DOI Heft:
No. 225 (December 1911)
DOI Artikel:Reviews and notices
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21155#0276
Reviews and Notices
The eighteenth-century world is Mr. Thomson's.
His style has never been better adjusted than in
this instance to his matter. This is one of the
most attractive volumes that have passed through
our hands at a time when there has been no
poverty of attractive publications.
Le Morte D'Arthur. By Sir Thomas Malory,
Kt. Illustrated by W. Russell Flint. Vol. III.
(London : Published for the Medici Society, Ltd.,
by P. Lee Warner.) ^10 10s. the set of four vols.
—As Mr. Russell Flint has proceeded with these
volumes they have surpassed each other in the
success of the illustrations. Whilst the style is
uniform throughout, the exalted subject has not
been without its effect upon the spirit of the
artist's work. At first inclined to take things a
little too lightly, a little too much in the spirit of
popular journalism, Mr. Flint seems to have learnt
some reserve and to have shed a superficial clever-
ness, which we had always understood was one
thing that could not be shed. In consequence we
get in this volume intentness of feeling, sobriety of
pattern, decorative strength and the economical
management of colour, which succeed in giving
characteristic interpretation to the rich and ancient
theme in hand. The arts of colour reproduction
are at their highest in this work. The artist is
fortunate in his publishers, the publishers in their
artist.
King Arthur's Knights. By Walter Crane.
(London T. C. and E. C. Jack.) js. 6d. net.—In
this book the tales of King Arthur's knights are re-
told for boys and girls by Mr. Henry Gilbert with
sixteen illustrations in colour by Mr. Walter Crane.
The characteristic note of all Mr. Crane's illus-
trations is the responsive style of one who does not
take up subjects with which he is not in sympathy.
Of course Mr. Crane is always at his best in the
field of his reputation—decoration; his success
diminishing to the extent to which, in any picture,
he forsakes it in the direction of realism. The
pleasantness of the colours and the artistic simplicity
in presenting the incidents of the story make this
volume one which must be recommended warmly
to those who want a book for children which will
delight while it instructs.
The Compleat Angler. By Isaak Walton. With
illustrations in colour by James Thorpe. (Lon-
don : Hodderand Stoughton.) 15.j. net.—The artist
here has caught the spirit of the text, and has
made an illustrated volume of variety and vivacity.
Some of the landscape drawing is most attractive,
and Mr. Thorpe is an accomplished figure draughts-
man. The colour plates, of which there are some
254
twenty-five, are mounted upon green paper, the
title-pages, &c, are well decorated, the type and
setting are most carefully chosen, and the book is
substantially and pleasantly bound.
The Life of Nelson. By Robert Southey. With
an introduction by John Masefield and designs
by Frank Brangwyn, A.R.A. (London: Gibbings
and Co.) 7 s. 6d. net.—Seven of the eight coloured
plates illustrating this reprint of Southey's " Life ot
Nelson " are reproductions of characteristic paint-
ings by Mr. Brangwyn, whose virile art has rarely
been exercised more effectively than when de-
picting the life of the mariner, and he has also
made a number of designs in black and white for
chapter headings, &c, which impress one by their
powerful draughtsmanship, one of the best being
that which is reproduced as an end-paper.
Stories from Hans Andersen. Illustrated by
Edmund Dulac. (London : Hodder and Stough-
ton.) \^s. net.—Siegfried and The Twilight 0/
the Gods. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
(London : William Heinemann.) 15s. net.—Mr.
Edmund Dulac's "Hans Andersen" entitles him
to popularity and to critical appreciation too. He
has a perfect art in combining line and colour, so
that the line-work does not come into conflict with
the colour, which is sometimes the fault of Mr.
Rackham's work in a similar field. The latter
often shades too much with the pen at the expense
of his colour and the pleasure to be derived from
it. We had occasion to note the illustrations for
the book of " Siegfried and The Twilight of the
Gods" upon their exhibition at the Leicester
Gallery. Mr. Rackham's imagination is of a high
order, thus he is enabled to take up difficult themes
and interpret them with success.
Song's and Lyrics oj Robert Bums. Illustrated
by W. Russell Flint and R. Purves Flint.
(London: P. Lee Warner) xos. 6d. net.—Mr.
Russell Flint and Mr. R. Purves Flint have
provided for this book some very dainty landscapes
in colour, which are attractively arranged, making a
book that deserves recommendation to every verse-
lover. The Lyrics are selected and edited by Mr.
William Macdonald.
David Copperfield. By Charles Dickens,
illustrated in colour by Frank Reynolds, R.I.
(London: Hodder and Stoughton.) 15^ net.—
The true Dickens illustrator is certainly born, not
made. We have seen no interpretation put upon
the great writer's work so successful in spirit as Mr.
Reynolds's. Dickens has always been most un-
kindly treated by his illustrators. They make the
world of Dickens ugly. Mr. Reynolds contradicts
The eighteenth-century world is Mr. Thomson's.
His style has never been better adjusted than in
this instance to his matter. This is one of the
most attractive volumes that have passed through
our hands at a time when there has been no
poverty of attractive publications.
Le Morte D'Arthur. By Sir Thomas Malory,
Kt. Illustrated by W. Russell Flint. Vol. III.
(London : Published for the Medici Society, Ltd.,
by P. Lee Warner.) ^10 10s. the set of four vols.
—As Mr. Russell Flint has proceeded with these
volumes they have surpassed each other in the
success of the illustrations. Whilst the style is
uniform throughout, the exalted subject has not
been without its effect upon the spirit of the
artist's work. At first inclined to take things a
little too lightly, a little too much in the spirit of
popular journalism, Mr. Flint seems to have learnt
some reserve and to have shed a superficial clever-
ness, which we had always understood was one
thing that could not be shed. In consequence we
get in this volume intentness of feeling, sobriety of
pattern, decorative strength and the economical
management of colour, which succeed in giving
characteristic interpretation to the rich and ancient
theme in hand. The arts of colour reproduction
are at their highest in this work. The artist is
fortunate in his publishers, the publishers in their
artist.
King Arthur's Knights. By Walter Crane.
(London T. C. and E. C. Jack.) js. 6d. net.—In
this book the tales of King Arthur's knights are re-
told for boys and girls by Mr. Henry Gilbert with
sixteen illustrations in colour by Mr. Walter Crane.
The characteristic note of all Mr. Crane's illus-
trations is the responsive style of one who does not
take up subjects with which he is not in sympathy.
Of course Mr. Crane is always at his best in the
field of his reputation—decoration; his success
diminishing to the extent to which, in any picture,
he forsakes it in the direction of realism. The
pleasantness of the colours and the artistic simplicity
in presenting the incidents of the story make this
volume one which must be recommended warmly
to those who want a book for children which will
delight while it instructs.
The Compleat Angler. By Isaak Walton. With
illustrations in colour by James Thorpe. (Lon-
don : Hodderand Stoughton.) 15.j. net.—The artist
here has caught the spirit of the text, and has
made an illustrated volume of variety and vivacity.
Some of the landscape drawing is most attractive,
and Mr. Thorpe is an accomplished figure draughts-
man. The colour plates, of which there are some
254
twenty-five, are mounted upon green paper, the
title-pages, &c, are well decorated, the type and
setting are most carefully chosen, and the book is
substantially and pleasantly bound.
The Life of Nelson. By Robert Southey. With
an introduction by John Masefield and designs
by Frank Brangwyn, A.R.A. (London: Gibbings
and Co.) 7 s. 6d. net.—Seven of the eight coloured
plates illustrating this reprint of Southey's " Life ot
Nelson " are reproductions of characteristic paint-
ings by Mr. Brangwyn, whose virile art has rarely
been exercised more effectively than when de-
picting the life of the mariner, and he has also
made a number of designs in black and white for
chapter headings, &c, which impress one by their
powerful draughtsmanship, one of the best being
that which is reproduced as an end-paper.
Stories from Hans Andersen. Illustrated by
Edmund Dulac. (London : Hodder and Stough-
ton.) \^s. net.—Siegfried and The Twilight 0/
the Gods. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
(London : William Heinemann.) 15s. net.—Mr.
Edmund Dulac's "Hans Andersen" entitles him
to popularity and to critical appreciation too. He
has a perfect art in combining line and colour, so
that the line-work does not come into conflict with
the colour, which is sometimes the fault of Mr.
Rackham's work in a similar field. The latter
often shades too much with the pen at the expense
of his colour and the pleasure to be derived from
it. We had occasion to note the illustrations for
the book of " Siegfried and The Twilight of the
Gods" upon their exhibition at the Leicester
Gallery. Mr. Rackham's imagination is of a high
order, thus he is enabled to take up difficult themes
and interpret them with success.
Song's and Lyrics oj Robert Bums. Illustrated
by W. Russell Flint and R. Purves Flint.
(London: P. Lee Warner) xos. 6d. net.—Mr.
Russell Flint and Mr. R. Purves Flint have
provided for this book some very dainty landscapes
in colour, which are attractively arranged, making a
book that deserves recommendation to every verse-
lover. The Lyrics are selected and edited by Mr.
William Macdonald.
David Copperfield. By Charles Dickens,
illustrated in colour by Frank Reynolds, R.I.
(London: Hodder and Stoughton.) 15^ net.—
The true Dickens illustrator is certainly born, not
made. We have seen no interpretation put upon
the great writer's work so successful in spirit as Mr.
Reynolds's. Dickens has always been most un-
kindly treated by his illustrators. They make the
world of Dickens ugly. Mr. Reynolds contradicts