DOI Heft:
No. 7 (October, 1893)
DOI Artikel:New publications
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17189#0042
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I
New Publications
NEW PUBLICATIONS. Mr. Emery Walker only, but now bears his signature
coupled with that of the founder of the Kelmscott
Arts and Crafts Essays, with a Preface by Press.
William Morris. (London : Rivington, Percival It is late in the day to review these essays, which
& Co. js. 6d.)—As the title suggests, these essays, are known to most designers and craftsmen, and
twenty-four in number, are virtually reprints from may be read with advantage by all. Even those
the catalogues of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition, who consider the Society representative of a clique
In their original shape—probably the earliest will find it hard to object to the practical advice
modern revival of the long page familiar now in its various members have set down herein; in
the Pseudonym Library and elsewhere—they were plain direct words they one and all have set aside
pleasant to the eye ; here they are no less pleasant, any personal taste; and beyond the natural opinion
and in a well-printed volume may take their place that there is notning like leather (which in every
as a permanent book of permanent value. worker who loves his trade is almost a virtue) are
Beyond the extension to the present date of self-restrained and above all practical.
Mr. Walter Crane's original catalogue preface, the The general preface is most noticeable perhaps
only new features are a general preface by Mr. for a statement which those concerned will hardly
William Morris and an amplified form of the permit to pass without protest: " that the modern
paper on printing, which at first was signed by Impressionists loudly proclaim their enmity to
beauty, and are no more uncon-
scious of their aim (towards ugli-
ness and nullity) than the artists
of the revival are of their longing
to link themselves with the tradi-
tional art of the past." The ele-
ments of a very pretty squabble are
contained in these words ; but the
attempt to define beauty in a way
acceptable to all the schools has
not yet succeeded, and one cannot
dare to expect that the discussion
likely to be renewed over this sen-
tence will fix the canons of the
evasive ideal to the satisfaction of
the opposed factions.
For the book itself a very lengthy
review would be needed; and if,
which is doubtful, a few minor
flaws were discovered, the value of
its sensible utterances as a handy
book of reference to the industrial
arts are not easily overrated. It
worthily supports the avowed ob-
jects of the Society to revive the
dignity of handicraft and to raise
design to a higher standard, and at
the same time to employ the simplest,
or at least the most direct, manual
labour in order to achieve the end.
A Handbook of Ornament. By
Franz Sales Mayer, with 3000
illustrations, 2s. 6d. (London : B.
T. Batsford.) — This translation
from the fourth revised German
edition of a really remarkable book,
deserves very high praise. It is a
library, a museum, an encyclopaedia,
and an art school, in one. To rival
it as a book of reference one must
fill a bookcase. The quality of the
drawings is unusually high, the
choice of examples is singularly
good, and although the German
rococo figures much more abun-
xllustration by a. j. gaskin, for an edition of andersen's fairy dantly than it might have done
tales, to be published by george allen in an English compilation—that
3°
I
New Publications
NEW PUBLICATIONS. Mr. Emery Walker only, but now bears his signature
coupled with that of the founder of the Kelmscott
Arts and Crafts Essays, with a Preface by Press.
William Morris. (London : Rivington, Percival It is late in the day to review these essays, which
& Co. js. 6d.)—As the title suggests, these essays, are known to most designers and craftsmen, and
twenty-four in number, are virtually reprints from may be read with advantage by all. Even those
the catalogues of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition, who consider the Society representative of a clique
In their original shape—probably the earliest will find it hard to object to the practical advice
modern revival of the long page familiar now in its various members have set down herein; in
the Pseudonym Library and elsewhere—they were plain direct words they one and all have set aside
pleasant to the eye ; here they are no less pleasant, any personal taste; and beyond the natural opinion
and in a well-printed volume may take their place that there is notning like leather (which in every
as a permanent book of permanent value. worker who loves his trade is almost a virtue) are
Beyond the extension to the present date of self-restrained and above all practical.
Mr. Walter Crane's original catalogue preface, the The general preface is most noticeable perhaps
only new features are a general preface by Mr. for a statement which those concerned will hardly
William Morris and an amplified form of the permit to pass without protest: " that the modern
paper on printing, which at first was signed by Impressionists loudly proclaim their enmity to
beauty, and are no more uncon-
scious of their aim (towards ugli-
ness and nullity) than the artists
of the revival are of their longing
to link themselves with the tradi-
tional art of the past." The ele-
ments of a very pretty squabble are
contained in these words ; but the
attempt to define beauty in a way
acceptable to all the schools has
not yet succeeded, and one cannot
dare to expect that the discussion
likely to be renewed over this sen-
tence will fix the canons of the
evasive ideal to the satisfaction of
the opposed factions.
For the book itself a very lengthy
review would be needed; and if,
which is doubtful, a few minor
flaws were discovered, the value of
its sensible utterances as a handy
book of reference to the industrial
arts are not easily overrated. It
worthily supports the avowed ob-
jects of the Society to revive the
dignity of handicraft and to raise
design to a higher standard, and at
the same time to employ the simplest,
or at least the most direct, manual
labour in order to achieve the end.
A Handbook of Ornament. By
Franz Sales Mayer, with 3000
illustrations, 2s. 6d. (London : B.
T. Batsford.) — This translation
from the fourth revised German
edition of a really remarkable book,
deserves very high praise. It is a
library, a museum, an encyclopaedia,
and an art school, in one. To rival
it as a book of reference one must
fill a bookcase. The quality of the
drawings is unusually high, the
choice of examples is singularly
good, and although the German
rococo figures much more abun-
xllustration by a. j. gaskin, for an edition of andersen's fairy dantly than it might have done
tales, to be published by george allen in an English compilation—that
3°