International studio (60.1916/1917)

Book Reviews

brought to light and with the aid of some 2000
photographic negatives the heart of Salem, as a
centre of the finest Colonial architecture in the
country, stands revealed. The achievements of
Samuel McIntire shew him to be a master crafts-
man in design and proportion. A plentiful index
and 127 plates give added importance to a work
that is replete with vital interest. The enduring
quality of white pine has fortunately been the
means of preserving intact the splendid work of


PROFILE MEDALLION OF WASHINGTON
HAND CARVED IN WOOD, 1802

a man who executed his own designs and who re-
quired no institutional diploma to guarantee their
superlative excellence.
Belgium by Frank Brangwyn, A.R.A., text by
Hugh Stokes. (Frederick A. Stokes Company,
New York.) $3.50.
Handsome format, fine paper, elegant letter-
press, characteristic woodcuts, all combine to
make this book an ideal presentment of an in-
domitable race whose old cities have from time
immemorial attracted artist and tourist alike. A
country may be devastated but its history can-
not be wiped from the chronicles. Dedicated to
His Majesty the King of the Belgians, the book

is most sumptuously gotten up, not the least of
its charm being the head and tail pieces with
larged red initial letter for each chapter, and a
foreword by M. Paul Lambotte.
The Practical Book of Early American Arts
and Crafts. By Harold Donaldson Eberlein
and Abbot McClure. (J. B. Lippincott Co.,
Philadelphia.) $6.00.
Two handsome octavos have just appeared
upon Crafts and Architecture. The book upon
Architecture written by C. Matlack Price will be
considered later. The aim of the Crafts book is
to present a practical guide to the Arts and
Crafts of our forefathers for the use of the col-
lector and general reader. Needless to say much
interesting American history is bound up in the
story of the social and economic conditions back
to early colonizing days. Chapters are devoted
to glass, metalwork, needlecraft, domestic and
ecclesiastical silver, pewter, pottery, painting and
decoration, weaving, handblock printing, wood
and stone carving, fractur and lace. Probably
few people could explain what is meant by fractur,
namely, pen-and-brush illumination, or slip-dec-
orated pottery and the various manifestations of
the “Pennsylvania Dutch.”
We learn much about pewter, its touch-marks
and “joggling.” New England is the happy
hunting-ground, other states appear to have
been less drawn upon. Generous illustration
and a good index complete a useful compendium
of craftsman knowledge.
Modern School Houses, Vol. II. Published
by the American Architect. (New York.)
$7.50.
Like its predecessor, Vol. II contains a very
generous and well-selected collection of plates—-
both photographs and working plans—of school
work, by the best architects in this field. All
sections of the country are represented and the
illustrations show what a variety of solutions
have been found for problems whose programmes
are not very diverse. It is interesting, moreover,
to note with what a degree of interest and charm
it is possible to treat buildings which for reasons
of economy must nearly always be without rich
materials or lavish ornament.
The present-day development of the school
house is one of the most significant facts in Amer-
ican architecture.

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