11 MARCH 1899, Page 23

The Municipal Parks, Gardens, and Open Spaces of London. By

Lieutenant-Colonel Sexby. (Elliot Stock. 16s. to subscribers.)—A few years ago a very small volume would have sufficed for this subject (the Royal parks, it should be noted, are not included in its scope). Now the list of places kept up by the County Council distinctly creditable to public enterprise. The Board of Works began with Finsbury Park, and in 1869 this and Southwark Park

were opened; in 1887 Victoria, Battersea, and Kennington Parks were transferred to the Board; three more were added before the Board ceased to exist Ravenscourt, Clissold, and Dulwich. Since then the work has gone on briskly. The list of all the open spaces, great and small, maintained by various authorities, now numbers about two hundred and fifty. And this list does not include the domains kept up by the Corporation,—Epping Forest, &c. Fifty-one are more than ten acres in extent, Regent's Park with Primrose Hill being the largest, with four hundred and seventy-two and a half acres. This is a most valuable and interesting book.