13 NOVEMBER 1886, Page 22

CURRENT LITERATURE.

CHRISTMAS BOOKS.

The Magazine of Art. (Cassell and Co.)—This magazine continues to discharge excellently well its function of a popular expositor and chronicler of art. The frontispiece is a remarkable example of one of the most successful mechanical processes of the day, a photo- engraving after Jacob van Ruysdael, of a waterfall and watch-tower. Reproductions from photographs are an important feature in the magazine, but other kinds of art are well represented. The literary matter is, as usual, interesting and important. The reader learns much from its pages about foreign, as well as about native art ; nor is the artistic side of arohasology neglected. We must not forget to mention the poetry ; there is not much of it—one piece for each number—but it is good, and appropriately illustrated. To this column Messrs. A. Lang, Austin Dobson, R. L. Stevenson, W. Allingham, not to mention other writers scarcely less well known, have contributed.