22 FEBRUARY 1930, Page 35

The average text-book of English history used to be very

forbidding—an example of the printed matter that Lamb called Biblia Abiblia." But no such adjective can be applied to the latest text-book by Mr. C. H. Marten of Eton and Mr. E. H. Carter, which under the title Prone Then Till Now, has just been reprinted in a substantial volume containing the four parts (Oxford : Blackwell,- 10s. (id.). The authors begin with brief sketches of world-history to introduce the ancient Britons, Romans and Saxons, and at intervals remind the young reader that England was part of a continent and, later, of a far-fiung Empire. They strive to interest rather than to cram the child-mind, and yet they never descend to trivialities. Their secret lies in judicious selection and simple explanation. Moreover, they have taken great pains to illustrate the story with hundreds of appro- priate pictures, photographs and sketch-maps, as well as with time-charts, tables of dates, pedigrees and the like. The volume is charmingly printed and looks attractive. * * *