MR. PUTNAM is preparing some elegantly embellished works for the holiday season. Among others, an edition, in octavo, of Miss Fenimore Cooper's charming _Rural Hours_, embellished by twenty finely-colored drawings of birds and flowers; _The Picturesque Souvenir_, or Letters of a Traveler in Europe and America, by Bryant, embellished by a series of finely-executed engravings; and _The Alhambra_, by Washington Irving, with designs by Darley, uniform with the splendid series of Mr. Irving's Illustrated Works, some time in course of publication. We have also seen a specimen copy of a superbly illustrated edition of _The Pilgrim's Progress_, printed on cream-colored paper, as smooth as ivory; and the exquisite designs by Harvey, nearly three hundred in number, are among the most effective ever attempted for the elucidation of this first of all allegories. Professor Sweetser's new work, _Menial Hygiene_, or an Examination of the Intellect and Passions, designed to illustrate their Influence on Health and the Duration of Life, will be published in the course of the present month. Professor Church's _Treatise on Integral and Differential Calculus_, a revised edition; _The Companion_, or _After Dinner Table Talk_, by Chelwood Evelyn, with a fine portrait of Sydney Smith; _The History of Propellers, and Steam Navigation_, illustrated by engravings: a manual, said to combine much valuable information on the subjects, derived from the most authentic sources, by Mr. Robert MacFarlane, editor of the _Scientific American_; and Mr. Ridner's _Artist's Chromatic Hand-Book, or Manual of Colors_, will also be speedily issued by the same publisher. Mr. Putnam's own production, _The World's Progress, or Dictionary of Dates_, containing a comprehensive manual of reference in facts, or epitome of historical and general statistical knowledge, with a corrected chronology, &c., is expected to appear in a few weeks. Mr. Theodore Irving's _Conquest of Florida_ is also in progress.
It is said that Meyerbeer has already completed a grand opera with the title of _L'Africaine_, and is now engaged on a comic opera. This is probably nothing more than one of the trumpets which this composer knows so well how to blow beforehand. Meyerbeer is not greater in music than in the art of tickling public expectation and keeping the public aware of his existence.