BOOKS OF REFERENCE
DEBRETT'S PEERAGE, BARONETAGE, KNIGHTAGE AND COMPANIONAGE FOR 1925. Edited by Arthur G. M. Hcsilrige. (Dean and Son. 75s. net.) THE ever admirable Debrett is in its two hundred and twelfth year. Although containing nearly 3,500 pages it is but a baby Pantagruel beside some of the Gargantuan reference books on our table. And its compactness is not obtained at the expense of too flimsy paper or overcrowded printing. The preface is always readable, and this year the editor beguiles us with some extracts from an old book of punning doggerel on the mottoes of noble families, and clissertates sympathetically on the pronunciation of names and titles. He instances " Hervey-Bathurst " as apparently without pitfall and yet spoken " Irvie-Batters." The actual task of editing is never without its unexpected humours, and we are told of an officer in Nigeria who, after laboriously checking his proof, failed to return it to DeIrrett because the white ants had completely devoured (in print) the whole of his numerous family !
Previous page
