Studio: international art (90.1925)

REVIEWS

device or emblem is generally more
impressive and individual when its form
is not controlled by the circle, square,
diamond, triangle or other such usual
.shapes/' The four here illustrated are all
excellent, and a really delightful circular
design is that made by Mr. Wilfred O.
Floing for Messrs. Wills Sainte Claire,
Inc. (p. 25). A most successful example
•of the other kind is the Indian design
(p. 29), by Mr. W. A. Dwiggins for the
Chemical Paper Manufacturing Company.
If, as Mr. Sinel says, many of the marks
are adapted from European examples, there
would seem room for reciprocity also,
and some of our own enterprising de-
signers and traders might well derive
inspiration from this book. 00a

English Rural Life in the Eighteenth
Century, by W. Gaunt. With 33 illus-
trations (fourteen in colour). (The Con-
noisseur) 155. net. This very attractive
quarto is one of u The Connoisseur
Series of Books for Collectors," under
the general editorship of Mr. C. Reginald
Grundy, who contributes a foreword.
The coloured plates are from fine examples
of the works of Morland, James Ward,
Bigg, Rowlandson, Girtin, Gainsborough,
Richard Westall, and one or two others,
and so their appeal is to collectors of
drawings as well as of prints. Mr. Gaunt's
very able and very interesting essay
considerably broadens our view, and so
our appreciation, of this class of subject;
showing that however daintily dished up
for Cockney consumption, these Arcadian
•compositions rest on a real basis of fact.
This is exactly what wanted doing for
this rather precious corner in the col-
lector's world, and Mr. Gaunt has done
it extremely well. 0 0 0 0

The Bookplate Annual for 1925. Edited
by Alfred Fowler (Kansas City). It is
with great pleasure and interest that
collectors of bookplates, especially those
who care for the development and study
of this miniature graphic art in England
and America, now look forward to the
appearance of Mr. Fowler's well-made
Bookplate Annuals. Like the former
issues, and on the same scale, the present
fifth annual contains a full list of the
Tenth Exhibition of Contemporary Book-
plates, with reproductions of the awarded

designs, a series of articles and illustra-
tions dealing with contemporary English
and American masters of the book-
plate, and a curious historical note on
the myth of George Washington's book-
plate. Collectors will surely be very
glad to find in the articles of Messrs.
Haldane Macfall and W. S. Sparrow,
chronologically arranged check-lists of
the bookplates designed by R. Anning
Bell and etched by D. Y. Cameron. On
the other hand, it is to be regretted that
Mr. Fowler has not been able to reproduce
more than a single bookplate of this
last, which naturally gives too poor a
conception of Sir D. Y. Cameron's fine
work in this direction. 000

Giorgiones Geheimnis. By G. F.
Hartlaub. (Allgemeine Verlagsanstalt,
Munich.) The mystery of Giorgione—
such is the theme of this work—another
instance of the fantastic labours to which
German scholarship will sometimes apply
itself. Before our eyes Giorgione becomes
a mystic, cabalistic figure whose pictures
adumbrate black arts. We have no space
here to discuss in detail the arguments,
but having examined them we say roundly
that we do not believe it. Giorgione was a
very sensual painter, in fact he so obviously
loved solid, material things that he could
not possibly have any interest left for the
immaterial and the monstrous. Herr
Hartlaub deduces many strange things,
principally from copies and engravings. 0

Fair Touraine.—Stories and Legends of
the Loire, By Margaret-Aulton. With
90 illustrations by the Authoress. (John
Lane.) 355. net. Special Edition of
100 copies at 2105. net. The his-
toric district of the Loire Valley, so
rich in its architectural features, and
possessing a special interest for English
people in its early connection with the
Angevin kings, is agreeably treated in
Miss Aulton's book. Record of travel
is interspersed with picturesque historical
description, and an account is given of
the many chateaux, Chambord, Blois
Chaumont, Chenonceau, and the rest.
The authoress's illustrations, though not
of surpassing merit, are careful records
of the various places they represent. The
copper-plate of Langeais is perhaps the
best. All are excellently reproduced. 0

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