CATHEDRALS, ABBEYS, AND FAMOUS CHURCHES. Edited by Gordon Home.
BRISTOL, BATH, AND MALMESBURY. By Gordon Home. (Dent. 2s. 6d.)
MR. GORDON HOME, whose recent " Through " guides received wide and merited praise, will lay the average intelli- gent tourist under a further debt of gratitude by this new series, of which the first four volumes lie in front of us. The aim of each writer has been to give, in not too technical lan- guage, a description of the salient architectural features of the various cathedrals, abbeys, and churches concerned, but to avoid insistence on all but the most interesting or im- portant details. On the other hand, ample space is devoted to " the human element " in the history of the buildings. Each volume, which includes some account of the larger subsidiary churches in the district covered, is illustrated by photographs and sketches made by the general editor himself, who com- plains that the professional photographer too often " gives the least attractive aspects of the cathedrals, missing the effects of strong shadow and picturesque lighting, and the particularly pleasing glimpses obtained from aisles and the less hackneyed viewpoints." Mr. Home has, indeed, pro- duced some strikingly fresh and beautiful pictures, among which special attention may he called to his sketch of the spire of St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, and his photograph- which has the surprising suggestion of the close of a small cathedral town-of the western towers Of Westminster Abbey, taken from Dean's Yard. In addition to their many illustra- tions, the volumes have end-papers giving a pictorial summary of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, as well as a series of effigies designed to show the armour and costume corresponding to the different architectural periods. Well printed and daintily bound, the series is a miracle of cheapness.
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