Dalsiets Illustrated Arabian Nights. (Ward and Lock.) Beeton's Illuminated Family
Bible. (S. 0. Beeton.) Casselts Illustrated Bible. Casselts Illustrated History of England. Cassell's Popular Natural History. Casselts Popular Educator. Casselts Illustrated Family Paper. Casselts Bible Dictionary. Casselts Illustrated Shakespeare. Casselts Illustrated Goldsmith. Casselts Illustrated Pilgrim's Progress. Casselts Illustrated Robinson Crusoe. (Cassell, Patter, and Galpin.)—The list of these works, of every one of which specimens are now on our table, is enough to prove the taste of the present generation for pictures. Of the excel- lence of the illustrations to the "Arabian Nights" of the Brothers! Dalziel we spoke when the first number appeared, and the subsequent numbers have quite maintained the same level. Mr. Beeton makes the illumination of the initial letters the chief feature of his Bible, and very beautifully this part of the work is done ; but the illustrations seem too mediaeval in their details. Why, for instance, is St. Stephen represented with a tonsure and a dress something like that of a Roman priest ? A mediaeval spirit might have been maintained without this. The merits of the staff of artists who illustrate the publications of Messrs. Cassell and Co. are well known to the public, and we rejoice to see that they have full occupation. The possessor of all the works above enumerated would have a library of no slight pretensions, and their cheapness is, even in these days really extraordinary. Nor is there, we think, any healthier sign than the demand for illustrated editions of our great authors—Shakespeare, Bunyan, Defoe, and Goldsmith. It is when we have a real affection for a writer that we desire to see his works sumptuously adorned by the binder, the printer, and the artist. If, on the other hand, the illustrations are an inducement to read the book, the national gain is certainly not less, and the publishers are from either point of view equally public benefactors.
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