the KJV and get my answer.
The footnotes are very important in our Bible Study. It helps to make it easy for everyone to understand a certain scripture.
Some words do not mean what they say. Such as "Church" in some scripture. It could mean that "We are the church" and not an actual building.
A must have with whatever bible one reads.

I bought this small ZIPPERED bible about two years ago. It still looks new even after hopping over five countries and sitting in my side pockets on a daily basis while I work and paint. It'd be cool if O'Neil, Body Glove, or Rib Curl manufactures come up with a water-resistant zipper so I can surf with it too.

If you want accuracy of translation AND readability then GET THIS BIBLE.
It fits into a shirt pocket easily and you have HIS word with you anywhere you go. You'll be amazed how much more often you read it when it is with you.

In my experience, this could be the best Bible to share His Word with. Rather than reaching for a huge black giant print Bible that literally "thumps" into your hand, this tiny little Bible (that I find very easy to read with bifocals and 50 year old eyes) just is NOT intimidating to someone showing an initial interst in God's Word. The most likely response becomes, "Is that the entire Bible? Can it really be that small?" Suddenly, the Holy Bible seems a lot less intimidating to a potental new Christian. Their next response will likely be, "Can I see it?" ...and there is the true value and the simple wonder of this nicely made little Bible. I guarantee you'll feel wonderful when you see someone take His Word into their hands for perhaps the very first time and when they do, filled with curiosity and free of any intimidation, its a very good thing. I truly believe that there is a special power when someone is willing (and even wanting) to take a Bible into their own hands. That's also a wonderful time to give it away, so buy several of these tiny yet Powerful Bibles.

Whatever happened to zippered Bibles? They were so common when I was a little kid (and I had/have one). They are so practical because they protect so well. I was delighted to find the NASB Updated translation in a zipper version. It travels in my briefcase where a regular Bible would get its edges all messed up. I would've been happy with a simulated leather cover for this use, but the bonded leather is okay. Small print, but I can read it easily without my bifocals. As for the translation, either you want the most accurate or you don't. I'm no genius but I don't need a 'readable' Bible--this one reads just fine for me. I have been an owner of the 'old' NASB and rarely can I tell the difference between the two. Highly recommended for a Bible on the go!

I was looking for the right Bible to be able to stick in my pocket and take with me anywhere. This one is great. It zips up to protect the pages, the cover is durable, and it's just the right size (for what I wanted to do with it).

The is an all around Finely crafted bible. Vastly superior to Nelson's "Signature Series" for one reason. Although Nelson claims the signature series bibles use the "best bible paper" available it is simply not true. They use the same cheap paper in all the bibles they publish causing very distracting bleed through. Not so with Foundation's high end bibles, the paper, leather, binding are all top quality, and all for a better price than most other bibles in this class. So if you like the NASB you won't find a better crafted, very readable bible anywhere.

I was in need of a large print Bible and wanted a New American Standard Version, so I went online to see what was out there. I discovered this Bible at a very reduced price at Amamzon.com and took advantage of their offer. I am very happy with my purchase and I use this Bible to preach out of every Sunday morning at my church. Thanks Amamzon.com for your help!

Foundation has really outdone themselves with this beautiful publication of God's Holy Word. Everything in this Bible is produced with excellence, from the deluxe calfskin binding to the high quality paper. Best of all, it comes with a lifetime guarantee. I cannot express enough superlatives about this Bible. If you are a NASB user and are in the market for a high quality reference Bible which should last a lifetime, I don't believe this will in any way disappoint you.

I simply cannot believe the quality of this bible!

The binding, leather, choice of paper, print clarity easily deserves 10 stars. I recently purchased an ESV Heirloom Reference Edition in calfskin that I was EXTREMELY pleased with, but this bible even out-does that one.

A few things to note:

1. The bible is not an ultrathin as the name states. It is exactly the same size as my leather NIV Scofield and about 25% thinner than my MacArthur Study Bible in size and thickness. It feels like a study bible, not like a thin reference bible.

2. The calfskin leather is absolutely of top quality. It is soooo soft.

3. The paper is not shiny, nor is it too thin where you can see the text from the opposite side of the page. It is a very smooth paper that makes the print very crisp and well defined. This is probably the best bible paper I've seen used in a bible.

4. The print is extremely crisp & dark. It is slightly bigger than my Scofield and is VERY easy to read.

5. The binding is Smith sewn and is very well done. The bible comes with a lifetime guarantee, so even if something should happen, they will replace it with a new one.

This bible is worth every penny paid for it!

Foundations Publications, in my opinion, can make a Bible like no-one else. Whether it be Leather-Like, Bonded Leather, genuine Leather, or Calfskin, they all are sewn bindings, and excellent quality leathers. None of this gar-bage that most other publishers make. No glue-bound dreck. However: this calfskin edition, as all Foundations calfskin editions, is not like the leather on the Cambridge Bibles(which, I feel, are declining in quality, by the way.) This is like a soft shoe, with no particular odour. I do find the ribbon-marker to be substandard, only because it is too short. The print is good, maybe 10-11 point. There are no added helps like Book Intros, or a Harmony of the Gospels. I wouldn't call this a Thinline edition, either. However, if this is going to be your main Bible, go ahead and spring the extra bucks for it. It is definitely worth it. No Bible is physically perfect, but this one certainly is in the running for it!

What is the actual implication of this fictitious work? Isn't there a serious, profound and truthful lessons in this love story so down-to-earth but yet so complex?

Marianela, a love story published in 1878 portrays a relationship between a blind man and his guide-- not beautiful a woman, whom he imagines attractive. Loving him she worries that once the man recovers his eyesight realizes she is not as pretty as he thinks her to be.

The author wisely crafts an interesting symbolism between the capacity to see, which is always spiritual and emotional, and on the other hand the human eyesight which can be inadequate, restrictive and misleading.

The implication that runs through the whole story is that adversity is a blessing in disguise, since blindness forces him to be humble enough to perceive the beauty she and others manifest. Once he recovers his eyesight and sees her for the first time with his human eyes, he rejects her.

Wasn't he in possession of real sight while blind than when he was able to recover his sight and to humanly see? Isn't Perez Galdos message, that the capacity to see and understand is mental, emotional and not necessarily physical?

Finally I can say this classic must be understood as a lesson on the spiritual superiority over the evidence presented by the human senses. This emotionally complex story has a symbolism, it will teach a lesson to whoever is receptive enough to its deeper meaning.

I am a young "Anglo-American" (white) girl living in a Texas/Mexican border town with a 98% hispanic community, and am on my way to learning the language fluently. I read this book in my Spanish class, and nearly died from the beauty of this book! It has helped me along with recognizing and comprehending Spanish along with leaving me a satisfied reader. Someday when I speak fluent Spanish, I will read this to my daughter and am sure it will be her favorite bed-time story. :-)

Seeing as though I couldn't get the real Marianela quickly, this one suited quite well, perhaps even better. I had to write a paper on it and the simplified language made mush easier to understand.

Pablo, a rich blind boy is madly in love with poor Marianela. Things go smooth until renowned Doctor Teodoro Golfín offers to cure up Pablo's eyes. Marianela, who thinks she is ugly is afraid that when he starts seeing, he'll see how ugly(on the surface) she really is. Her fears are confirmed when he falls for his beautiful cousin Florentina, who doesn't treat Marianela too well. She is so attached to Pablo that if she doesn't look beautiful for him, she won't be any use to him. A very destructive point of view which she sticks to. It's a tragic ending but it's common in most Spanish-language stories.

I must admit that this book didn't pick my interest when I started reading it in My Spanish AP class in high school. Now after reading it I have to say that this book is wonderfully written and very educational.
Marianela is a girl who lives in The Mines of Socartes, she is the guide of a rich boy who suffers fom blindness Pablo. I loved Marianela's character since the first pages, she is so full of life, so innocent. All her life she lived out of the pity of others but it didn't matter to her. Pablo "said" he loved her and she lived in this illusion where she thought that she would finally be loved and not criticized by her looks.
Then, everything changed when Teodoro Golfin, a miracle doctor gave Pablo his sight. That's when everything changed. When Pablo saw what Marianela really looked like, he just started treating her horribly. Where did all his love go? I have to say that by the end of the book I hated Pablo with a passion. How can someone be so cynical as to tell a person how beautiful she is without really seeing the exterior appearance and then being disgusted by what he sees when he looks at how that person really looks? Sadly that's what happens with Pablo and it would have been better if he had stay blind.
This book bring some things that are really important. True beauty is on the inside, never judge someone by their exterior appearace because you might be surprised. True beauty is not something that you can see or touch, beauty has to be felt.
I highly recomend this book, it will touch your heart I promise

Whether you are new to studying the Bible or experienced, this Bible will really add depth to your understanding and hopefully to your faith. This New Living Translation is easy to read and it will speak to your heart. The notes in the Life Application Study Bible will help any reader to apply the scriptural truths to their own lives and to deepen their relationship with God.

I was very pleased with the product. It was exactly what I was looking for and the price was the best I could find. Thank you.

As a newly active Christian at age 46 I was to say the least overwhelmed at all the Bible choices available.
I looked at most of them, bought a few but this is the one that I use daily. The NLT is very easy to read and the study notes and articles are exceptional.
Its been said again and again but is worth repeating. The best Bible for any individual is the Bible you will actually use!!
PLEASE PLEASE do NOT listen to people that say only certain Bible translations are acceptable. We all can't be scholars and some of us were not raised from infancy on the classic KJV and find it easy to undrstand.
No, some of us come to know God later in life and need all the help we can get. The NLT is not a perfect word for word translation but it conveys the true meaning of Gods words and intentions in a very accurate and beautiful way. The next Bible I get will probably be in the NKJV translation and I will use the 2 side by side.

I am no young un and my eyes are even older BUT this LARGE PRINT Study Bible is absolutely the very BEST! Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could own an Life Application Bible, let alone one with the New Living Translation [which is great!]. But my dreams have come true! If you need a great print and a great study Bible this is the one!!!!!!!
Am so excited that I am going to start at the beginning! And read, study, and pray over it!
What a blessing and a grace!
thanks Tyndale!!! and thanks amazon for allowing me to 'Look Inside' and see the print. You guys are the greatest!

Excellent study bible - makes scripture easy to understand and apply in everyday life becaue of the comments at bottom of each page with regard to chapters and verses. It is the best bible I've ever had. In fact, so good I'm giving it as gifts to others who are having trouble with understanding the bible.

Bought this for my husband. We both love it. Very nicely bound in leather with lots of devotionals throughout.

This is a great resource that focuses on Christian leadership.

It's very easy to understand and it really opens up the Scripture for the reader who wants to grow in their leadership abilites.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to grow in the Lord and become a better leader.

Tiffany Godfrey, [...]

Our church has used the Maxwell Leadership Bible over the past 3 years to equip current and future leaders. We give this resource to over 80 committee and team moderators, to share the many leadership qualities and lessons based on scripture. The response has been very positive and folks are grateful for the recognition and support.

This is an excellent tool to have on hand for those that are in leadership roles in the workplace. I really love how the scriptures highlight the leadership abilities of those mentioned in the bible. I highly recommend this bible if you want to be inspired to be a better leader and witness as a christian.

Just bought it yesterday to replace my Spirit Filled Life NKJV and it's fantastic! The layout is interesting and makes reading again lots of fun!

I'm beginning to realize that George Gissing is an author who is relatively unknown by the general public but who is frequently studied/referenced by academics. The main reason why I think this is true (and this relates to the book at hand) is that Gissing himself had more of an academic temperament than a writing temperament. He was very adept at analyzing the world around him and commenting on it to a point of depressing realism, but he wasn't a storyteller. In fact, he struggled with creating enough storylines in order to support himself. Thus, while his books give impressive looks at Victorian life, they don't always leave a reader fully satisfied.

Why do I say this so confidently? Well, as Gissing was particularly self-aware and as he was particularly oppressed when writing "New Grub Street," in this novel he writes about what it's like to be a writer in London in the 1880's and 1890's. He essentially writes about his own life and those he find around him, all of whom are trying to make a living on writing.

Gissings seems to portray himself through the main character, Reardon. When the story opens, Reardon is struggling. His sophisticated wife is getting fed up with their impoverished lifestyle and with her husband's inability to write decent material. Reardon, a sensitive soul, is floundering under mounting pressure and stress. He is torn between his desire to write sophisticated, meaningful material and the public demand for "fluff." The more stressed laid on him, the less he is able to create and stick with any plausible fiction novel. He becomes more and more fererish and unable to work, and he is devastated as he loses his wife's love and respect.

Around this central character Reardon, Gissing builds a very full and weighty cast of characters. A small sampling of these characters are:
- The embittered, older column writer/reviewer, Yule, whose temperament has made so many enemies during his career that he is still laboring hard to support his small family at the end of his life.
- Yule's daugher, Marion, who is very clever but who is also very vulnerable. Her education has made her too good for many positions and marriages but her lack of money makes her a poor match for the educated class.
- Reardon's friend Milvain, who is an ambitious young man who has no problem writing exactly what the masses want. He knows his talents, he knows the market, and he knows his stuff won't last for posterity. But he is determined to live a comfortable life, make a strategic marriage and become a semi-respected man.
- Biffen, another friend of Reardon's, sympathizes most with Reardon's situation and condition. Two peas in a pod, these men spend long hours discuss meter, prose and ancient poetry.

I found myself continually amazed at Gissing's amazing ability to get into the head of many individuals in his large cast and to see how the world makes sense through each's eyes. Gissing also provides us with a wealth of information about the Victorian publishing scene. It was amazing to read that writers and publishers then were struggling with the same issues writers and publishers are struggling with today.

Additionally, Gissing gives you an unglorified look at poverty and the impoverished educated class of London at that time. While Dickens' works on the poor is idyllic and sentimental, Gissing simply relates the life he has known. There is nothing exceptional or amazing, and Gissing seems to argue that poverty takes character out of a man rather then build up a man's character.

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating piece...though perhaps a slow read. For those interested in publishing, writing, realistic portrayals of Victorian England, or other such topics, this is a fantastic work.

Poor Gissing! I suspect his miserable, self-destructive life fuelled his wonderful novels much as (we now know) Dickens's traumatic "blacking-factory" experience explains so much of the nightmare world of those gargantuan fictions. Gissing greatly admired Dickens, and like Dostoyevsky, seems to have appreciated the grim side of Dickens most. Not much humor in Gissing; but there is the same shabby poetry one used to see in Bloomsbury back in the 1960s. The same wonderful appreciation of futile, obsessive scholarly lives. Gissing is a great poet and sometimes a rather fine moralist. His pictures of London rival those of the Master (Dickens --and Dore). Don't miss him. Start with "Workers in the Dawn" and "The Nether World"--his passion more than compensates for his crudities. Remember: he was also a very accomplished classicist--more of a scholar than any other major Victorian novelist! A not insignificant fact.

George Gissing's 1891 novel, "New Grub Street," is likely one of the most depressing books I've ever read. Certainly, in its descriptions of literary life, be it in publishing, or in my own realm of graduate scholarship, the situations, truths, and lives Gissing portrays are still all too relevant. "New Grub Street" itself points to the timelessness of Gissing's portrayals - as Grub Street was synonymous, even in the eighteenth century with the disrepute of hack writing, and the ignominy of having to make a living by authorship. One of Gissing's primary laments throughout the novel is that the life of the mind is of necessity one which is socially isolating and potentially devastating to any kind of relationships, familial or otherwise. "New Grub Street" gives us a world where friendship is never far from enmity, where love is never far from the most bitter kinds of hatred.

The anti-heroes of "New Grub Street" are presented to us as the novel begins - Jasper Milvain is a young, if somewhat impoverished, but highly ambitious man, eager to be a figure of influence in literary society at whatever cost. His friend, Edwin Reardon, on the other hand, was brought up on the classics, and toils away in obscurity, determined to gain fame and reputation through meaningful, psychological, and strictly literary fiction. Family matters beset the two - Jasper has two younger sisters to look out for, and Edwin has a beautiful and intelligent wife, who has become expectant of Edwin's potential fame. Throw into the mix Miss Marian Yule, daughter of a declining author of criticism, whose own reputation was never fully realized, and who has indentured his daughter to literary servitude, and we have a pretty list of discontented and anxious people struggling in the cut-throat literary marketplace of London.

Money is of supreme importance in "New Grub Street," and it would be pointless to write a review without making note of it. As always, the literary life is one which is not remunerative for the mass of people who engage upon it, and this causes no end of strife in the novel. As Milvain points out, the paradox of making money in the literary world is that one must have a well-known reputation in order to make money from one's labours. At the same time, one must have money in order to move in circles where one's reputation may be made. This is the center of the novel's difficulties - should one or must one sacrifice principles of strictly literary fame and pander to a vulgar audience in order to simply survive? The question is one in which Reardon finds the greatest challenges to his marriage, his self-esteem, and even his very existence. For Jasper Milvain and his sisters, as well as for Alfred and Marian Yule, there is no question that the needs of subsistence outweigh most other considerations.

"New Grub Street" profoundly questions the relevance of classic literature and high culture to the great mass of people, and by proxy, to the nation itself. For England, which propagated its sense of international importance throughout the nineteenth century by encouraging the study of English literature in its colonial holdings, the matter becomes one of great significance. The careers of Miss Dora Milvain and Mr. Whelpdale, easily the novel's two most charming, endearing, and sympathetic characters, attempt to illustrate the ways in which modern literature may be profitable to both the individual who writes it and the audiences towards which they aim. They may be considered the moral centers of the novel, and redeem Gissing's work from being entirely fatalistic.

"New Grub Street" is a novel that will haunt me for quite some time. As a "man of letters" myself, I can only hope that the novel will serve as an object lesson, and one to which I may turn in hope and despair. The novel is well written, its characters and situations drawn in a very realistic and often sympathetic way. Like the ill-fated "ignobly decent" novel of Mr. Biffen's, "Mr. Bailey, Grocer," "New Grub Street" may seem less like a novel, and more like a series of rambling biographical sketches, but they are indelible and lasting sketches of literary lives as they were in the original Grub Street, still yet in Gissing's time, and as they continue to-day. Very highly recommended.

I found Jasper Milvain, the "alarmingly modern young man," to be the most interesting character in Gissing's New Grub Street for a number of reasons, the most significant of which is that he evinces what can only be considered a modernist's consciousness in his approach to writing. That is, while it soon becomes clear to the reader that Milvain represents the antithesis of what Edwin Reardon personifies-i.e., the work of literature as an emanation of author's native genius-and thus one of the intercalated plots of the novel involves the incremental success of Milvain as a modern man of letters, and the concomitant gradual abjection of Reardon. In a manner of speaking, then, Milvain and Reardon's fates emerge from a common source, namely some sea change in the reading public's (the consumer's) preferences and tendencies.

Milvain identifies as vulgar the most lucrative market for the product of the man of letter's labor. The vulgarians, or "quarter educated," drive the market (479), and since they have been determined to desire nothing more than chatty ephemera, they have successfully opened an insuperable gulf between material success in writing and artistic success. Reardon's psychologically penetrating novels just aren't in demand. Therefore, there emerges quite an interesting conceptual shift within the nascent hegemony of the quarter-educated as established by their purchasing power: what was once considered healthy artistic integrity has transmuted into a peculiar kind of petit bourgeois hubris, if, in the new paradigm, the writer is more an artisan than an artist. Therefore, Reardon's artistically-compromised and padded three-volume novel, written with no other end in mind than to pander to the vulgar reader, nonetheless achieves only modest success because, the fact that it is indistinguishable from countless other similar works glutting the market aside, his novel is infected from his irrepressible integrity, and thus his novel becomes a strange sort of counterfeit, a psychological narrative masquerading as a popular novel. Reardon thus becomes a sort of Coriolanus among writers.

Milvain, on the other hand, is a sort of Henry Ford among writers; he reveals his particular genius when offering advice to his sister Maud about how to write religious works for juveniles: "I tell you, writing is a business. Get together half-a-dozen fair specimens of the Sunday school prize; study them; discover the essential points of such a composition; hit upon new attractions; then go to work methodically, so many pages a day" (13). In other words, Jasper has managed to streamline and to mechanize the writing process. He studies previous works, abstracts formulae from them, isolates the elements of these formulae, and then deploys and rearranges these elements to give his own writing a patina of originality. By treating writing as an exercise in manipulating formulae, Jasper exchanges "authenticity" (whatever that word means anymore) for the convenience and efficiency of not having to grapple with his own potentially mutable and recalcitrant genius. Jasper did not invent writing, just as Ford did not invent the automobile. But like Ford did with automobile manufacture, Milvain discovers those aspects of writing that lend themselves to mechanical reproduction. Thus he is able to capitalize on his time and effort, and effectively becomes the very machine Reardon believes himself to be but never actually becomes because of his lingering notions of artistic integrity (352).

Also of interest is the fact that Albert Yule is a sort of synthesis of Milvain and Reardon. Like Milvain, Yule attempts to streamline his own literary production by delegating some of the labor to his daughter Marian. However, like Reardon, Yule clings to the superannuated notion of the necessary individuality of writing: "[h]is failings, obvious enough, were the results of a strong and somewhat pedantic individuality ceaselessly at conflict with unpropitious circumstances" (38). In other words, Yule fails to recognize the obsolescence of the lone, learned genius within the realm of literary production. A market of vulgarians who demand occasional literary confections simply does not expect Works of individual genius. Moreover, even if they were in demand, works of individual genius are too ponderously inefficient to keep pace with the rate at which they are consumed. Therefore, Yule straddles the either/or proposition personified by Reardon and Milvain: One may preserve his artistic integrity and write "for the ages"--hence Yule, Biffen, and Reardon's fetishization of Shakespeare, Coleridge and authors of classical antiquity--and starve in the process, or one may write "for the moment" and actually turn a respectable profit.

The shadow of Charles Darwin indeed looms large over the events and characters of New Grub Street. The growth market brought about by the advent of the "quarter-educated" vulgar class, and their discretionary income coupled with their callow aesthetic sensibilities and truncated attention spans, represents a nascent economic, if not ecological niche, for certain social creatures to occupy. However, it's not simply a matter of being able to adapt one's skills to the tastes of these consumers. One must also be a prodigious enough writer to keep pace with an equally prodigious rate of consumption. Individuals like Milvain and Whelpdale are adequately adapted to this niche in that they satisfy the demands of this niche in terms of both content and output. Reardon panders to the vulgar taste only grudgingly and after long resistance and thereby cannot meet the production demands of this niche. Biffen absolutely refuses to pander at all. Alfred Yule does attempt to pander, but his mode of literary production is too inefficient to meet production demands, and he is also largely ignorant of vulgar literary taste. While more in touch with the vulgar reader than her father, Marian Yule is as inefficient in her literary production as her father. Therefore, each of the characters named above are equally maladaptive, albeit for various reasons, and thus their extinction by the novel's end strikes the reader as somehow inevitable. Whereas Milvain and Reardon's widow Amy are left to come together as the triumphant niche occupants and thus reproduce themselves in their offspring, should they decide to produce any.

I recently read New Grub Street, and I must say I was stunned by how much I enjoyed it. Gissing's prose and characterization hold up remarkably well. He's sort of an urban Hardy, though far more accessible to today's reader. I'd recommend this to any serious reader. Oh, and this novel is ripe for adaptation. A BBC miniseries would be great.