GIFT-BOOKS.
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS AND FAIRY TALES.
The Lang Road to Victory, edited by Colonel Buchan (Nelson, 7s. 6d. not), is a most interesting colleotion of true stories of the war, mostly by eye-witnesses. Captain Gwatkin-Williams describes the rescue of his party from the 'Tara' in the Libyan desert by the Duke of Westminster's armoured cars. Major Maurice Baring describes the air-fighting at the Somme, and Commander Hilton-Young recalls his experiences in the ' Vin- dictive ' at Zeebrugge. There are two stories of the tanks at Cambrai, and Colonel Buchan tells again of the wonderful stand of the South Africans at Marriares Wood in the retreat of March, 1918. It is one of the best books of the kind that we have seen, and it is well illustrated.—M. Jusserand has revised his classic work, English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ayes (T. Fisher Unwin, 25s. net), for the new edition of Miss Lucy Toulmin Smith's excellent translation, which is well printed and fully illustrated with reproductions from pictures in old manuscripts and from prints and photographs. There is no more delightful and instructive book on mediaeval England than this, and in its new and improved form it should attract many fresh readers—Mr. E. V. Lucas has annotated a corn. pact edition of Lamb's Essays of Elia (Methuen, 5s. net) and has written a pleasant introduction. Mr. Garth Jones's pen-and-ink illustrations are clever, but their grim humour is out of key with the text.—Mr. Lee Warner, for the Medici Society, issues a fine reprint of The Roadmender, by Michael Fairless (25a. net), printed at the Riccardi Press. The type, paper, and binding are very good indeed ; it is a rare pleasure nowadays to see a book so well and carefully produeed.—A reprint of Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies (Black, 7s. 6d. net) is to be commended, though the coloured pictures are disappointing.— A new version of Tristram and Isold,e, translated and illustrated by Evelyn Hall (Ilarrap, 21s. net), would be pleasanter reading if the translator had not imitated Malory's archaisms with excessive care. The story does not need to be tricked out with such phrases as "lot him to wit" The illustrations in black and white and in colour are romantic and spirited.—Miss Christine Chaundler's version of the Round Table legends, entitled Arthur and his Knights (Nisbet, 15a. net), is simply and pleasantly written, and the coloured illustrations by " Mackenzie " are attractive visions of fairyland.
Two portions of Mr. Arthur Ra.ckham's charming illustrated edition of Grimm have reappeared under the titles of Hansel and Greta and Snowdrop (Constable, 17s. (Id. net each). Mr. Beckham is at his best in these drawings, and the text is well printed.—Mr. Rackham has also illustrated, in silhouette, an entertaining though somewhat lengthy version by Mr. C. S. Evans of The Sleeping Beauty (Heinemann, 75. (Id. net). The drawings are very comical.—The late Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book has been reset in larger type and issued in two volumes (Longmans, (Is. net each volume), with all the illustrations by Mr. H. J. Ford and Mr. G. P. Jacomb Hood and with new frontis- pieces by Mr. Ford. It would be superfluous to praise this delightful collection—one of the beat of a long series by which Mr. Lang is remembered in every nursery.— Wonder Tales from Many Lends, written and illustrated by Katharine Pyle (Harrap, 6a. net), is a pleasant set of stories drawn from Scandinavia, India, Bohemia, Persia, France, and even from Korea, and told In agreeable English. "Why the Animals no Longer Fear Sheep," a French Creole story, is an anticipation of "Just-So Stories." The illustrations are good.—Polish Fairy Tales (Lane, 16s. net), translated from A. J. Glinski by Maude Ashurat Biggs, is an exceptionally attractive book. The Slav imagination revels in the impossible, but these Polish tales, though wild enough, are not so barbaric as the Russian tales. Miss Cecile Walton, who haa illustrated the stories, is an artist of real talent ; her coloured drawings reflect the fantastic text, and yet are very charming to the eye, especially the frontispiece, "The Fairy Girls Make the Carpet."—Mr. F. B. Bradley-Bat has translated a number of Bengal Fairy Tales (Lane, 15s. net), which are unusually interesting. Some of them recall the Arabian Nights ; others are drawn from the mass of Hindu legends. The coloured illustrations by Mr. Abanindranath Tagore are curious and pleasing.—The King of Ireland's Son, by Paclraio Colum, illustrated by Willy Pogany (Harrap, 7s. (Id. net), is an entertaining set of Irish folk-tales, told with much spirit. We like "Gully of the Goatskin," an amusing hero.—Reynard the Fox, retold in a homely fashion by C. S. Evans, makes an attrae. tire book, with its many clever illustrations by L. R. Brightwell (Evans Brothers, 10s. (Id. net).—British Fairy and Folk Tales, edited by W. J. Glover (Black, 6s. net), is a readable collection of English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish stories, many of which, like "The Magic Mackerel," will be new to moat children. It is illustrated in colour by Mr. Charles Folkard.—The Book of Fairy Poetry, edited by Dora Owen, with many coloured pictures by Warwick Goble (Longmans, 21s, net), is a handsome sad welcome volume. Miss Owen's anthology includes, of course, selections from Shakespeare, Drayton, Browne, and Herrick. Milton and Marvell, as well as from modern poets like Hogg- " Kilmeny "—Tennyson, Stevenson, Christina Rossetti, Er. Yeats, and Mr. Walter de la Mare. So much good English poetry has been written about fairies that the editor has had no difficulty in filling a substantial book.
Sir Henry Newbolt in The Book of Good Hunting (Longmans, 108, fid, net) has put together many interesting stories about sport. Elephants, lions, and tigers come first ; then there are chapters on deer-hunting and fox-hunting, with many extracts from Mr. Maaefield's fine poem, Rtynard the Fox, and a closing chapter on fishing. Sir Henry Newbolt writes so pleasantly that he will attract readers of all ages. In his introductory chapter, "On the Nature of Sport," he states the arguments for and against sport, and insists very strongly on the value of true sportsmanship to the national character. The book is well illustrated by Mr. Stanley L. Wood.—Habits and Characters of British Wild Animals, by H. Mortimer Batten, with illustrations by Warwick Reynolds (Chambers, 21s, net), is a carefully written and most informing book, which a young naturalist might read with profit. It is interesting to learn that the blue or mountain hare is increasing in the Scottish Lowlands,— Wild Creatures of Garden and Hedgerow, by Frances Pitt (Con- stable, 12s, net), does for the humbler animals what Mr. Batten has done for bigger game. Miss Pitt writes admirably about bats and voles, toads and hedgehogs and moles, and her book contains some excellent photographs.—Companions Feathered, Furred and Scaled, by C. IL Donald (Lane, 7s. net), deals in s
pleasantly discursive fashion with the author's Indian pets, among them a flying squirrel and a golden eagle. The photo. graphs are interesting —Beautiful Butterflies of the Tropics: How to Collect Them, by Arthur Twiclle (R.T.S., 12s. net), contains many gorgeous coloured plates of Oriental, African, sad South American butterflies and moths. Mr. Twidle describes
the chief species to be.found in each country and gives sons hints as to their capture. The Purple Emperor, we learn, 11301
to be caught with snot on a thirty-foot bamboo, but is now lured to the ground by a bait of raw beef, preferably "high." The collocation of the exquisite butterfly and the unseemly halt
almost painful.—The Children's Life of the Bee (G. Allen sod Unvrin, 8s. (Id. net) is a selection by Mr. Alfred Satre and Mr.
Herschel Williams from M. Maeterlinck's well-known book.
It is competently done, and the illustrations in colour by Afr. Edward J. Detmold are first-rate.----Canon Vaughan's TM
Music of Wild Flowers (Elkin Mathews, 8s. 6d. net) is a ooll.so" tion of his botanical papers from various periodicals, incluchnS the Spectator. We can warmly commend them. Among tho subjeots handled with exceptional knowledge and literary al
are " "Hampshire Yews," and "The Salt Marsb° of Suffolk."—Professor Arthur Thomson has selected Natural
History Studies (Melrose, 7s. 6cL net) from his own warki, arranging them according to the seasons, and has thus made ° most interesting and authoritative miscellany.---Mors Plot°. We Play With, by IL R. Robertson (Wells Gardner, 75. 6sf•
is intended for young children ; it is noteworthy for the ossetta and delicate drawings of familiar plants.
Previous page
