International studio (23.1904)

Book Reviews

of the Holy Grail, and so enshrouded in mystery
is their origin, that, as in the case of most mysteri-
ous things, their charm is undying. By each suc-
ceeding generation are the oft repeated tales gladly
heard, with no abatement of interest, no lessening
of their mystic spell. Even in these prosaic days
of the twentieth century, as in the far back ages of
early Christendom, when the minstrel in great ban-
quet halls touched his harp and sang his song of
love and chivalry before his royal audience, the
wondrous mystery of the Holy Grail is still power-
ful to attract, and hold spell-bound, audiences in
every land.
The writer in the opening pages of the present
volume recalls the scenes and incidents of Wagner’s
masterpiece, so that the connection may be more
closely drawn between its achievement and the
legends and poems which have preceded it in an
earlier day. An interesting feature of this work is
the careful comparison which the author has drawn
between the two different versions of the story best
known to the Grail student of the present day, viz.,
the theological atmosphere of the Galahad cycle and
the intensely mystical atmosphere of the Parsifal,
with the innumerable details which arise in both;
that which is clearly descriptive in the outlines of
the Parsifal events being, as it were, shadows in the
Galahad poems.
The Watchers of the Trails. A Book of
Animal Life. By Charles G. D. Roberts.
Square nmo. Pages 361. Illustrations by
Charles Livingston Bull. Boston: L. C.
Page & Co. $2.00.
Professor Roberts is well known as an authentic
writer on the subject of nature and animal life.
The present volume, which is a companion to his
recent publication, “ Kindreds of the Wild,” is made
particularly attractive by its illustrations, of which
there are over fifty, comprising full-page wash draw-
ings, and also end-papers and head and tail pieces
in line. These illustrations and also the cover
design have been admirably done by Mr. Charles
Livingstone Bull, whose work recalls to mind that
of the two young Englishmen, Maurice and Ed-
ward Detmold, who illustrated a recent edition of
Kipling’s “Jungle Book,” issued by the Macmillan
Co.
As to the interest of the story itself there can be
no doubt. The writer in his prefatory note tells us
that he.spent most of his boyhood on the fringes of
the forest, and having few interests save those which
the forest afforded, had the intimacies of the wilder-
ness, as it were, thrust upon him. The earliest en-

thusiasm which he can recollect are connected with
some of the furred or feathered kindred; and the
first thrills strong enough to leave a lasting mark on
his memory are those with which he used to follow
—furtive, apprehensive, expectant, breathlessly
watchful—the lure of an unknown trail. Having
by temperament a sympathetic understanding of
the wild kindreds, and an intimate knowledge of
their habits, and having lived among them during
the impressionable periods of his life, it is to be in-
ferred that his animal biography is true to nature.
The author also affirms that, in spite of an accusa-
tion to the contrary, he has always endeavored to
avoid ascribing to his animals the human motives
and mental processes of man.
The Illustrators of Montmartre. By Frank
L. Emanuel. Pages 85. Illustrated. New
York: Charles Scribners’ Sons. (Imported.)
$1.00 net.
We have already had the pleasure of reviewing
in the columns of The International Studio the
first and second volumes of the Langham- Series, an
illustrated collection of art monographs edited by
Selwyn Brinton, well known to many readers by his
volumes on the Italian Renaissance and Correggio.
“The Illustrators of Montmartre” is the third
volume of this attractive series, and deals, as its
name implies, with some of the eminent artists who
have made their homes on the Montmartre cliff.
Among other works discussed are those of A. Stein-
len, whom the author designates “a painter’s
painter,” because his work appeals to artists and
other highly trained critics, only the most sensitive
among the public being capable of appreciating
them. The life and military career of Emanuel
Poire, better known by his Russian pseudonym of
Caran d’Ache; the pathetic life story of H. de
Toulouse Lautrec, his comet-like career and his
sad end; the vigorous technique of F. Vallotton,,
and his wonderful woodcuts; the strong and serious
work of L. Malteste; the subtlety of technique and
forceful caustic wit of J. L. Forain—these and
kindred subjects form the contents of this little
book, which concludes with a plea from the author
for a much-needed national water-color and black
and white gallery for which such work as he dis-
cusses in this volume could be procured by gift or
purchase and thereafter exhibited; such a gallery
to display, above all things, that single-minded
devotion to art for its own sake which belongs to
these illustrators of Montmartre.
The book is profusely illustrated by reproduc-
tions from oil-paintings, pen drawings, etc., by the

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