Curiosities of Literature.  By ISAAC DISRAELI. 4 vols.  Boston:  William Veazie. 1858.

Possessing this book, Robinson Crusoe might have enjoyed all the pleasures of what Dr. Johnson called “browsing in a library,” and that a large and choice one.  It contains in itself all the elements of a liberal education in out-of-the-way-ness.

Everybody knows and likes this Museum Absconditum, as Sir Thomas Browne would have called it,—­and we take particular pleasure in being able to recommend to our readers so beautiful an edition of it.  It is in all respects equal to the handsomest kind of English printing, and has the added merit of being cheap.  It is from the press of Houghton & Company, which has done so much to raise the standard of American printing.  If Mr. Houghton go on as he has begun, his name will deserve a place with those of Elzevir, Baskerville, Foulis, and others of his craft, who have done good books the justice of a mechanical that matches their intellectual workmanship.

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We have not space in this number to give Mr. White’s Shakspeare the welcome it deserves.  We have examined it with some care, and can speak with decision of its very great merits.  It is characterized by taste, industry, and conscientiousness.  We believe it to be, in all essential respects, the best—­it is certainly the most beautiful—­edition of Shakspeare.  This is also from the press of Houghton & Company.

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We notice with pleasure among recent literary announcements those of a History of France, by Parke Godwin, Esq., and of New England, by Dr. J.G.  Palfrey.  Both are desiderata, and the reputation of the authors is such as to warrant the highest anticipations.