12 DECEMBER 1914, Page 25

Poppyland. By H. de Vere Stacpoole. Illustrated by Leighton Pearce.

(John Lane. Ga. net.)—This is another 'handsome and " important "-looking gift-book. It is com- posed of a number of short stories, written in a pleasant conversational style, which makes no great demand on the reader's attenticn, while taking him into far countries of romance, such as sandy deserts, or into more accessible places, like the Italy of the nineteenth century. It is best to look at the aggress'.vely coloured illustrations by lamplight, and then some of them, "The Old Stork," for instance, appear pleasing.