3 MAY 1930, Page 36

Though the number of books on furniture is legion, there

is certainly room for Messrs.- J. P. Blake and A. E. Reveirs- Hopkins' Old English Furniture for the Smdll Collector (Bats- ford, 12s. 6d.). It is compact, practical and provided with over a hundred good photographic illustrations, including some of the conversation-pieces -by Hogarth, Zeffany and others which show how furniture was disposed in Georgian rooms. The authors deal clearly with the eighteenth-century style* and point out that the names of Chippendale, Sheraton and HeppeIwitite have come to be used loosely, like "Gothic," and are often applied to pieces with which these Men had nothing to do. Those in search of an interesting adventure in the true spirit of collecting might do worse than 'compose a small Victorian drawing-room," say the authors, and they indicate briefly its main features.