Studio: international art (39.1907)

Reviews and Notices

bear upon artists, in the second with individual
men and artistic'institutions, and in the third with
the various styles of painting practised in the period
selected for examination, supplementing his text
with a great number of reproductions of carefully
selected paintings, and giving numerous references
to the writings of his predecessors in the same field.
In the first portion of this masterly study the
author has been at infinite pains to unravel the
tangled skein of conflicting evidence, defining the
original causes of each new development, and
giving in every case special prominence to the
personal equation, which is, after all, the dominat-
ing factor in every movement of importance,
whether political, social, or aesthetic. The value of
the work is enhanced by the addition of chrono-
logical lists of all the painters who worked between
1620 and 1721, alphabetical tables of their works,
and a bibliography, in which the pages to which
reference has been made are quoted, representing
a very great saving of time to the student. \

Modern Bookbindings. By S. T. Prideaux.
(London : Constable & Co.). io.r. 6d. net.—In
none of the minor decorative arts, all of which
have felt the influence of William Morris, has
greater progress been made during the last twenty-
five years than in that of designs for bookbindings,
which were marked in the first half of the nineteenth
century by tasteless insipidity, presenting in this
respect a marked contrast to the work of mediaeval
and early renaissance times. To the leader in the
new movement, Mr. Cobden Sanderson, and to the
later influence of Mr. Douglas Cockerell, whose
strenuous craft-teaching has had such excellent
results, Mr. Prideaux pays a just tribute in his de-
lightful essay, which is not only a complete history
of English bookbinding enriched by many examples
of the work of typical masters of design, but is also
full of practical hints as to what may be done in
the future. The chapter on edition binding will be
found especially useful with its expert suggestions
as to materials for blocks, stamping, etc., and its
references to the sources from which the modern
designer may glean the principles on which his
work should be based.

Sussex. Painted by Wilfrid Ball. (London :
A. & C. Black.) 20j-.net.—It has been said of
Sussex that it is the most thoroughly Saxon of all
the English counties, and herein perhaps lies the
secret of its charm. In spite of the transformation
now going on in many parts of it, especially along
the principal arteries of communication, where one
regrets to see so many evidences of " suburbanisa-
tion," the county as a whole offers to the lover of

nature an endless source of pleasure in its varied
and beautiful scenery. In Mr, Wilfrid Ball, to
whom we owe the extensive series of coloured
pictures reproduced in this volume, Sussex has
found a sympathetic and capable interpreter.
Mr. Ball's technique lends itself completely to
the treatment of picturesque landscape, and his
work breathes a feeling of restfulness which con-
trasts favourably with that "fidgetiness" wbith
characterises a good deal of this species of work.
The point of view is, with hardly an exception,
well chosen, and the pictures collectively give a good
idea of the rich variety of landscape scenery to be
met with in Sussex, thus forming a pleasing pictorial
survey of the county. A few of them, it must be
pointed out, have suffered more or less in the
process of reproduction or printing; thus some
of those illustrating bits of villages, with their
quaint old cottages, are decidedly too red, while
in others of a different character yellow or blue is
too predominant. The greater part of the accom-
panying letterpress deals with the county under its
physical and historical aspects, both ably treated;
but the general reader will perhaps be more in-
terested in the anonymous author's study of the
characteristics of the Sussex peasant, the chief of
which is his rooted conservatism. The text, it
must be confessed, is somewhat disappointing, the
references to places of interest in the county being
of the most meagre description. The volume
would certainly have gained in interest, without
partaking of the character of a mere guide-book,
had the text been more en rapport with the
illustrations.

Architectural Sketching and Drawing in Perspec-
tive. ByH. W.Roberts. (London : B. T. Batsford.)
7^. 6d. net.—In his Introduction to this most useful
publication, that will be of great value to architects,
the well-known evolver of R's method of drawing
to scale in perspective dwells on the fact that his
own work has been greatly facilitated by its adop-
tion, for which reason he determined to introduce
it personally to the architects of Great Britain, a
task that occupied three years, and was, he says,
a most interesting experience. Mr. Roberts gives
a brief but interesting and amusing account of
certain typical interviews, and then proceeds to
explain his solution of the various problems with
which he had to deal, supplementing his most lucid
directions with a great number of plates illustrating
the drawing of architectural details and sketches
to scale, etc., each one exhaustively explained.

Highways and Byways in Dorset. By Sir
Frederick Treves, Bart. (London and New

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