3ItscrtLedir0us. — The. Masterpiece Portfolio. (The Review of Reviews Office. is.)—Twelve good
process reproductions and a large photo-etching are certainly cheap at one shilling, even if few of the originals can claim to be masterpieces. The portfolio is worth having for the sak e of Constable's " Cornfield " and Bane- Jones's "Golden Stairs," and the editor is to be congratulated upon having placed these works of art within the reach of the larger pul,lic.—An Evening with "Punch" (Bradbury, Agnew, and Co., 2s. 6d. net) will be sufficiently described by a quotation of its sub-title, "A Selection from the First.Fifty Years of Puoch of a few of the pictures, some of the wit and some of the wisdom, with which the volumes of Punch abound. To which are added sundry notes and comments."—A Cricketer on Cricket, by W. J. Ford (Sands and Co., 2s. 6d.), is the work of a writer who has acquired the right to speak about the national game. He pro- nounces an adverse opinion on most of the proposed changes,— increasing the size of the wickets, diminishing the size of the bat (many bats, he tells us, are illegally broad), and other nostrums. But he is for extending the liberty of closing an innings. There are various narratives of the past, and an amusing and suggestive anticipation of the future, "A Cricket-Match in 2000 £D."—The Dream of a• Warringtonian, by Arthur Bennett (Sunrise Publishing Company, 2s. 6d.), contains some interesting facts about the Lancashire town of Warrington. Mr. Bennett thinks fit to put his local knowledge into the fanciful shape of a vision. Possibly some readers will find this just a little tiresome when it is carried on for a whole volume. Anyhow, Warrington is a place worth a history. " The Athens of England" is possibly too magnificent a title, but its literary and academical record is one of which it may be justly proud.
We have received five volumes of "Ward, Lock, and Co.'s Illustrated Gaide.Books " (Ward, Lock, and Co., is. per vol.) These are, to put first that which probably has the greatest present interest, Popular, Pictorial, and Practical Guide to Paris and the Exhibition, with a specially drawn plan ; Belfast and its Neighbourhood, with Excursions, 4-c. ; Scottish High- lands and islands ; Cromer, She ringham, 4-c., and Margate and the Isle of Thanet.—With these may be mentioned Messrs. W. and A. K. Johnston's Plans of Paris Exhibition of 1900 and Map of France (W. and A. K. Johnston, Is.)
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