Studio: international art (89.1925)

REVIEWS

REVIEWS

La Technique Moderne du Bois Grav'z.
By Maurice Busset. (Paris : Delagrave)
18 frs. Not only to artists and tech-
nicians of wood-engraving, but also to
the many devotees of good typography,
whose number has been increased by the
present revival of book-production, this
book should be of very great interest. The
author begins with an historical sketch,
treating by turns the first attempts of the
Chinese (the beginnings of what was
afterwards to lead to the invention of
printing), the incomparable masterpieces
of the Japanese school, and the charmingly
naive work done in fifteenth and sixteenth
century Europe. From this, he goes on to
describe clearly the different methods of
wood-engraving, the tools and how they
are used, the devices for printing the
blocks, and even the manufacture of hand-
made papers, as it is still carried on in
certain small towns in Auvergne, by
peasant artisans, using rude implements
and methods, handed down from their
forefathers, 0 0 0 0 0

Perhaps the interest of this very con-
scientious study might have been increased
if the author had illustrated it with a few
examples of the best contemporary wood-
engravings. But it is obvious that his aim
has been mainly didactic, and the liberal
selection of his own plates serves admirably
to supply useful examples and give point to
his descriptions. Leon Pichon.

Nothing: Or, The Bookplate. By
Edward Gordon Craig. With a Hand-
list by E. Carrick. (Chatto and
Windus.) 635. One sees little enough
of the very distinctive work of Mr. Gordon
Craig, and so it is a pleasure to see these
50 designs for bookplates. They vary
greatly in their appeal, and are executed
after such diverse fashions that almost
everyone will here find something to his
taste. Mr. Craig writes about bookplates
in general in a light strain, and his views
thereon will not, perhaps, command gen-
eral agreement. In some particulars, such
as h<s avowed preference for armorial
plates, most book-lovers will subscribe
to his opinions, but colour in a bookplate
is of doubtful desirability, and the author's
liking for very small plates will not, we

think, be shared by many. Some of the
examples given are little bigger than post-
age stamps, and would look somewhat
strange in a handsome quarto ; and, after
all, in the average library the proportion
of books below the duodecimo size is
very small, so that we are inclined to think
that 3tjfin. by 2|in. is somewhere near the
ideal size for a plate. There are four-
and-a-half pages describing in minute
detail the process of pasting a bookplate
in a book, but we decline to believe that
this is anything but Mr. Craig's fun.
As a piece of book-production this volume
will be attractive to all bibliophiles. 0

OBITUARY.

THREE notable figures have recently
passed away from the art life of Italy,
Russia, and England. Paolo Sala, who
died at Milan on December 20th, was a
leading figure in modern Italian art. Then,
after Christmas, the loss was reported of
Leon Bakst, master of gorgeous and daring
colour effects, and of stage-designing. And
lastly, on January 14th, England lost, in
Mr. Harry Furniss, a popular and accom-
plished caricaturist. 0 a a a

Mr. W. Renison's etching, La Grosse
Horloge, Rouen, reproduced in our January
number, is published by Arthur Greatorex
Ltd., 14 Grafton Street, W.i. 0 0

BOOKPLATE BY E. GORDON
CRAIG. FROM HIS BOOK:
" NOTHING : OR, THE BOOKPLATE "

(Chatto and Windus)

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