Text: N. P. Willis (?), Notice of Holiday Gifts, Evening Mirror (New York), December 30, 1844, vol. 1, no. 72, p. 2, col. 3

[page 2, column 3, continued:]

HOLIDAY GIFTS. — Of all the enticing things that tempt the fancy for a holiday gift, commend us to a pleasant book; nothing proves so fairly a living remembrance of the giver, and nothing so transports us by its silent and soothing eloquence. What a congregated heap of magnificent tomes are spread, in luxurious profusion, over the tables of the Langley's store, No. 8 Astor House. It is well worth while to take a peep as you pass down Broadway. There are to be found all the splendid new annuals, English and American — new illustrated works of every class down to the latest issues, not forgetting our own “Mirror Library,” containing, as one has said, “a thousand glorious gems in poesy and prose.” If we were to name the book for a domestic gift, it would be Mrs. Ellis’ collected works just published in two noble volumes, illustrated by sixteen finely executed English engravings, and superbly bound in richly gild morocco. This is a book for every fireside, and no family circle should be without a copy. Mrs. Ellis is a second Madame De Stael with one exception, that if she has less philosophy, her lessons upon the :minor morals” of life are far superior, and if her rhetoric be less ornate, she is scarcely a less fascinating writer. We have said enough, and shall, doubtless, see this admirable work garnishing the boudoirs of many of the fair ones on the coming day of greeting!