Mr. George Slocombe, for many years the correspondent of the
Daily Herald, has written an attractive and discerning book in Paris in Profile (Cayme Press, 12s. 6d.). To write of Paris one should be a poet, an historian and a connoisseur : Mr. Slocombe is all three. In some indefinable way (for how " atmosphere " is conveyed to print must ever remain a mystery) he has caught Paris in the intoxication of her spring-times and in the beauty of her moon-filled summer nights when " the Louvre crouches like a tiger among the trees " across the Seine, and Notre Dame is " a pale conflagra- tion in the sky." We hear the voice of the city in her age and youth. We visit her graves, and her latest cafes. Nor does the author confine himself to descriptions ; for there are critical appraisals of art and literature which are written with a grace and a sense of perspective uncommon in a busy journalist. This is not in any sense a guide-book, but it is a book which all who love Paris should buy and keep.
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