17 NOVEMBER 1917, Page 10

A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE WAR.

The " Times" Documentary History of the War. Vole.

(The Times. 15s. not each volume.)—This promisee to be a very valuable publication, which will be indispensable for reference. It is to contain all the important official documents issued by the belligerents and by neutrals in regard to the war, and to classify them in five main divisions—diplomatic, naval, military, overseas, end international law. The first two volumes are diplomatic. In these are reprinted the British Blue Book, the French Yellow Book, arid the other belligerent sets of despatches in books of various colours, including the second German White Book of 1915. To three are added many notable documents, such as the King's letters to M. Poincarn and the ex-Tsar, Signer Giolitti's speech of December, 1914, on Italian neutrality, and the German quibbles about Belgian "conversations " with British military agents long before the war. The third volume is naval, and contains official despatches and statements referring to the events of July-October, 1914. The volumes are admirably edited and indexed, and the print and paper are of the best. We trust that the series, which must run to a considerable number of volumes, will be carried on and completed. It will be invaluable as a basin for the study of the war in its diplomatic and military aspects.