BIRD'S NOVEL.
JUST PUBLISHED.
A SECOND EDITION OF
CALAVAR, OR THE KNIGHT OF THE CONQUEST,
A ROMANCE OF MEXICO.
2 vols. 12mo.
“Suffice it to say, that Calavar, throughout, is a romance of very great interest.
It will interest the imaginative from its spirited and stirring scenes
of battle and blood; it will please the poetic from the splendour and beauty
of its descriptions, and it will charm every lover of fiction by the masterly
and graphic scenes which it will continually present to him.”
N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.
“The work may fairly rank among the highest efforts of genius, and we do
not scruple to pronounce it superior to any thing of the kind which has yet
emanated from the American press.”
—Baltimore Federal Gazette.
“In our opinion, it is decidedly the best American novel that has been written,
except those enchanting pictures of Cooper. In which the interest is made
to depend on the vicissitudes of the sea, and the adventures of the daring
mariner.”
“The style elegant, sufficiently ornate, yet pure and classical.”
“The period which has been judiciously selected by this writer, is one of
the highest interest—a period so crowded with important events, that it is
impossible to contemplate its vivid scenes without intense curiosity and
wonder.”
—Hall's Western Monthly Magazine.
“The unities are perfectly preserved throughout; poetic probability is never
transgressed: curiosity is satisfied, and the quaint language of three centuries
ago is sustained with unwavering consistency, and with a force and
elegance of composition, rarely, if ever, surpassed. It is, without question,
the best American novel that has yet appeared.”
—N. Y. American.
“The author has evidently studied the history and spirit of the period diligently;
and he has imbodied them in a tale of fiction with such success, as to
produce an historical novel of a high order of excellence. It is a happy accomplishment
of a fine conception.”
—Balt. American.
“The language unites power, dignity, and beauty, in no ordinary degree;
and the delineation of characters, events, and passions, displays the hand of
a master.”
—U. S Gazette.
“Messrs. Carey, Lea & Blanchard have at length issued Dr. Bird's CALAVAR,
a Romance of Mexico, in two neat duodecimos. When this work was
first mentioned in the Gazette, we had read a large portion of it, and received
favourable impressions of its claims on public favour: since that time
we have finished it, and can safely add that our opinion of it, as a whole, is
still higher. No American novel presents a heroine so interesting and so
happily used as the Leila of Dr. Bird It is necessary to be familiar with the
real History of the Conquest, to be sensible of the truth and skill of the novelist.
He has opened a new mine of gold for the department of historical
romance, in the working of which he is likely to improve.”
National Gazette.
