Recent paperbacks
James Hughes-Onslow
The Crimes of the First Fleet Convicts John Cobley (Angus & Robertson £6.95). A register of petty offenders sent to New South Wales in 1787, including an 82-year-old woman guilty of per- jury. For exclusivity this is Australia's answer to Burke's Peerage.
The Squandered Peace: The World, 1945-1975 John Vaizey (Hodder & Stoughton £8.95). An at- tempt to explain why Marxism didn't die a natural death and why prosperity never killed it. Vaizey doesn't really understand this but he has had fun writing it.
The Last Edwardian at No 10: An Impression of Harold Macmillan George Hutchinson (Quartet £4.95). Unflappable Supermac as seen by some- one who worked with him and admired him. With a bonus — lain Macleod's account of the 1963 Tory leadership crisis first published in the Spectator.
Literary Landscapes of the British Isles: A Nar- rative Atlas David Daiches and John Flower (Penguin £3.95). Does it matter if Wordsworth fans don't know the difference between a daf- fodil and a dandelion? Yes, say these writers, who put us right on a host of topographical details concerning Chaucer, Shakespeare, Johnson, Dickens, Hardy, Yeats and others.
The Architecture of London Edward Jones and Christopher Woodward (Weidenfeld & Nicolson £8.50). About 900 entries illustrated, divided into 24 areas • and then listed chronologically. The Streets of London, S. Fairfield (Papermac £3.95). The origins of 4,000 place names most of them aristocratic and related to one another.
The Wild Garden William Robinson (Century £4.95). First published in 1870 when Robinson was worried about the Victorian craze for impor- ting delicate plants from abroad. These days many of his hardy native plants may be of more concern to conservationists.
The Artificial Family R. Snowden and G. D. Mitchell (Counterpoint £2.95). The practical and ethical considerations involved in artificial in- semination by donor, many of which look com- paratively straightforward after recent develop- ments in freezing and transplanting embryos.
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