31 DECEMBER 1921, Page 23

wrSTORICAL WAR. PRINTS.* Tins catalogue raisonni of British military prints,

edited and compiled by Colonel Crookahank, will be read and regarded with great pleasure by all students of British military history and also all lovers of the art of engraving. It is a little difficult to gather the genesis of the work, but it would seem from the. Introduction that it is based upon a collection of prints to illustrate the land wars of the reign of George III., and that earlier and later prints have been added in the catalogue. The reproductions of the prints selected for that purpose are excellent in every way, and the manner in which the book is printed and got up generally deserves high praise. The letterpress is also adequate on the historical side. The notes, say enough, but not too much. The first reproduction is of an engraving on copper depicting the battle of Carberry Hill, outside Edinburgh, which ended in the defeat of Mary Queen of gcots and her lover, Bothwell. It was not a great action, but it was as fateful as many other minor battles have been, and helps to support the saying that the importance of military engagements varies inversely with the number of troops employed. An amusing feature of the picture is the number of stalwart young women who are stalking about on " the raw edge " of the battle apparently engaged in proffering ardent liquors to the soldiers. Presumably Mary Stuart's character and career encouraged an adventurous and vivandiere view of campaigning. A very amusing and attractive picture is that kept for the frontispiece—the Battle of Dettingen. It is coloured, and in the foreground we clearly see the broad back of his gracious Majesty George II. and the hinder parts of his still ampler charger. The king's back looks like business—the back of a man who would curse his horse for objecting to face an enemy's battery at close quarters and who would descend to the earth and in his enormous jack-boots lead " My brave English." The uniforms are well depicted in spite of the smallness of the print. Among other coloured prints are those depicting the storming of Bhurtpore and the attack on Magdala during the Abyssinian War. This last is a terribly bungled piece of realism and compares most unfavourably with the sancta siraplicitas of the elder artists.

We may add that, in addition to the book before us, there is published a " Portfolio containing sixteen plates (average 14 in. by 18 in.), twelve of which are in colours on plate-marked mounts, with titles in exact facsimile of the originals." The price of the. Portfolio is £10 10s. We have not seen it, but if it is as well done as the book, it will be a very agreeable adornment to any historical library, private or public.