Matthew Walther

Ronald Knox:A Man for All Seasons edited by francesca bugliani knox pontifical institute of medieval studies, 416 pages, $65 The greatest writer of English prose in the last century, P. G. Wodehouse excepted, was not Lytton Strachey or Logan Pearsall Smith or the E. M. Forster of Pharos and . . . . Continue Reading »

I’m at the corner of Broadway and West 73rd Street trying to decide whether the security guard at the building next door dislikes me. Earlier he was giving me dirty looks when I bent down to study the sign in front of the church he is guarding. With apologies to a man who is just trying to do his . . . . Continue Reading »

A Scent of Champagne: 8,000 Champagnes Tasted and Rated by richard juhlinskyhorse publishing, 400 pages, $95 Lord Keynes regretted very little, but he once confided to Noel Annan that he wished he had drunk more champagne. As with most of his pronouncements that did not touch directly upon questions . . . . Continue Reading »

The Once and Future King by t. h. white penguin galaxy, 736 pages, $30 Terence Hanbury White died aboard ship in the port of Piraeus in 1964 on his way back from the United States, where he had been hoping to shore up his income with a lecture tour. His secretary found him alone in his cabin, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Sir Thomas Browne: A Lifeby reid barbouroxford, 552 pages, $125 Thomas Browneedited by kevin killeenoxford, 1,018 pages, $160 Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) is one of the most bizarre and attractive figures in English letters. Though his readership has never been wide, he has had many distinguished . . . . Continue Reading »

Nicolás Gómez-Dávila’s name is not one to conjure with on these shores or, probably, any others. His work, almost exclusively collections of short—indeed one- or two-sentence—compositions, was long available only in limited editions from small presses in his native Colombia, and even then . . . . Continue Reading »

Of the reissuing of classic British fiction, there seems to be no end”at least not this year. Lucky Jim and The Old Devils are finally back in print. A Dance to the Music of Time is out on Kindle. The Overlook Press continues to roll out volume after volume of its Wodehouse Collector’s series. Even poor neglected Barbara Pym has begun to wend her way daintily back onto the shelf, perhaps in advance of her upcoming centenary… . Continue Reading »