DOI Heft:
No. 7 (October, 1893)
DOI Artikel:New publications
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17189#0043
New Publications
regretable excess, absolutely all one can find to that the immediate survivors of these once widely
grumble at, bears no relation worth estimating in revered monstrosities were immeasurably better
than their immediate forbears. That
ffl!ffil$Mk'W&^d$&£k ^^^^gg^^^SS^^^^^^^^^W tne ninety-two photographs he offers
show admirably designed work,
which other evidences prove to be
also well wrought, may be readily
granted, but to argue from this that
they reflect the average of the ordi-
nary surroundings of the home
would be folly. Still, it is good
that a certain number of rich people
can be found to appreciate thought-
ful design and accomplished craft,
and it is still better to feel that such
a book as this may be allowed to
represent our applied arts to foreign
nations, not merely without a sense
of shame and with a certain patriotic
pride. The school of design these
favour, which yet lacks a distinctive
and honourable title, based, as it
must needs be, on tradition, has
illustration by a. J. gaskin for an edition of andersen's fairy found itS owi1 accent, and, eclectic
tales, to be published by george allen in inspiration, has modified that
which it borrowed into organic
figures by the side of the splendidly cosmopolitan creations, not imitating their early ancestors, but
selection of the whole. The text is well digested, and with new features evolved to satisfy the new condi-
not merely descriptive or didactic, but an admirable
mixture of example and precept which a tyro may
understand and an expert may profit by. So good a
book needs no praise. If any designer failed to see
it—or having done so, failed to put it on his shelves
—it would not avail that one wrote columns in its
praise here ; but should a designer by force of
circumstances be compelled to limit his library to
a single book, one is strongly tempted to advise
him to choose this, which is practically an epitome
•of a hundred works on design, and so orderly in
its classification and lucid in its text that it has
preserved the really serviceable matter of the lot,
and omits little if anything of practical importance
in the history of ornament or the science of its
construction. It is not a book for inspiration,
hardly perhaps for actual tuition.
A Record of Work. By Aldam Heaton.
(London, 26-27 Bedford Square, W.C. i2.r. 6d.)
—This book is an illustrated catalogue of designs
executed in the workshops of the author, in print-
ing, stencilling, painting, stained glass, cabinet
work, marquetery, embroidery, woven fabrics, and
other decorative methods and materials ; but it
resembles the ordinary furnishing catalogue as
little as the show-rooms of Messrs. Morris & Co.
resemble the ticketed upholsterers of cheap shopping
districts. The author says in his preface that had
he, like Chippendale, produced a book of designs
he would like to make, it might have been vastly
-more attractive; yet what has been actually done
has a charm that no mere hypothetical schemes
•could offer. The Studio would willingly share
Mr. Heaton's satisfaction at the death of the huge
dome-topped mirror, the' handsome ' marble chim- tions of their environment. It would be pleasant
ney-piece, the cut-glass chandelier, the Brummagem to discuss each illustration in detail, whether the
gaselier, and the ceiling rosette, if it could be sure sumptuous over-mantel in plate 5, or the simple
3i
cover for "the hobby horse, designed by
herbert p. horner
regretable excess, absolutely all one can find to that the immediate survivors of these once widely
grumble at, bears no relation worth estimating in revered monstrosities were immeasurably better
than their immediate forbears. That
ffl!ffil$Mk'W&^d$&£k ^^^^gg^^^SS^^^^^^^^^W tne ninety-two photographs he offers
show admirably designed work,
which other evidences prove to be
also well wrought, may be readily
granted, but to argue from this that
they reflect the average of the ordi-
nary surroundings of the home
would be folly. Still, it is good
that a certain number of rich people
can be found to appreciate thought-
ful design and accomplished craft,
and it is still better to feel that such
a book as this may be allowed to
represent our applied arts to foreign
nations, not merely without a sense
of shame and with a certain patriotic
pride. The school of design these
favour, which yet lacks a distinctive
and honourable title, based, as it
must needs be, on tradition, has
illustration by a. J. gaskin for an edition of andersen's fairy found itS owi1 accent, and, eclectic
tales, to be published by george allen in inspiration, has modified that
which it borrowed into organic
figures by the side of the splendidly cosmopolitan creations, not imitating their early ancestors, but
selection of the whole. The text is well digested, and with new features evolved to satisfy the new condi-
not merely descriptive or didactic, but an admirable
mixture of example and precept which a tyro may
understand and an expert may profit by. So good a
book needs no praise. If any designer failed to see
it—or having done so, failed to put it on his shelves
—it would not avail that one wrote columns in its
praise here ; but should a designer by force of
circumstances be compelled to limit his library to
a single book, one is strongly tempted to advise
him to choose this, which is practically an epitome
•of a hundred works on design, and so orderly in
its classification and lucid in its text that it has
preserved the really serviceable matter of the lot,
and omits little if anything of practical importance
in the history of ornament or the science of its
construction. It is not a book for inspiration,
hardly perhaps for actual tuition.
A Record of Work. By Aldam Heaton.
(London, 26-27 Bedford Square, W.C. i2.r. 6d.)
—This book is an illustrated catalogue of designs
executed in the workshops of the author, in print-
ing, stencilling, painting, stained glass, cabinet
work, marquetery, embroidery, woven fabrics, and
other decorative methods and materials ; but it
resembles the ordinary furnishing catalogue as
little as the show-rooms of Messrs. Morris & Co.
resemble the ticketed upholsterers of cheap shopping
districts. The author says in his preface that had
he, like Chippendale, produced a book of designs
he would like to make, it might have been vastly
-more attractive; yet what has been actually done
has a charm that no mere hypothetical schemes
•could offer. The Studio would willingly share
Mr. Heaton's satisfaction at the death of the huge
dome-topped mirror, the' handsome ' marble chim- tions of their environment. It would be pleasant
ney-piece, the cut-glass chandelier, the Brummagem to discuss each illustration in detail, whether the
gaselier, and the ceiling rosette, if it could be sure sumptuous over-mantel in plate 5, or the simple
3i
cover for "the hobby horse, designed by
herbert p. horner