International studio (61.1917)

Reviews

to have said that what most astonished him
was the sight of a chauffeuse sitting on her box
and busily plying her needle while her employer
was paying a call. He would have been still
more astonished no doubt if he had seen a
male driver doing the same thing. But why
not ? Many of them—taxi-drivers especially—-
waste much time in doing nothing when they
might at least be knitting or mending socks.
Prof. Adams, whose commendation of this little
book on School Needlecraft as “ the outcome of
long and patient and humane experiment
guided by a particularly vigorous and inven-
tive mind ” we heartily endorse, says it is no
longer out of place for a man to talk about
needlework, because boys are now taught it as
a manual exercise. As a matter of fact the
craft has long been recognized as by no means
incompatible with manliness. Have not our
bluejackets, and indeed our marines generally,
always plied the needle with dexterity ? And
their skill is not exercised wholly on the useful,
for Jack can do a turn at “ fancy ” work to
pass away the time between watches. So no
one ought to find fault with Miss Swanson for
bringing boys of six to fourteen within the
scope of her scheme of needlework instruction
for schools. Buttonholing, darning, and mark-
ing by applique are among the items in this
part of the programme, but sesthetic considera-
tions are not lost sight of; here, as all through
her book, the useful and the beautiful keep
company. Garments of various kinds are dealt
with, millinery receiving special attention, and
there is a chapter on dyeing which is timely.
Miss Swanson hails from the Glasgow School
of Art, where needlecraft flourishes as a vital
force, and her name with that of Miss Macbeth
of the same institution has already appeared
on another of Messrs. Longmans’ books on the
subject, “ Educational Needlecraft,” the scope
of which is different from that of the present
volume.
A Holiday in Umbria. By Sir Thomas
Graham Jackson, Bart., R.A., etc. (London :
John Murray.) ros. 6d. net.—Unknown to the
great majority of tourists, the part of Italy
with which the veteran Royal Academician is
concerned in this book, embodying remini-
scences of the visits he paid to it in 1881 and
1888, is, as he says, not inferior to any in
historical associations and in beauty of nature
and art. The little republic of San Marino,

with its capital perched high on volcanic
Mount Titan, has for centuries maintained its
independence and its traditions of freedom, in
the assertion of which the fighting forces of
this diminutive nation have ranged themselves
on the side of the Allies in the great conflict.
Sir Thomas Jackson has, however, more to
say of Urbino, the capital of the famous Duchy
whose story is set forth at length in Dennis-
toun’s comprehensive Memoirs of its Dukes, of
which a new and copiously annotated edition
made its appearance some seven or eight years
ago. One of the chief sources of information
concerning this history is Castiglione’s “ Il
Cortegiano,” and an abstract of this forms
the longest and not the least interesting
chapter in Sir Thomas’s book, which is made
additionally attractive by reproductions of
some of his own sketches and a few photo-
graphs.
Port Sunlight. A Record of its Artistic and
Pictorial Aspect. By T. Raffles Davison,
Hon. A.R.I.B.A. (London : B.T. Batsford, Ltd.)
5s. net.—Port Sunlight occupies a prominent
place in a movement which, in the years before
war intervened to check it, was gathering force
and promised great things in the way of
ameliorating the conditions of existence among
the industrial population, and the scheme of
this “ garden village ” as presented in this
well-illustrated record is worthy of the close
study of those who, actuated by the same
exalted motives as its founder, will, it is to be
hoped, be forthcoming in the near future to
follow his example. The domestic dwellings
and other buildings of the village present an
agreeable diversity of appearance which could
hardly have been attained had the various
designs emanated from a single architect or
even a small number, and in distributing his
commissions among a fairly considerable number
Sir William Lever acted with that excellent
judgment which has marked the develop-
ment of the scheme from the beginning. In
his prefatory note Mr. Raffles Davison speaks
with appreciation of the part taken in the
preparation of this record by the late Mr.
Herbert Batsford, head of the well-known
publishing firm, whose death a few weeks ago
has removed one whose intelligent sympathy
for architecture and the arts generally enabled
him to render such signal service in the diffusion
of knowledge relating to them.

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