29 JUNE 1895, Page 10

Portraits in Plaster. From the Collection of Laurence Hutton. (Harper

Brothers, New York.)—Thirty odd years ago Mr. Hutton bought a collection of half-a-dozen casts made from the faces of the dead. He has gone on adding to his collection, and now can pride himself on its being "the most nearly complete and the largest in the world." It cannot be said to have no interest ; on the contrary, the interest is great, though of a somewhat weird and dreary kind. But the casts do not show up well in the photo- graphs of them. These do not illuminate us at all about the man whose features they present. All the same, this is a curious book, and one which is worth looking through. Mr. Hutton has some interesting things to say about this hobby of his.