13 SEPTEMBER 1913, Page 25

coloured !) and contributions by some fifty famous athletes, should

at the remarkable price of 4s. 6d. have a wide circu- lation. So carefully have the contributors been chosen that we have a chapter by Mr. W. T. Travis (taken from an inter- view) on "Putting," and a reprint of an essay by the late Captain Webb on "Swimming in a Rough Sea." The book is printed on very stout paper, and, since the range of it is very wide (including kite-flying, baseball, and winter sports), most of the authors have very little space at their disposal. This fact, and perhaps also the belief that boys pick up the technique of a game best naturally without detailed instruc- tions, has led many of the writers to avoid technicalities altogether, and in some cases the articles are merely pic- turesquely descriptive. The chapters by Mr. Warner and Hobbs on "Cricket," and Mr. Fry's pages on "Athletics," are, however, conspicuous exceptions in this respect, and contain exactly that admixture of technical and general advice which boys will find most useful, and the same might be said of many other contributions which we have not room to mention in detail. It must be admitted that the amount of space devoted to the different forma of sport is sometimes rather strange. Thus there are eleven pages on kite-flying and only four on lawn tennis and six on rowing. And though thirty-three pages are devoted to fishing in its various branches, no mention is made of shooting or riding. However, these are but slight criticisms on a wonderfully cheap and comprehensive volume.