The Queens of Society and Wits and Beaux of Society.

Porter and Coates: Philadelphia. Large paper edition, one of 250 numbered copies of The Queens of Society and Beaux of Society. Octavo, 4 volumes, bound in full calf, gilt titles to the spine, raised bands, top edge gilt, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, illustrated. In fine condition. When Grace and Philip Wharton found that they had pleased the world with their "Queens of Society," they very sensibly resolved to follow up their success with a companion work. Their first book had been all about women; the second book should be all about men. Accordingly they set to work selecting certain types that pleased them; they wrote a fresh collection of pleasant essays and presented the reading public with "Wits and Beaux of Society". The one book is as good as the other; there is not a pin to choose between them. There is the same bright easy, gossiping style, the same pleasing rapidity. There is nothing tedious, nothing dull anywhere. They do not profess to have anything to do with the graver processes of history -- these entertaining volumes; they seek rather to amuse than to instruct, and they fulfill their purpose excellently. There is instruction in them, but it comes in by the way; one is conscious of being entertained, and it is only after the entertainment is over that one finds that a fair amount of information has been thrown in to boot. The Whartons have but old tales to tell, but they tell them very well, and that is the first part of their business.