SMIRDIN, a publisher of St. Petersburg, who some time since commenced the issue of a uniform edition of the more prominent authors of Russia, of which he has already published thirty volumes, has now begun a new edition of Karamsin's _History of the Russian Empire_. It will be completed in ten volumes; the first is already published. This is regarded as the best history of Russia extant, though it notoriously misstates many facts in order to flatter the imperial house and sustain its absolute authority. It has previously passed through five editions, and it is estimated that twenty-four thousand copies of it are in Russian public libraries and the hands of private persons. * * * * * The traditional literature of Germany, already very rich, has received an important addition in the _Sagenbuch der Bairischen Lande_ (Book of Traditions of the Bavarian Provinces), of which the first volume has just been published at Munich. These sagas are collected by the editor, Mr. A. SCHOePPNER, from the mouth of the people, from out-of-the-way old chronicles, and from the ballads of the poets. They are full of natural humor and poetic beauty. * * * * * S. DIDUNG has lately written _The Fundamental Laws of Art, and the German Art-Language, with Poems dedicated to the German Spirit_. This singular mixture of subjects under one title seems peculiar to Germany, where authors occasionally have recourse to curious expedients in book-making. * * * * * PROF. WILHELM ZAHN has printed the fourth part of the third continuation of _The most Beautiful Ornaments and most Remarkable Pictures from Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae, with several Sketches and Views_, and a new German edition of HAGMANN'S _Sketches_, got up in excellent style. * * * * * MISS BREMER'S records of her visit to the United States will appear as _Homes of the New World_. * * * * * One HERR FROST, who flourishes as Director of the Institution for the Blind at Prague, has published a novel under the title of the _Wandering Jew_. It is intended to counteract the bad influence of Eugene Sue's romance of that name. The hero is a great believer in Sue's socialist theories, and attempts to instruct a rural community in them, but is repelled and put to shame by their sturdy good sense. * * * * * By the learned and celebrated jurist MITTERMAIER, of Heidelberg, we have _The English, Scottish, and North-American systems of Punishment, in connection with their Political, Moral, and Social Circumstances, and the particulars of Practical Law_. The work is represented by a reviewer as fully indicating, by the singular copiousness of its contents, "its author's wonderful and greatly celebrated industry in collecting (_sammelfleiss_)." * * * * *