Studio: international art (15.1899)

Reviews of Recent Publications

for good or for ill, and
have resulted in making
the influence of M. Grasset
at once so fertile and so
barren.

The Blessed Damozel.
By D. G. Rossetti. In-
troduction by W. M.
Rossetti. Decorations
by W. B. Macdougall.
(London : Duckworth and
Co.). Price $$. net.—This
poem was written by the
author in his nineteenth
year, and, as his brother
observes, there was pro-
bably existent at the time
of its composition "nothing
. which presents any similar
combination of mediaeval
devoutness, human pas-
sion, and remote yet inti-
mate idealism—an earthly
love wearing a spiritual
halo so bright and dazzling
that the eye hardly distin-
tinguishes the point of
juncture between the one
and the other." While
there is much that is clever
in Mr. Macdougall's
mediaeval borderings, they
are too black and heavy in
appearance for the printed
matter within. Indeed,
there is no sense of pro-
portion between the text
and the decoration. This
leather book-cover by georg hulbe is a very grave fault. The

(See Hamburg Studio-Talk) "decorated book" to be

satisfactory should be con-

Ornements Typographiques. Par Eugene Gras- sidered in its every part, each detail should har-
set. (Paris : Ed. Sagot.)—One may congratulate monise with the rest — paper, type, illustration,
the publisher on his happy idea in collecting the binding, and all decorative accessories should be
ornamental lettering, the headings, and the tail- portions of one well-considered scheme. The
pieces designed by M. Grasset for the Abbe inclusion in this volume of a photogravure repro-
Drioux's Fetes Chretiennes. This latter work ap- duction of a very charming study of a head by
peared in 1880, that is to say, at a period when no D. G. Rossetti is altogether out of harmony with
one thought of associating art with book publish- Mr. Macdougall's decorations. And of these latter
ing. The designs reveal the earlier impulses of the cover design is the most satisfactory portion,
the author of the Quatre Fils Aymon, with his Frede?ic Lord Leighton. An illustrated record of
richness of fancy and his knowledge—great even his life and work by Ernest Rhys. (London:
then ; with his half-developed virtues and vices, G. Bell and Sons.) 25J. net.—This new edition of
both of which qualities have eventually developed Mr. Rhys' excellent work _ will be acceptable to

289 .