THE PLEASURE OF THEIR COMPANY (653 PP-)Edited by Louis Kronenberger Knopf ($5). Subtitled "An Anthology of Civilized Writing" this is a connoisseur's selection of fiction, poetry, drama, essays, in which "urbanity, irony, elegance, skepticism, sophistication, wit, play a leading part." Twenty-one' polished pieces by Petronius, Lucian, Voltaire (all of Candide), Saint-Simon, De Maupassant, Congreve, Pope, Henry James (all of Washington Square), Max Beerbohm, Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, Henry Adams, etc. Excellent choices, in a finely printed volume.
HOTEL BEMELMANS (380 pp.)Ludwig BemelmansViking ($3). Most of the best of Bemelmans: 36 deft, witty stories of backstairs life in a plush Manhattan hotel, from...
