Dr. Venable has been very successful in his undertaking to show the progress of literature, education, art, politics and religion in the Ohio Valley, from the days of the early settlers until the present time. He has done this by sketching the careers of those who have been conspicuous in these fields of culture and practical interest, and has gathered a great fund of information, anecdote and biographical detail, which has made his narrative very interesting as well as full. * * * * * “JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE. AUTOBIOGRAPHY, DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE.” Edited by Edward Everett Hale. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1891. A book on James Freeman Clarke, by Edward Everett Hale, encourages “great expectations,” and these expectations are not disappointed. It is a delightful mixture of the handiwork of two bright thinkers and recognized lights in our native literature. After a modest account of himself, the subject of the sketch is delineated still further by a fond and appreciative friend. The man, broad and free and catholic in his thinking and in his feeling, opens his heart to us in diary and letters. And what he fails to tell, as eminently improper for himself to tell, Dr. Hale gives to us, so that the picture may be complete. The keynote to the book, and the real use of it, are indicated on the first page by Dr. Clarke himself: “I have lived in an important period; have known many eminent men and distinguished women; have seen great changes in social life, in religious opinion, in private morals and public manners. If I can succeed in making a few suggestive pictures, or memory sketches, it may be a gratification to my children and friends, and possibly contribute matter for the future historian of this period.” * * * * * “HISTORICAL COLLECTION OF OHIO.” By Henry Howe, L.L.D. The two concluding volumes of the Historical Collections of Ohio are now published together, and complete a monumental work. Dr. Howe has given many years to this undertaking, and is said to have personally visited every locality of which he treats, and collected his facts from the lips of living men and women as well as from written records. The work is more than a formal history. It unfolds before the reader the whole life and annals of Ohio, from the earliest settlements to the present day. Geography and statistics go hand in hand with narration, reminiscence and details of social life and customs. * * * * * “OHIO ARCHÆOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, VOL. III.”