LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. FRANCE. M. Victor Foucher, of Rennes, one of the most laborious and enlightened lawyers in France, is actively proceeding with his collection of the laws of modern states, translated into French from the official editions, and destined to form a body of universal law. The civil and penal code of Austria, the criminal code of Brasil, the civil code of Geneva, the criminal code of the Two Sicilies, and the commercial code of Spain, have already appeared. He is now engaged upon the commercial code of Holland, and the civil code of Russia. M. Dupin, president of the chamber of deputies, who was appointed to make a report on this undertaking to the academy of moral and political sciences, has therein bestowed on it the highest commendation. A Dictionary of Universal Natural History, to form from six to eight volumes 8vo. in double columns, is announced. It is to be published in parts, twelve to each volume, and to be accompanied with an atlas of 200 plates engraved on steel. The accomplished Chinese scholar, Stanislas Julien, who some years since translated into French, by desire of the Government, the most important Chinese treatises on the culture of silk in China, has now completed the translation of another Chinese work on the manufacture of paper in China, which will speedily be published at the expence of the government, with plates from Chinese originals. The minister of commerce has also commissioned M. Julien to translate from the Chinese works such passages on agriculture as may be useful and valuable for France. Marshal Soult has given permission to Curmar, the bookseller, to have the principal pictures of his collection, mostly by Spanish masters, engraved for his splendid edition of Bossuet's "Discours sur l'Histoire universelle." They have never been engraved before. According to the prospectus of Charles Texier's "Description de l'Asie mineure," that work will consist of fifty livraisons, each containing five or six plates, and three quarto volumes of text. It will be printed at the expense of the government. The ministry of war subscribed for 141 copies of the recently published "Tableaux des Guerres de la Revolution de 1792 à 1815," one of which was destined for each of the 141 regiments of the French army. It forms an 8vo. volume, illustrated by twenty maps and thirty portraits. It has lately been decided by the tribunal of the Seine, in Paris, that a publisher must not, without the consent of the author, either alter the title of his works or omit his name. The French booksellers, who have suffered so severely from the piracy of their publications by the printers of Brussels, are beginning to adopt the only effectual method of counteracting it, by bringing out cheap editions. Thus M. Charles Gosselin has published editions in 18mo, of several of the works of Chateaubriand and Lamartine, at the rate of 2fr. 5c. per volume; and M. Charpentier, following his example, has announced a collection in the same form, at so moderate a price that it cannot fail to obtain a preference over the productions of the Belgian press. Another most important advantage possessed by these Paris editions is correctness, in which all those of Brussels which we have had occasion to examine are deplorably deficient. The Academy of Besançon has offered a prize of 400 francs for the best essay "On keeping holy the Sabbath Day, in regard to the public welfare, morality, and domestic and social relations.' In the year 1838, there were printed in France 6603 works in French, Latin, Greek, Italian, German, English, Polish, Spanish, and Portuguese; 976 engravings, on copper and lithographs, 183 geographical maps and plans, and about 1000 musical publications. VOL. I.—NO. I.—MAY, 1839, H Among the works announced, as being in the press, we observe the following: La Vie littéraire; par Jules Janin, 4 vols. 8vo. La Comtesse de Salisbury, 2 vols. 8vo. and Jacob Ortis, 2 vols. 8vo., both, by A. Dumas. Souvenirs du Temps de l'Empire; par Marco St. Hilaire, vols. 3 and 4, 8vo. Essais de Philosophie morale, suivis d'un Essai sur les Femmes, par Ch. Lacretelle, 2 vols. 8vo. Histoire de la Guerre des Albigeois, par J. J. Barrau, 2 vols. 8vo. Revolution des Peuples de l'Asie moyenne; influence de leurs migrations sur l'état social de l'Europe; par A. Jardot, 2 vols. 8vo. Théatre de Alberto Nota et du Comte Giraud, ou Choix des mellieurs pièces de ces deux auteurs; traduit de l'Italien par Th. Bittinger; précédé d'un Précis historique sur la comedie en Italie et en France, par Eug. Scribe. 3 vols. 8vo. Voyage au Sennar, chez les Bichari, et dans l'Arabie Pétrée; par Ed. Combes, 2 vols. 8vo. Voyage dans l'interieur de l'Arabie deserte, par Tamisier, 2 vols. 8vo. Suite de la Democratie en Amerique, par Alexis de Tocqueville, 2 vols. 8vo. Descriptions des Monnaies de France, troisième race; par Fougères, 2 vols. 4to. Description et Histoire des Voies de Communication aux Etats-Unis, et des travaux d'art qui en dependent; par Michel Chevalier, 2 vol. 4to., and atlas folio. Janin (Jules) les Catacombes, 6 vols. 12mo. Dictionnaire de réactifs chimiques, par M. Lassaigne. 8vo. avec figures. Archives du Muséum d'histoire naturelle, publiées par les professeurs administrateurs de cet etablissement. 4 v. 4to; ornés de 30 à 40 planches. (Four parts, forming a volume, to be published yearly.) Nouvelles scénes populaires, par H. Mounier. 2 vols. 8vo. Osteographie, ou description iconographique comparée du squelette et du système dentaire des cinq classes des animaux vertebrés, récents et fossiles; M. L. M. Ducrotay de Blainville. par Revue générale de l'architecture et des travaux publics; par Cesar Daly, 4to. L'Irlande, sociale, politique, et religieuse. Par Gustave de Beaumont. 2 vols. 8vo. 66 HOLLAND. Messrs. Visser and Son, of the Hague, have announced the commencement of a work of considerable utility to literary men and booksellers, by the title of Jaarboekje voor den Boekhandel," for 1839, to be continued annually, on the plan of the Bibliopolisches Jahrbuch, lately begun by Weber, of Leipzig. It will contain a general view of the bookselling establishments in the kingdom of Holland, with short biographical and statistical notices, and a summary of the Dutch laws relative to the press. GERMANY. Mr. Asher, of Berlin, is preparing for publication a new edition of the work known by the title of Travels of Rabbi Benjamin de Tudela, in Hebrew and English, with Notes on the Geography and History of the Middle Ages. In this undertaking the publisher is promised the assistance of all the scholars of Berlin, from which we may confidently anticipate a work richly deserving the attention of the whole learned world. Arnold of Dresden has nearly ready for publication a German translation of Dante's Divina Commeda, by Prince John of Saxony. The first part of the work, printed at the expence of the translator, has been for some years in private hands, and excited in all who perused it a strong desire to see the whole. No cost has been spared to make the exterior correspond with the excellence of the work itself. It forms a volume in royal quarto, illustrated with a frontispiece and several other allegorical plates, designed and etched by Professor Moritz Retzsch. Speedily will be published, "Wanderungen in den Orient," in the year 1838, by Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, illustrated by a rich and valuable collection of lithographs. A work which is intended to be in every respect a splendid specimen of typography and the various branches of the graphic art, and to the execution of which the first artists of Europe are contributing, is in preparation under the editorship of Dr. H. Meyer, for the fourth centenary anniversary of the invention of printing to be held on St. John's day, 1840. It is entitled "Gutenberg's Album," and is open to the contributions of well-educated persons in all languages. Weber, of Leipzig, has announced a History of Frederick the Great, by Professor Dr. Franz Kugler, with from 400 to 500 wood-cuts, after original designs by Adolph Menzel, worked with the type. Another work on the same subject, with the title of Frederick the Great and his Times, by Dr. K. F. Reiche, to be completed in 12 or 15 numbers, with from 24 to 30 steel-plates, is preparing by Kollmann of Leipzig. The first volume of the "Conversations Lexikon der Gegenwart," which may be regarded either as a wholly independent work or a supplement to the renowned "Conversations Lexikon," is completed with the 8th part, and contains the letters A to E. The publisher states that the number of copies now printed is 16,000. The work is to form four volumes, An" Album Deutscher Künstler," in which the most eminent artists of Germany will co-operate, has been announced. The first number will speedily appear. The fourth volume of Dr. Ammon's work, " Die Fortbildung des Christenthums zur Weltreligion," will be published in the course of the summer. Cotta has just published the first number of " Alterthümer und Kunstdenkmale des erlauchten Hauses Hohenzollern," by Rudolph baron von Stillfried. It contains six partly coloured lithographs, and the size is large folio. The booksellers of Prussia have been reminded by a government circular that, agreeably to the cabinet order of Feb. 19, 1824, no works printed out of the king's dominions in the Polish language can be imported and circulated there without the permission of the chief college of censorship. Weigel, of Leipzig, has announced the speedy publication, by subscription, of "Monumens Egyptiens du Musée d'Antiquités des Pays Bas, publiées d'après les ordres du Gouvernement, par le Dr. C. Leemans." On the 8th of January died at Augsburg, aged 82 years, Chr. J. Wagenseil, member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Munich, known for upwards of half a century in the literary world as the author of a great number of works in history and the belles lettres. SWITZERLAND. Dr. D. F. Strauss, whose recently published "Leben Jesu" has gained him equally warm praise and reprobation, has been appointed professor of christian doctrine and ecclesiastical history in the university of Zurich. The theological faculty has protested with energy against this choice; but Strauss's friends defended their vote upon the ground of the necessity of a new reformation, for which Strauss was the fit man. We perceive that this appointment has not failed to call forth severe animadversions from sincere christians, who cannot approve the views set forth by Strauss in the above-mentioned work. ITALY. Professor Jan, of Parma, a native of Vienna, we believe, has announced a new translation of the works of Shakspeare, in Italian. The Prodromus, printed at the ducal press at Parma, and entitled: "Opere di Shakspeare; nuova versione Italiana di diversi traduttore, edita e corredata di note e dell' analisi del drama 11 Re Lear, di Giorgio Jan," excites an earnest wish that the work may meet with the support which it deserves. The fragments of scenes given as specimens from The Merchant of Venice, by Pietro Santi, from Romeo and Juliet, by Orlando Garbarini, and from King Lear, by Napoleone Corbellini, attest the talents and the care of the translators. The progress of the work will, however, be extremely slow, as a play is promised every three months. It will be printed by Orell, of Zurich, and the original English will be given on opposite pages to the translation. The whole collection of the poets, whom the society of the "Classici Italiani" have declared to be the greatest ornaments of their literature, by admitting them into the series, now comprehends 102 volumes. It embraces works belonging to five centuries; but of the poets of the present day, there are to be found only Borghi, Manzoni, Nicolini, Torti, and Della Valle. A portrait accompanies the works of each writer. The price of the whole collection is 273 Italian lire. The very existence of any publications of the class of Annuals in Italy is, we believe, scarcely known in this country, although several have appeared within the last seven or eight years. Among them are the "Strenna Italiana,” which has now reached its sixth volume; the "Strenna Femminile," edited by Giambatista Cremonesi, but all the contributors to which are ladies; and even the engravings in this year's volume are the work of a female artist, Pirola, who has also given proofs of her skill and talent in the " Iconografia Italiana," which contains several portraits executed by her. Another annual, and almost the senior of all, is the " Non ti Scorda di Me," or Italian Forgetme-not, which is now in its eighth year. One of the articles (that by Giuseppe Sacchi) gives a sketch of the blind sculptor Giovanni Ganibassi, who, by feeling with his hands, was able to model both statues and portrait-busts. Another paper contains an account of the celebrated improvisatrice, Fortunata Sulgher Fantastici. There is also an episode from a novel by Jacopo Cadianca, entitled" Gli Scolari di Padova," well calculated to create a desire for the entire history. HUNGARY. Kossuth, the advocate, who some years since published a newspaper in manuscript, to escape the censorship, has been sentenced by the royal tribunal to three years' imprisonment, in which the two years' confinement which he has already suffered during the proceedings is not to be included. A letter from Pesth states that this sentence has excited such general sympathy, that a subscription, opened for Kossuth, and zealously supported by all classes of persons, already amounts to more than 300,000 florins. Every Hungarian nobleman,” the writer observes, "and Kossuth is one, enjoys for his own person, as it is well known, liberty of the press, that is to say, he can print whatever he pleases, provided it is not directed against the person of the king or the holy Trinity, without personal responsibility. Still less can there be anything criminal in this case, since it was because M. Kossuth could not find a printer for his account of the proceedings of the Diet, that he resolved to circulate it in manuscript among the friends, to the cause of constitutional freedom." WALLACHIA. An association of young ladies, formed at Jassy, for the purpose of publishing translations, in the Moldavian language, of the master-pieces of modern literature, is proceeding in its operations with the greatest assiduity. Some of the works mentioned as having been already produced by this society, convey, however, no very favourable idea of the judgment exercised in the selection, or of the delicacy of the managers of this institution. They consist of five of Sir Walter Scotts novels, a selection from Byron's works, Göthe's Faust, the novels of George Sand, Lamartine's Souvenirs d'un Voyage, Delavigne's Ecole des Vieillards, Soulié's Mémoires du Diable, and others. The hospodar, prince Stourdza, himself a zealous votary of literature, affords every encouragement to the labours of this association. He permits all these translations to be printed at the government press, at half the usual price; and awards gold and silver medals to such translations as are particularly distinguished by the correctness and elegance of their style. TURKEY. A reading room, fitted up with great elegance, has recently been opened at Pera, and thus a want long and severely felt by the Franks resident there has been supplied. In this museum are to be found a considerable and judiciously selected number of the newspapers and journals of England, France, and Italy. The conductors of this undertaking pay particular attention to the latest productions of the literature of those countries, so that almost all the works of the favourite writers of the day can be obtained there. The institution receives deserved and increasing support. RUSSIA. In the absence of materials for prospective notices of Russian literature, we present our readers with a retrospective view of its principal productions during the year 1838, extracted from the Leipzig Börsenblatt, the official organ of the bookselling trade of Germany. The warm zeal for historical studies which, since the commencement of the present century, has manifested itself particularly in France and Germany, has extended to Russia, where the inquiries of her writers are beginning to diffuse a clearer light over the earliest periods of her annals. The Chronicle of Nestor is no longer considered as infallible, and Karamsin's celebrated work on the History of Russia is found equally unsatisfactory. It cannot be denied that the first of those works possesses manifold merits, but it requires a judicious commentary, and the minister of public instruction has accordingly appointed a commission for the purpose of correcting the text of this Chronicle by the existing manuscripts, and preparing as complete an edition of it as possible. There prevails a general spirit of research for traditions, monuments, maps, and ancient manuscripts, capable of elucidating the state of Russia during the dark and barbarous ages. The government encourages this zeal, and has commenced the publication of a collection of documents relative to the national antiquities. Four volumes have already appeared-the result of an archæological expedition, at the head of which were P. Ströff and J. Berednicoff. The archives of the numerous convents, of the courts of justice, nay, all the ancient buildings, have been carefully searched, and a great number of MSS. brought to light, which are of great importance for the knowledge of the administration of the provinces in earlier times, of the religious customs, of manners, and of institutions. Such labours cannot be carried on without the support of the imperial government, and in such matters it is not parsi monious. This interest manifested by the government for historical inquiries has excited that of the public: in proof of this, no preceding year produced so many historical works as 1838. The most important is, perhaps, Bulgarin's Russia, four volumes of which are published. The object of the author is to give a general view of the history, geography, statistics, and literature of the country. In regard to the statistical data, this work is far superior to that of Schnitzler, published a few years since in French, but it is true that he had at his command infinitely more resources, and that his plan is more comprehensive. Bulgarin's work is well worthy of translation. During this year, Murawieff, author of Travels to Jerusalem, a work which has been well received in Russia, has published a History of the Russian |