Studio: international art (6.1896)

Reviews of Recent Publications

great scheme of growth. A Raphael or a Blake Battersea), R. Anning Bell, H. S. Marks, T. Erat
(mention of whom, by the way, is omitted so far), a Harrison, E. D. French, and Harry Soane. The
Terburg or a Whistler, a Watteau or a Beardsley, thanks of all interested in book-plates are due to
each add something, whether of major or minor the author of a most interesting work, which is
importance, that from the proper distance is seen well-nigh essential to every collector. Among the
to be a factor in the whole evolution of the con- many volumes for which he is responsible none is
stantly increasing effort to achieve the sesthetic more entirely worthy than this portly quarto,
pleasure of man's intellectual and emotional delight Ladies' Book-Plates. By Norna Labouchere.
in beauty. (London : George Bell & Sons. 8.y. 6d. net.)—

The tone of the work is singularly cosmopolitan, This volume, with its appendix of a solid hundred
excepting possibly a not wholly unfounded preju- of pages of double columns, will no doubt gladden
dice against the Second Empire and its art, and the hearts of serious collectors; but to readers of
rather too much homage accorded to the deadly dull The Studio the large number of examples of the
school of Overbeck and his followers. work of modern designers reproduced in its pages

Dated Book-Plates. By Walter Hamilton, will possibly be more generally attractive. Some
In Three Parts, each js. 6d. net. (London : A. & of these are really of great beauty. Three etched
C. Black.)—That a dated book-plate should have plates by D. Y. Cameron, one from the original
been especially interesting to collectors bent on copper, stand out as the most novel treatment of
classifying their treasures is obvious enough. The the ex libris one has seen. They are merely
various arbitrary divisions now generally accepted, decorated name-labels, thereby reverting to the
"Chippendale," "Jacobean," and
the like, could never have been so
well defined but for the aid afforded
by the dated plate. But that a date
in itself sanctifies and raises the ex
libris to something far more impor-
tant, is a fallacy which has somehow
established itself as fallacies are apt
to do. When, as in the third Part,
we find Mr. Hamilton restricting his
theme to those contemporary plates
which chance to be dated as well as
signed, we feel vexed, because the
broader date of style writ all over
them largely fixes their date near
enough for all practical purposes.
But Mr. Hamilton did not invent
the distinction, and it is unfair to
carp at a very interesting work. A
few paragraphs concerning modern
designers (p. 112) need slight revi-
sion. By a slip of the pen, Messrs.
Aubrey Beardsley, E. A. Abbey, and
others, appear as heraldic designers.
Again, on p. 114, Mr. Charles
Ricketts' special forte is said to be
woodcut book-plates. But, as a
matter of fact, so far this most
accomplished artist has only done
one ex libris of any sort, the plate
which Mr. Hamilton reproduces.
Part III. is admirably illustrated with
designs by Messrs. C. W. Sherborn
(the beautiful copperplate of Lord " ladies'book-plates " (bell and sons).

1 r design by paul woodroffe

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