GIFT-BOOKS,
ILLUSTRATEDEDITIONS.f THESE articles of luxury are certainly less in number than in former years. The wonder is that they appear at all, and it is not altogether with a comfortable mind that one • The Fellowship of Silence t Being Experiences in tho Common Use of Prayer Without Words. Edited by Cyril llepher. London : Macmillan and Co. [4s. Sid. net.) t (I) The Heroes, By Charles Kingsley. Illustrated by Sybil Town. London : A. and C. Mimic. [Ss. Od.1—(2) The Water Babies. 13y the same author. Illustrated by. W. Heath Robinson, London : Constable and Co. [Os. net.] Eitt, the Minder. Written and illustrated by W. Heath Robinson. Same publishers and price. (4) Mary's Meadow, and other Totes. By Mrs. Ewing. Illustrated by M. V. Wheelhouse. London : G. Bell and Sons. (28. not.1----(5) Lazio Flowers of St. Francis. Edited by Cardinal Manning. Illus- trated by P. Cnyley-Robinson. London : T. N. Foulls. [5s. not.]— (6) Lavengro. By George Borrow. Illustrated by B. J. Sullivan. Same publisher and priee.--(7) Edinburgh. By It. L. Stevenson. Illustrated by James Heron. London : Seeley Service, and Co, [Os. net.]---(8) The Book of Old English Sows and Idols. Illustrated by R, P. Brickdale. London ; Hodder and stouabton, [Paver, Gs. net ; cloth, Go. net.] reckons the time, labour, and money expended upon them by paper-makers, printers, binders, purchasers, or even re- viewers. What would Charles Kingsley have said if he had lived in these days of stress ? We doubt whether his muscles or his Christianity, his brains or his economic idealism, would have been at the disposal of those who provide luxury even for the children that he loved at, all times. But hero we have two of his books in very pleasing form, The Heroes' and The Water Babies.? The Heroes is an admirable lure for boys to the classics. There is nothing remarkable in. Miss. Tawse's eight coloured pictures, for competent illustrators are numerous nowadays, but they are of a good standard of adequate work which will increase the young readers' interest in the myths5 The Water Babies have found a more original and striking illus- trator in Mr. Heath Robinson. He can combine the neat and pretty with the grotesque in a remarkable manner. It is another question whether he is right to do so when handling Kingsley's ever-green parable. Sonic of his pictures are in colour, others, the most satisfactory, in black-and-white. The text is noticeably well printed. Mr. Robinson is also responsible, both as author and illustrator, for Bill, the Mincler,3 which is now issued in cheaper form than before. The whole is a work of fertile imagi- nation, mingling the tender with the purely comic. Another book for the young is Mrs, Ewing's Mary's Meadow, and other. Tales.' All children who have gardens to play in will find more in them than they ever thought when they have read these stories,, old-fashioned as they may seem to the modern schoolroom. They are simply illustrated in colour by Miss M. V. Wheelhouse.
As a link between books for the young and those for their elders lot us take next Little Flowers of St. Francis,° the trans- lation by three pious ladies edited by Cardinal Manning., Many of the narrative portions will delight children, who will best appreciate the simplicity and humility, of Brother. Juniper. The more mystical and ecstatic, portions are, for some of their elders. This edition is illustrated from paintings by Mr. F. Cayloy-, Robinson, whose figures are well drawn with the right spirit of an austere purity of line. From this it is a long step to Lavengro.° Hero we have some of the best reading in tha English language, illustrated by an admirable draughtsman, Mr. E. 3. Sullivan. The result is one of the most striking examples, of the fallacy of the theory of values expressed by the, words, " penny plain, twopence coloured." Mr. Sullivan, with a, free hand in black-and-white, might have added to the pleasure., of reading Borrow ; as it is, he only lessons the pleasure wo taka in his own powers, The coloured pictures, as reproduced, seem merely garish and, in spite of the clothes of his subjects,. hope- lessly modern in effect. Three years ago we notioed an edition, of Louis Stevenson's Edinburgh?? illustrated by Mr. James Heron. The publishers now issue a cheaper edition with twelve of the pictures. The well-printed letterpress needs no recom- mendation. The artist's work is good in feeling and in the choice, of views. But, as we said before, one result of mechanical reproduction in colour is to give a pervading pinkish glow, whereas grey is the predominant tone of Edinburgh, and the green hues of the grass round Holyroocl and on the neighbouring hills are, apparently, beyond the scope of " process."
With these illustrated editions we may draw attention to a sumptuous and yet surprisingly cheap volume, The Book of Old English Songs and Ballads.8 The selection is good and ranges. from Chaucer to Lyly, Marvell, Herrick, and others, some seventy, pieces in all, finely printed by Messrs Constable. There are two dozen full-page pictures by Miss Fortescue Briokdale, a quite admirable illustrator. These were, of course, intended for reproduction and are as successful as one could hope; only the greens are painful. The drawing and composition are charming and original. One of the best ideas is the illustration of an anonymous lullaby of 1597. Miss Brickdale's children and cupids are delightful. Other pictures, such as "Our Lady Sings Mngnificat," show all the decorative skill that we remember in her excellent black-and:white work.-of former years.
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