Sketches and Cartoons. By Charles Dana Gibson. (John Lane. 20s.)—This
book, which is the third in a series of Mr. Gibson's collected pictures, is full of interest and, within certain limits, of variety. He is peculiarly happy in his renderings of the quality of artificial light. One good example of this is "A Love Song,'" and another is the illustration to Mr. Harding Davis's "Soldiers of Fortune," "They don't even know Tommy Atkins," in which the soft black of the men's evening clothes and the women's white dresses are skilfully treated. In "The Lass that Loved a Sailor" there is a pathetic figure of an elderly woman standing on the sea-shore, and in the corner of the page is a miniature of a man in the naval uniform of about thirty years ago. "When you are Bored," a picture of an ill-matched dinner-party, will probably appeal to a good many people. Mr. Gibson is at his beat when his figures are at rest or in slow movement, and his work loses some of its pleasing qualities when he attempts violent action. He has command of his medium, and knows how to use seemingly simple lines with startling effect. The drawings are well reproduced, and altogether this book is a satisfactory one.
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