"Derby Day And Other Adventures" 1934 NEWTON, A. Edward
$125
NEWTON, A. Edward
[351] pp.
Little, Brown and Company
1934
8 1/4" x 5 7/8"
VG/ VG
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THOSE who like quietly written essays, with a touch of wit and the salt of wisdom, have found what they desired in the several books of A. Edward Newton. The present collection is one of sixteen papers, with the racing of horses and the racing of greyhounds furnishing subject-matter for the first four. Then we have adventures in London, Vienna, Budapest, San Francisco. There are two papers on the Brontë sisters, their choleric father and tragic brother, and, naturally, more than a little about Dr. Johnson, one of Mr. Newton's chief enthusiasms. For those not already familiar with the life of this Sage of Pennsylvania, let it be said that he has two dominating passions, affectionate curiosity regarding his fellow-men and the collecting of rare editions. But he has not let the dust on the books he garners obscure his vision of the greater importance of what is within.
When Mr. Newton is apparently bent on a purely objective treatment of, say, a city, Vienna or Budapest, he avoids the merely photographic. Very likely, we seem to hear him say to himself, my reader already knows these cities far more intimately than I. So he endeavors, instead of photography, to light upon a mutual interest, by all means preferably a human interest.
In one of the two Brontë essays Mr. Newton records his judgment of the theory, frequently entertained of late years, that "Wuthering Heights" was started by Branwell Brontë, who wrote the early chapters, and that Emily then took over the tale, developing it into the tempestuous thing that it is. Mr. Newton, from his intimate association with Brontë material and his keen understanding of the same, speaks not without authority.
It is very probable, indeed it is certain, that A. Edward Newton must find his own audience. "Derby Day," with its "Other Adventures," will not deeply engage the young and eager reader. Here is the leisureliness of the one-horse chaise, not the hurtling rush of the modern motor car. But there are many who now and again enjoy quiet transportation. And Mr. Newton writes a limpid prose, carefully attuned.