Studio: international art (82.1921)

REVIEWS

" A KINDLY OLD MAN." ILLUSTRA-
TION TO THE STORY OF " PRINCESS
ROSETTE " BY W. HEATH ROBINSON

(" Old Time Stories," Constable & Co.)

associated with his work in the past re-
appear. Twenty-four of them are in
colour, and besides these there are
numerous line drawings printed with the
text as illustrations or decorations. Line
is, of course, the foundation of Mr. Rack-
ham's colour work, and here as in other
books he has illustrated, these illustrations
in colour appear far less incongruous with
the printed page than most coloured
pictures. All the plates are mounted and
the printing generally is excellent. 0

Old Time Stones. Told by Master
Charles Perrault. Translated from the
French by A. E. Johnson. With illustra-
tions by W. Heath Robinson. (London :
Constable & Co.)—Most of these stories
are old favourites, though probably very
few of those who have read them in
English know that " Mother-Goose,"
" The Sleeping Beauty," " Cinderella,"
" Puss in Boots," " Red Riding Hood "
and several others owe their first publica-
tion to Perrault, who introduced them to
French children more than 200 years ago,
while " Princess Rosette " and " The
Friendly Frog," also included in this
selection, came from Mme. d'Aulnoy,
his contemporary. Rarely, however, have
they been presented so attractively as
they are here. Apart from the six colour
plates, there are a great many charming
black and white drawings by Mr. Heath
Robinson, whose exquisite penmanship

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is here seen at its best. And not only are
these drawings remarkable for the beauty
of their line, but in many of them this
beauty is enhanced by the artist's apprecia-
tion of the value of a blank space—an
aesthetic factor to which the Japanese
attach so much importance. A good ex-
ample is the drawing of Cinderella in tears.

Fabre's Book of Insects. Retold from
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos' translation
of Fabre's " Souvenirs entomologiques,"
by Mrs. Rodolph Stawell. Illustrated
by E. J. Detmold. (London : Hodder
and Stoughton.) Unique in the literature
of natural history, the " Souvenirs
entomologiques " of J. H. Fabre have
from the time of their first appearance more
than a generation ago delighted and
fascinated numberless readers in many
lands. The selection made by Mrs.
Stawell for this handsome volume, printed
in a type which makes reading a pleasure,
is a very interesting one, comprising as
it does papers on familiar forms of insect
life, such as the glow-worm, the grass-
hopper, the common wasp, the cricket,
and others less familiar. But the piece de
resistance of this edition is undoubtedly
the series of beautiful illustrations in
colour from water-colour drawings by
Mr. E. J. Detmold, an artist who from his
boyhood has shown a wonderful talent
for the portrayal of animal life of diverse
kinds in its natural surroundings. 0