This is the first number of the “Friends’ Library,” a series of publications which the enterprising publishers intend to issue in an attractive form. “The Good Genius” comes before us in a most splendid dress, with five engravings, and illuminated covers. It is one of the most interesting of fairy tales, told with all the charms of vivid description, and abounding in allusions to actual life. It shows the fleeting nature of that boundary to man’s wishes which he calls _enough_; a boundary which recedes as he advances; and it beautifully teaches that after a human being has had opportunities to gratify every passion, he finds at last that the only joy of life is in the spirit of patient industry. The main object of the book being to interest the young in those qualities of character which are most important to their happiness and success, the authors have done well in selecting a fascinating story, teeming with wonders, as the medium through which they can best attain their object. The railroad and magnetic telegraph are introduced in a fairy guise with fine effect, and the reader is forcibly struck with the fact, that genius and industry have realized now more that fancy could once imagine. We hope the brothers Mayhew may live long and write often. There are some writers whom we should regret to see inspired by the Genius of industry. The authors of this charming little story are not of that number. * * * * * _The Complete Angler, or the Contemplative Man’s Recreation. By Izack Walton. With Biographical Preface and Copious Notes by the American Editor. New York: Wiley & Putnam. 1 vol. 12mo._ This is the best edition of Walton’s Angler ever published in England or America. Of the book itself it is almost needless to speak, for it is read wherever the English language is spoken. It is a quaint, humane, practical, poetical, and most delicious volume. For summer reading, under the trees, or by the rocks of the sea-shore, it is almost unmatched. The reader for the time is equal to Walton himself, in “possessing his soul in much quietness.” To the angler the book is both a classic and a companion. The person who reads it for the first time is to be envied. The American editor has performed his task of illustration and comment with the spirit both of an antiquary and a lover, and has really added to the value of the original. To all men and women, vexed with cares and annoyances of any kind, we commend this sunny volume. They will feel it as a minister of peace and quiet thoughts. * * * * * _Fresh Gleanings: or a New Sheaf from the Old Fields of Continental Europe. By Ik. Marvel. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1 vol. 12mo._