"One of the most agreeable books. It is a work teeming with delightful information and anecdote gathered from the broad fields of literature and art. The great charm of the book is its colloquial and epigrammatic style, conveying a whole volume of suggestiveness and facts on every page. Open it where we may, it reads charmingly, and one is loath to lay it aside until every page has been perused. In saying that the book is one of real and permanent value, we pay it a just and merited tribute."
EDGE-TOOLS OF SPEECH.
By M. M. BALLOU.
An Encyclopaedia of Quotations, the Brightest Sayings of the Wise and Famous. Invaluable for Debating Societies, Writers, and Public Speakers. A Treasure for Libraries. 1 vol. 8vo. $3.50.
NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
CINCINNATI COMMERCIAL:
"A vast collection of pungent quotations.... Mr. Ballou has made this immense collection in a liberal spirit. His test has been fitness and excellence. The volume will be an addition to the working force of writers, speakers, and readers."
THE NORTHWESTERN:
"An almost inexhaustible mine of the choicest thoughts of the best writers of all ages and countries, from Confucius down to Garfield and Gladstone,--a _potpourri_ of all the spiciest ingredients of literature. There is a vacancy on every student"s desk and in every library which it alone can fill, and, we believe, soon will fill. The book deserves the popularity which it is most certain to gain."
THE BEACON (Boston):
"The quotations cover a wondrous mult.i.tude of subjects. Indeed, the book is like an endless string of pearls, with here and there a ruby, a diamond, or a bit of honest gla.s.s interjected. Mr. Ballou"s taste is thoroughly catholic, his sympathy wide as the world, and his judgment good. The friends of quotations will find these "Edge-Tools"
inexhaustible, yet well arranged, and highly convenient for reference. The book is a literary treasure, and will surely hold its own for years to come. It deserves a place by the side of Mr.
Bartlett"s "Familiar Quotations,"--no mean honor for any book."
THE CRITIC:
"M. M. Ballou"s "Edge-Tools of Speech" shows a broader culture and a wider range of thought and subject. He has cla.s.sified his quotations alphabetically under the head of subjects after the fashion of a glossary ("Ability," "Absence," etc.), and has collected the most famous literary or historical sayings bearing on each subject. Every side of the subjects finds an application and ill.u.s.tration in one quotation or another. Thus the word "Ability" is made the text of wise utterances from Napoleon I., Dr. Johnson, Wendell Phillips, Longfellow, Maclaren, Gail Hamilton, Froude, Beaconsfield, Zoroaster, Schopenhauer, La Rochefoucauld, Matthew Wren, Gibbon, and Aristotle.
It has no rival."
PHILADELPHIA TIMES:
"There is a running fire of fine thoughts brilliantly expressed, and hence a splendid fund of entertainment."
BOSTON JOURNAL:
""Edge-Tools of Speech" will find its way into thousands of families.
It is a volume to take up when a few minutes of leisure are found, and it will always be read with interest."
CHURCH PRESS:
"The work, indeed, is a dictionary or encyclopaedia of wise and learned quotations; and, beginning with the word "Ability" and ending with "Zeal," it presents in consecutive order the wisest and wittiest sayings of all the best writers of all ages and countries upon all subjects in theology, philosophy, poetry, history, science, and every other topic that might be useful or entertaining. It is thus a treasury of useful learning, and will prove valuable in suggesting thoughts, or in supplying quotations for the ill.u.s.tration of ideas, or the embellishment of style."
BOOK NOTES:
"It is a large collection of condensed expressions of thought on a great variety of subjects, by the most distinguished or profound writers of all ages. It is arranged by subjects. Take the word "novel," by which we mean a fict.i.tious story. This book gathers short, pithy expressions concerning it by Herschel, Goldsmith, Emerson, Sir Walter Scott, Thackeray, Dryden, Carlyle, Sala, Beecher, Willmott, Hamerton, Fielding, Swift, Macaulay, Sterne, Ma.s.son, Balzac, George Curtis, and others. It is not within the range of possibility for any reader to have read all these writers. Even had he done so, how could he remember just where to turn to these authors to find their thoughts, and yet how convenient it is for a writer or a speaker to have quick access to them for ill.u.s.trations. This book for the uses for which it was made is invaluable."
THE COMMONWEALTH:
"A remarkable compilation of brilliant and wise sayings from more than a thousand various sources, embracing all the notable authors, cla.s.sic and modern, who have enriched the pages of history and literature. It might be termed a whole library in one volume."
THE WATCHMAN:
"Highly creditable, as evincing vast literary research and a catholic spirit in the selections. Professional men and litterateurs can hardly afford to be without a book which is calculated to aid and stimulate the imagination in so direct a manner."
BOSTON HOME JOURNAL:
"The volume is not only of great value to students, professional men, and litterateurs, but will be a rich treasury in the intelligent home."